Meet Chad Michael Lange | Fiction Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chad Michael Lange and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chad Michael, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was raised in Washington, Illinois, a small Central Illinois town outside Peoria. While growing up, I saw many of my friends get married and have children soon after graduating from high school. My father worked the same job for more than twenty-five years before retiring, and my mother was a stay-at-home housewife. I never thought there was anything inherently wrong with this, of course, but I never wanted this type of life for myself.

I was interested in writing fiction and finding jobs that would support my artistic endeavors. I was interested in traveling, seeing the world, and meeting people from diverse backgrounds. I moved to San Francisco in 1995—shortly before the first dot-com boom—and I’ve spent my entire adult life searching for ways to earn a comfortable living (not always an easy accomplishment in the expensive Bay Area) while still having concentrated time to write fiction.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My artistic vision is to create complicated characters and narratives—stories that resonate with readers after they finish the last paragraph. I’m in love with long short stories—30–40-page narratives that, in many ways, contain all the same elements you’d find in a novel.

I construct narratives that on the surface might read as humorous, but beneath the humor lies complicated, sometimes disturbing, vaguely surreal characters and plot developments. The work of Anthony Doerr, Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, and Haruki Murakami have greatly influenced my fiction.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’ve lived in San Francisco for twenty-seven years, and I always love showing friends and family the city’s eclectic offerings. These are my top-3 recommended SF highlights:

1. The Observatory at the Exploratorium, a hands-on science-and-art museum located on the Embarcadero. The Observatory is on the very top of the Exploratorium, and it often gets missed by museum guests. It features stunning views of the city and the Bay, and the exhibits offer fun, interesting glimpses into the Bay Area’s ecology.
2. The Castro Theatre. Although it’s not open as often as it was before the pandemic, the historic Castro Theatre is the best place to see Hitchcock films, watch legendary drag queens lampoon campy movies, and attend world-renowned film festivals.
3. Puerto Allegra. Located in SF’s diverse Mission District, Puerto is the place to go for outstanding Mexican food and pitchers of margaritas. This isn’t a touristy spot; it’s frequented by Bay Area locals.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to MacDowell, an amazing artist residency. Located in Peterborough, New Hampshire, MacDowell provides space for artists to create. I received my first MacDowell residency in 2004, and it had a profound effect on my artistic life. MacDowell housed me, fed me, and for two months gave me a gorgeous studio in the New Hampshire woods. I ate breakfast and dinner in a common area with other artists, and every afternoon someone delivered a picnic-basket lunch to my secluded studio.

Prior to MacDowell, I had received writing grants and fellowships, and my fiction had appeared in a few literary journals. But MacDowell was the first time a major institution invested in my work. I was sharing meals with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, as well as visual artists, composers, and choreographers who were extremely accomplished in their fields. I felt recognized, and my time at MacDowell led to numerous other residencies. I’ll always be grateful to MacDowell for opening this door and giving me a seat at the table.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-lange-a10bba67/

Image Credits
Photo of Chad Michael Lange: Laurie Thompson