Interviews with Samit Basu, Sagan Yee (CW ’21), and Fawaz Al-Matrouk (CW ’21)
This year, in lieu of our usual Spring Seventh Week newsletter, we decided to feature a few interviews from our Clarion West Six-Week Workshop community!
We’re excited to share a conversation with Week 3 instructor Samit Basu, where he discusses his work, publishing journey, and what he’s looking forward to with Clarion West.
We’ve also got Q&As with 2021 alumni Sagan Yee and Fawaz Al-Matrouk. 2021 was our first ever virtual Six-Week Workshop, and since this year’s workshop is online for a second time, Sagan and Fawaz share advice on staying healthy, engaged, and connected. A great conversation for anyone interested in virtual learning!
Contributor Bios:
Samit Basu is the author of several novels, most recently The City Inside (Tordotcom, 2022). He’s been publishing fantasy and SF novels in India since 2003 (The Simoqin Prophecies, Penguin India). His US debut was in 2013 (Turbulence, Titan Books). Samit has also co-written/directed a film for Netflix, written comics and children’s books across a range of genres, and published nonfiction as a journalist and columnist. He lives in Delhi and on the internet, and is on social media at @samitbasu.
Sagan Yee (CW ’21) (he/they) is a media artist and organizer whose creative practice includes animation, video games, interactive collaborations, and most recently speculative fiction. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming at places like Best Microfiction, Tales & Feathers, Apex Magazine, and Lightspeed. They are currently pursuing an MFA in Design Media Arts at UCLA, where they intend to further explore the fuzzy boundary between machines and the human imagination.
Fawaz Al-Matrouk (CW ’21) is a writer, director, sometimes both, always either. His short stories explore our power to confront the unknown, throughout history and into the future. His most recent in F&SF is an epistolary horror set in Napoleon-occupied Egypt. A filmmaker by trade, he recently directed a short film based on his Clarion West story, Anwar, about a mother who chose to live forever and a son who longs for heaven. Fawaz was born in Kuwait, grew up in Toronto, and now lives in San Francisco, with his partner and three Sir Kittens of the Round Table.
