Hinterland Quick-fire Interview: Sarah Davies
Q&A with the contributors from our latest issue.
Sarah Davies is a London-based writer whose work has been published by Litro, MIROnline and Five on the Fifth, and shortlisted for the London Independent Story Prize anthology. She recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, and is currently developing both a non-fiction project on the subject of early parenthood, and her first novel. She tweets as @DesiaVarsha.
What’s the last thing (except for this!) that you wrote?
A funding bid – I’m a freelance grant writer by day, raising money for arts clients.
What’s a recent discovery that you can’t keep quiet about?
I’m very excited about Miranda July’s new novel All Fours. It’s based on her short story ‘The Metal Bowl’ which is brilliant, and has a great, memorable ending! Anyone who wants an introduction to her work should listen to the inimitable David Sedaris reading another of her shorts, ‘Roy Spivey’, on the New Yorker fiction podcast. July’s writing is everything I want from fiction: funny, insightful, and full of pathos – often all at once. And Sedaris reading it out heightens all of that… totally fantastic.
Words to live by?
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose… Out there things can happen, and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you.” That’s Dr. Seuss. I never read his books as a child so they’re a relatively recent discovery for me. They’re such fun to read aloud – my son loves them – and some are so powerful: Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is a perfect little lesson on the ups and downs of life.
Tell us something about yourself that surprises people...
I’m stronger than I look: I recently started strength training. I can flip an 80 kilo tyre!
What’s your piece in this issue about?
It’s a work of memory and reflection, on the subject of hypochondria, or health anxiety – and is inspired by my own experience.
Thanks Sarah! You can read ‘Something or Nothing’ in Hinterland Issue 15.
Issue 15 is available to order over at our webstore now, or in good bookshops.
All Fours is indeed an astonishing read.
Loved this!