Catherine Lacey, On Reading

Writers live in reading. They're reading the odd line in the email repeatedly. They're reading the lines overheard on the street or through the wall. They're reading lyrics as they're sung. They're reading books and stories, of course, because writers write books and stories as a way to process all you've read. And if you're not reading, you're not writing. Like a sink unhooked from pipes, turn the dials all day-- nothing will happen if you don't read.

{Catherine Lacey is the author of Nobody Is Ever Missing. Her work has been recently published in The New York Times, Guernica, Granta, Adult Magazine, Buzzfeed Books and others. She has earned fellowships from NYFA, Columbia University and OMI International Arts Center. Her website can be found here.}

Wendy C. Ortiz, On Reading

I stash them in my bag. I finger their spines. I spread them open and inhale. I move them around with my hands, stack them, sort them. My eyes take them in and my central nervous system responds with just the right combinations of words. Books have always been a welcoming place to me, so I started living with them right away, shacking up with them in my bedroom, reading late into the night. We used to have so much more time together, books and me. Every stolen moment I get now involves reading. Reading books ranks as one of my favorite all-time love affairs, and the best part is it the affair never ever ends.

{Wendy C. Ortiz is the author of Excavation: A Memoir (Future Tense Books) and the forthcoming Hollywood Notebook (Writ Large Press, Nov. 2014). She writes the monthly column "On the Trail of Mary Jane," about medical marijuana dispensary culture in Southern California, for McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Her work can be found in The New York Times, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, and many other journals. Visit her at www.wendyortiz.com.}

Brandon Hobson, On Reading

I read as a kid and have great memories of my mom reading to me. I didn't read very much in high school, but in college I started reading pretty heavily. This is also when I started writing fiction. I think it's obvious how important reading is in order to be a good writer. I would rather read than watch TV--in fact, other than sports on occasion, I don't watch much TV at all. I used to stay up late nights watching cable reruns of What's Happening or Dobie Gillis, but I don't do that much anymore. But it means I'm out of the loop when everyone starts talking about Breaking Bad or Mad Men or whatever. I've never watched those shows. There's so much out there I still need to read. Just knowing that is more exciting to me.

{Brandon Hobson is the author of The Levitationist (Ravenna Press) and Deep Ellum (Calamari Press). His novel Desolation of Avenues Untold is forthcoming from Civil Coping Mechanisms in 2015. His work has appeared in The Paris Review Daily, The Believer, NOON, New York Tyrant, Post Road, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. You can read more about him here.}

Anna David, On Reading

One of the greatest gifts my family gave me was a love for reading. My mom and I would lie around, side by side, reading our respective books from the time I was a little girl. Even though she was getting her PhD in English and reading 18th century literature and I was reading Judy Blume, she always told me that what I read wasn’t important so long as I had a love for reading. I did—and still do. Reading is also, I believe, one of the only ways to get better at writing. Writing classes can be great when the teacher and students are just right but in my experience, that is rarely the case. If you’re reading something you love, it’s always just right.

My biggest problem with reading is that I have to be moderately obsessed with a book to want to finish; if I’m not looking forward to picking it up again with something of a passion, I’ll sometimes just abandon it part of the way through. But I look at reading the same way I do exercise or eating well: it’s important to find what you love about it so it can remain a pleasure and not be a chore.

{Anna David is the author of Party Girl, Bought, Reality Matters, Falling For Me, By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There and True Tales of Lust and Love. Her website can be found here.}

Dancing On Glass | Susan Taylor Chehak

Dancing on Glass
by Susan Taylor Chehak

Triplines | Leonard Chang

Triplines
By Leonard Chang

Runaway Dish Culinary Journal Vol. 3

The Barbecue And Film Issue

"...just really incredible food experiences that expand, enhance, and celebrate our entire community." 

The Allen Ginsberg Project

The Mystery of the Inner Moonlight

In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods | Matt Bell

"Drown yourself away, my wife sang, and despite my want to stay I found myself again outside the house, for against the fury of her song my horror held neither strength nor will nor strategy."

--In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell 

Belle Journal Volume I

With a mantra that rises from the soul of a sometimes forgotten land and a tenacity instilled by those that came before, Belle Journal emerges as a home for the voices of “alternative” southern belles. Based in Baton Rouge, La., this new literary journal features prose, poetry and visual art from women all over the South.