An Interview with Author Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes
It is my pleasure to introduce you to Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, a remarkable member of the Latinx Literary Community in the DC area. The author and I met at the University of Maryland, where she teaches creative writing and literature. Since we met, she has welcomed me to the UMD creative writing community. It has also been fun to run into each other while taking selfies with Cristina Rivera Garza.
Fuentes grew up in a Cuban-Irish-American family in Wisconsin. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, Hedgebrook, the Millay Colony, and the Blue Mountain Center. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in One Story, The New England Review, Big Fiction, The Common, Cosmonauts Avenue, Slice, Pank, and elsewhere.
Her debut novel The Sleeping World (2016), set in post-Franco Spain, follows Mosca, a college student searching for her lost brother. The ghost narrative roams around the turmoil of a country left in silence after the dictatorship. The author wakes up the world with activism and her spellbound story. You can buy her book here or bookshop.
Her collection of short stories, Are We Ever Our Own, is forthcoming with BOA Editions in 2022.
In the interview below, she speaks about writing and her literary community. You can also check out her website or her Twitter @glucyfuentes for more info and to keep an eye on what she does next.
What is your motto?
¡Pa’lante! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDFGPli-kRQ
If you could share one or two writing tips, what would they be?
I usually put a lot of pressure on myself to have a strict schedule and always follow it, but something I feel I’ve learned or had to come to terms with over the last few months is that I also need to be easy with myself. I’m not always going to be able to follow the same schedule, to show up at the same time each day. Rather I’m trying to keep trying, if that makes sense, to keep making room for my writing, even that room keeps shifting — even literally, as I constantly move my desk around for online meetings!
Lan Samantha Chang writes about protecting your inner life (https://lithub.com/writers-protect-your-inner-life/ ) and about creating a space for your imagination and writing that is separate from the world of prizes and recognition. As a student recently pointed out to me, the other side of this need for a rich inner world is a vibrant community to draw inspiration and resolve from. Find or make a community that values art and writing and meet regularly. Share your work with them and hold each other close!
How is the pandemic affecting your work?
I’m filled with fury, fear, grief, so of course, these emotions are reworking my writing. I’ve been seeking out more science fiction, and speculative fiction to read: searching for transformative, restorative ways of imagining existence, and this search is present in my work in a way it hasn’t been before.
For me, writing is a sacred practice that I try to create a space for that is separate from work and from external pressures. However, the erasure of home/work borders has meant I’ve had to rethink my own boundaries. Also, as is always the case with “advancements” (encroachments) in technology, I have way less time to do much more.
How does your literary community normally look like? And how does it look like now during the pandemic?
I’ve been in the DC area for three years, so I am a newcomer. Last winter, I joined an established writing group, and the women in it have been a lifeline for me. They have been workshopping together for years and are really dedicated to making time for writing and creating a community. We have continued meeting online, and I don’t think I would have kept writing as much as I have without that community. In terms of writing styles and interests, it’s a really diverse group, which ensures that my reading tastes expand along with my ideas about what my writing can be.
What is your favorite thing about your literary community?
I teach undergraduate and graduate fiction writing, and the more I teach, the more I realize that I draw a lot of inspiration from my students. They are always challenging me and pushing me to expand what I think about writing and literature. I think especially this semester because we can’t be in a physical classroom together, there’s a real desire to connect through literature and also to take care of each other. I’m really blown over by the generosity that my students have for each other, the time and attention they give to each other’s work. It’s inspiring and invigorating for me.
What is your most essential comfort food?
The Cuban classic black beans and rice is my go-to when I want to feel safe, cozy, and connected to my family.
What are you currently reading?
I just ordered/am reading:
The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones
Real Life, Brandon Taylor
Breast and Eggs, Meiko Kawakami
Blood of the Air, Ama Codjoe
