“There’s the uncanny, then there are Brian Phillip Whalen’s stories. In a realm of their own, his tales are populated by fragile human beings who can’t believe their eyes and ears, yet through trial and error, march on. Whalen’s writing is witty, surprising, frank, often tender, sometimes frightening. The striking voice and style in Semiotic Love emerge from a compelling mind, and a thoughtful reader of love shaped in the contemporary world.”
—Lynne Tillman, author of Men and Apparitions, and two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
For today's conversation, Edward Schwarzschild, NYS Writers Institute fellow and director of Creative Writing at UAlbany, interviews writer and UAlbany alum, Brian Phillip Whalen, author of Semiotic Love [Stories], available now from Awst Press.
Brian teaches creative and first-year writing at The University of Alabama. He has a PhD from SUNY-Albany and an MFA from Iowa State University. He has served as Special Features Editor for Quarterly West, has taught creative writing workshops, and was offered a Vermont Studio Center residency.
Brian lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with his wife and daughter and a dog named Porter.
More Brian Phillip Whalen
Brian and Ed did a virtual event together with the Johnstown Public Library that is available to view on Facebook: https://fb.watch/5zw492agoH/
Semiotic Love [Stories] is available to order from the local independent Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: https://www.bhny.com/book/9780997193893