Q&A With WriteByNight Consultant Marie Curran
Marie Curran (Durham, North Carolina) is a writer and editor. Her writing can be found in Image, Rupture (formerly Co
Where are you from?
I am from Modesto, California but have not lived in one state for more than four years at a time since 2008.
Where did you study?
I received an MFA in creative writing from Northern Michigan University and a BA in English from Azusa Pacific University.
How did you get your start as a writer?
In elementary school, my friends and I created contests to see who could write the grossest stories. I usually won.
Who are some of your influences?
Flannery O’Connor, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Eula Biss, Laird Hunt, Jessie VanEerden, Helen Oyeyemi, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Marguerite Abouet, Fenton Johnson, Jacques Goldstyn, Marika Rose.
What is your favorite thing about educating writers at WBN?
I love helping narrative writers figure out what is at stake in their piece, and through this process, their voice.
What is the hardest part of writing for you?
In longer pieces, I struggle with getting stuck in the middle.
What is your strangest writing experience?
When I worked for an educational publishing company, I was sometimes assigned to “break” the company’s automated scoring system program with my writing. I felt like it was me versus the robots.
What’s the last book you read and what did you think of it?
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I had never read Toni Morrison’s Beloved in full until recently. It was, of course, electrifying. I was a Morrison fan before I read Beloved, but now I’m even more in the camp that Morrison was THE American novelist of the twentieth century (and beyond).