Makkai in Bookslut
This is an ancient interview that I somehow neglected to post when it first came up. The absolutely lovely Reese Kwon interviewed me for Bookslut about presumption, evasion, funny restaurant names, and Lois Lowry. Read it here!
Media
A new interview at Authorlink
I have a new interview up here at Authorlink. All about what I’m working on now, historical research, and how writing a novel is like being a first-year teacher.
Makkai on the Art of the Sentence for Tin House
I contributed to Tin House‘s fabulous series on The Art of Sentence, writing about one of my favorite sentences of all fiction, five words from Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown. Read my essay here, and check out the rest of the series here!
Feature Interview in Shenandoah
In their first online issue (after sixty years in print) I give an interview to the literary journal Shenandoah, for which I was once lucky enough to stuff envelopes as an undergraduate. Read my interview here, and please continue to support this storied and important journal by reading the whole issue (James Dickey! Betty Adcock! Brendan Galvin!) here and passing on the link!
Essay in Poets & Writers Magazine
I wrote the back page for the September issue of Poets & Writers magazine. Click here to read my essay on the importance of an online writing community (at least for those of us with babies on our shoulders).
Blogging for Her Circle Enzine on Historical Research
I recently wrote a guest blog for Her Circle Enzine on coming to terms with the necessary historical research for my novel-in-progress, The Happensack. Included are some of my favorite non-boring research tools (hooray for the Sears catalog) for writers looking into a specific year in the past.
Interview for The Practicing Writer
Follow the link to my interview with Erika Dreifus for her newsletter and website, The Practicing Writer. I talk about how my own childhood library experiences shaped the writing of The Borrower, and about why my students aren’t allowed to read my book.
Interview and reading on WUWM’s Lake Effect
I spoke with Mitch Teich of WUWM Milwaukee’s Lake Effect about the inspiration for The Borrower. The online version features expanded audio and a reading.
“Influences” in the Louisville Courier-Journal →
I answered questions recently for the Louisville Courier-Journal about my influences, literary and otherwise. Read the article online here!
Conversation and Review at Wall Street Journal Speakeasy
A lovely review of The Borrower and a brief conversation with me are up on the Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy (their arts and entertainment blog). As a side note, I love that Rupert Murdoch has now inadvertently paid twice to publicize my rather liberal novel. 
