Suspended Disbelief: The Lure of Magical Realism

Swamp creatures? A three hundred year old woman? Stories and novels take us to new places and Tankersley and Taylor provide magical and mysterious turns even as they confront religious repression and the erasures of place.

About the authors

CALEB TANKERSLEY the author of the story collection Sin Eaters—winner of the Permafrost Book Prize—and Jesus Works the Night Shift. His writing can be found in Carve, The Cimarron Review, Puerto del Sol, Sycamore Review, and other magazines. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of St. Thomas and serves as Managing Director for Split/Lip Press. READ MORE ABOUT CALEB

GLENN TAYLOR’s fourth novel, The Songs of Betty Baach is forthcoming in March 2023. His first novel, The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award. Glenn’s work has appeared in such venues as the Oxford American, Tin House, Electric Literature, and Huizache. Born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, he now resides in Morgantown, where he teaches in the MFA Program at West Virginia University. READ MORE ABOUT GLENN

About the Hosts
Tita Ramirez's work has appeared in Lit Hub, The Black Warrior Review, The Normal School, and elsewhere. Her first novel, Tell It To Me Singing, will be published in 2024, by Marysue Rucci Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. She teaches creative writing at Elon University.

Drew Perry is the author of This Is Just Exactly Like Yoi, shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and Kids These Days, an Amazon Best-of-the-Month Pick. He teaches writing at Elon University, and lives in Greensboro with his spouse, novelist Tita Ramirez, two boys, and a dog.