Toni Mirosevich in conversation with Celeste Chan about her new story collection, Spell Heaven. The linked stories follow a lesbian couple moving from San Francisco to Seaview, the heart of Steinbeck country, with profiles of their new neighbors and the challenges of being strangers in a new place. 

Toni Mirosevich grew up in a Croatian-American fishing family in Everett, Washington. Previous books include Pink Harvest, The Takeaway Bin, Queer Street, My Oblique Strategies, The Rooms We Make Our Own. She is an alumna of MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Djerassi Resident Artists Programs, among others, a multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, and named a San Francisco Library Literary Laureate. After early years working in various labor jobs, she began teaching creative writing at San Francisco State University in 1991. A professor emeritus of creative writing at San Francisco State University, she lives with her wife in California. 

Celeste Chan is a San Francisco–based writer. She moderated National Book Foundation’s Revolutionary Joy panel in 2021 and has taught Queer Ancestors writing workshops for LGBTQ youth. She’s now writing her memoir. 

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Toni Mirosevich - Instagram 

Celeste Chan - Twitter