Episode 26 --- Siel Ju
Photo Credit: Rachael Warecki
Siel Ju's Cake Time was one of the best short story collections I read in 2017. Siel, which is pronounced like the initials C.L, was a delight to talk to. We sat down to discuss her work last fall during the Miami Book Fair. Cake Time is a novel-in-stories that follows a young woman from high school to her mid-30s. The protagonist is never named, and the collection focuses on her attempts to navigate the world of dating. From story-to-story readers see her fail to make a real, lasting connection with any of the men she dates.
The collection also explores some tough issues including abortion and consent. Siel also delves into what it means to live in a large city where you can remain largely anonymous.
Cake Time won the Red Hen Press Fiction Award in 2015 and was published last year.
Interview Highlights...
Siel reveals...
- How she came up with the collection's unique name
- Why she loves reading the Bad Sex in Fiction Award winners
- What she thinks really makes a book popular
Click here to listen to the podcast.
We have a free, signed copy of Cake Time to give away to the first listener to tell us the name of the novel Siel is working on now. You can give us the answer either through Twitter (@ReadMorePodcast) or on our Facebook page.
If you and I ever shared a grilled cheese in the cafeteria at the old Herald building, you're probably ineligible. ReadMore does not have a friends and family plan! But we'll always have memories of the sunsets from that glorious location in downtown Miami.
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