INTERVIEW 12- KIRTIDA GAUTAM INTERVIEWS NAHID RACHLIN

INTERVIEW 12

KIRTIDA GAUTAM INTERVIEWS 
NAHID RACHLIN

Nahid Rachlin attended Columbia University Writing Program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then went on to Stanford University MFA program on a Stegner Fellowship. Her publications include a memoir, PERSIAN GIRLS, four novels, JUMPING OVER FIRE, FOREIGNER , MARRIED TO A STRANGER, THE HEART'S DESIRE, and a collection of short stories, VEILS, a novella, CROWD OF SORROWS on Kindle Singles. 

She teaches creative writing workshops in the Paris Summer Writers Workshop, Geneva, Switzerland Writers Conference, Art International in Assisi, Italy, Antioch Writers Workshop, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Iowa Festival Writers Conference, Vermont College Postgraduate Writers Conference, Yale Summer Writers Conference, Sanibel Island Writers Conference. 

Thanks Nahid for taking out time for this interview. 

You are a writer and a writing teacher—which of these roles you enjoy more?

Writing is my main passion. Teaching is rewarding because I like seeing improvements a writing student can make, by the comments made on their work.

What is the major difference in the creative process between writing a novel and a memoir?

The best memoirs are ones that use the same craft as writing fiction. But of course writing a memoir is more difficult in many ways. For one thing you have to worry about the feelings of the people you are including in the memoir. Also you can’t make up a plot line whereas in fiction you can.

When does writing flow the best?

When I have written done enough of a piece to know where it is going, what the main focus is.

When does your creative muse NOT work?

When I choose to write on a subject that isn’t right for me.

When do you feel freshest and most original as a writer?

In the morning

If you have to make a movie trailer about your writing career, what will it look like?

I would show images of moments of my life that were connected to becoming writer: for instance an award I received in high school for a story handed in for my composition class,  my room as  teenager, living in Ahvaz Iran, where I began to write.

What is the moment of your writing career when you had tears of joy in your eyes?

When I had finished my first novel, FORIEGNER, and an editor at WW Norton, said she loved it and would publish it.

Kirtida Gautam is a clinical psychologist and an author. 
Follow her on Twitter @KirtidaGautam