Interview with Allison Emily Lee

I’m back after going away for a few weeks. I’m a bad publisher. Sorry to anyone who had to wait on an email response. I think I’m caught up now though. Tomorrow I’ll be announcing the sole contest winner, along with all the other contributors.

 

In the meantime, enjoy this Q+A with Allison Emily Lee, Issue 18 author and poet extraordinaire.

 

 

Describe your writing in 25 words or less.

Right now my work explores the future, confluences of technology and what happens when the world ends.

Talk about your poem “Cream.”

‘Cream’ was inspired by living in San Francisco. I work in SF’s financial district and the extremes of wealth, technology, poverty and urbanization started to make me feel alienated from the landscape. The Bay Area is blessed by an abundance of natural beauty and when writing this poem I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d even been to the beach.

Who or what inspires you to write?

Technology, the performance of the self, spaceships, women’s internal lives, camera movements, background actors, relationships, travel, quirks of language.

Do you have a website or blog so we can follow your writing?

My personal website is allisonemilylee.com. I also edit a literary magazine called Daphne Magazine (we’re open for submissions!), you can check it out here: daphnemagazine.com

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a series of poems about space travel and the end of the world. I’m also editing the next issue of Daphne. I only started getting published about seven months ago so I’m focusing this year on sending out work and generating new pieces in a balanced manner.

Where can we read your work next?

I recently wrote an essay for The Financial Diet on having a day job. I have a poem coming out in Bird’s Thumb June issue. I blog semi-regularly for Daphne Magazine if you’re interested in advice on craft and reading recommendations.

Any advice for your fellow writers?

Keep writing, keep submitting, read other people’s work, learn how to write nice cover letters, read submissions guidelines more than once. I read an article on LitHub last year that changed the game for me: aim for 100 rejections. The idea being that if you’re sending your work out as much as possible you’ll start getting positive responses.