A Punk Noir Interview with
Aubri Kaufman
“We’re all just doing this because we love it, so we should be having fun.”
Today’s Punk Noir interview is with talented poet, indie zine editor and all-round queen of cool — Aubri Kaufman!
Aubri, thanks a lot for agreeing to an interview with Punk Noir. Been a fan of yours for a while now. To start off, can you tell the Punk Noir readers a little bit about how you got your start in writing and the Literature scene? Your origin story if you will.
I think I’ve always been a writer and I think that’s probably true for a lot of us, even before we understand anything about craft or how to get it down on paper. I’ve written poetry my whole life and have always tried to feed that compulsion by staying involved with school lit mags (shoutout to my community college for letting me be an editor when I had no idea what I was doing) and going to local readings. Throughout grad school, I kept writing but hadn’t really known what to do with it all. It wasn’t until 2020 that I really found the Twitter literature community, which greatly improved my confidence and skill set and desire to branch out into trying different genres. Punk Noir was actually one of my first publications in this space!
You’re best known for your work as an editor over at Icebreakers. How did the mag come into fruition and what were your aspirations when you started out?
Oh man, this mag has been one of the most fun and rewarding experiences for me. My co-editors (Danny DeRock, Terri Linn Davis, and Lauren Theresa) and I met during a collaborative sub call for HAD and felt instant creative chemistry. After working together once, we knew we weren’t ready to stop. I think the mag was simultaneously an excuse for us to keep working together while also creating a playground for other writers to experience the chaotic good we got to experience together.
Check out Icebreakers Lit here and follow them on Twitter for your daily dose of minty literary goodness.
How do you like being an editor?
I deeply love it. There’s no better feeling than watching other creators come together and make art. I’m really lucky to be able to do this.
What advice would you give to up and coming indie authors?
Two things: Find community and don’t take it too seriously. Talk to other creators. Don’t be afraid to learn from them and try new things. Play in spaces you haven’t before. We’re all just doing this because we love it, so we should be having fun.
What are your plans for the future and what are you working on now?
Do Icebreakers for as long as people want us around. I’m currently working on a collaborative poetry manuscript with one of my co-editors (and close friends) Terri Linn Davis. We’re really excited about how it’s coming along so far. I’ve also been feeling an urge to write more CNF lately, so I’m leaning into that. Learning as I go.
What are you reading right now?
I have been exclusively reading books by indie publishers lately! I just finished Leasing by D.T. Robbins which will be out with House of Vlad later this year and oh my god, if you want to feel like you’ve been swallowed up into a fever dream (in the best possible way), this is the book for you. I can’t get enough Autofocuscontent, either. I finished Aaron Burch’s A Kind of In-Between a few days ago and it is so incredibly thoughtful; it kind of feels like the blueprint for essay writing. Mike Nagel’s books (Duplex and Culdesac) are unreal. There’s a surface tension in his books that feels like it could dip into full existentialism, but he maintains this buoyancy because he’s just so fucking funny. I think I’ve got The Red-Headed Pilgrim by Kevin Maloney with Two Dollar Radio up next in the TBR pile. Big excited for that one.
What music are you listening to now?
At the time of this interview, the new Vampire Weekend album is only a couple weeks old so it’s heavy in the rotation. I’m also listening to a lot of The National lately, mostly at my two-year-old’s request (he’s a lot cooler than me).
Have any favorite punk or noir media?
Kirsti MacKenzie’s Better to Beg is one of those books I could read over and over. It’s sex, drugs, and rock & roll. It’s indie sleeze. Her voice is so powerful…she makes you feel like she’s been there. She makes you feel like you’ve been there. It’s reckless and consuming and you’ve got to read it.
What is an issue you care about deeply?
Accessible mental health care.
If you could go on a drinking binge with 5 writers alive or dead who would you choose?
I can’t whittle it down to five, but I can tell you it’s just the people in this weirdo little lit world we’ve carved out for ourselves. So if you see me at an AWP or something in the future, you’re one of my five. Let’s have a beer together.
Aubri Kaufman is a writer and a therapist from New Jersey. She is the co-founder and co-EIC of Icebreakers Lit. Her work can be found in Pidgeonholes, HAD, Rejection Letters, The Daily Drunk, and elsewhere. She wants to talk to you on Twitter – @aubrirose.
(Interview by Stephen J. Golds)
Stephen J. Golds was born in North London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his life. He speaks the language pretty well and makes great takoyaki.
He writes primarily in the noir and dirty realism genres and is the editor-in-chief of Punk Noir Press.
Punk Noir Press 