In his latest collection Tumbleweed (Vehiculé Press), Josip Novakovich crafts short stories with a sharp eye, dry humour, and rhythmic prose. Included in the book are stories about the immigrant experience, seen in the title story in which a Croatian immigrant ends up in a small-town jail in the American Midwest after failing to secure a job; and autofiction that feature animals. Below we share an interview with Josip and an excerpt from his collection.
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This Short Story Month, we’re interviewing short story writers every Wednesday, here on the All Lit Up blog.In his latest collection Tumbleweed (Vehiculé Press), Josip Novakovich crafts short stories with a sharp eye, dry humour, and rhythmic prose. Included in the book are stories about the immigrant experience, seen in the title story in which a Croatian immigrant ends up in a small-town jail in the American Midwest after failing to secure a job; and autofiction that feature animals. Below we share an interview with Josip and an excerpt from his collection.
ALU: If you had to describe your collection in nouns only, what would they be?JN: Bohemia, drift, animals, emigration, soccer, fiction, nonfiction.ALU: Who are your favourite short story writers and why?JN: Maupassant because of wonderful plotting. Aimee Bender because of the fantastic imagination and the sense of the absurd, with humorous results. Heinrich von Kleist—each of his stories could be a novel.ALU: What do you like most about the short story as a form?JN: That you can pursue one event, or one moment, one idea, and not beat around the bush. It’s like a conversation with a friend to whom you retell something odd.ALU: Have you ever written a story you would develop into a novel? If so, tell us about it.JN: Yes, my story “Sheepskin” is heavily plotted with reversals and confusion, a story about revenge after the Balkan wars. I ended it abruptly and short changed myself from developing a novel from it. Currently I am writing a short story about a man who loses his soul. I wrote it a long time ago and lost it completely without publishing it. Now I am reconstructing it from memory and it’s taking me to different places than what I remember of it…it’s already 12,000 words and I have a good momentum and ideas for development. It will probably become a novella.* * * Josip Novakovich was a finalist for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize and is a recipient of the Whiting Writers’ Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has published several short story and narrative essay collections, and one novel (April Fool’s Day). He teaches Creative Writing at Concordia University, Montreal.* * * Thanks to Josip for answering our questions, and to Maya at Vehiculé for making the connection. For more Short Story Month reads, click here.
