Member Spotlight: Mary Maxwell

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Poets, as Shelley declared, are truly the source of social change. This has always been so: Greek epic and drama were integral to the formation of democratic self-government. Art affirms the sanctity of the actual individual, a task especially necessary just now.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? My advice: Talk the percolating project out loud to yourself or to a writer friend — if the description of what you want to say excites you, you’re on your way.

What is your favorite time to write? First thing in the morning, after coffee and before looking at my phone.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Robert Pinsky taught me that “there are no rules,” except the ones you make for yourself. I love creating my own prosodic forms and challenges.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? No one knows from where great writing will come; despite naysayers, the push for diversity has been an incredible boon to readers of literature.

Mary Maxwell’s Word Suites is out now with Long Nook Books.