Lee
Upton is a
multi-genre author of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and literary
criticism. Her novel Wrongful, a literary mystery that deals with
writers behaving badly, is due out in May 2025 from Sagging Meniscus Press. Her
comic novel, Tabitha, Get Up, appeared in May 2024 from the same
publisher. Another novel, The Withers, is forthcoming in 2026 from Regal
House Publishing. Her other books include The Day Every Day Is (Saturnalia
2023); Visitations: Stories; Bottle the Bottles the Bottles the Bottles: Poems; The Tao of Humiliation: Stories; and the essay collection Swallowing
the Sea: On Writing & Ambition Boredom Purity & Secrecy. She is
also the author of an award-winning novella, The Guide to the Flying Island, as well as six additional books of poetry and four books of
literary criticism. Her poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, The
Southern Review, The Massachusetts Review, and three editions of Best
American Poetry.
1 -
How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work
compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
My
first book was a collection of poetry, The Invention of Kindness. It
opened up new and gratifying friendships for me. Wrongful is a literary
mystery and, as such, differs a great deal from my previous book, a comic
novel—Tabitha, Get Up. This new book, Wrongful, feels quite
different because questions about evil animate the book. It’s a romance, in
some ways, but there’s terror lurking.
2 -
How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Poetry
came most naturally to me—the way rhythm and images unfold, the way associative
links lead us through a poem. It has
taken me a long time to learn how to orchestrate fiction in which cause and
effect propel at least some outward action. Writing both poetry and fiction is
satisfying—you can’t help but find yourself inside mysteries within other
mysteries.
3 -
How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your
writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear
looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious
notes?
I tend
to work on multiple manuscripts at the same time—and things move quite slowly.
When I hit a wall in one area, I work on another manuscript. By the time I
return to the original trouble-making manuscript, I may discover a solution.
This way of working means that multiple manuscripts finish at roughly the same
time. My final drafts often are very different from my first attempts.
4 -
Where does a poem or work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of
short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on
a "book" from the very beginning?
My
poems, short stories, and essays tend to have individual lives and often stubbornly
resist becoming part of a collection. Or so I tend to think at first. And then
I realize that the same obsessions are winding their way through much of the
work.
5 -
Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the
sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I like
readings. It’s only the hours before readings that tend to be problematic for
me. I’ve hardly ever not been a nervous person. Once I begin reading, however,
I’m often very happy to voice the work.
6 -
Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of
questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the
current questions are?
In Tabitha,
Get Up (2024) I was concerned with issues of self-trust and how we may
attempt to defeat entropy and create sustaining meaning. In my new novel Wrongful
I’m interested in questions of evil, how evil always has its “reasons” and a
self-perpetuating vitality. Wrongful is not only about the temptations
toward bad behavior that writers and all of us face; it’s also about readers
and reading—the intimate romance of reading
7 –
What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they
even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
This
is an individual matter, but it seems that writers should be profoundly
grateful to whoever taught them to read and write and find their way to new
adventures through the imagination. We can help others find their way by
mentoring and by allowing ourselves continual freedom to be bold in our own writing.
8 -
Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or
essential (or both)?
I’ve been
able to work with marvelous editors and publishers and designers. Publishing takes
a willing and devoted team, and I’ll always feel gratitude for those I’ve
worked with.
9 -
What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you
directly)?
“Relax.”
It sounds so insulting, but it’s pretty good advice. If you can relax, your own
mind will give you something to imagine and consider…
10
- How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to fiction to non-fiction)?
What do you see as the appeal?
Each
form is difficult. Moving toward extended time and action frames in the novel was
especially challenging for me, given my general proclivities. Each genre comes
bearing its own gifts for discovering whatever mystery we might be avoiding
otherwise.
11
- What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one?
How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I’m
now able to write full-time, and so my life is very different from the days
when I was working full-time and had small children and many other obligations.
Typically, now, my day begins with too much coffee, and then maybe with my
making a list about what I want to do, and then—if I don’t have any larger
responsibilities—I dive into working. Usually on my laptop first. Then I print
out the manuscript and revise. Next, I put those revisions into my manuscript
on the laptop, and the process begins again. And again.
12
- When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of
a better word) inspiration?
I
usually read poetry or fiction—to hear another voice. I might pace around the
house…I might eat something, like chocolate. Chocolate needs no defense.
13
- What fragrance reminds you of home?
Lilacs.
14
- David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any
other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual
art?
Visual
art, flowers, trees, talking with family members, overheard conversations
15
- What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your
life outside of your work?
I’m inspired
by the writing of Muriel Spark, Iris Murdoch, Emily Dickinson, Tomas Transtromer, Anita Brookner, Tracy K. Smith, Margot Livesey, Timothy Liu, Charles Holdefer, Rachel Cusk….and so many others. I’m fortunate to have a number of
friends who are writers, and they’re deeply important to me.
16
- What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I
think it would be nice to stay for a while in a cottage by the sea and take
long walks every day. And have marvelous hot soup on those days. (I sound
deluded. I’m actually serious. It would be so nice.)
17
- If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or,
alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a
writer?
If I
could pick up another gift and had the talent…I would still want to be a
writer. For the freedom and the adventure of it. If I couldn’t be a writer and
were suddenly gifted with ability, I’d want to be a singer who worked on
original material. Which really means being a writer with vocal range…
18
- What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I’ve
wanted to be a writer since childhood. I also, as a child, wanted to be a spy.
Now I don’t want to be a spy. Although writing is a little like trying to spy
into the depths of the culture’s hidden life.
19
- What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Last
great book: The Sea, The Sea, by Iris Murdoch.
Last
great film: 1900, by Bernardo Bertolucci
20
- What are you currently working on?
I’m
working on poems—always—and I’m redrafting a novel in which a younger visual
artist believes her life has been dramatically damaged by her relationship with
an older artist. I’m also rewriting a
couple of novel manuscripts that I lost faith in earlier. I’m now trying to
give those manuscripts new and more exciting lives.
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
