by LIT Books Editor, Jonathan Kesh

Equal parts historical and fantastical, The Witches of El Paso is a spirited exploration of the many ways we try and often fail to control the world around us, and it’s the debut novel from New School professor (and former director of the Creative Writing Program) Luis Jaramillo.

The story begins as a classic family saga, but quickly grows stranger: in the present day, bustling lawyer Marta cares for her elderly great aunt Nena, all while the old woman insists both of them have La Vista,

interview by LIT Book Editor Jonathan Kesh

Vanessa Chan’s debut novel The Storm We Made is an intense work of historical fiction built on personal family histories, with a few aspects of spy drama thrown in. 

Set during the brutal Japanese occupation of Malaya during World War II, the story follows the Alcantara family as they struggle to stay together under this new regime. We quickly learn the family’s matriarch, Cecily, had collaborated in secret with Japanese forces, driven by a desire to see her country freed from British rule alongside a growing fascination with an enigmatic spy named Fujiwara.

interview by Vicky Oliver and Charlotte Slivka

Lucy Sante has had a long and decorated career as a chronicler of the arts and their environments. From her books including Low Life, Evidence, and Kill All Your Darlings and the pages of the New York Review of Books, she has amassed a devoted readership of her criticism and cultural commentary, assiduously sharp and brimming with curiosity. But for a long time, while in pursuit of artistic truth, she felt unsure of her place, eventually coming to understand that she was evading the truth of her own gender identity.

by LIT Fiction Editor, Jerakah Greene

THE CULT OF CLAIRE DONATO

I first met Claire Donato through Pratt Institute, where many of my friends have studied with her. Before we met in person, I had heard dozens of stories about her teaching ethics, her fascination with poetry and literature on the internet-plane, and her ghostly Victorian style. I admit that I idolized her a bit; she is the kind of literary citizen everyone should aspire to be, a fixture of the New York literary scene, with impeccable taste in film and aesthetics (she recently curated a diptych of Bonjour Tristesse and David Lynch’s Fire Walk With Me at Roxy Cinema,

Interview by Jonathan Kesh

All The Fighting Parts, the debut novel in verse from Hannah V. Sawyerr, is a challenging, poetic tale about overcoming trauma and learning to fight back.

The story follows high-schooler Amina Conteh as she struggles to navigate a tightly-knit community centered entirely around the charismatic Pastor Johnson, who runs the Holy Tabernacle church. When the pastor attacks Amina one night at the church, she finds herself isolated, no longer sure of how to use her voice and unable to connect with her loved ones within Pastor Johnson’s orbit.