Interview with Madeline Rossell

Khayrun Gure: What authors did you dislike but grew into?

Madeline Rossell: Good question, I didn't necessarily dislike and grow into any authors but I did kind of do that with genres. I loved sci-fi and fantasy growing up but I read a lot of other genres too. Recently I realized that sci-fi and fantasy is all I want to read. But there is no specific author that I grew into.

KG: Where do your ideas come from when writing? What was your inspiration while

writing your piece for the anthology?

MR: So my piece is three individual poems surrounding a theme of loving and

being loved as a plus-size woman. The inspiration for me was wanting to talk about my experience on a personal level. I don’t believe there’s a singular universal experience for plus-sized women because every plus-size woman is unique in their body size as well as their identity. I wanted to have my voice heard about how challenging it can be to love the body I’m in.

KG: Why do you think it’s important to write in the genre you chose?

MR: I think it’s important to utilize poetry for things such as talking about love or being a

plus-sized person in a relationship because poetry can feel so intimate. There’s something about how poetry can be written that makes you feel so close to the poet, like you’re stepping in someone’s skin. It’s the intimacy that I’ve been able to feel with myself and has helped me come a long way.

KG: What is your favourite underappreciated novel?

MR: I have two answers for this. The Beginning Of Everything by Robyn Schneider or A

Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. I gave two because I read The Beginning of Everything in elementary school and it was my favourite book for a long time but I’m not really a big re-reader. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a book I read recently so I wasn’t sure if I should jump right into that since it is on the rise.