Andrea Marcusa Q & A with Eastern Iowa Review
Chila: Andrea, I just reread your lovely, heartbreaking essay, "Boulevard Mohamed Bouazizi; Sidi Bou Zid, Tunisia, 2016," which incidentally, we've nominated for a Pushcart Prize. It has to be one of my favorites, ever. Obviously, you were in Tunisia. I feel the heartbreak in that short essay as you must have felt it then. (I want everyone who hasn't read it to read it, so I hope they order a copy of Issue 3. They won't be sorry.) Please tell us something about that trip that you didn't reveal in the essay, something that sticks in your mind even today, something that will help us learn and understand a little bit more about our world or that people or ourselves.
Andrea: I think what I’ve learned during my travels to Tunisia, where I’ve been four times – once before and three times following – the Arab Spring, is how our own experiences as Americans, living in a free society where there is access to so much, distorts the lens through which we see events in other parts of the world. Most Americans are surprised to learn that in many countries there are huge obstacles (way beyond the ones that we as Americans encounter) to trying to start a business, for instance. Also, that there are regions of a country that have access to more benefits than other regions. Compared to the areas of Tunisia that tourists typically access, Sidi Bou Zid was an entirely different world and heartbreakingly so.
Chila: Your sense of lyricism is strong. I'm enamored with lines like these: "I feel the Maghreb heat rising, feel it rage across the city’s broken streets and scrawny children and worn out mothers and worried shopkeepers with lost eyes, and cafés jammed with jobless men with no place to go. I want to understand the politics. Apply confident Western logic to this world. But on the edge of the desert, sand and stone stretch to meet a barren blue sky. What Arab Spring, you ask. Western dreams. Not even a bird dares to sing here." You've created something so true and hard with your beautiful words. You've included elements in this work that, in combination, are irresistible to me: universal truth, recent history, a unique place and under-addressed people, strong lyricism and strong emotion. Talk about your process with this specific work, time-wise, revision-wise, etc.
Andrea: I’m a visual and auditory person. Often an image or a grouping of words just sticks with me like a burr on a sweater. If that image and those words dig in, I know that there’s something there and I simply follow it. Often I hear a voice, or I stumble upon a voice in my reading and I sort of channel that voice along with the phrases, and the voices that I’ve heard in my experiences.
Chila: Your author bio is quite impressive, your list of writing credits includes such distinguished venues as The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. How do you decide on a topic when beginning a new project, and how do you decide where to send it?
Andrea: I have about 10 projects going at once, in all stages of completion. Often I work on certain pieces based on the seasons. It’s odd, I know, but my moods change and so I just flip thru my folders until I settle on something. As for beginning a project, I think I answered that in you previous question. Knowing where to send it? That’s a million dollar question. I read many literary magazines, and newspapers, I read Pushcart Prize Anthology every year, and if I find work that I’m drawn to, or I feel like there’s something about my work that resonates with an author that I’m reading, I look them up and see where they have been published. Then I check out those publications to see if they make sense.
Chila: Does lyricism come easily to you, or do you work at it as you would a poem? Has it grown easier to do over the years (write lyrically and well) or do you still find yourself spending inordinate amounts of time trying to perfect your work?
Andrea: I think Lyricism may come easier to me than other aspects of writing. Lyricism provides a kind of freedom from the telling and more into feeling, which is what engages a reader. I do spend a lot of time perfecting my work. The smaller space a writer has, the more important each word becomes. But the revising and perfecting is the part of writing that I like!
Chila: Do you have an author or two who has heavily influenced you, and can you list their most influential works for you?
Andrea: I read a lot of poetry. I always go to poets when I’m stuck. Some of my favorites are Philip Levine, Edward Hirsch, Robert Wrigley, Sharon Olds. In nonfiction, I’ve been recently reading Maguerite Duras.
Chila: What would you like to share or tell us that I didn't ask? Family? Hobbies? New projects? Feel free to address any or all or something else entirely.
Andrea: I think one of the things that gave me the confidence to kind of go with my gut was what I learned taking photos. I would often see something, take a photo and then post it on Facebook or Twitter. When I was in a dark mood, I’d be drawn to dark images and imposing angles. When I was feeling upbeat, my photos always contained lots of light and sparkle. I noticed the more mood my photos contained, the more people responded to them. Somehow this influenced my writing and gave me confidence to travel in that same direction, and move more towards Lyricism.
Chila: Andrea, I just reread your lovely, heartbreaking essay, "Boulevard Mohamed Bouazizi; Sidi Bou Zid, Tunisia, 2016," which incidentally, we've nominated for a Pushcart Prize. It has to be one of my favorites, ever. Obviously, you were in Tunisia. I feel the heartbreak in that short essay as you must have felt it then. (I want everyone who hasn't read it to read it, so I hope they order a copy of Issue 3. They won't be sorry.) Please tell us something about that trip that you didn't reveal in the essay, something that sticks in your mind even today, something that will help us learn and understand a little bit more about our world or that people or ourselves.
Andrea: I think what I’ve learned during my travels to Tunisia, where I’ve been four times – once before and three times following – the Arab Spring, is how our own experiences as Americans, living in a free society where there is access to so much, distorts the lens through which we see events in other parts of the world. Most Americans are surprised to learn that in many countries there are huge obstacles (way beyond the ones that we as Americans encounter) to trying to start a business, for instance. Also, that there are regions of a country that have access to more benefits than other regions. Compared to the areas of Tunisia that tourists typically access, Sidi Bou Zid was an entirely different world and heartbreakingly so.
Chila: Your sense of lyricism is strong. I'm enamored with lines like these: "I feel the Maghreb heat rising, feel it rage across the city’s broken streets and scrawny children and worn out mothers and worried shopkeepers with lost eyes, and cafés jammed with jobless men with no place to go. I want to understand the politics. Apply confident Western logic to this world. But on the edge of the desert, sand and stone stretch to meet a barren blue sky. What Arab Spring, you ask. Western dreams. Not even a bird dares to sing here." You've created something so true and hard with your beautiful words. You've included elements in this work that, in combination, are irresistible to me: universal truth, recent history, a unique place and under-addressed people, strong lyricism and strong emotion. Talk about your process with this specific work, time-wise, revision-wise, etc.
Andrea: I’m a visual and auditory person. Often an image or a grouping of words just sticks with me like a burr on a sweater. If that image and those words dig in, I know that there’s something there and I simply follow it. Often I hear a voice, or I stumble upon a voice in my reading and I sort of channel that voice along with the phrases, and the voices that I’ve heard in my experiences.
Chila: Your author bio is quite impressive, your list of writing credits includes such distinguished venues as The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. How do you decide on a topic when beginning a new project, and how do you decide where to send it?
Andrea: I have about 10 projects going at once, in all stages of completion. Often I work on certain pieces based on the seasons. It’s odd, I know, but my moods change and so I just flip thru my folders until I settle on something. As for beginning a project, I think I answered that in you previous question. Knowing where to send it? That’s a million dollar question. I read many literary magazines, and newspapers, I read Pushcart Prize Anthology every year, and if I find work that I’m drawn to, or I feel like there’s something about my work that resonates with an author that I’m reading, I look them up and see where they have been published. Then I check out those publications to see if they make sense.
Chila: Does lyricism come easily to you, or do you work at it as you would a poem? Has it grown easier to do over the years (write lyrically and well) or do you still find yourself spending inordinate amounts of time trying to perfect your work?
Andrea: I think Lyricism may come easier to me than other aspects of writing. Lyricism provides a kind of freedom from the telling and more into feeling, which is what engages a reader. I do spend a lot of time perfecting my work. The smaller space a writer has, the more important each word becomes. But the revising and perfecting is the part of writing that I like!
Chila: Do you have an author or two who has heavily influenced you, and can you list their most influential works for you?
Andrea: I read a lot of poetry. I always go to poets when I’m stuck. Some of my favorites are Philip Levine, Edward Hirsch, Robert Wrigley, Sharon Olds. In nonfiction, I’ve been recently reading Maguerite Duras.
Chila: What would you like to share or tell us that I didn't ask? Family? Hobbies? New projects? Feel free to address any or all or something else entirely.
Andrea: I think one of the things that gave me the confidence to kind of go with my gut was what I learned taking photos. I would often see something, take a photo and then post it on Facebook or Twitter. When I was in a dark mood, I’d be drawn to dark images and imposing angles. When I was feeling upbeat, my photos always contained lots of light and sparkle. I noticed the more mood my photos contained, the more people responded to them. Somehow this influenced my writing and gave me confidence to travel in that same direction, and move more towards Lyricism.
Many thanks to Andrea for this enlightening dialogue! - Chila
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Andrea Marcusa is a fiction and essay writer. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Epiphany, River Styx, Ontario Review, New South, Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times and other publications. A four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she was a finalist in the New Letters essay and Ruminate’s fiction competitions. Learn more about Andrea Marcusa’s work at andreamarcusa.com. Issue 3
_______
Andrea Marcusa is a fiction and essay writer. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Epiphany, River Styx, Ontario Review, New South, Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times and other publications. A four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she was a finalist in the New Letters essay and Ruminate’s fiction competitions. Learn more about Andrea Marcusa’s work at andreamarcusa.com. Issue 3
