Welcome to the Book Marks Questionnaire, where we ask authors questions about the books that have shaped them.
This week, we spoke to the author of Milk Blood Heat (out this week in paperback), Dantiel W. Moniz.
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Book Marks: Favorite re-read?
Dantiel W. Moniz: White Oleander by Janet Fitch // The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
BM: A book that blew your mind?
DWM: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi—like are you serious?
BM: What book do you think your book is most in conversation with?
DWM: In a lot of big and small ways, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez (translated by Megan McDowell).
BM: Last book you read?
DWM: Manywhere by Morgan Thomas.
BM: What book from the past year would you like to give a shout-out to?
DWM: Field Study by Chet’la Sebree.
BM: Classic book you hate?
DWM: I’ll be honest, there are so many classics I still haven’t read. But what I do hate is the way some writers will make you feel like you can’t possibly be a great writer if you haven’t read them.
BM: What’s a book with a really great sex scene?
DWM: Also Trust Exercise. And Luster by Raven Leilani. And The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. More good (strong emphasis on good) sex plz.
BM: Book(s) you’re reading right now?
DWM: My TBR is so mad but rotating between Sula and Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho.
BM: Favorite children’s book?
DWM: Used to be super attracted to the Rainbow Fish’s glittery scales. Still is a look I’d be into.
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Dantiel W. Moniz is the recipient of a National Book Foundation “5 under 35” Award, a Pushcart Prize, a MacDowell Fellowship, and the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction. Her work has appeared in the Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar, American Short Fiction, Tin House, and elsewhere. Moniz is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches fiction.
Dantiel W. Moniz’s Milk Blood Heat is out this week in paperback from Grove Press
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