“The Stevie Nicks of The M.F.A. Universe”

For someone not in the MFA Universe, novelist and Hairpin pal Emma Straub’s description of the writer Lorrie Moore — “She’s a bit of a goddess, sort of like the Stevie Nicks of the M.F.A. universe: beautiful, mysterious, magical” — doesn’t quite register, but dear lord is it ever something to aspire to, anyway. In this mini profile, Moore describes writing as a “form of insanity”: “How a novel finishes, is there’s a moment when you know it has problems, and you don’t know how to fix them. That’s when you’re done.” Oh, just like that. Moore’s new story collection, Bark, is out next week. [NYT Books]