Posts by Aaron Burch Interviews Anthony Veasna So

August 30, 2021 | Interview

"I was trying to be this smart funny guy who writes about his deadbeat hometown and marginalized culture"

Aaron Burch Interviews Anthony Veasna So

Years after reading the story (Junot Diaz' "Drown"), after teaching it to high schoolers (many of them POC), I set out to rewrite this queer of color narrative in my story, "The Monks." I wanted to show how a straight, masculine guy of color could brush up against queerness and feel empowered by it, not scared, even if in the slightest of ways, the slightest of spiritual progressions.