How did you become a writer? I’ve always loved storytelling. I was a theater kid and would often break out into silly sketches and song-and-dance routines for family and friends. In another life, I would’ve been a character actor. But somewhere around age 12, the adolescent anxiety set in and I became much more introverted. Enter books. Still, I continued to perform in high school and college, and I dabbled in improv after graduation.

I didn’t fully consider myself a writer until a few years ago. Before then, I had always identified as an editor first. Then the pandemic hit and, with no opportunities for performing, I craved a creative outlet. I turned to short humor writing and personal essays. In retrospect, I learned so many vital lessons from theater and comedy that serve me as a writer—about crafting a persona and voice, and bringing humor as well as vulnerability to the page. And after improv, I’m not afraid to do live readings...

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). I’m in awe of Jhumpa Lahiri—the way she crosses borders through her fiction, nonfiction, and translation, both in English and Italian. I’ve been studying Italian since 2008, but I can only aspire to her level of fluency. I’m sure moving to Rome would help!

A large part of my reading life is dedicated to children’s and YA books. Some of my favorite authors writing for young people today are Katherine Rundell, Rebecca Stead, Nina LaCour, and Nicola Yoon. I’m a late bloomer, and I’m forever drawn to stories about the precarity and joy of young women coming of age. 

In terms of mentors, I credit my former teachers at Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, Alisson Wood and Michele Filgate, for showing me how to give and receive feedback with generosity and insight, and how to form a writing discipline. 

When and where do you write? I have two desks—one that belonged to my great aunt and one from Ikea—but if I’m being honest, I mostly write in bed. Early evenings after work and weekend afternoons are generally when I have the time and energy to face the page. Now that I’m working remotely, not having to commute every day to the office has also opened up my schedule for writing.

What are you working on now? I’m currently revisiting and revising an essay I started last summer on The Green Ray, the film by Éric Rohmer and the novel of the same name by Jules Verne. My piece is about the bittersweet solitude of summer as a single woman, and moments of serendipity in the search for connection.

On the comedy side, I’m mustering up the chutzpah to launch a Jewish literary humor website. Stay tuned. And to anyone who may be interested in contributing as a writer or editor, please reach out!

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Of course. The benefit of working at a magazine with regular deadlines is that I’m always writing or editing something. So, no matter how stuck I am on a personal project, I’m able to stay productive in other ways.

I also found a lot of encouragement in this craft essay by Kate Angus for Literary Hub. She compares the writing process to working in a field: “Sometimes I am harvesting and sometimes I must let the field lie fallow or seed it with other experiences so new growth can germinate.” I love the idea of rest as a vital part of the labor. I’m grateful, too, for her reminder that writing can take many shapes—it doesn’t need to involve putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Writing can encompass those in-between times when we’re thinking and living our lives, gathering material, whether consciously or not. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? From Dani Shapiro’s Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life: “There is no difference between practice and art. The practice is the art.”

What’s your advice to new writers? Read widely, but also be out in the world. Surround yourself with interesting, creative people. They’re more fun. And that creativity is bound to rub off.

Emma Kantor is a Brooklyn-based writer, comedian, and deputy children’s book editor at Publishers Weekly. In addition to PW, her work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Electric Literature, Hey Alma, Literary Hub, and Pigeon Pages, among other outlets. Learn more about her work at emmakantor.com and on Twitter @emkantor.