Burned By Books

Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, "Anonymous Sex" (Simon and Schuster, 2022)


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An interview with Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, editors of Anonymous Sex, a collection of 27 explicit sex stories unattributed to the 27 writers listed in the byline. Cheryl, Hillary, and I discuss how exactly you get writers like Louise Erdrich, Rebecca Makkai, Helen Oyeyemi, and Robert Olen Butler to contribute a story when the conceit is sex. We talk about the problem with stale erotica and the search for fresh language with which to talk about sex and desire, the necessity of understanding sex as culturally constructed, and so much more.

Hillary Recommends:

  • Michael Cunningham, Flesh and Blood
  • ----. A Home at the End of the World
  • Cheryl Recommends:
  • Fumiko Enchi, Masks
  • ----. The Waiting Years
  • The Novels of Muriel Spark

  • Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers.

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