Conversations with Brad Watson

Though he only published four books in his lifetime—two story collections and two novels—native Mississippi author Brad Watson (1955–2020) received a staggering amount of praise and awards. His first story collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men, published in 1996, received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. His first novel, The Heaven of Mercury, was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award and established Watson as a part of the Southern canon. Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives (2010), a story collection, was a finalist for a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and the novel Miss Jane (2016) was longlisted for the National Book Award. There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories was published posthumously in 2024.

Watson is known for his lyrical prose and devotion to the strangeness of human nature. In the twenty-three interviews in this collection, readers are allowed a peek behind the curtain as Watson reveals his practice—how he writes, why he writes, and what he reads. As a creative writing teacher at the University of Wyoming for over a decade, he delves into his educational approaches. The introduction also includes a list of books and authors Watson recommends in the interviews. Altogether, the interviews in Conversations with Brad Watson span sixteen years, making this collection a masterclass in Watson’s creative process.