Acclaimed debut novelist and award-winning poet Jeanette Horn spoke to me about writing experimental poetry, getting a fateful call from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and the magical realism in her debut novel PLAY, WITH KNIVES.

Jeanette Horn is an Iowa Writers' Workshop MFA program graduate and was a Maytag Fellow.

Her debut novel, Play, With Knives, is described as the story of “A struggling theater troupe [that] tours the Midwest by surreal train—where aspects of their plays come to life and wreak havoc—in this inventive literary novel.”

Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, said of the book, "Play, With Knives is a work of wondrous imagination—a dream from which I did not want to awaken." 

Jeanette also earned a BA in English from the University of Texas, where she won several Adele Steiner Burleson Awards for poetry and essay writing. Her work has appeared in MARGIE, Poetry International, Stand, Washington Square, and other journals.

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In this file Jeanette Horn and I discussed:

What it was like at Iowa's famed Writer's Workshop

Why her debut novel was a labor of love (10 years in the making)

The successful query letter that led to publishing the book

Her true feelings about the cover art

Why it’s ok to write in the margins

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

www.jeanettehorn.com

Play, With Knives by Jeanette Horn (Amazon)

Successful Queries: Jaynie Royal and “Play, With Knives,” by Jeanette Horn

By Any Other Name Paperback by Jodi Picoult (Amazon)

The Stab - jeanettehorn.substack.com

Jeanette Horn on Instagram

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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