Exploring Omission, Ambiguity, and Curiosity in Fiction

The new novel and National Book Awards finalist by Justin Torres, Blackouts, blurs the line between fiction and history to bring marginalized queer narratives to life. In today's episode, Torres speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about how he was inspired by the work of lesbian archivist and researcher Jan Gay — but when he hit a dead end trying to learn more about her, he used fiction to fill in the gaps. Torres also discusses blacking out text to get rid of the pathologization of LGBTQ people in testimonials, and finding new meaning in the remaining words.

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