Amber Sparks makes strange, beautiful things come alive on the page. Think haunted buildings, alarming women, and ghosts that feel more real than people. She’s written several genre-defying short story collections, including 2016’s The Unfinished World and 2020’s And I Do Not Forgive You, and has carved her place in the world of literary fabulism. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Slate, and elsewhere, and she’s spent years as a vital part of D.C.’s literary ecosystem, quietly writing her bold, eerie fiction as she supports other area authors.

With her debut novel, Happy People Don’t Live Here, released earlier this month, Sparks turns her attention to long-form storytelling without leaving behind the fragmented, experimental narratives that have become her signature. “It

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