“I think I became a writer because my father never wanted to get out of the car.”
The Village People tell us that Key West is the key to happiness, but is it also the key to a literary legacy? Michael Carroll joins the show to talk about his new collection, Stella Maris: And Other Key West Stories (Turtle Point Press), and the role Key West has played in his life. We get into the pros and cons of being married to a literary titan (Edmund White, in this case) and how they’re portrayed in each other’s work, the value of short stories in the short attention span era (and his lament that young gay men don’t read), growing up Southern Baptist and gay, whether his upbringing in Jacksonville means he is Florida Man (and whether Florida is The South or South-Ish), why he avoids hookup apps, the influence of Joy Williams on his writing and the sustenance he gets from Lana Del Rey, and how writing about gay sex helps him vent his political rage. Give it a listen! And go buy Stella Maris: And Other Key West Stories!
“This book is a way to save Key West in my life and in my mind.”
“I used to torture myself over a paragraph or two a day. Then I realized that if I’m not enjoying the writing, you’re not going to enjoy the reading.”
Michael Carroll’s debut story collection, Little Reef and Other Stories, won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from American Academy of Arts and Letters and was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and the Publishing Triangle Award. His work has appeared in Ontario Review, Boulevard, The Yale Review, Southwest Review, Open City, and The New Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, he is married to writer Edmund White and lives in New York City. His new book is Stella Maris: And Other Key West Stories, from Turtle Point Press.
The Village People tell us that Key West is the key to happiness, but is it also the key to a literary legacy? Michael Carroll joins the show to talk about his new collection, Stella Maris: And Other Key West Stories
Michael Carroll’s debut story collection, Little Reef and Other Stories
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