Words on a Page

  ‘Is it enough to be remembered? Or do you have to be the one remembering?’ Bit by bit, Tito is fading from existence. He has lost weight, and he is shorter than he was. Sometimes his body flickers like the pictures on an analogue TV. And sometimes he disappears altogether. At home in Miami, Tito’s young life is in turmoil. Each of his parents seems to have rejected him, letting him know his birth was ‘an accident’ and referring to him as ‘your son’ when they argue. Finding refuge with his Cuban grandmother, Nana, he begins to learn about magic and the art of creating illusions. Illusions, she tells him, are meant to do good – to help others or oneself to see a situation more clearly. She warns, however, that there is also potential to do the opposite and to cloud or confuse a person’s ability to see at all. ‘In America, as an immigrant, we had to be invisible.’ Tito’s greatest desire, like that of any child, is to feel loved and valued. But his parents are distracted by...

In the second of my interviews with authors from this year’s Fairlight Moderns list of literary novellas, I speak to JT Torres . JT is an American author and academic, originally from Florida, who now teaches English at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. His novella, Taking Flight , will be published by Fairlight Books on 8 th July. ~ Loree: You’ve got a very impressive CV, with a surprisingly long list of academic publications for one who is still so young! It’s clear you’ve been extremely busy over the past few years. Completing a PhD nearly killed me, but you seem to be thriving in the academic world. As well as your novella Taking Flight , you have four peer reviewed papers coming out this summer. My first question, then, has to be: how do you do it? How do you balance such a full academic life with your creative life? Do your academic research and your teaching responsibilities impinge upon your ability to write fiction, or do they help in some way? JT:   The PhD n...