Q&A with Joanna Pearson

From my Q&A with Joanna Pearson, author of Bright and Tender Dark:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Bright and Tender Dark works in an oblique way to introduce some central thematic concerns—and paradoxes—of the novel. Bright conjures Karlie, the brilliant and charismatic young woman found murdered in her college apartment in the early days of the year 2000. Tender is the sore spot, tender as a bruise, left in Joy, Karlie’s freshman roommate, who both envied Karlie and yet also misses her, and who still has questions about what really happened. Dark is the space of uncertainty, where questions turn to urban legends, myth, or Reddit threads. Karlie’s absence becomes...[read on]

Visit Joanna Pearson's website.

Q&A with Joanna Pearson.

--Marshal Zeringue