“Tognazzini writes beautifully, unflinchingly, and with humor ... He has written a porous work, absorbent of its time, yet not beholden to it.”
Tognazzini's story "Neighbors" was part of an evening recorded at Symphony Space by Selected Shorts with Electric Literature. It was performed by actors Michael Imperioli and Cristin Milioti.
RECENT SHORT STORIES
“The Freelance Mariachi” —The Literary Review, Spring 2016
“Neighbors” —Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, Summer 2015
“Thugs” —Guernica, Fall, 2015
“Falling Autobiography” —Forklift, Ohio, Fall 2013
“Have You Heard Anything?” —Guernica, Winter 2012
“Nomination” —Gigantic, Fall 2012
“The Treehouse” —TriQuarterly, Summer 2012
“Automatic Writing” —Vlak. Fall 2013
“I Want to Drive the Forklift” —Crazyhorse, Spring 2012
“Dear Kesha” —Liars’ League, Spring 2012
“Yes Way” —Forklift, Ohio, Summer 2011
“A Primer” —Denver Quarterly, Fall 2007
INTERVIEWS
“There Is No Such Thing as Apolitical Writing” an interview with Anthony Tognazzini
—Electric Literature, Summer 2015
“2 + 2 can = Cake” a Conversation with Dean Young and Anthony Tognazzini
—Bomb, Fall 2012
“Reynald’s Rap” an interview with Anthony Tognazzini
—LitPark, Spring 2008
ANTHOLOGIES
“Working on the Resort”
—Flashed: Sudden Stories in Prose and Comics, 2016
“86 Things That Happened Between 2:35 and 2:38 This Afternoon While I Was Lying On My Bed Trying to Take a Nap,” “Teresa’s Second Dream,” “Working Out With Kafka,” “Jane and I At Home One Sunday”
—The Return of the Kral Majales: Prague’s International Literary Renaissance 1990-2010, 2010
“Same Game” and “Leaving Places”
—PP/FF: An Anthology, 2005
“I Carry A Hammer In My Pocket For Occasions Such As These”
—Sudden Stories: A Mammoth Anthology of Miniscule Fiction, 2003
EXCERPT from “The Freelance Mariachi”
Grown men who have discovered their métier should not live with their parents, but in the freelance mariachi’s case financial straits had forced the issue. In their small, two-room apartment, the freelance mariachi’s parents had one room; his father’s portable cooler, refrigeration devices, and ice implements were in the other. His father was an ice salesman.
—from “The Freelance Mariachi” in The Literary Review, Spring 2016
EXCERPT from “The Treehouse”
She’s in a swivel chair, green robe, telling me the toast is burnt. I offer to scrape the too-toasted surface in the trash, but she points out how this will affect the texture, how the toast, when bitten, will be thin and insubstantial. She writes ‘burnt toast’ on a list of things I’ve not done right, after ‘Too many raisins in oatmeal’ and ‘Did not properly fold newspaper.’
—from “The Treehouse” in TriQuarterly, Summer 2012