Cressida Leyshon

1 month ago | newyorker.com | Cressida Leyshon

The narrator of this week’s story, “Nocturnal Creatures,” works for a pest-control company. Why did you want to make your protagonist an exterminator? It seemed to me to be a fascinating profession that has considerable possibilities for conflict—and comedy. For starters, there are the day-to-day tasks of the job which involves contending with rats and roaches, etc., and which is essentially an unwinnable war.

2 months ago | newyorker.com | Cressida Leyshon

This week’s story, “Marseille,” takes place in the city of the title, where three friends are gathering for a short break. What drew you to Marseille as the setting? In response to a similar question you asked some years ago—about a story set in Rome—I remember saying that it was fun to write about arguments in beautiful settings. Here, again, I think I am drawn to the idea of a reunion in a charming place, and how that charm can suddenly tip.

Mar 9, 2025 | newyorker.com | Cressida Leyshon

This week’s story, “Techniques and Idiosyncrasies,” takes place in a doctor’s office when the narrator, Lilian, is having her annual checkup. What drew you to this setting? There is a distance between a patient and a doctor or a nurse—there is an innate imbalance—and yet the procedures and conversations are deeply personal, even intrusive.

Jan 19, 2025 | newyorker.com | Cressida Leyshon

This interview was featured in the Books & Fiction newsletter, which delivers the stories behind the stories, along with our latest fiction. Sign up to receive it in your in-box. This week’s story, “The St. Alwynn Girls at Sea,” is about a girls’ school that takes to the North Atlantic Ocean aboard a ship during a time of war. When did this premise first come to you? Did it arrive fully formed or start with a single image or episode or character? I guess it came fully formed.

Dec 22, 2024 | newyorker.com | Cressida Leyshon

This story is based on a real incident involving my father that occurred in the mid-nineteen-eighties, when the military regime of Chun Doo-hwan was at its height. But it was not published in a literary magazine until 1988, after some measure of democratization had been achieved. However, depicting a person who claimed to be a spy for North Korea was still a sensitive issue that touched on major taboos in Korean society at the time, so I had to write it with some discretion.