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A Conversation with ‘Best Debut Short Stories 2021’ Author Alberto Reyes Morgan
“Every story has a shape, you just have to figure out what it is and then let it be that shape, man.”
Best Debut Short Stories 2021: The PEN America Dau Prize are open now
Invisible Hands: Voices from the Global Economy; Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives; Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees from Central America; Michigan Quarterly Review; Book Public
Michigan Quarterly Review.
Where did you find the idea for this story?
What was your writing process like for this story?
The Salton Sea in Southern California is the backdrop for much of the story. What made you decide on this setting?
The scene in which Chava and Fermín kiss for the first and only time is incredibly brief, putting more focus on the tension leading up to the moment and the violence that follows, when both boys are attacked by a mutual friend, Luis. How did you decide on the pacing of the story, and did you always know it was going to be Luis who would out them?
How has the Robert J. Dau Prize affected you?
What is the best or worse writing advice you've received, and why?
Finally, where do you discover new writing?
Best Debut Short Stories
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More by this author
A Roundtable With the PEN America Best Debut Short Stories Judges: Sabrina Orah Mark, Emily Nemens, and Deesha Philyaw
Many of the stories felt written on the edge of an edge of an edge of a world.
On “getting creatively lost”: Robert J. Dau Prize Winner Mathapelo Mofokeng
Learn about Mathapelo Mofokeng’s short story “The Strong-Strong Winds,” which was selected for ‘Best Debut Short Stories 2021.’
“The most innocent thing you can do is want to create”: Robert J. Dau Prize Winner Isaac Hughes Green
Learn about Isaac Hughes Green’s short story “The First Time I Said It,” which was selected for ‘Best Debut Short Stories 2021.’