Aja Gabel

See Work

INTERVIEWS

7 Questions for Neil Shea

By Aja Gabel

A look at frontline reporting in the war in Afghanistan with the freelance journalist and VQR contributor.

ESSAYS

The Strangeness of AWP: A Postmortem

By Aja Gabel

One writer’s take on the annual writing conference.

INTERVIEWS

7 Questions for Robert Cohen

By Aja Gabel

The VQR contributor talks about his essay about the return of the Axum obelisk to Ethiopia from Italy, featured in the current issue of the magazine.

CRITICISM

Literary Sex

By Aja Gabel

Endorsing Portnoy’s penis as a guide post for literary sex is like saying guys these days should act more like Don Draper.

POETRY

Walt Whitman, Denim Salesman

By Aja Gabel

Levi’s needed to convince those who are about to jump the designer ship to buy their cheaper version. Their go-to was a man from the first generation of Brooklyn hipsters.

INTERVIEWS

7 Questions for Maggie Shipstead

By Aja Gabel

An interview with the author of the short story “The Cowboy Tango,” which appears in our current issue.

CRITICISM

Best New American Voices

By Aja Gabel

Lysley Tenorio, Laura van den Berg, and Caitlin Horrocks are a few of the standouts in the latest Best New American Voices and PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies.

CRITICISM

Say You’re One of Them

By Aja Gabel

The first short story collection by the promising Uwem Akpan doesn’t so much celebrate the form as it does the success of gimmickry.

CRITICISM

Lorrie Moore’s “A Gate at the Stairs”

By Aja Gabel

Rarely have I witnessed such a countdown for a new novel from a female writer as I have with Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs.

PROFILES

Aldous Huxley in VQR: The Philosopher as Social Critic

By Aja Gabel

The story of the author’s two contributions to the magazine in 1931.