Dawn Raffel and I talked about her journey from an editor of so-called women's magazines to published author and teacher, the impact of being a mother, as well as her strategy -- or lack thereof -- as she flows from one genre to another. I loved one point she made about how Wikipedia has changed reading -- and thus the way we write. "If all we want is facts," she says of non-fiction, "we can go to Wikipedia" -- which is one important reason explaining the success and attraction of narrative non-fiction.
Dawn has authored two short story collections, a novel, a memoir, and a biography. Her work has appeared in The Quarterly, NOON, O, The Oprah Magazine, Conjunctions, Open City, Fence, Guernica, The Antioch Review, The Mississippi Review, The Brooklyn Rail, The Anchor Book of New American Short Fiction, Micro Fictions, BOMB, and numerous other publications.
You can find and buy her work here:
Her books include
• In the Year of Long Division (1995), a collection published by Alfred A. Knopf. One of the last books edited there by Gordon Lish.
• Carrying the Body (2002), a novel published by Scribner.
• Further Adventures in the Restless Universe (2010), a collection published by Dzanc Books.
• The Secret Life of Objects (2012), an illustrated memoir published by Jaded Ibis.
• The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies (2018), a biography published by Dutton.
