Leni Zumas: From the sleepy west of the wooded east

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The UMass MFA program has launched a new online literary journal, Route 9, featuring work by some great writers (Heather Christle, Matthew Zapruder, Emily Rae, and more). I have a short piece in this issue called "Your spelling book has fallen into my hands."

About The Listeners

"Zumas has already proven herself a remarkable maker of short stories. Now she has sustained and heightened the exhilaration of her writing in this striking novel."

—Sam Lipsyte, The Ask

"Leni Zumas's visceral debut novel is a darkly funny and disturbing rager. Weaving a dreamlike coming-of-age story with the melancholic tale of a rock band self-destructing and a family's loss, Zumas's deft language careens through the lives of her characters with killer sentence after killer sentence. It's a crushing, dazzling performance."

—Kevin Sampsell, A Common Pornography

about farewell navigator

It's a rare writer who can bring us closer to people we might cross the street to avoid.

—L.A. Weekly

Zumas gives socially awkward, mysteriously gifted and self-destructive outcasts spellbinding, unflinching voice in her debut collection. ... It’s a powerful, irresistible collection.

—Publishers Weekly

Almost no one does the right thing—or, at least, the expected thing—in these stories. You may find them funny (there's just enough humor to keep them upbeat of Carson McCullers), but there's also a very good chance they will unzip you, unsettle you. ... Synapses snap, crackle and pop while you're reading this strange collection.

—The Los Angeles Times

More reviews here...

The Listeners

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

From the sleepy west of the wooded east

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