This week on The Write Question, host Lauren Korn speaks with Lauren Westerfield, author of Depth Control: Essays and Autofictions (Unsolicited Press), an experimental collection that explores genre and the body—their internalities and externalities; their limitations and vulnerabilities; their acceptances, rejections, and hungers. This is a conversation about identity and selfhood, genre and experimentation... And astrology as a form that contributes to one’s (Lauren’s) imaginative life (looking at life from different perspectives) and comfort or guidance during self- and genre-hopping.
About the book:
Depth Control is an experimental exploration by an essayist, aiming to make sense of and reflect on personal identity, belonging, and the choices that shape us. It captures a rich, sensory understanding of coming of age, experiencing sexuality, contemplating gender, and navigating relationships. While the themes may be timeless—a young woman finding her way, understanding her body, and dealing with the end of one relationship while considering new ones—the narrative itself breaks traditional forms, seamlessly blending different modes of existence. Throughout, the body remains central, serving as the primary means of engaging with and understanding the world.
This conversation has been edited for time and was facilitated in partnership with the 2025 Get Lit! Festival in Spokane, Washington, which took place in April.
Listen to Lauren’s Spotify playlist for Depth Control here.
About Lauren:
Lauren W. Westerfield is the author of Depth Control, a collection of genre-bending essays forthcoming in 2025 from Unsolicited Press. Her second book, Woman House: Essays and Assemblages, was awarded the 2025 Juniper Prize in Creative Nonfiction and will be published in 2026 by the University of Massachusetts Press. She is currently at work on a third book—part memoir, part autoethnography, part millennial reckoning—about the history and culture of her Northern California home town.
Lauren’s essays and poetry have most recently appeared in FENCE, Seneca Review, Willow Springs, Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, and Ninth Letter. She teaches in the English department at Washington State University, where she serves as the editor-in-chief of Blood Orange Review. She also held the position of non-fiction/hybrid editor at Split/Lip Press from 2020-2024. Lauren lives in Spokane, Washington, with her husband and their cat, Lou.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Cramping at the Bone” (Denver Quarterly), “Indentations” (Sonora Review) and “Under Saturn,” collected in Depth Control: Essays and Autofictions by Lauren Westerfield
Astrologer Chani Nicholas, author of You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance (HarperCollins)
Lauren Westerfield recommends:
Bluets by Maggie Nelson (Wave Books)
The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers by Bhanu Kapil (Kelsey Street Press)
The Body: An Essay by Jenny Boully (Essay Press)
Detailing Trauma: A Poetic Anatomy by Arianne Zwartjes (University of Iowa Press)
Borealis by Aisha Sabatini Sloan (Coffee House Press)
Brown Neon by Raquel Gutiérrez (Coffee House Press)
Drifts by Kate Zambreno (Riverhead Books)
The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Opacities: On Writing and the Writing Life by Sofia Samatar (Soft Skull Press)
Lauren Korn recommends:
Depth Control: Essays and Autofictions by Lauren Westerfield (Unsolicited Press)
Borealis by Aisha Sabatini Sloan (Coffee House Press)
No Archive Will Restore You (Punctum Books) and The Breaks (Coffee House Press) by a Julietta Singh
The Crying Book by Heather Christle (Catapult)
Ongoingness: The End of a Diary by Sarah Manguso (Graywolf Press)
On the Calculation of Volume, Book I, and Book II; by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland (New Directions Publishing)
Ideal Suggestions: Essays in Divinatory Poetics by Selah Saterstrom (Essay Press)
Astro Poets: Your Guides to the Zodiac by Dorothea Lasky and Alex Dimitrov (Flatiron Books)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, co-producer, editor, and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Montana Book Co., located in downtown Helena, Montana, since 1978, offering new books for all ages, vinyl records, and community activism. For delivery in Helena and shipping online, visit mtbookco.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
