Monday, August 10, 2020

Q&A with Iris Martin Cohen

From my Q&A with Iris Martin Cohen, author of Last Call on Decatur Street:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I’m happy with this title because it’s very specific to New Orleans and this book is very much about New Orleans, Decatur Street is famous for its dive bars, but it also alludes to a more universal experience–that moment of last call, when it’s time to go home and face up to whatever you’ve been avoiding by hanging out in bars. My main character, Rosemary has been using the world of nightlife, performing as a burlesque dancer, drinking too much, making bad choices with men, to run away from certain hard truths about herself and this one night is her journey to self awareness.

An earlier title was Nocturnal Creatures because over the course of the book Rosemary meets a range of characters, bartenders, strippers, teenage punks, and I wanted to allude to this idea of a whole ecosystem that only comes alive at night, but...[read on]
Visit Iris Martin Cohen's website

Q&A with Iris Martin Cohen.

--Marshal Zeringue