Matthew Byrne

Artist Statement

Rousing art, as I aim for it in my practice, must transgress the boundaries of the page if its final goal is to impact an audience. Insofar as ethics are concerned, this necessitates a degree of social engagement beyond the purview of mere aesthetics. Trained as a sociologist to see the world through the lenses of politics and social change, I’m interested in the dual power of writing to teach both author and reader. My nonfiction centers issues of social justice, narrativizing the lives and times of those impacted by imprisonment, policing, and the Law. I write about State violence, political economy, and the complex weave of historical memory. My creative process is inspired by the acts of individual grit and collective tenacity that I witness, acts that resist criminalization in general and incarceration specifically as a sociopolitical reality. I am most moved by the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.

Bio

Matthew Byrne is a writer and translator who holds a Master’s in Sociology from the University of California, Riverside. His work has appeared in Guernica, West Branch, Gulf Coast, Current Affairs magazine, Washington Square Review, Asymptote, and elsewhere. His first translation project was covered by the Los Angeles Times and Ms. Magazine. He has been awarded residencies from Yaddo, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Marble House Project, and others. He lives in Oakland.

http://matthewdbyrne.com/

Lillian Fishman

Artist Statement

I write about how intimacy challenges us to reconcile our private selves with our social contexts. My work attempts to evoke what is profound in the unknown and unsafe encounter with another person.

The paperback edition of Acts of Service.

Bio

Lillian Fishman's first novel, Acts of Service, was named one of The New Yorker's best books of 2022. Her new novel, Women & Children, was excerpted in The New Yorker and is forthcoming in 2027 from Riverhead.

lillianfishman.com