Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a queer, Jewish writer. My most recent book is a short story collection called, The Things You Left (Unsolicited Press 2020), which is currently a 2021 Minnesota Book Award finalist. I also wrote an immigrant poetic memoir about my family called, The Memory House (The Muriel Press 2019), which was also a Minnesota Book Award finalist in 2020. And I have a transgender love story chapbook called, The Other Body (Dancing Girl Press 2017). I’m a fiction editor at MAYDAY and I live in Minneapolis with my wife, her ten year old daughter half time, and our cat Kiki.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Things You Left. I find a lot of inspiration for stories from my dreams, like magical prompts.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure it’s unusual, but I have a lot of semi finished books, stories, poems, and screenplays that I like to sometimes mix and match together when I feel like I need to create something new.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Etgar Keret’s magcial flash fiction, Aimee Bender, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jeanette Winterson, Diane di Prima, Maggie Nelson, Catherine Lacey, Laura van den Berg. One of my favorite books is Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.
What are you working on now?
I just finished a magical realism novel about a girl traveling around Europe followed by the ghost of her ex-girlfriend, and am working on a screenplay adapted from one of my short stories.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Usually I do an email blast, Instagram, and Facebook. And then make flyers and tell all my friends to tell everyone they know!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t compromise your work. There’s room in the world for all of it.
What are you reading now?
Drive You Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Author Websites and Profiles
Raki Kopernik Website
Raki Kopernik Amazon Profile
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