Richard Mirabella
Richard Mirabella’s work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Split Lip Magazine, Wigleaf, Glossolalia Flash Fiction, New World Writing Quarterly, and elsewhere. His recent works, “The Spring Pageant” and “Levittown” were published in X-RAY Magazine and Split Lip Magazine. His debut novel, Brother & Sister Enter the Forest, will be published in 2023 by Catapult and is available for preorder.
Zak Salih, the author of Let’s Get Back to the Party, wrote, “Befitting its fairy-tale title, Brother & Sister Enter the Forest sits in a mist of unease, haunted by the restless ghosts of childhood violence and abuse. But what lingers most in Richard Mirabella’s masterful novel are the brilliant moments of tenderness between siblings, between lovers, between friends, between parents and children—all of them grasping for one another’s hands in the face of so much pain, all of them fighting to meet life’s messiness with compassion and love. This is brave, beautiful storytelling.”
Mirabella shared his experiences with his career-building and writing process on Catapult’s Don’t Write Alone author site. Sharing what he had learned, he wrote, “Ava Chin was right when she told us that the writing part of our lives would shrink, but I’d misunderstood. The time you have to actually sit down and write shrinks, but writing still billows through everything. It becomes a twin life, something hovering within your daylight existence. It’s more important to me now than ever before. I carry it with me as a reminder to examine everything, that work is not just work but a part of life that can feed writing. I have a new job now, in an office working with supportive coworkers who know I’m a writer. They’re readers! I feel more like a writer at this job. I brought books to the office and put them in the meeting room. I taped a Joy Williams quote to my desk. Still, most of my time is not my own, so the time that is mine must be shaped around writing. I don’t have magic advice for other working writers. All I can say is it’s worth it to endure the not-knowing, the slow pace, the waiting, the shifting around of time, finding time. It’s worth it to do the most you can to keep writing in your life.” His whole story can be found here.
Mirabella lives in Upstate New York and is represented by Christopher Schelling at Selectric Artists.
Updated July 2022