Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.
Name: Wendy Rawlings
Title of Piece published in Sweet: 36A
Issue: 6.1
Wendy teaches in the English Department at the University of Alabama. You can find out more about her at the University of Alabama, and wendymairawlings.com.
What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?
I won a Pushcart Prize in 2016 for a piece that originally appeared in Creative Nonfiction. My collection of bonkers adult bedtime stories, Time for Bed, will be published by Louisiana State University Press next year.
Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?
I’m working on a collection of essays (of which “36A” is a part) called What Goes Wrong. The essays are often tragic-comic and focus on difficult public events that affected me as a private citizen, like 9/11 and Princess Diana’s death.
Who is your favorite author?
I love many writers: Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, George Saunders. But a favorite of mine is the late James Salter, and especially his novel Light Years.
What is your favorite poem/essay/book?
Auden’s “Musee de Beaux Arts” and Dickinson’s “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed”
My favorite novel is also Madame Bovary.
What inspires you to write?
The terrible, unimaginable, miraculous things that happen in the world every day and keep happening.
What is your favorite sweet?
I do not generally like sweets at all, but I have a soft spot for licorice and pumpkin pie. Plus, also the large cherry Blow Pops.
Thank you, Wendy, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
Wendy gave me Salter’s Light Years to read at just the right moment. She is absolutely the reason I found my voice. Thank you for featuring her!