Interview with poet Jack Love

Jack Love’s poem “Cured Are You Above All,” featured in Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling, reveals a writer deeply attuned to the beauty and complexity of everyday life. A lifelong reader inspired by the fantastical worlds of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and Rick Riordan, Love’s influences now span from the poetic precision of Langston Hughes and W.B. Yeats to the immersive storytelling of modern science fiction. In this interview, he reflects on how parenthood, memory, and simplicity shape his work—and how he balances creativity, academia, and the ongoing pursuit of artistic growth.

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: For a large part, it was the conventional children’s authors who had significant influence on my interest in writing. I remember loving C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Roald Dahl, and Tolkien’s Hobbit. I also remember thoroughly enjoying Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, which was being published while I was a kid. I think these writers (among many others) shaped me while I was young because they imagine such fantastic worlds that you can lose yourself in. As a kid, I recall trying to mimic their world-building by creating my own strange worlds when I would play by myself.

Q: Who are some of your favorite authors that you feel were influential in your work? What impact have they had on your writing?
A: Many of my favorite authors are classic literary figures today. Flannery O’Connor, Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, WB Yeats, and Willa Cather are some who come to mind right now. Yeats and Hughes are specifically significant because I feel like their poetic styles have shaped and influenced my own writing. I say O’Connor, Twain, and Cather mostly because I have spent so much time studying each of them in my critical work. But I also admire quite a few contemporary writers. The science fiction of Ann Leckie and Timothy Zahn has been wonderful to read. Nathaniel Lee Hansen’s poetry was one of the first instances where I began to understand that poetry can apply to everyday life rather than complex subjects that are more often studied in school. And the nonfiction of Paul Willis and Jon Krakauer has always intrigued me thoroughly.

Q: How do you nurture your creativity when life gets busy or overwhelming?
A: As a recent new parent, life is certainly busy for me now. I think the way I nurture creativity is by simply writing about a moment in my day, whether it is an interaction with my son or some odd experience I had riding the bus to work. I’ve found that I have a lot to say about small moments if I really contemplate my experience at the end of my day. Also, I don’t try to revise or edit what I write in these moments. I just write down what I’m feeling. I can polish my writing at some other time. This method has proved useful for me so far.

Q: When do you feel most “in the zone” with your writing—early mornings, late nights, or somewhere in between?
A: I feel most in the zone either in the early mornings or in the late night. My brain is usually functioning the best in the morning. So, I sometimes like getting up earlier than I need to just to get some writing done. On the flip side, I find that writing late at night allows me to tap into my experiences from the day in a way that benefits the overall quality of my writing. In a way, morning writing and night writing serve two very distinct purposes. Depending on what I want to get done, I try to write at one of these times on a daily basis.

Q: What’s a book that changed how you think about writing or storytelling?
A: I think Cormac McCarthy novels have changed how I think about storytelling. So often, his novels make profound statements in the simplest of things. Novels like The Road, All the Pretty Horses, and No Country for Old Men all do this so powerfully.

Q: Do you find inspiration in other art forms (music, film, visual art)? If so, how does it shape your work?
A: I’ve always been drawn to film. I used to see myself as an amateur film connoisseur when I was younger. In the past few years, I’ve found myself watching less film and television, but I still absolutely love it. In terms of my own writing, I find that I often make frequent allusions to famous film and television that has stuck with me over the years. When I write fiction, I feel like I set up scenes in a very cinematic manner—as if my narrator is a camera following a character’s actions.

Q: What themes do you find yourself returning to again and again in your work?
A: Parenthood: as a new parent, I often find poetry as a great way to express the big feelings I have for my experiences and my exhaustion. Memory and how it intersects with place: a lot of my work considers how different places in my life have left lasting impacts on me. Power in simplicity or everyday experience: a lot of my work also investigates how everyday actions suggest powerful reflections about who we are as human beings

Q: What’s a quirky or unexpected detail about your writing space?
A: Though I have a designated writing space at my home, I sometimes find that being out at a coffee shop or café can be generative for my work. There’s something about being out in public among other people that really motivates me. Maybe it is because other people are doing their own work. Maybe the coffee shops I visit have a welcoming atmosphere that I find generative. I don’t know what it is, but public spaces are super useful for me in this way.

Q: What’s a challenge you’ve faced in your writing career, and how did you overcome it?
A: I think the biggest challenge is breaking into the publishing space—getting your work published somewhere. There are many, many good writers out there. But it takes a lot of effort to get your work in print. It requires facing quite a bit of rejection, which can be a very hard process to face. Writing is so vulnerable, whether you are composing a poem, a story, or an essay. So, when you inevitably face a rejection letter, it can be a challenge to keep on working. It feels like your writing isn’t good, isn’t worth reading. At this point in my career, I think I’ve developed the resolve to submit my work to venues without fear of rejection. This isn’t because everything I submit is now accepted. On the contrary, I still face rejection like every writer. I just have less fear in confronting that rejection because I know my writing is valuable, and I know that many of my works will eventually find a home even if it takes some work.

Q: How do you define success as an author? Has that definition evolved over time?
A: A successful author is someone who writes what they love while evolving and growing over time. I firmly believe that, if you’re writing from a genuine place about some aspect of life, then you will eventually find an audience who loves your work. The audience may not be big, but it will be comprised of genuine people who admire what you do. To me, there is nothing more successful than having a reader who cares deeply about the work you’ve done. Additionally, writing is a process. As writers, we grow and evolve over time. Our work should adapt as we do. A successful author continuously shapes and reshapes their writing according to their own growth as a person.

Q: What is your favorite genre to read? Do you write in that genre? Has that always been your favorite genre, or has your taste evolved as you have grown as a writer?
A: Right now, my favorite genre is probably a combination of science fiction and fantasy. For the longest time, I enjoyed literary fiction the most. And I still enjoy literary fiction. However, I study American Literature for a full-time job right now. I find that science fiction and fantasy offer me a break from my studies. Sometimes, these genres offer me an escape from what seems an increasingly bleak world. Other times, I think SF and fantasy offer powerful critiques of our world. The genres interrogate issues in a way that I don’t think literary fiction often can. So, as much as people say sf and fantasy are escape from reality genres, I personally think they engage meaningfully with sociopolitical concerns facing us today.

Q: What other books would you recommend to our readers in addition to your own?
A: Anything by John Gwyne, who writes amazing fantasy novels. Stacy Deonn’s The Legendborn Cycle is a unique spin on Arthurian legend that offers a fresh, much-need perspective. The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane is a powerful novel that explores colonial Australia. Percival Everett’s James wonderfully re-envisions the classic American novel by Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Star Wars Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn has also been thoroughly enjoyable to read as a fan of the franchise. You can’t go wrong with any of these books.

Q: If you could live in the world of one of your books for a day, which would it be and why?
A: I think I’d have to say either Tolkien’s Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings or the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Both just seem like amazing, beautiful places. Both worlds are not without significant danger, but I still think it’d be fun to be a part of it for just a day.

Q: What’s a new genre or style you’d love to experiment with in the future?
A: Science fiction is a genre I’d love to break into one day. To me, it’s such a readable genre that can often attract a wide readership. The SF I have read is wildly entertaining but also very intelligent and critical of society. As someone interested in the intersection between social criticism and entertainment, I think that science fiction would be a fun genre to explore. I’ve written over half of an SF novel titled Formless and Void that I hope to share one day.

Q: What projects are you working on at the present?
A: I’m always working on poetry, and it’s my dream to one day publish a poetry collection. Also, I’ve got a science fiction novel I’ve been working on for years now. I think I’m making good progress on it, and I hope one day I can share it with the world. It’s a story that I think would resonate with so many people today. The working title is Formless and Void. If you have any interest in my work, I’d love to discuss it further.

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