REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS
KIDS IN AMERICA: A GEN X RECKONING
REVIEWS
“Liz Prato writes with clear vision about the generation that followed the baby boomers, the generation that today moves into the spaces created by that older generation. This book is a long-overdue examination and reconciliation of the people and the era.” —POWELL’S BOOKS
“Prato mixes memoir and cultural criticism in this clever look at ‘the generation who was mesmerized by the gloss of MTV for the first time.’ . . . A rewarding look at what shaped Prato’s life and generation.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Spoiler alert: Prato believes in caring. There would be no book to discuss otherwise . . . but what’s perhaps most surprising—and affecting—about Kids In America is how Prato leverages form to bolster her arguments . . . I am so Gen X it hurts. Yet it hurts less after having read Kids in America.” ––Joe Milazzo, FULL STOP
“Liz Prato sheds a light on not just a generation, but a society that in every line, every thought, every story, and every loss, can be found and related to the society we live in today. She writes poetically, and at times songlike, as she unearths a generation that deserves to be remembered.” —Lindsay Stenico
“KIDS IN AMERICA puts a microscope on our generation with spot-on observations that will have you nodding in agreement on one page, and shaking your head at the way the world was then on the next. Don’t miss it!” — GEN X GIRLS GROW UP
"In blending her cultural critique with personal stories, Prato calls to mind Joan Didion's later writing. The commitment to bear witness underlies all of Prato's essays, and she honors her friends and former classmates in telling their stories." ––SPECTRUM CULTURE
“KIDS IN AMERICA invites the reader to remember, reminisce, and reflect on the America that created the first latchkey kids. A vivid and delightful collection of essays on a generation that is often forgotten but continues to slightly judge you all the same.” — Minerva Rising
INTERVIEWS
THE KIDS ARE (KIND OF) ALL RIGHT: An Interview with Liz Prato, by Teague Bohlen, Westword
NOSTALGIA IS A LIE: A Conversation with Liz Prato, by Meagan Culhane Galbraith, The Rumpus
JONSEY: Podcaster Ken Jones interviews Liz about her body of work, including Kids in America for KBOO
VOLCANOES, PALM TREES, AND PRIVILEGE:
ESSAYS ON HAWAI‘I
. . . a rebuke to cultural appropriation, combined with tribute to a place she loves too much to make her own.
— The New York Times
The New York Times named Volcanoes, Palm Trees and Privilege one 2019’s Summer's Top Travel Reads
“Prato’s work stays winningly informal and idiosyncratic throughout and . . .
. . . coalesces into an intriguing and informative journey through the 50th state." —Publishers Weekly
"With her guidance and thoughtfulness, Prato pushes against the surface, locating herself within the people and landscape of Hawaii, without buying into visitor thinking--this is not a musing on mai tais and hula events.” —Buzzfeed
"Prato's research and humor elevates her role to a chronicler of paradise." —The New Indian Express
'“The Islands serve as a launch pad for Prato to discuss weighty issues, including race, grief, and capitalism, with introspection and insight.” —Willamette Weekly
baby’s on fire
“SMALL BATTLES AND BLAZING FICTION: In her debut collection Baby’s on Fire, Liz Prato honors the individual’s small battles; her preoccupied but never self-absorbed characters are knee-deep in their personal struggles . . . reminding us that hope is bigger than our relative smallness. Prato’s prose is widely appealing and many-layered: her language is breezy and deceptively casual, while her content is visceral.” —Atticus Review
“Though this is not Prato’s first collection of short stories, it is assuredly not her last. She writes in a way that forces readers to take notice, gripping hearts and clenching souls.” —The Summerset Review
“With its clarity, insight, and bare emotion, Prato’s collection is an excellent addition to the world of short fiction.” —Washington Independent Review of Books.
SELECTED INTERVIEWS
Radio & Podcasts
Award-winning podcast host, David Naimon, interviews Liz on Between the Covers
Liz and author Patrick Hicks talk about Literary Art and Tragedy on Dakota Midday, South Dakota Public Radio
Emmy Award winning journalist Sheila Hamilton interviews Liz about Creativity and Living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, for Beyond Well
Hadley Radke interviews Liz about her story of adoption and secondary rejection for Adoptees On
John King interviews Liz on the Drunken Odyssey podcast about Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege.
Liz talks about Baby’s on Fire and Sisterhood in the Writing World with Leigh Anne Kranz on Bread & Roses, KBOO
Print/Online
Katie Collins-Guinn interviews Liz about “Form Revealing Itself” for The Rumpus
Lidia Yuknavitch interviews Liz about “Joan Didion and Writing the West” for Corporeal Writing
Best selling author Caroline Leavitt interviews Liz in "A fierce, eloquent look at Hawai‘i."
Steve Almond interviews Liz at The Rumpus (and, yes: Voodoo Donuts gets mentioned)
Hayden’s Ferry review catches up with Liz, a past contributor, in Where Are They Now?
Liz talks about Fiction, Sex Scenes, and the Writing Life with Judith Fay Pullman for Oregon Arts Watch
Liz talks with Joe Schuster at Bloom about publishing her first book after age 40 in Idea of the Islands.
Cristina Spencer and Liz talk about their shared soul connection to Hawai‘i.
r.k.v.r.y journal interviews Liz on writing about Kaua‘i, metaphors, loss and healing.
Magdalen Powers interviews Liz for Subtropics