You Need A Song When You’re Sad: An Interview with Jolie Holland

Jolie Holland is an American musician and songwriter. Formerly a member of The Be Good Tanyas, her recent albums include Catalpa, Escondida, Springtime Can Kill You, the Living and the Dead, and, most recently, Pint of Blood. You can find her here and here. *** UFR: I’ve read in several places that you’re a big fan […]

“Crocodiles in Korea” by Anna Kovatcheva

My life has been normal. That is to say, I lived it front to back, beginning to end, like most people do. I took dance lessons as a girl and went to school most days, except for when we snuck out thinking we were rebellious in high school and smoked dusty packets of Winston cigarettes […]

“Bio” by Josh Denslow

Peter Frumkin lives in Barrington, Illinois with three dogs, two cats, a bird named Dorothy and his lovely girlfriend who will grow to love animals. This is his first published story. * Peter Frumkin is a happy man. His story Things Always Get Better in this issue is dedicated to his wife, Veronica. They currently […]

Talking with Furniture: Ben Marcus

Ben Marcus is the author of Notable American Women, The Father Costume, and The Age of Wire and String, and his forthcoming novel, The Flame Alphabet. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Believer, The New York Times, Salon, McSweeney’s, Time, Conjunctions and Tin House. He is the editor of […]

Three Poems by Sierra DeMulder

The Perm The first time my mother stood up to my father, she got her hair permed. He had told her not to, said it was a waste of my hard-earned money. My father tells me this story while crying. He is softer now, a treadless tire. My mother came home from the salon, and […]

“Before the Performance” by Ernest Williamson

Dr. Ernest Williamson has published poetry and visual art in over 350 print and online journals. Visit his website, here.

“Jesters” by Marianne Villanueva

The house is moist and warm.  When you close your eyes, you could almost be enclosed in a womb.  Outside the window, trees are swaying. It is cold.  Unseasonably cold for September. A strange morning. You woke to a new light, grayish and cool. No longer the intense white glare of the past weeks. Blue […]

A Little Pain, A Little Hope, A Lot of Heart: An Interview with Spirit Family Reunion

Spirit Family Reunion is a band from Brooklyn, New York that includes Nick Panken, Maggie Carson, Mat “Twain” Davidson, Ken Woodward, Peter Pezzimenti and Stephen Weinheimer. For the month of January they are in residence at The Living Room. You can find them here and here. *** UFR: First of all, a question you might get […]

“Shame” by Alex Haber

I wear my father’s guilt like a necklace around my throat. An unwanted gift passed down. I can feel it in the shower, scrubbing until my skin turns pink. It digs into me when I’m driving to work, when I’m sitting in the backyard, my children playing games at my feet. I see it reflecting […]

These Things Don’t Happen by Themselves: A Conversation with Molly Gaudry

A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Molly Gaudry was nominated for the 2011 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. She is the author of We Take Me Apart, which was a finalist for the Asian American Literary Awards for Poetry and has been nominated for the McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize. She is the founder and creative director of The […]