Carissa Chesanek
Carissa Chesanek is a writer in New York City with an MFA from The New School. Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, PANK Magazine, The Rumpus, among others.
A Woman’s Worth
By Carissa ChesanekWe see particular impact of womanly influence in three new literary works (a book of short stories, a memoir, and a novel), all possessing a familiar theme of women in society and the female influences we find every day.
Clare Chambers’s Small Pleasures
By Carissa ChesanekSometimes people come into our life and help us find the truth we have been searching for all along. Clare Chambers (Learning to Swim) explores that idea in her latest novel, Small Pleasures, while keeping us entertained in a mystery behind an alleged miracle.
In Conversation
LINCOLN MICHEL, SAM J. MILLER, MONIQUE LABAN, ESHANI SURYA, and KEVIN NGUYEN with Carissa Chesanek
The horror genre is regaining major popularity. Despite living in these uncertain times, readers are now, more than ever, eager to get lost in something spooky. Goodreads reported there was a massive uptick in horror over the summer with books in the genre labeled as “the most anticipated” for readers.
Jonathan Lee’s The Great Mistake
By Carissa ChesanekThe Great Mistake, a new novel by Jonathan Lee (High Dive), is about the life and death of Andrew Haswell Green, the fictional character who created New York. The narrator tells the story of “New York’s Famous Creator,” walking us through the steps that lead to his untimely death in 1903, while uncovering Andrew’s quiet and oftentimes lonely world.
Jamie Figueroa’s Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer
By Carissa ChesanekJamie Figueroa's debut novel, Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer depicts the impact of trauma and loss within a family.
Kevin Carey’s Murder in the Marsh
By Carissa ChesanekKevin Carey’s latest novel, Murder in the Marsh, is everything you could want in crime noir. It’s gritty and face-paced, centering around a “murky marsh” and a down-and-out detective with a fuzzy past that haunts him.
Nicole Krauss’s To Be a Man
By Carissa ChesanekNicole Krauss’s latest book, To Be a Man, is the author’s very first short story collection. As the title suggests, each story incorporates an awareness of masculinity and all its power, while relating to the roles of women. But the collection isn’t merely about driving one gender against the other. There’s much more to it than that. Each story provides a sense of connection between real people and their everyday lives, much like the author’s former books, including the William Saroyan International Prize Winner, The History of Love.
I Hold a Wolf by the Ears
By Carissa ChesanekLaura van den Berg’s latest short story collection, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, focuses on women trying to cope with whatever life brings them, which is usually something traumatic, sexist, and violent.
