JEN KNOX

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Winner of Prize Americana, Jen Knox is the author of The Glass City and Other Stories, published by Hollywood Books International, an imprint of Press Americana. This book is a shrewd yet playful collection that explores the dangers of extremes with a subtle, skillful elegance. In these sixteen stories, weather becomes a mirror for the internal struggles of Knox's indelible cast of characters: an aging acrobat looks for connectivity online as her city floods; two sisters are tasked to spread their mother's ashes on flowers that no longer exist; a man's scars become tattoos as he attempts to outrun truth; a reluctant host shares an island's secrets; and families survive natural disasters that shake out lies and bury inhibitions.

Re-released in honor of Zero Emissions Day in September of 2023, this Revised Edition has been re-edited and contains several new stories that continue and expand the discussion around ecology, climate change, and the environment.

We talked to Jen about her story collection.

Define ecofiction for our readers who are unfamiliar with the term. Why is it important, and why do you feel called to write it?

I would define it as any fiction (short- or long-form) that explores climate change or other environmental and relational issues. I have always been drawn to art and writing that reflects emerging societal issues during the time of creation, which can be done directly with setting or character conflict, or with metaphor and theme. In our time now, climate change is not only one of the most pressing future issues, but it is impacting our health and well-being today, no matter where we live or how inoculated we think we are. Not only do we need to think about clean air and water tomorrow, but we also need to think about these things today. I believe that tackling such big issues in fiction is a way to make it palatable and also use one of the most powerful persuasion techniques—storytelling—to remind people of the urgency while not getting on a soapbox and beating them over the head with stats. Fiction can cut through to the heart and remind people of our interconnectivity, not just with each other but also with our world.


What is your favorite story in this collection, and why does it stand out for you?

"The Glass City," the namesake story, is my favorite. Or maybe it's "Gather the Ingredients" or "The Living Museum." I can't decide because this is a collection of my favorite work from over a decade of writing short fiction. I love the namesake because it's just a story that came easy, as though the characters were guiding me. And as an author, I can't help but to remain grateful for that experience. "Gather the Ingredients" was quite the opposite. I wanted to write a story about two sisters who are at odds and tasked to spread their mother's ashes in her French home. What I love about this story is that, while it was painstaking to write, I was able to create a character of the deceased mother in a way that I remember thinking wouldn't work—but it did. Finally, I threw "The Living Museum" in there because it's about a woman suffering from addiction when a strange weather pattern hits her town. This one feels more philosophical and, at the same time, wilder than many of the others, and I love that it ended up working so well.


Do you consider this collection a call to action, a force for change?

I consider it a call to awareness. Action requires understanding. My genuine hope is that this book will give people the opportunity to reflect on what's changed and changing about their world, while also being thoroughly entertained and immersed in a few good tales. Many of my stories are unbelievable, yet they are dancing with important topics in a way that is not preachy or dire but, I hope, eye-opening. By simply exploring the topic through the lens of fiction, I hope that those who read the stories will look at their surroundings with a touch more consciousness.


Who is your favorite character in this book, and why does that person stand out for you?

It might be the narrator of "The Inconvenience of It All," who is an aging contortionist who discovers social media and wants to be a star. I love her because she's innocent in a way but also wise, and she knows what she wants. She was also the kind of character who truly did hog the stage, even as extreme weather loomed. This story was about connection like all the others, only more centered on human connection (and disconnection) and how to reconcile that in the digital age.


What do you hope readers take with them as they finish reading this book and reflect on what they just read?

My genuine intention is for readers to enjoy the stories, while also understanding that we do not need to wait for extremes or absurdity to connect to both each other and the world. We can live and consume, while also recognizing the web of all living things and the planet. My wish is that readers will laugh, internally and externally; make connections with themselves through the characters; appreciate the sentences and style choices (maybe this one is just for fellow writers); and find the collection hopeful and empowering in the face of extremes.


Interested readers can read the press release here and buy the book here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THE GLASS CITY  

Jen Knox teaches leadership at Ohio State University and is the founder of Unleash Creatives, a holistic arts organization. Her debut novel, We Arrive Uninvited, is the Prose Award winner from Steel Toe Books, and her collection of climate fiction, The Glass City, won Prize Americana for Prose. Jen's shorter work appears in McSweeney's Internet Quarterly, The Saturday Evening Post, Prose Online, Chicago Review, and Chicago Tribune, among others. She won the 2023 CutBank Montana Prize in Nonfiction, was a finalist in the 2023 Tom Howard Prose Award for Winning Writers for her essay "Steady," and won the San Miguel Writers' Conference 2023 Writing Contest. Jen recently received an Ohio Arts Council grant to complete a collection of essays about work. Visit jenknox.com to learn more.

 

 

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