NM x Heavy Traffic: Olivia Kan-Sperling, “The Perfect Glove”

“Although a whole day has passed since opening, the plushy carpet shows no footprints. This must be the oft-reported death of retail, which reminds Leo of the death of movies, which reminds him of his own death. Then again—he cheers up—dead or no, neither—stores nor movies—ever seem to go away.” 

Olivia Kan-Sperling’s “The Perfect Glove” is a holographic short essay set between LA and NYC, the 20th c. and today. It was first published in Heavy Traffic II. Based in NYC, Olivia is the author of the Kendall Jenner x Lil Peep fanfic, Island Time (Expat Press, 2022) and is an assistant editor + regular contributor to The Paris Review. Her writing has also appeared in Interview, Praxis, Kaleidoscope, n+1, and Cabinet, among other publications and venues.

For maximum impact, we recommend listening to this episode in stereo.

Editing and mixing by Lil Internet. 

This reading is part of Heavy Traffic’s New Models residency, which features pieces from the magazine read aloud by their authors. Heavy Traffic IV of is out now.

See also:

NM60 | Olivia Kan-Sperling on the programming logic of style

NM75 | Heavy Traffic magazine w/ editor/publisher Patrick McGraw