Mary Moore Easter, author of The Way She Wants to Get There: Telling on Myself
Memoir & Creative Nonfiction Category, sponsored by Bradshaw Celebration of Life Centers
Each week leading up to the 35th annual Minnesota Book Awards, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
1) The sense that the “story” moves along, has suspense, makes the reader want to turn the pages. Narrative drive is a new concern for a poet. The other accomplishment is weaving myself and history together. 2) I have braided the various facets of my identity and concerns into one story, unlike more usual separate expectations of Mary/dancer, Mary/teacher, Mary writer, Mary/Black woman, Mary/wife and mother. It gives me enormous satisfaction to present myself whole in my book.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Read in your field and out of your field. READ!
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
I have at least 3 unpublished chapbooks that I made myself, including formatting on the computer. Love poems mostly. Recently I reviewed them and was not embarrassed. Keep an eye out!
The Minnesota Book Awards is a celebration of writers, readers – and libraries. We’d love if you would share thoughts about the role and value of libraries.
At the Gale Family Library all I did was mention the Winslow House and they brought out a tray of objects including postcards and a menu from the late 1880’s. Treasure trove for understanding the position the place held as destination travel and luxury. For my chapbook on Eliza Winston. Not simply a “nice hotel.” This information cross-checked with old books in the Hennepin County Library. Fascinating to see the information in different holdings. Invaluable.
Mary Moore Easter is the founder and director of Carleton College’s dance program. She has been a Cave Canem Fellow at the Foundation for African American Poetry. She received an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, The Loft Literary Center’s Creative Non-Fiction Award, and many others.