Ten Questions for Mesha Maren

This week’s installment of Ten Questions features Mesha Maren, whose new novel, Shae, is out today from Algonquin Books. In this heart-wrenching tale, a teenager from rural West Virginia, Shae, falls into an intense love affair with Cam. Their romance becomes complicated by Shae’s pregnancy and Cam’s awakening to her trans identity. While the two attempt to work through a new relationship dynamic, Shae’s growing addiction to opioids after the birth of her daughter with Cam throws their lives into turmoil. While Cam moves on from their small town—exploring music, higher education, and a more authentic sense of self—Shae finds herself with few good options to support their daughter or to move into a brighter future. Publishers Weekly praises Shae’s sense of place and emotional connection: “Maren beautifully evokes both the natural beauty of Appalachia and Shae’s plaintive longing for Cam.... Maren continues to show a knack for portraying the complexities and contradictions of an often-misunderstood part of America.” Mesha Maren is the author of the novels Sugar Run (2019) and Perpetual West (2022), both from Algonquin Books. An associate professor of the practice of English at Duke University, Maren has received the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, an Appalachian Writing Fellowship from Lincoln Memorial University, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation.