Searching for Authenticity: The Millions Interviews Ramona Reeves

I first met Ramona Reeves in a nine-month-long fiction workshop, where I soon formed a sincere respect for the depth and verisimilitude of her work. Reeves is the debut author of It Falls Gently All Around and Other Stories, which won the 2022 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and will be published this month by the University of Pittsburgh Press. A collection of linked short stories set in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama, the book explores themes of class, sexuality, gender, race, and reinvention. Throughout, an unforgettable cast of characters faces daunting hardships—heartbreak, violence, miscarriage, alcoholism, grief—yet somehow, they press on toward the light.

Over an afternoon Zoom meeting, I spoke with Ramona about her experience as a lesbian writer from the South, perseverance, second acts, and the value of authenticity.

Shannon Perri: I want to start by asking about your relationship to Mobile, Alabama. Did you grow up there?

I did grow up there, but as I became an adult