"Let's Deconstruct a Story" featuring Chad B. Anderson

Let's Deconstruct a Story

Chad B. Anderson's story "The Kelley Street Disappearances" has been lodged in my brain for almost a decade, so I decided to track him down, and I was so grateful when he agreed to be on the podcast. I'm sure if you are an avid reader like me, you know how rare it is to have a story resonate for that long. I hope you feel the same way I do about this one!

Thanks also to LDAS-featured writer, Robin Martin, for sending me the story many years ago.

For the first time with this podcast, in the interest of fostering our community of writers, I sent the story to all of my previous guests. LDAS-featured writers, Desiree Cooper and Renee Simms weighed in with a couple of really compelling questions for Chad. You can check out my interviews. with Desiree and Renee here as well.

Also, I'm grateful to Renee for mentioning the story, Recitatif by Toni Morrison, which I had not read, and the stunning New Yorker essay about the story by Zadie Smith.

Salamander Magazine has kindly removed the paywall for "The Kelley Street Disappearances." Please find it here.

Thanks so much to the managing editor, Katie Sticca, for helping us keep this podcast accessible.

**Salamander runs a fiction contest every year that runs from May 1 - June 1, with results announced by early September. Anyone interested can find more information on the website salamandermag.org.

Please check out the Let's Deconstruct a Story podcast on Spotify, Apple, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts after you read the story, and if you have a chance to rate the show, I would really appreciate it.

See you on October 1st, when we'll be talking about "I'm Down Here on the Floor" in StorySouth by George Singleton. Thanks to Dan Wickett of Dzanc Books for suggesting George's work.

On November 1st, Bonnie Jo Campbell visits to talk about her short story, "Boar Taint" in The Kenyon Review.

Chad has just finished editing this wonderful anthology. Check it out here.

Bio: Chad B. Anderson has published fiction in Salamander Review, Black Warrior Review, Nimrod International Journal, The Best American Short Stories 2017, Clockhouse, and Burrow Press Review, and he has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He has had residencies at the Ledig House International Writers’ Colony, the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida, and the Carolyn Moore Writers House in Portland, Oregon. He has served as an acting managing editor for Callaloo: Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters and a guest editor for Burrow Press Review and is currently an associate fiction editor for Orison Books. He edited and penned the introduction for an anthology of art, poetry, and prose titled What's Mine of Wilderness?, published by Burrow Press in 2023. Born and raised in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, he earned his B.A. in American Studies and English from University of Virginia and his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Indiana University, where he served as fiction editor for Indiana Review. He currently lives in Michigan.

If you would like to donate the show (and even earmark it for transcription services), you can make a donation here.

Thank you so much! Kelly.