Matt Gallagher

Fiction

Interviewed by: Whitney Terrell

Catalog Number(s): 20180525, 20171208

Interview Year(s): 2017

Former U.S. Army Captain Matt Gallagher discusses his novel, Youngblood, which draws from his military service during the Iraq War. Also the author of the memoir, Kaboom, and co-editor and contributor to the collection, Fire & Forget: Short Stories from the Long War, Gallagher discusses how he crafted his book of fiction with fellow novelist Whitney Terrell, in this 2017 interview at the Kansas City Public Library. He talks about his desire to create fully dimensional and complex Iraqi characters, while capturing some of the moral ambiguity that exits on all sides during military conflict. The veteran is currently an instructor for Words After War, a weekly writing workshop that brings veterans and civilians together to examine war through literature.