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Q&A with Kim Suhr, author of Nothing To Lose

“Poetry has gotten them into this and poetry will have to get them out.”
~ from “Right Place, Right Time” in Nothing To Lose

In the heart of Wisconsin right now, we are covered in white. Winter continues to show up with force, shutting down the city and leaving us staring at a monochrome image broken up only by a line of trees or the red tail lights of slow-moving traffic.

You might think, The midwest–all that cold and snow! How does anyone survive? But there’s more to living in Wisconsin.

There are the people and the places and the poetry of stories. Read anything by Michael Perry: Population 485 or Visiting Tom, both great books of nonfiction about captivating characters in real life.

Or, pick up Kim Suhr’s new collection of short stories, Nothing To Lose (Cornerstone Press, 2018), which features an eclectic mix of fictional characters who hail from all over the state.

Sure, these may not be people you’d meet in the street, but as Albert Camus says, “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.” So be prepared to wonder.

Suhr’s stories will ring familiar with things you know about the midwest, but they will also surprise you, keep you turning the page, and leave you considering if the bits and pieces of strange don’t ring true in one way or another.

I’m honored to host Kim Suhr and thrilled to offer a book giveaway. Click HERE to enter by Tuesday, February 19th, noon for a chance to win a copy of her new collection. Now welcome Kim Suhr!

Christi Craig (CC): In your book, you introduce us to so many different characters: a teacher turned poet looking for love, a mother desperate to save her drug-addicted son, two friends set on starting up a “Paintball for Jesus” business, and more. Where do your ideas for such diverse characters come from?

Image of Kim Suhr: woman looking at camera, wearing blue shirt and beaded necklace.

Kim Suhr (KS): Honestly, I wish I knew. On a global level, they all come from my desire to understand people who are different from me, what makes them tick, what they wish for and regret.

Some stories started with an image: A man standing in a doorway wearing night vision goggles; cross-dressing deer hunters (don’t ask); a video camera in a kid’s face. One started with an overheard conversation: “My friend decided to follow the advice on every Dove wrapper.” “Dry Spell,” about a paintball range for Jesus, came from a real advertisement I happened across. What could be the story behind that? I asked myself, and I was on my way…

CC: Your book is also filled with a wonderful mix of very different stories that constantly surprise the reader. I’m thinking in particular of the story “Brush Strokes,” which begins with the simple image of an artist painting on a canvas. Mid-way, the story—the artist—takes a dangerous turn, and there’s no way a reader will close the cover before reaching the end. As the writer, were you clear as to where each story was headed?

KS: That’s a great question and one that gives me pause. I think, subconsciously, I know what direction I want each story to take, but it isn’t until I’m in the thick of writing it that I realize where it needs to go. Everything is in service to the story. I may personally want a character to undergo a life-changing epiphany and live happily ever after—and I keep trying to write stories where that works—but often the stronger story demands something different: remaining in homeostasis, a change in vision, harsh consequences. Even my “happy” endings have room for ambiguity. Some of my darker stories, I think, have moments of humor and hope. That’s what I love about the short story form.

CC: Your book is published by Cornerstone Press, which is an independent publisher and teaching press housed at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. How was your experience working with up and coming editors, artists, and publishers?

KS: It was a true joy. You really can’t beat having a staff of over 20 people dedicated solely to your one book. The staff’s enthusiasm for the project was infectious, and they jumped into becoming “experts” very quickly—learning what they needed to know to fulfill their various roles and applying it punctually and professionally. They were as invested as I was in making this the best possible book it could be. Of course, none of this happens without the leadership of a skilled, dedicated person at the top, and that’s exactly what I found with the Publisher-in-Chief, Dr. Ross Tangedal. I would highly recommend Cornerstone Press.

CC: What are you reading these days?

KS: I just started A Gentleman in Moscow for my book club. Just finished The Stupendous Adventures of Mighty Marty Hayes (a fun novel for young readers by Milwaukee author, Lora Hyler) and a wonderful collection of short stories by Susanne Davis, The Appointed Hour, who also happened to publish with Cornerstone Press. Next on the list, The Gift of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness After Hate, by Milwaukee authors, Arno Michaelis and Pardeep Singh Kaleka.

CC: Favorite notebook for writing new stories: spiral? hardbound? Moleskin?….

KS: The good old Composition notebooks, college-ruled with a nice, glidey pen.Thank you so much for reading, Christi, and for your wonderful questions. It’s an honor to be among the many wonderful writers featured at your website!

Kim Suhr is author of the Nothing to Lose (Cornerstone Press, 2018), Maybe I’ll Learn: Snapshots of a Novice Mom (2012) and co-author of the as-told-to memoir, Ramon: An Immigrant’s Journey. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Solstice Program at Pine Manor College where she was the Dennis Lehane Fellow in 2013. Her writing has appeared in various publications. Kim is Director of Red Oak Writing where she leads Writers’ Roundtable critique groups, provides manuscript critiques  and coaching, and leads the summer Creative Writing Camps for youth. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys gardening, time outdoors with her family and being a fan-girl for her almost grown children in their various pursuits.

Don’t forget! Enter the giveaway by Tuesday, February 19th–noon sharp, for a chance to win a copy of Nothing To Lose.

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Remington Roundup: #AmReading (& more #reading)

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriter

This month I’ve rounded up links to books and an article for your reading pleasure, whether you’re looking to write more or simply settle in with a good story.

The Books

A while back, I interviewed Julia Stoops about her debut novel, Parts Per Million (Forest Avenue Press). At the same time, I wrote a review of her book. As in all things writing, publication can move slowly, whether you’re crafting your first novel, searching for a home for an essay, or submitting reviews.

I’m grateful to the editors at Necessary Fiction for posting my review of Stoops’ book, in part because it’s nice to get your work out there but also because, while this book was published back in April 2018, the story remains relevant today.

  1. Take a look at the review on Necessary Fiction.
  2. Go back to the Q&A with Julia Stoops here.
  3. Browse over to Omnimundi.org for more on the book’s artwork and artist Gabriel Liston.

“…every novel carries significance for readers in either speaking to our past understanding or forcing us to consider our current state of mind.”

A more recent discovery in books is Beth Kephart‘s new work, Strike the Empty: Notes for Readers, Writers, and Teachers of Memoir. I’m barely into this one, but already I can tell I’ll be marking it up, tabbing pages, and referring back to it time and again. Kephart writes on the importance of story, on “refuge in true stories,” shares essays by authors of your favorite memoirs and calls to action for those of us doing our best to bring our own true stories to light.

“Establish agency, generate urgency, prize vulnerability, remain raw. Know the question. Don’t force the answer. . . . strike the empty–that meaningless phrase, that excessive detail, that tired trope, that obvious epiphany, that unmurdered little darling.“

Read more about Kephart’s book on her website or purchase your own copy from your favorite bookstore.

The Article

Speaking of writing memoir and writing tight, I also re-read an essay by Barbara Hurd that I never tire of, “The Mind in Winter.”

“I keep my hat pulled low and my imagination on alert for what I’ll likely never hear again nor ever forget: mewing in mid-winter, deep in the den before there was any sign of life on the surface, any hint of thaw or—back on topic now—any start of a next sentence or line of a poem.  What would it take, in other words, to dwell for a while in winter’s stillness and trust that down there, below the sometimes blank surfaces of our stymied minds, an idea or story could be stirring?”

Feeling stuck in any way? Go to Hurd’s essay, bookmark it. Winter, she says, can be “refuge, snow as insulation, silence as opportunity.”

What are you reading these days?

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Q&A with Patrice Gopo, author of All the Colors We Will See

cover image for All the Colors We Will See

“There are stories, unknown stories that roll across the salty waves of the open sea. Unknown stories contained in the hulls of run-down ships carrying enslaved human beings. And there are known stories of my Indian ancestors arriving on Jamaican shores. I am a story, and I cling to the known parts because maybe in that act I remember and also remind others how much has been taken, erased, and lost. I am here….”

~ Patrice Gopo, All the Colors We Will See

“I am a story, and I cling to the known parts….” I love that line from Patrice Gopo’s new collection of essays, All the Colors We Will See. Stories play such important roles in our lives. They help us remember; they connect us, teach us, inspire us. Those connections are not always ties of familiarity, but they are pathways to conversation. The lessons we learn by reading about others’ experiences translates into new understandings of our own. When we ask questions, when we listen, we find inspiration. Through stories, we transcend.

In All the Colors We Will See, Gopo takes readers on a journey to discover new meanings FROM her past, new pathways to understanding her future, a journey of awareness and acceptance. We read about Jamaican immigrants living in Alaska, a black family attending a mostly-white church in North Carolina, and the definition of being black–is it race? ethnicity? experience?

I’m honored to host Patrice to talk about her new book and excited to offer a giveaway! Enter by Tuesday, January 22nd, for a chance to win a copy of All the Colors We Will See.

Now, welcome Patrice Gopo!

Christi Craig (CC): You’ve written a beautiful collection of essays about place, identity, being seen, and finding your voice. Is there a particular piece in All the Colors We Will See from which the rest of the book blossomed?

Patrice Gopo (PG): Christi, thank you so much for those kind words. I love the way you express the collection as also about being seen and finding voice.

I think those are accurate descriptors and remind me of one of the first essays I ever drafted, “Caught in the Year of OJ Simpson and Huckleberry Finn.” Being seen and finding voice (or not finding voice) were definite themes in that piece.

I wouldn’t say the collection as a whole blossomed from the Huck Finn essay, but this was one of the first essays I ever wrote that would go on to become part of the collection. An early draft of the Huck Finn essay and an early draft of another essay set the stage for the themes that would continue to resurface in my work. Themes around belonging and identity formation, around race and movement of people. These themes would become a sort of compass pointing me to a reality that there existed a much larger work, a collection.

CC: In “A Note to a College Classmate” you write about reading Ellison’s Invisible Man and suddenly being thrown into a discussion where you become the voice of many; in “Marching Toward Zion” you sort through experience and feelings around attending a white church, your need to belong versus your desire to “linger at the edge” in order to stay true to self. You ask, “How can we keep from becoming worn?” Your writing is not only full of insight into your experience but pulls the reader into moments of her own self-reflection. What is one thing you hope readers will carry away with them as they reach the last pages your book?

PG: Ever since All the Colors We Will See entered the world, I regularly receive lovely notes from people who share how much this book meant to them. Some of these people share much overlap with me in terms of personal experience and some don’t. What I find interesting, though, is that at some level, in some way, people connect with the words I write. For people who connect at a deep level—perhaps they are also a person of color, perhaps they are the child of immigrants—my hope is that they will finish this book with a sense of affirmation that their story matters out there in the world, that there is space for them to fully be who they are. And for people who might connect with some elements of my story but also read about a world or life distant from their own, I hope they will carry with them a new perspective, a new way of looking at the world.

CC: In your talk “Our Stories Matter: Seeing Ourselves, Seeing Others, and Seeing Our God” (on Soundcloud), you say:

The specificity of our stories matters . . . . We no longer reduce people to the binary of same or different. Instead, we begin to see people for the fullness of who they are and who God created them to be . . . . We can listen and we can learn. And we can be transformed.

How has writing this book transformed you and your work as author and speaker?

PG: Thanks so much for listening to that talk! Writing has been instrumental in transforming my work as an author and speaker. I’m passionate about words and about sharing my story and adding my experience to our current conversations about race and immigration. However, in the process of writing and sharing my story, I discovered I also care about the way sharing personal stories can help shift people’s mindsets in pursuit of healing in society and in pursuit of a more equitable world.

I love helping people see that sharing their stories in the world matters too—even if they never write a personal essay or write a book like I did. That’s why in conjunction with my own writing, I’m actively engaged with communicating the message of the power of personal storytelling. Since my book entered the world, I’ve had the immense privilege of sharing this truth in all types of environments: corporate settings, libraries, nonprofit organizations, churches, conferences, public discussions, etc. I absolutely delight in the way people engage with the reality that they can identify their stories and they can share them too.

CC: What are you reading these days?

PG: I’m one who tends to keep a number of books in the stack beside my bed, reading chapters here, poems there. I just finished Michelle Obama’s wonderful memoir. I mentioned to someone that in Michelle’s book, she offers so many ways in which a reader might connect with her experience. Invitations to connect and opportunities to also see something different. I also just finished Radium Girls by Kate Moore. A fascinating, tragic, and inspiring book about a topic I knew nothing about until I started reading. I’m currently reading Create Dangerously: the Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danticat. I’m intrigued with her words and the way I feel some points of connection as the daughter of immigrants but then also there’s the invitation to see something more because I am the daughter of immigrants to the United States and not an immigrant to the United States myself. And the poetry collection in my currently-reading stack is Dead on Arrival by Jaki Shelton Green.

And one more, I just learned about LaTanya McQueen’s new essay collection, And It Begins Like This. From what I gather, she also explores themes around race and belonging, so I’m anxious to dive into this one.

CC: As you move into a new year of writing, what do you look forward to most?

PG: Honestly, I’m looking forward to the unfolding of what might be next. It was a very busy autumn for me with the launch of All the Colors We Will See. Now as life is settling into perhaps the new normal, I’m anticipating a bit more rest and bit more time for my mind to start considering my next creative endeavor. I’m not yet sure what that might be, but I do trust the process and believe what’s next will unfold as and when it should. In the meantime, I’m excited about a few ideas I have to empower others to share their stories that I’ll be rolling out probably in February. I’m also thrilled to have written the curriculum for “Beautiful Truth,” an exciting program here in Charlotte. If you’d like to hear more about my plans to help others identify and share their stories, you can subscribe to my newsletter HERE.

Patrice Gopo is the author of All the Colors We Will See, an essay collection about race, immigration, and belonging. She is the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Literature Fellowship, and her book is a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Patrice lives with her family in North Carolina. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

DON’T FORGET! Enter the giveaway by Tuesday, January 22nd, for a chance to win a copy of All the Colors We Will See.