History of Art is Margaret Luongo’s second short story collection with LSU Press. I loved the first one and am excited about getting to read more of her work. Here she is kind enough to spend some time answering questions for us for National Short Story Month.
EWN: Your short story collection, History of Art, was published in 2016. What story within the collection had the earliest publication history outside of being in the collection, and what was that history?
Margaret Luongo (ML): Fine Arts was one of the first stories I wrote for the collection, and it was the first published--2007, in The Cincinnati Review. Brock Clarke heard me read it at a Cincinnati Review event at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Afterwards a bunch of us went out for drinks and he asked me if the story had already been published. I said no, and he told me to send it to him. I said I would. At the end of the night, he said, "Just give me that," meaning the pages I'd read from. I think I heard from him the next day that the review would publish it. In fact, that story was published before my first collection, which came out in 2008. I'd decided to save the story for the next book, which was to be art themed. In fact, History of Art was almost titled Fine Arts.
EWN: How did the publication of this particular collection come about? Were you solicited by the publisher, win a contest, agent submission, etc.?
ML: LSU Press had published my first collection (If the Heart is Lean), and I really liked working with Michael Griffith and the press. I sent it to Michael and lucky for me, he liked it.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as an author? Primary form to work with, or something you write when an idea hits, or …?
ML: I only write short stories. I might try pushing to the longer end of the form in the coming year. I'm thinking about a book of linked novellas. I'm drawn to the power of brevity. I like the impact that the short form has. I like to see what I can accomplish within that constraint. So far I haven't tired of it.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as a reader?
ML: I read everything! I even like some novels. We're lucky to have had so many independent presses spring up to publish more of the type of books that the larger houses won't touch, including collections of flash fiction, novellas in flash, linked flash chapbooks, and so on. I teach a few collections each semester, and I usually include at least one that is new to me so that I can make some attempt to keep up. It's fun to discover something new with the students, and to tell them why they should care.
EWN: How will you be celebrating National Short Story Month this May?
ML: I haven't thought about it until you asked. Since Short Story Month coincides with Terrible Allergy Season, I might celebrate indoors by reading a new story a day.
EWN: Thank you very much for your time!
ML: Thank you!
Margaret Luongo is associate professor of English at Miami University in Ohio, where she teaches creative writing and contemporary fiction. She is the author of If the Heart is Lean, and her work has appeared in Tin House, The Cincinnati Review, Granta, and thePushcart Prize anthology, among other publications.
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