Always Apprentices (The Believer magazine Presents Twenty-Two Conversations Between Writers)

Always Apprentices collects five years of intimate, wide-ranging conversations with many of today’s most prominent writers, taken from the pages of the Believer. The participants don’t limit themselves to issues of writing and craft, but instead offer unfettered exchanges on a wide range of topics—from what it means to be a consumer to whether or not to kill a deer, from how we get to know each other to walking while inebriated. The interviews feature the serious-yet-casual Believer approach to the often staid interview format. For example, Sheila Heti asks Mary Gaitskill, “If you go into a room or go to a party, is there a basic disposition you have toward humans going through the world?” Elsewhere, Colum McCann begins his conversation with Aleksandar Hemon by asking, “What are we doing here? Why aren’t we in a pub?” Other interviews include Don DeLillo talking with Bret Easton Ellis; Joan Didion talking with Vendela Vida; and Barry Hannah talking with Wells Tower.