Mike Karpa’s hilarious “Because Of Course: An Award-Winning Story” opens with an audacious promise: “I am going to win a prize.” How? By writing the story of a “prosperous, middle-aged male protagonist who is white.” The piece’s biting parody attracted our eye—not only for its love of hyperbole, but for the fast clip at which the narrator takes on the literary world. We look forward to performing Mike’s piece on January 12 at our Play On Words: Beyond Boundaries show at the San Jose Museum of Art.

Mike is still a queer San Francisco writer, but now focused on churning out new work. To hell with revising! Hit it and quit it. He has used up his oddly unrelatable, peripatetic past (eight years in Asia, refugee dad, Texican mom) as subject matter and now writes exclusively about the here-and-now, despite not understanding it, which does turn out to be relatable. His memoir and short fiction has been published in Tahoma Literary Review, Tin House (selected for #MemoirMonday), Chaleur, Sixfold, Faultline and other literary magazines. He recently attended Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Mike was kind enough to answer a few questions in advance of the January show.

What are you currently working on?

A longer version (including more footnotes!) of “Because of Course” was published in this summer’s Tahoma Literary Review (available for purchase) and is in the process of becoming a novel (first draft finished in NaNoWriMo 2019).

What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?

Having participated once before, I was drawn back by the desire to hear others’ work performed. The older I get, the more I enjoy participating in writing events with other people, being with writers and readers as we together open up to new stuff. Being in the audience feels like (is!) a creative act.

Which writers or performers inspire you?

Recently, John Boyne. Especially The Heart’s Invisible Furies. What a great storyteller and clean writer! Matthew Lansburgh’s Outside Is The Ocean felt like it had been written for me. I devoured it. And Lydia Davis’s Can’t and Won’t is always inspiring, as she is generally. Also Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic. I got to hear him read this summer and re-reading his work now brings back his very specific voice. That book really cleans out my mind.

Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.

Brice Matthieussent’s Revenge of the Translator (translated by Emma Ramadan) feels like a kindred spirit and would have inspired “Because of Course” had I read it first.

Get your tickets now for our January 12 show at the San Jose Museum of Art to see Mike’s work performed. Entrance includes free admission to the museum.