Blog
5 Questions for Yunte Huang, Author of Chinese Whispers: Toward a Transpacific Poetics
"Living in an age of social media and disinformation, I find these old Chinese history books rather fascinating because they train a reader not to trust what one reads."
5 Questions with Eileen Myles, Editor of Pathetic Literature
I’m excited about thinking about time. How I want more of it and it seems like agreeing to do less would be the answer.
5 Questions with Courtney Faye Taylor, Author of Concentrate
"I turn to Toni Cade Bambara and Lucille Clifton for encouragement, for directions on speaking truth. While writing Concentrate, I was guided by the work of Cathy Park Hong, Brenda Stevenson, and Anna Deavere Smith—writers who’ve studied Latasha Harlins, the LA Uprising, and the relationship between Black and Asian-American communities."
No Red Wave, but Plenty of Red Flags
"Much remains to be done if we’re to manage a leap toward real democracy—nevertheless, we’ve kept alive our prospects for achieving an ecologically livable future while fending off a host of power grabs by would-be autocrats."
5 Questions with Anna Badkhen, Author of Bright Unbearable Reality: Essays
"Many of the essays were born as conversations of other kinds, my responses to philosophic inquiry I have encountered in the work of other writers who contemplate community and violence and distance."
5 Questions with Will Alexander, Author of Divine Blue Light
"What brings me satisfaction remains the positive infection of the imagination not normally conversant within realms prone to protracted rationally, perpetually contracted by cognitive constriction."
5 Questions with Joyce Chopra, Author of Lady Director
Joyce Chopra answers 5 questions for City Lights about what inspires her, books she's reading right now and what is bringing her joy right now.
5 Questions with Matt Goody, Author of Needles and Plastic: Flying Nun Records, 1981-1988
Matt Goody answers 5 questions for City Lights about what he's reading now, what has brought him joy during the pandemic and if he opened a bookstore, what his bestsellers would be.
5 Questions with Amina Cain, Author of A Horse at Night
City Lights asks author Amina Cain 5 questions about her work, artists that she admires and what she is reading right now.
5 Questions with Giada Scodellaro, Author of Some of Them Will Carry Me
Giada Scodellaro answers 5 questions for City Lights about where she is writing from, what is bringing her joy and books she's reading right now.
