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Roy Kesey’s first novel, Pacazo, comes out this month from Dzanc Books. It tells the story of “John Segovia, an American historian who teaches English at a small university in Piura, on the desert coast of Peru. The narrative moves between John's obsessive search for his wife's killer and his attempts to build a new life for himself and his infant daughter. The storms of El Niño--three months of savage rains, insect plagues and collapsed bridges--and the ghosts of history that stalk the sands of the Sechura Desert give this novel the sweep of an epic tale. Throughout, Pacazo explores and celebrates the many ways in which we construct the stories we tell of ourselves and those we love.” In this podcast, Roy reads from the new book.
Roy Kesey was born and raised in northern California and currently lives with his lovely wife and adorable children in Peru. He’s also the author of a novella called Nothing in the World (winner of the Bullfight Media Little Book Award), a collection of short stories called All Over (a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award, and one of The L Magazine's Best Books of the Decade), and a historical guide to the city of Nanjing, China.
His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, New Sudden Fiction, The Robert Olen Butler Prize Anthology and The Future Dictionary of America, and in more than seventy magazines including McSweeney's, Subtropics, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review and Ninth Letter.
Roy and I wrote McSweeney’s dispatches at the same time, which is how I came to know him. Later I interviewed him here at the blog, he did a reading at my house, and we once co-authored an unfortunate text that hopefully will never see the light of day.
Click here to listen to Roy read from his new book.
If you’re at the conference, see Roy Kesey today, Thursday, 4:30-5:45, Virginia A Room, Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level, R221, in a panel called “Fiction’s Future.”
