Ever since Dorothy Allison burst onto the literary scene in 1992 with her semi-autobiographical novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, the Greenville, South Carolina, daughter of a fifteen-year-old waitress and National Merit Scholar has been acknowledged as not just one of America’s foremost lesbian authors, but simply a great American author. What a treat it is to have a book of 18 interviews of her! Now those who have never been around Dorothy Allison know that this cannot be a boring book. I mean, there are straight shooters, and then, in a whole other universe, there is Dorothy Allison who will let you have it in the starkest terms! From 1993 until 2009, these interviews not only chart her life, but reveal stimulating insights into the writing and publishing processes and the role of sexuality, class, race, and the feminist movement in society. Editor Mae Miller Claxton teaches at Western Carolina University.
Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, a 2019 paperback reprint of 2012 release. 200 pages with an Index, Works Cited, and Chronology. Trade paperback.