Author Interview: Rose Kemsley
Q&A with the contributors from our latest issue.
Rose Kemsley lives in Bath, in a tiny one-bedroom flat that she has overfilled with books and cats. She has loved reading and writing stories for as long as she can remember and is excited to see her first piece published in Hinterland. When she isn’t escaping to literary lands, she studies Creative Writing with the Open University and works as a personal assistant for adults with ADHD and autism, her neurokin.'
What’s the last thing (except for this!) that you wrote?
The last thing I wrote was a WhatsApp message to my friend David, asking if he’d drive me and my cats to the vet next Wednesday for their annual vaccinations. (He said yes.)
What’s a recent discovery that you can’t keep quiet about?
A recent discovery that I can’t keep quiet about is Radio 4’s Icklewick FM, an improvised, surreal and (most importantly) hilarious sitcom. It’s about a dysfunctional community radio station hosted by Chris Cantrill and Amy Gledhill, the comedy duo otherwise known as The Delightful Sausage.
Words to live by?
‘Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.’ – Stephen King
Tell us something about yourself that surprises people...
Something about me that surprises people is that I can eat fire. I can’t. No one can. I can do the trick that we call eating fire, but is actually extinguishing a flame in your mouth, ensuring there is no oxygen in it by exhaling fully first. If you use the right wicks and fuel, this feels no hotter than eating a freshly baked piece of pizza. (Pizza is much nicer.)
What’s your piece in this issue about?
My piece, ‘Not Everything is Broken’, is about soul-shattering grief, and about people holding me together when I couldn’t do that for myself.
Issue 15 is available to order over at our webstore now, or in good bookshops.