Hi Everyone,

I had so much fun discussing “Monitor World” with Cleo Qian. In case you missed my earlier posts, “Monitor World” was first published in Shenandoah in 2021, and is available ⁠here.⁠

Please read the story before listening to our discussion!

Here’s a link to Lucia Berlin, another writer discussed during our interview.

Next up on Let’s Deconstruct a Story, paid subscribers will be talking about Ethan Canin’s story, “The Palace Thief,” on Thursday, February 27th at 3 pm.

Cleo Qian is a queer fiction writer and poet. She is the author of the award-winning story collection LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO (Tin House, 2023) and a 2024 National Poetry Series finalist.

Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in nearly thirty outlets including, recently, ZYZZYVA, The Sun, and The Massachusetts Review. She has been awarded residencies at Casa Snowapple and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. She is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow and will be the 2025 Notre Dame Storozynski Writing Fellow.

She has taught creative writing at the low-residency University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program and the Tin House Summer Workshop.

Please find Cleo Qian’s fantatic short story collection, Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go here on Bookshop.

Cheers,

Kelly

PS: All of the podcasts are free, but if you would like to support the podcast, please consider subscribing to this Substack. You’ll receive bonus material—discussions! prompts! fun Zoom discussion! Yay!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe