Member Spotlight: Abigail Wender

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing is how I understand what’s going on in inside and outside of myself. When I think about it, writing is an astonishing feat of imaginative energy we put out into the world that connects us with other people throughout history.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Translation is a good cure, and reading often makes me want to write.

What is your favorite time to write? In the afternoon–sometime between noon and five o’clock.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? I was feeling very low that my collection of poems had not been published yet, and a friend reminded me that the reason we write has nothing to do with whether the work is published.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? I like the connectivity of the internet–particularly the fact that we can read translations of poetry and stories that would be difficult or impossible to find.

Abigail Wender’s translation of Iris Hanika’s The Bureau of Past Management is out now with V&Q Books.