In Episode 37, I have the privilege of speaking with three-time Pushcart nominee Bill Gaythwaite about his short story collection, A Place In The World, winner of the 2025 Drue Heinz Literature Prize.
This stunning collection of compelling short stories features regular people battling betrayal, displacement, and loss and will leave you feeling a deep sense of connection with the characters. In A Place In The World, a teenage boy and his family grapple with the harsh realities of his father’s abandonment, a young lady yearns for belonging in the face of dispassionate affection, and a gay hustler’s secret is exposed.
Beyond the collection, we discuss Bill’s staying power and his response to strings of rejections. This episode holds a powerful truth about the journey of artistry and is a much-needed reminder that consistency always rewards.
Show highlights
- Resilience, the secret sauce
- On being a Pushcart nominee
- How to weave humour into painful stories
- How not to give up on a story and how to know when a story is not working
- Building cohesiveness in a short story collection
- Using the story within the story device
- The sacrifice of publication
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a rejection get me down for more than five minutes. I don’t really think about it. I just kind of think, ‘well, that didn’t get in front of the right person or they’re totally entitled to their opinion.’ I don’t take it personally.”
Bill Gaythwaite
A Place In The World is out now from the University of Pittsburgh Press.
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About Bill GAythwaite
Bill Gaythwaite’s debut novel, “Underburn,” was published in 2023 by Delphinium Books. His story collection, “A Place in the World,” was published in October 2025 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Bill is the 2025 winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize.
About A Place In The World
The eleven stories in A Place in the World are character-driven portrayals of various lives transformed by random events or twists of fate.
A young woman living on the coast of Maine confronts her painful past when her little brother comes to visit after being released from rehab, a hopeless gay hustler, in for the long con, instead finds himself falling in love while vacationing in Denmark, a failed New York City actor afraid of commitment goes on a comic rant and embraces an epiphany while cat-sitting for a friend. In separate, first-person narratives, a struggling husband and wife take turns describing the impact of a scandalous crisis in their marriage, and a settled suburban dad arrives at a beach house for the weekend, only to realize he robbed one of the other houseguests thirty-four years earlier.
In this poignant, engaging collection, Gaythwaite offers compassion and surprising optimism while celebrating astonishing resilience in the face of life’s persistent challenges.
Guest’s links
Follow Bill on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billgaythwaite/
Host’s links
Book a one-on-one with Lola: https://wordcaps.com/coaching/
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