Šari Dale is from a resource town in Northern Canada. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University and BA in English & Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia Okanagan; she has been copywriting + creating websites since. Her interests include moose, monster trucks, and reality TV. Šari's work has been published in Event, The Malahat Review, and Grain among others. Her first collection of poetry, PARA-SOCIAL BUTTERFLY, was released with Metatron Press in 2022.
ŠARI DALE: Last we spoke, you described American Spirits as “Lana Del Rey fan fiction,” and that definitely comes across. From her love of Americana and Mi-Pods to her tempestuous relationship with the press, Blue Velour, one of the novel’s two main characters, reads as a homage to the singer. What is it about Lana that so resonates with you?
ANNA DORN: God, how much time do you have? It’s so hard to be succinct when it comes to Lana because she’s like a religious figure to me. We’re both East Coast girls who moved to California to make art romanticising it. I love that she doesn’t perform control or perfection like so many pop stars. She isn’t afraid to be vulnerable. I think a lot about this quote she told the paparazzi early in her career. A pap asked, “Lana, how do you prepare for a show?” She didn’t look up from signing a fan’s record and said, “I freak the fuck out.”
ŠD: Blue seems both reliant on and frustrated by her fans—what made you want to explore that push-pull dynamic?
AD: Depending on someone breeds resentment by nature. We’re flooded with narratives of the crazed fan, but we often fail to consider that the pop star needs the fan just as much. She’s entirely dependent on them. You can be the most talented musician in the world, but without fans, you have no career. That need creates frustration.
ŠD: American Spirits grants us a backstage pass to the music industry: Cutthroat record labels and contracts. Controlling producers, who treat their artists as financial assets. Did it require much research? And, to what extent could you draw from your experience in the book industry?
AD: I didn’t research at all, so apologies if it’s gravely inaccurate. I drew more from my emotional experiences in publishing. Like Blue, I make art that is often called “unhinged” and “messy,” but then publicly I’m expected to be polished and nothing like my art. It’s a difficult balancing act. There’s more I could say, but given that expectation I just described, I’m going to zip it right now.
ŠD: You’ve captured a distinct moment in pandemic-era pop culture—I’m thinking of the cringe-inducing video of celebrities singing “Imagine,” Lana’s sparkling mesh face mask scandal, and the stripped down success of Taylor Swift’s Folklore. Do you think COVID changed the way we see and connect with celebrities?
ŠD: Do you identify as a Swiftie?
AD: I don’t—they scare me! I respect Taylor’s music but I find her public persona and her fans to be extremely unappealing. Although I think a lot about what Taylor said during her 2022 Nashville Songwriting Awards acceptance speech: “Writing songs is my life's work and my hobby and my never-ending thrill.” That’s exactly how I feel about writing books.
ŠD: American Spirits marks a stylistic departure from your earlier novels, particularly in its use of multiple third-person perspectives. It seems less autobiographical, too. What prompted those decisions, and what new challenges or possibilities did they open up for you as a writer?
AD: My first three novels were first person, present tense. And then a few years ago, I was like, I’m going to grow the fuck up and write in third person past tense like a freaking adult! Writing in third person is really freeing—I could make the characters as unhinged as I wanted to because I had more distance from them and wasn’t worried people would think they were me. With first person, it’s tempting to over-explain, to be like, reader, just so you know, I *know* this is fucked up. But with third person, it’s like, this bitch ain’t me—look at her go! And past tense let me cover a lot more ground. My first three novels took place just over a few months. American Spirits spans almost 6 years, so that was fun. Although I’m currently writing in first person again. I missed it, I suppose.
And re being less autobiographical, I mostly got sick of people equating me with my protagonists, which I absolutely cannot begrudge them for doing when I write a main character in first person with my age and my job and living where I live. The more people are reading my books, the more anonymous I want to be. I literally don’t know how Lena Dunham has been writing about herself for this long!
ŠD: True. Have you read Famesick yet? It’s been so cool seeing Lena have a Renaissance, especially after how she was treated in the 2010s.
AD: Yes, I loved it! It came out the same day as American Spirits, and I was much more excited about it than my own book. Releasing art into the world often gives me physical symptoms, so it was comforting to have Lena’s book remind me that while accomplishing your dreams is obviously amazing, it’s often accompanied by dark and painful side effects. I was feeling those side effects heavy during my pub week. And Lena is like 50 billion times more successful than I could ever dream of being so I truly don’t know how she handles it.
ŠD: The novel incorporates a wide variety of forms—emails and text messages, Pitchfork-style album reviews and Reddit threads—giving it a distinctly hybrid feel. Do you see this kind of formal hybridity as especially suited to the contemporary moment, perhaps more so than traditional narrative forms?
AD: I’d always wanted to write this kind of book that blends forms, but it took me years to get away with it. The first few novels I wrote, which were not published for good reason, blended Gchat, Facebook posts, narrative, etc. No one seemed interested, so I pared back and focused on one character, one form, one journey. But with my fifth book, I had more confidence and returned to a wider scope. Books now are always competing with social media for attention, so blending forms keeps it fresh for the ADHD reader. I think the formal hybridity is contemporary in that sense.
ŠD: In recent years, fan fiction has become more profitable and mainstream. What interested you about bringing it—often considered a “lower” form of writing—into the space of the novel? And what, if anything, do you attribute the genre’s popularity to?
AD: Writing a fanfiction-adjacent novel wasn’t entirely a conscious decision, frankly. Similar to with my last book paying homage to lesbian pulp. I don’t read much lesbian pulp or fanfiction. I actually don’t think I’ve read any fanfiction? But my writing just tends to naturally have a pulpy, fanfic quality. So those are sort of genres that have chased me and not the other way around.
Regarding fanfic’s popularity, I imagine it speaks to some kind of widespread loneliness, or maybe the nichification of culture? What do you think?
ŠD: I was impressed by your ability to write about music—it’s clearly a passion of yours. Where does that come from? Were you raised in a musical household?
AD: I was not raised in a musical household at all—my family is all jocks. I don’t know where I came from! I loved singing growing up, but I started getting panic attacks in middle school and couldn’t perform anymore. But I continued to love music. Definitely more than books. Music reaches people viscerally in a way that books just can’t. It’s also probably less fraught for me because I don’t make music; I can just enjoy it.
ŠD: Which Lana Del Rey album would each of your books be?
AD:Vagablonde - Born to Die (debut, campy, extra)
Exalted - Ultraviolence (funniest, sophomore effort)
Perfume & Pain - Norman Fucking Rockwell! (most acclaimed and second funniest)
American Spirits - Lust for Life (sprawling, expensive, life-affirming)
ŠD: Last but not least, I noticed a suspicious resemblance between Rose Lux, the novel’s other main character, and Addison Rae—care to confirm or deny whether Addison served as inspiration?
AD: I love that. I ADORE Addison Rae. But no, she was not an inspiration for Rose. At least not consciously. I think of Rose as more nerdy and having way less joie de vivre than Addison, but I also see the comparison in the performance of levity and innocence.
ŠD: Actual last but not least, have you been watching Real Housewives of Rhode Island? If so, what are your thoughts?
AD: I tried but it didn’t speak to me. But I’m obsessed with the revamp of Ladies of London right now. It feels like vintage Bravo in the sense that most of them don’t have obvious work done and are genuinely insane alcoholics. And the Brits are so witty!
amierican spirits, anna dorn, simon & Schuster, 2026. 352 pages.
Volume 16.2, Summer 26
ŠARI DALE
