Five Points is Hot

Jim Tomlinson and Viet Dinh are 2008 NEA Literature Fellowship winners. Check out this interview with Jim and Viet at Iside-Out China literary blog:

Q. LOL! Now, which story did you submit to NEA as a writing sample? Where was it published? In which way is the story representative of your writing?

Jim T.: I sent “First Husband, First Wife,” which appeared in Five Points and leads off my short story collection, Things Kept, Things Left Behind. Most of my stories are about characters and relationships that appear to be one thing but then unfold new layers. I think that’s especially true of Jerry and Cheryl in “FHFW.”

Viet D.: I submitted “Substitues,” which appears in the most recent issue of Five Points. I’m not sure this story is representative of my writing as a whole — my style and subject matter vary vastly from story to story. But I felt it was the best story I had on hand at the moment, so off it went.

Q. Both in Five Points! Isn’t that an interesting coincidence.