Five with Jennifer Banash

Next up in the Pilcrow Lit Fest "Five with..." interview series is our new friend who lives, works, and writes in Iowa City, Iowa. She is the co-founder and co-publisher of Impetus Press, an independent publishing house that champions serious literary fiction with a pop or urban edge. Her novel, Hollywoodland: An American Fairy Tale, is published by Impetus Press, and her Young Adult series, The Elite, will be released in June from Penguin, Berkley. Please welcome Jennifer Banash:

1. What are you working on now?

Right now I'm working on finishing the third ELITE book, and a new YA series called BITTEN, which is about an Upper East Side NY family who buys Dracula's castle in Romania, and promptly moves to Europe with their precocious twin, sixteen year old daughters. I'm also writing a work of literary fiction that takes place at the court of Versailles under the reign of Louis XIV.

2. What is your favorite part of literary festivals and why?

Socializing with people I haven't seen in a while, and drinking copious amounts of wine with them afterwards.

3. Who are your favorite small press mover/shaker types at the minute?

Soft Skull Press--Richard Nash is my personal hero--Featherproof, OV Books, Dzanc Books. I'm also a big fan of Jeffrey Lependorf and the Literary Ventures Fund.

4. Which author do you wish was coming to Pilcrow Lit Fest this year who is not?

Kate Braverman, Carole Maso, Joan Didion, Paul Auster, and Bret Easton Ellis.

5. If you were in charge of picking a theme song for Pilcrow Lit Fest this year, what would it be?

Goldfrapp's A&E.