This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Deborah Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Brian Washington read his story Arrivals

from the July 11th and 18th, 2022 issue of the magazine.

Washington is a winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence,

the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Lambda Literary Award.

His story collection lot was published in 2019 and his novel Memorial came out in 2020.

Now here's Brian Washington.

Arrivals.

You've caught the morning's first flight and your car is late,

but Aiden told you it would be there, and five minutes later it is.

He's filming in Georgia because apparently everyone's filming in Georgia,

which means he's sleeping on set, which means you won't catch him during daylight hours,

but he still puts you up in a hotel on Piedmont for the weekend.

It's like Montrose, he texted, but Gayer.

You're surprised he even remembers the neighborhood,

and you start to ask if he isn't worried about having his name on the reservation,

given the fag of it all.

Then you remember that he probably made an assistant do that shit for him.

Your driver's a tall black dude.

He helps with your bags.

When he says, you don't need that face mask here.

...