Interview with Author Matt Gallagher

I first met author Matt Gallagher through his blog-to-book memoir, Kaboom. Several years later, we served on a panel together sponsored by Words After War, and not long after that I invited him to teach at the annual Interlochen Center for the Arts Writers Retreat. Behind the scenes, he’s helped me solve countless logistics or tactical challenges on the page regarding my war writing, and his expertise and kindness are just the beginning.

Last month, I finally got to read his new novel Youngblood, which is absolutely astonishing in terms of sensory detail, hard-hitting well-timed truths, and complex cultural threads. As one friend said, “I read it in an entire weekend. I couldn’t put it down.” Listen to Matt discuss characters who yearn to find “one noble thing” in their lives at war, how a short story became a novel, the surrealism of Beanie Babies, and what he calls the “vast diorama of industrial war.”

Learn more about Matt and new new novel, Youngblood or follow him on Twitter.