We enjoyed meeting Alexander Weinstein, author of Children of the New World (2016, Picador), late last year when he read at Nicola's in Ann Arbor. Then we enjoyed reading the collection itself. He's a returner to the EWN as he also wrote a guest post about writing and postcards for us earlier this month.
EWN: Your short story collection, Children of the New World, 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?
Alexander: The Pyramid and the Ass was the earliest story publication (2009) from the collection. It was an important moment for me, because it was early in my career as a writer in terms of publication. I’d been writing since 3rd grade, had gotten my BA in writing, was far into my MFA program at that point, and I’d been sending out my work for a year. Given how long I’d been writing for, I expected that publication would arrive easily. But by the time Pyramid was published, I’d racked up around 120 rejections! It was a pretty dark-night-of-the-soul time for me artistically, but looking back I can see that all the rejections really allowed me to write Pyramid. The story is a rather wild and flamboyant one, and I remember thinking: “Well, hell, if no one is publishing me then I guess I might as well write whatever I want and break all these rules I think I’m supposed to be following.” So the rejections were liberating for my writing and in turn led to publication. When A cappella Zoo let me know they were publishing the work, I was very happy as I loved the journal and the kind of work they publish. And they were a great support of other stories of mine and helped support The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing early on.
EWN: How did the publication of this particular collection come about? Were you solicited by the publisher, win a contest, agent submission, etc.?
Alexander: I’d been working on the stories in the collection for almost a decade, and in 2015 I had my manuscript ready for submission. At that point, a lot of well-meaning writer friends gave me the advice to avoid seeking an agent because “agents and publishers won’t be interested in a collection; they only want novels.” I decided to ignore the advice, figuring that if I didn’t at least try to get an agent, the rejection of my collection would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I sent my work out to a dozen agents, and I was thrilled that Leigh Feldman loved the work. We discussed the fact that I didn’t write novels (though I’m not against writing one, the novel form just hasn’t called to me), and that I was really only interested in writing short stories. She was supportive, admitted that we might have a harder time due to publishers being interested in novels, but that she’d represent me as a short story writer. While there were publishers who would’ve been interested in the collection if I’d agree to write a novel next, we ended up declining because I didn’t want to be tied to writing a novel (which, as you can imagine, was a hard decision). But staying true to the short story proved the right choice—because Picador loved the collection, was supportive of me continuing to write stories, and they’ve been the perfect home for my work. So it was a real success story, and one I like to share because it provides a counter-narrative to the rather depressing advice many short-story writers hear about getting their collection published!
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 …?
Alexander: It’s my primary form. I love working with short stories because they allow me to explore a concept/theme fully in a short space, and also let me experiment with voices/themes/characters/settings from one story to the next. I find that short stories open up play and experimentation within my fiction.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as a reader?
Alexander: I read a lot of short story collections. I’m also a big fan of novels and longer work, but almost always, if an author has both a novel and a collection, I’ll reach for the collection first. I also enjoy reading literary journals and encountering new voices in the short story form.
EWN: How will you be celebrating National Short Story Month this May?
Alexander: I’ll be writing new short stories, and working on my second book, The Lost Traveler’s Tour Guide
EWN: Thank you very much for your time!
Alexander Weinstein is the Director of The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and the author of the short story collection Children of the New World (Picador 2016). His fiction and translations have appeared in Cream City Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Notre-Dame Review, Pleiades, PRISM International, World Literature Today, and other journals. He is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, and his fiction has been awarded the Lamar York, Gail Crump, Hamlin Garland, and New Millennium Prize. His stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and appear in the anthologies2013 New Stories from the Midwest, and the2014 & 2015 Lascaux Prize Stories. He is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing and a freelance editor, and leads fiction workshops in the United States and Europe.
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