Lavanya Vasudevan

Thank you, Matt!

The book “The Spear Cuts Through Water” by Simon Jimenez. The book cover depicts the silhouettes of two warriors engaged in a battle, or a dance, or both, in a dense blue and green jungle.

One of my most memorable & formally innovative reads of the year. Stories within stories — a legend of a lost world, a family history narrated by a redoubtable grandmother, a play in an underwater theater, a love story — woven together with incredible artistry. Gorgeous, gory, utterly engrossing.

Seat pocket on an airplane with the label, “Handy pocket for literature only”

This airplane taking the genre wars to new heights

A library copy of the book “Brotherless Night” by V V Ganeshananthan. The cover shows a girl riding a bicycle past a ruined building.

Just finished this incredible book by @sugi.bsky.social. The frankness and magnetism of the narrator’s voice, the absolute immersion into a particular place and time, the riveting plot, the moral complexity and depth of compassion in this work — it’s a masterpiece.

Magenta and purple flowers of Fuchsia ‘Army Nurse,’ hanging like plump little bells from oval green leaves

White ruffled blooms of Camellia’Sasanqua,’ accompanied by blushing pink buds

Fuchsia and camellia, bright and blooming in December, when even tough little pansies hide their faces from the cold 😍

That is so very cool to hear. Thank you for making space for my work in your classroom, and for following up with this lovely note 💛

Oh, thank you! I’d love to hear how it goes!

Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to write!

Warmest thanks to Ramón Isao, Morgan Talty, and Mary Gaitskill for their notes and insights on this story ❤️

Front cover of the Iowa Review, Spring 2023, held against a backdrop of pink fuchsias and white begonias. The art on the cover, “Redwood Grove” by Diane Spielbauer, shows towering brown trunks of a redwood forest, branches with light and dark green leaves, and in the background the yellow and orange rays of the sun against a blue sky.

Contents page of the Iowa Review Vol 53/1, listing the editor’s note and several non-fiction and fiction entries. Subsequent pages, not shown, list poems included in the issue.

Emerging from the fog of my first fight with Covid to find there’s a new bit of art in the world, and it has my name on it. Grateful to the editors at The Iowa Review for publishing my story, “Krishna,” in this gorgeous issue.

A hardcover copy of the book, “Family Furnishings,” by Alice Munro, containing selected stories from 1995-2014

Re-reading “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage,” and once again astounded at the way Alice Munro leads the story and its reader around like little puppies on the leash, by which I mean, woof, woof.

Things I did not like about “Showing Up”:
- Unrealistic depiction of the artist as someone who does not incessantly snack. Where are the snacks???

- The artist as introverted curmudgeon who resents noisy parties and also resents not being invited to them
- Professional jealousy and the overcoming thereof
- The title that works on so many levels

Things I loved about the movie “Showing Up”:
- So many arts! Yarn, fabric, sketching, pottery, dance, film, stained glass, sculpture, “earth work”
- Art as dogged, difficult, indeterminate work with very rare moments of insight & inspiration

Really loved your story, “The Everest Society,” in One Story several years ago. I hope it’s in the collection :) Can’t wait to read more of your wonderful work!