What Denne Michele Norris Learned as a Writer and Editor

Ursa Short Fiction

Deesha and Dawnie chat with Denne Michele Norris, editor-in-chief of Electric Literature and author of the forthcoming debut novel, When The Harvest Comes (Random House). She is also the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication.

Norris discusses her approaches to both writing and editing, sharing insights for writers on working with editors. She also talks about the ways different genres — from fiction to essay to memoir — all require their own approaches. Norris asks questions of herself and of the work, aiming to edit “ethically and responsibly and [tell] a beautiful story.”

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Reading List: Stories and Writers Mentioned

• Denne Michele Norris
• McSweeney's 62: The Queer Fiction Issue
• Food 4 Thot Podcast
• "An Almanac of Bones" (Dantiel W. Moniz)
• The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)
• Everyday People: The Color of Life Anthology (edited by Jennifer Baker)
• "Daddy's Boy" (Denne Michele Norris)
• Jade Jones
• Going To Meet The Man (James Baldwin)
• Friday Black (Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah)
• Milk Blood Heat (Dantiel W. Moniz)
• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw)
• What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky (Lesley Nneka Arimah)
• Difficult Women (Roxane Gay)

About the Author

Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the 2022 Whiting Digital Literary Magazine Prize, where she is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, VCCA, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction, and appears in McSweeney's, American Short Fiction, and ZORA. She co-hosts the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot, and mentors emerging writers of color with The Periplus Collective. Her debut novel, When The Harvest Comes, is forthcoming from Random House.

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw)
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton)

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Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Executive producers: Dawnie Walton & Mark Armstrong

Author photo: Hilary Leichter

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