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Inside the Issue

ABOUT THE SERIES

Inside the Issue, hosted by Southern Indiana Review (SIR) Fiction Editor, Casey Pycior (pronounced “Pitcher”), is an interview series with writers whose stories are published in each issue of SIR.

In each episode, Casey talks with the writer about their process in crafting the story, from genesis through revisions and about any craft challenges the story might have posed. He also talks with them about the books and stories that inspire them, what their current writing projects are, and more.

Our goal for Inside the Issue is both to highlight the stories and writers we publish in SIR, and to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the craft of writing fiction.

Left: Two hands hold animals bones and vine leaves. Right: A white man in a leather jacket in front of an urban storefront.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Damien Roos about his story, “Five Days in May,” which is featured in the Spring 2024 issue. Damien Roos received his MFA in creative writing from The New School and has recently completed his first novel, Church of the New Light. His work has appeared in such outlets as New South Journal, Gravel, and The Colorado Review. By day he works in homeless outreach, formerly in New York City and, currently, in the heart of Appalachia. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife and two pets.

Left: Two hands holding animal bones and green vines. Right: A white man in a blue patterned shirt stands in front of a fence with a copper sun design.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Tom Sokolowski about his story, “Victory Pose,” which is featured in the Spring 2024 issue. Tom Sokolowski completed an MFA at the University of Central Florida where he was awarded a Provost’s Fellowship. He’s currently a PhD candidate at Florida State University, and his fiction is featured or forthcoming in Southern Indiana Review, The Barcelona Review, Shenandoah, and elsewhere. A veteran of the Florida Army National Guard, Tom lives in Tallahassee. Find him online at https://www.tomsokowriter.com.

Left: Two hands hold animal bones and vines. Right: A white man with a beard smiles in front of a wide open window and brick interior room.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Matthew Fiander about his story, “Still Life at Chambersburg Applebee's,” which is featured in the Spring 2024 issue. Matthew Fiander’s fiction has appeared in Story Magazine, Mid-American Review, Zone 3, Willow Springs, The Massachusetts Review, South Carolina Review, Reckon Review, and elsewhere. He has also written for The New York Times, PopMatters, and other outlets. His debut novel, Ringing in Your Ears, was published by Main Street Rag. Fiander currently lives and works in North Carolina.

Left: Two hands hold animal bones and green vines. Right: A white woman stands in front of a brightly lit window.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Sarah Walker about her story, “All the Things That Fill Me Up,” which is featured in the Spring 2024 issue. Sarah Walker is from Northeastern Pennsylvania, now living in Greater Boston. She was the 2017 Dennis Lehane Fiction Fellow at the Solstice MFA Creative Writing Program. Her work has appeared in BULL, Carolina Quarterly, Cleaver, Colorado Review, CutBank, Longform Pick of the Week, Maudlin House, New Limestone Review, among others. She was a finalist for the 2022 Robert Day Fiction Award, a finalist for the 2023 Iron Horse Long Story Prize and a semifinalist for the 2023 Story Foundation Prize. Her fiction has been supported by the Tin House Workshop and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is at work on her first novel and story collection. Her website is http://www.sarahwalkerwriter.com; you can also follow her on Instagram at Sarah_jm_walker.

Left: Two hands hold animal bones and green vines. Right: A white man in a yellow jacket and white hat smiles in front of a seaside pear.

Richard Holinger’s fiction, essays, poetry, and book reviews have appeared in The Southern Review, Boulevard, North American Review, The Iowa Review, Western Humanities Review, Witness, Chicago Quarterly Review, Chautauqua, and elsewhere. He is a four-time Pushcart Prize nominee and two-time Best of the Net nominee. His book of poetry, North of Crivitz, and collection of essays, Kangaroo Rabbits and Galvanized Fences, have garnered praise respectively from Kevin Stein, former Illinois Poetry Laureate, and David Hamilton, Editor Emeritus of The Iowa Review. “Not Everybody’s Nice” won the 2012 Split Oak Press Prose Chapbook Contest. Kattywompus Press published “Hybrid Seeds: Little Fictions,” a chapbook of innovative writing. He holds a Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an M.A. in English from Washington University. He facilitates the Night Writers Workshop and writes a bimonthly newspaper column for Shaw Media. He has taught on the university, community college, and secondary school levels. He lives west of Chicago far enough to see fox, deer, turkeys, blue herons, and bald eagles occasionally pass by.

Left: Two hands hold animal bones and green vines. Right: A bald white man stands in front of an open landscape.

Sam is a queer Luso-American writer and translator. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in New England Review, Copper Nickel, Foglifter, Hunger Mountain, Puerto del Sol, Sycamore Review, and other literary magazines; his writing has been nominated for several awards and has won Copper Nickel’s Editor’s Prize for Prose, as well as first-place in CRAFT Literary’s First Chapters Contest. He will be attending DISQUIET International this summer as a Luso-American Fellow. Sam is a PhD candidate in fiction at the University of Cincinnati and the contributing fiction editor for the Ocean State Review.

Left: Two hands hold animal bones and vines. Right: A white woman with glasses stands in front of a white wall.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Jaclyn Dwyer about her story, “Lightning Season,” which is featured in the Spring 2024 issue. Jaclyn Dwyer's work has appeared in Electric Literature, Ploughshares, Cincinnati Review, Blackbird, The Pinch, and Prairie Schooner, among others. Her poetry collection, The Bride Aflame, was published by Black Lawrence Press. She lives in Thibodaux, Louisiana, with her husband and four children.

Left: Artistic depiction of a woman in a colorful dress in a city street. Right: A woman in front of green leaves and tree branches.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Brigitte Hoarau about her story, “Her Uncle's Home,” which is featured in the fall 2023 issue. Brigitte Hoarau lives and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains and holds an MFA from Georgia State University. She serves as an assistant professor of English at Georgia Gwinnett College, where she is developing an undergraduate creative writing program. Her fiction has appeared in Fiction Southeast and elsewhere.

Left: Artistic depiction of a woman in a flowery dress standing in a city street. Right: Black and white image of a man with a beard and glasses.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Mathew Goldberg about his story, “Woman with Dog,” which is featured in the fall 2023 issue. Mat Goldberg's short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, American Short Fiction, and Boulevard, among others. He's received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council and a Special Mention for a Pushcart Prize. He has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arkansas and a degree in engineering from Duke University. His recently completed novel, Roan, is a literary noir set in rural Missouri.

Left: Artistic depiction of a woman in a flowery dress in a city street. Right: A woman smiling in front of a blurry outdoor background.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Hannah Thurman about her story, “Thin Skin,” which is featured in the fall 2023 issue. Hannah Thurman is a Brooklyn-based writer originally from Raleigh, North Carolina. The winner of the Florida Review's 2023 Editor's Prize for Fiction, her short stories have been published or are forthcoming in The Iowa Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Meridian, and others. She has been chosen for conferences/residencies at Yaddo, Bread Loaf, Vermont Studio Center, and VCCA.

Left: Artistic representation of a woman in a flowery dress in a city street. Right: A man with curly hair and glasses stands in front of an open ocean.

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Andrew Furman about his story, “The Body Knows,” which is featured in the Fall 2023 issue. Andrew Furman is a professor of English at Florida Atlantic University and teaches in its MFA program in creative writing. His fiction and creative nonfiction frequently engage with the Florida outdoors, but he has also written about Maine, Jewish identity, basketball, lighthouses, swimming, and cast-iron cookware. His essays and stories have appeared in such publications as Prairie Schooner, Oxford American, The Southern Review, Santa Monica Review, Ecotone, Willow Springs, Poets & Writers, Terrain.org, Flyway, Potomac Review, and The Florida Review. He is the author, most recently, of the novels Jewfish (Little Curlew Press, 2020) and Goldens Are Here (Green Writers Press, 2018), and the memoir Bitten: My Unexpected Love Affair with Florida (University Press of Florida, 2014), which was named a finalist for the ASLE Environmental Book Award. His novel, The World That We Are, set in Maine like his SIR story, "The Body Knows," will be released by Regal House Publishing in 2025. He lives in south Florida with his family.

LATEST INTERVIEW

In this episode of Inside the Issue, Casey talks with Damien Roos about his story, “Five Days in May,” which is featured in the Spring 2024 issue. Damien Roos received his MFA in creative writing from The New School and has recently completed his first novel, Church of the New Light. His work has appeared in such outlets as New South Journal, Gravel, and The Colorado Review. By day he works in homeless outreach, formerly in New York City and, currently, in the heart of Appalachia. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife and two pets.