VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had at a reading?
YANCY: One of the more interesting things was when an audience member called out Junot Díaz during a Q&A. She all but called him a sucio, implying they had personal history. Actually, a lot of atypical things happen at Junot engagements. The last time I saw him, there were 500 people waiting ahead of me in line–in Los Angeles–and when he told a personal story about the 1980s, the college girls around me realized he was almost 50. They seemed to think he was 25. He continues to have quite an effect on the ladies.
Melissa Yancy‘s short fiction has appeared in One Story, Glimmer Train, Zyzzyva, and many other publications. she is the recipient of a 2016 Literature Fellowship, and her story collection Dog Years won the 2016 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was released in October 2016. She lives in Los Angeles where she works as a fundraiser for healthcare causes.
Come see Melissa read at Book Show in Highland Park on Friday, January 20 at 7:30pm