In the summer of 2025, novelist and librarian Jesi Bender released her fourth book, Child of Light. Set in 1896 upstate New York, the novel follows Ambrétte Memenon as she reunites with her family amid a world transformed by both spiritualism and the rise of electrification. Blending mysticism and science, Bender captures the way history has often entwined belief and fact. In this interview, she speaks with managing editor Wesley R. Bishop about her background, her craft, and the inspirations behind her latest work. The following has been edited for clarity and length.

Rekha Nath recently published a book, Why It’s OK to Be Fat (Routledge, 2024). The book critically engages with dominant narratives concerning how our society approaches being fat. After raising problems for popular anti-fat narratives, Nath offers an account of how we should instead approach fatness. The piece below is a talk that she gave at Jacksonville State University’s Spring 2025 Kaleidoscope public humanities lecture series. It draws significantly from the book.