SmokeLong Quarterly

Mel Bosworth is the author of the novel Freight, the poetry chapbook Every Laundromat in the World, and co-author with Ryan Ridge of Second Acts in American Lives. His work has appeared in Hayden's Ferry Review, Per Contra, New World Writing, Santa Monica Review, Melville House, American Book Review, and elsewhere. A former series editor for the Wigleaf Top 50 and a former assistant editor for The Best Small Fictions, Mel curates the Small Press Book Review, an online archive. He lives in Western Massachusetts.

Ryan Ridge is the author of four books, including American Homes (University of Michigan Press, 2014), which was the Michigan Library Publishing Club’s inaugural book club pick. His next book, WEIRD WEEKS, a collection of stories coauthored with Mel Bosworth, will be released by Cupboard Pamphlet this fall. Past work has appeared in Tin House, DIAGRAM, Mississippi Review, Potomac Review, Los Angeles Review, Lumina, Miracle Monocle, Post Road, and numerous others. An assistant professor at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, he co-directs the Creative Writing Program. In addition to his work as a writer and teacher, he edits the literary magazine Juked.

Read the interview with Mel Bosworth and Ryan Ridge