There is humor, compassion in your writing. Also toughness. How did you develop that voice?
Living. That’s the best answer I can think of. I am very serious about my work, but I have learned not to take myself too seriously, to laugh at myself, to understand that the more I know the more I need to learn. And I think the joy comes out of my curiosity about the world. I am interested in everything. I love museums, love going to new places, love seeing the unfamiliar. What I find in doing this is the wideness of the world. There are so many possibilities. People are ingenious, and I am never astonished by the world’s cruelty. That’s expected. And though I never forget or ignore that the world is often a hard place and people can be brutal, what I am astonished by is its kindness, generosity and beauty. It’s the beauty amid danger that keeps me writing and gives me energy. Creativity is a hopeful act, an act of love.
Read the full interview with Jacqueline Allen Trimble in The Blue Mountain Review, September 2022
