Randy Boyagoda, "Little Sanctuary"

It’s December 2. Randy Boyagoda, author of Dante’s Indiana, is shifting to a minor key.

How would you describe your story?

RANDY BOYAGODA: My story is about children suddenly having to take care of themselves in a world both known to them and suddenly very unfamiliar and threatening.

When did you write it, and how did the writing process compare to your other work?

RB: I’m generally a satirical writer and my fiction often focuses on adult, male protagonists. This is a very different kind of writing for me, more collective and serious. The story came to mind with the image of a family sitting down to its final meal together, only not all the family members know it’s their final meal.

What kind of research went into this story?

RB: The kind a writer does, to tell a story.

What, to you, makes the short story a special form? What can it do that other kinds of writing can’t?

RB: The short story, as many have observed, has to it inherent kinds of density and intensity that allow writers and readers alike to make full investments for short periods of time.

Where should people go to learn more about you and your work?

RB: #googleme

What's the best gift you've ever been given?

RB: In first grade, I was given sea monkeys as an early Christmas gift. I brought them to Sir Albert Love on the final day before the break, for public display. This was a major success, more than I even knew was possible, probably my most impressive turn in more than more than twenty years of schooling. On the deeply satisfying, even triumphant walk home, the container began to leak. It was snowing. There was no one else on the sidewalk. I lost all of them.

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