Get to know our 2020 Literary Legend, Elisa Albert, through her most recent interview! Albert is the author of three books: After Birth, The Book of Dahlia and How This Night Is Different. Most of her works focus around themes of “being an outsider, being a Jew in the diaspora, feminism, sexuality, family life, ancestry, reproductive justice, friendship, memory, and place” as she puts it. She is currently in the process of writing a fourth book!
Elisa Albert was interviewed by Samantha Christensen-Tripi, an English undergraduate from the University at Albany. She interned for the Friends and Foundation at the APL for the summer of 2020. This interview is a transcript of their conversation.
If you would like to hear Elisa speaking in her own voice, check out the recording of her reading in Washington Park on Saturday, July 25th.
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I heard you have been working on a new book, is there anything you would like to say about it?
Elisa Albert: It’s a novel, due in the Spring of 2022. It’s been a long process. It’s about a musician, about navigating creative recognition, about fame and about the fertility industrial complex. The protagonist is somebody who very much would love to have children, but doesn’t seem to be getting pregnant. She’s wrestling with what that means and coming up against an innate refusal to work around that with technology. She’s wrestling with how much she’s willing to let technology come into her life, how much we want to let it on, near, or in our bodies. The book also deals with the fact of living in a social media universe where most of her daily interactions are virtual.
It sort of sounds like the flipside of your previous book, After Birth.
Albert: I feel like I’m actually returning to my first novel, The Book of Dahlia because that was a story about a woman grappling with her death, and this one is about a woman grappling with her incapacity to conceive of new life.
Have you been doing a lot of research in terms of the current technologies for those struggling with conceiving?
Albert: I’ve definitely been down the rabbit hole for the past few years. I’ve read everything I can find on the subject. I’m super curious about what pops up in my news feed and how we got to where we are technologically, medically, and scientifically; what the implications are; how different countries are legislating or not; who’s profiting; what we don’t know about long term stuff…. All of that is super fascinating to me.
This is a bit off topic, but in terms of your already published works, or rather, anything you’ve written, which do you think is your favorite?
Albert: I couldn’t pick, it’s like choosing a favorite child. They’re all special to me in their own way. And the process is always different; some things take much longer and the process is much more challenging or lengthy while other things seem to really flow. It’s a lot easier to love a piece that was really easy coming out, but oftentimes the ones that take longer or are super challenging end up being my favorite just because I know how much went into it.
In terms of your writing process, what does it tend to look like?
Albert: A lot of ass-in-chair time. It’s going round and round with ideas and sentences and articulation, putting things aside if need be, letting them breathe and coming back to them. I read pretty much non-stop and that always feeds me.
Do you tend to have multiple projects in progress at once, or do you try to concentrate on one at the time?
Albert: Many things at once, usually. It helps me to have other outlets when one thing is kind of frustrating or elusive. But there also comes a time when you really need to get it done, or there’s a deadline, and then it’s important to focus on that one thing.
You mentioned that you read a lot, what kinds of stuff do you like to read?
Albert: I gravitate towards narrative nonfiction, novels, short stories, literary fiction. Right now, let’s see what’s on my table: I have The Autobiography of Malcolm X on my table, which is amazing. Iris Murdoch, who’s an incredible British writer. I have an Eileen Myles memoir that I’m really enjoying. Some political stuff, like this Angela Davis anthology about prison reform. I have Fay Weldon, another British writer, I don’t tend to read genre fiction, and if I read non-fiction it tends to be political and/or narrative and/or about health and the human body. I don’t force myself to read anything. If something feeds me, if it’s sating my hunger to learn and feel and think then I’m super happy, but if it’s dry or pretentious or vain I tend to put it aside pretty quickly.
Do you have any favorite authors?
Albert: It definitely changes throughout my life; I go through different phases. I discovered Lorrie Moore in my teens and she blew my mind. Philip Roth was a huge influence in my twenties, he was a god. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Lucia Berlin and J. California Cooper.
So, for people who enjoy your books, what would you recommend for them?
Albert: All of the above. And in terms of younger/living writers, Rebecca Schiff, Edward St. Aubyn, Elena Ferrante, Shalom Auslander, Samantha Irby, Merritt Tierce, Stacey Richter, Paul Beatty.
Out of everything you’ve written so far, what’s been the hardest for you to get through?
Albert: The novel I’m working on right now has been a real beast. It’s slightly more ambitious in scale and scope than anything I’ve attempted before. But every novel is a marathon. The sheer size of it is a logistical challenge.
Do you think you read more than you write?
Albert: Definitely. I read a hundred times more than I write. It’s like: an athlete works out way, way more than they compete; time spent in the gym outnumbers time spent on the playing field.
When you do write, do you have a set schedule for yourself?
Albert: No. I’ve found that setting word-counts for myself is somewhat pointless because if they’re not the right words then… so what? I mean, congrats, you have a thousand shitty words. I mean, I’m into quality over quantity. I know word counts can be super helpful for some writers, but for me it’s really about finding the right words. Writing is a living entity, it can’t be forced or coerced. It’s a relationship, it’s a practice.
When you’re writing a story, do you tend to start writing at the beginning, or the ending, or do you jump around?
Albert: I tend to begin at the beginning. The beginning is usually laying out the central quandary of the narrative, and I tend to know that at the start; it’s what motivates me to begin with. Whereas the middle tends to be a lot of two steps forward and one step back, round-and-round, and then a leap ahead and maybe a few steps back–totally non-linear. I never have a plotted plan or outline. But the goal is that by the time the novel (or story or essay) has reached completion, I’ve managed to take away most of the scaffolding so that it appears to the reader, hopefully, like it just sort of organically appeared in its finished form.
I’m going to switch gears a bit and ask, what do you love the most about libraries?
Albert: I love how quiet they are. I love the rustle of pages. I love that time seems to stand still. I love knowing that every possible thing that you might want to know or feel or think about or reflect upon is safely bound up, ready to be found. I love the smell of old paper, I love all of the people sitting there quietly in community, on their own journeys. Libraries are sacred spaces, libraries are like temples.
Do you prefer a library to a bookstore?
Albert: Well, they have different functions, but sitting and working at the library is a very special thing to get to do. Browsing a bookstore is its own joy as well, depending on how well curated it is!
Why do you think libraries are such a valuable resource to the community?
Albert: Because they are universally accessible. And because when you walk through those doors with a library card in your hand, it doesn’t matter what else is going on in your life or what your other resources are or what your hardships might be, everyone has equal access to all of the knowledge, wisdom, experience and guidance contained therein. It’s such a beautiful thing.
