Spring is here so is Fictionable, with another set of exclusive short stories and another series of podcasts where we meet our fantastic authors. During the next few weeks we'll be hearing from Takiguchi Yūshō and the translator Jesse Kirkwood, Bruna Martini, Holly Edwards and Joel Cox. But this Spring series marks a return to Fictionable for Diana Evans, who joined us on the Fictionable podcast way back in 2022 to talk about her short story Broth.This time she brings dessert, with Ice Cream, which catches a young woman in that awkward gap between graduation and real life.Evans says she was thinking back to her own past and comparing it with the ongoing crisis in youth unemployment."It's such a long stretch," she says. "It seems almost like climbing a mountain to actually manifest your talents and give what you have to offer to the world, and for it to be accepted."Evans takes us back to the 1990s, when she fell into a job as culture editor at Pride magazine."There was this huge Black music scene," she recalls, "that was just proliferating and I was interviewing these rappers and R&B singers. Rap music was becoming pop music and reggae was really popular. It was just a really exciting time."Our current moment feels urgent too, Evans continues, but it's still part of the same continuum."We're dealing with the same issues, the same injustices," she says. "There's just this global escalation of possible catastrophe… but it's the same energy."It can feel like capitalism is propelling us towards some kind of Armageddon, Evans continues, but writers mustn't be discouraged."I think artists are really important in this moment," she insists. "I think we have a real call now to reflect on things that are happening and to just make people feel that there is hope."We'll be considering the miracle of new life next time with Bruna Martini and her graphic short story One Day at a Time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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