Her debut novel, Permission , is available from Coach House Books. Vogel was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in its sister city, Berlin, where she works as a writer and Swedish-to-English literary translator. She volunteers her time as the honorary secretary of SELTA and as part of the team that organizes Viva Erotica, an annual film festival in Helsinki that explores the art, history, and culture of sex on film.
She was always worried that her dad would one day slip, and this day he does. This throws her into a grief spiral. BL : It always seems like something that would happen in a high-rise.
I could see downtown Manhattan, near Wall Street, or something like that. But I guess it happens in the suburbs too. SV : There are some wonderful and long-standing dungeons that pop up in LA or have been here for a long time in downtown LA.
There was that one at Crossroads of the World there used to be a dungeon, or there still is. My book was based on a lot of research and the friendship circle I had when I was living in LA in my twenties.
SV : I would need to update my information, but it is, sort of. I think you can fall into the category of life coach or something, but you have to be quite careful how you do your taxes. You know, prostitution is not legal, so there is your hard line. BL : Right, but life-coaching. SV : Life-coaching. Also because LA is sort of structured like that. BL : Right, you never know what anyone is doing here.
