Author interview: Emily Persichetti Schuster on Beautiful and Terrifying, poetry, and writing through grief

In this contributor interview, poet Emily Persichetti Schuster discusses her work in Beautiful and Terrifying, the themes of grief and memory that shape her writing, and the creative process behind her deeply personal poetry.

Emily Persichetti Schuster writes with a quiet intensity, exploring grief, memory, and the fragile threads that connect identity, family, and place. Her work in Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny reflects a deep attentiveness to both the emotional and the everyday, drawing inspiration from poets like Marie Howe and Mary Oliver while carving out a voice distinctly her own. In this interview, she shares how early reading shaped her imagination, how she balances writing with the demands of daily life, and why poetry remains a powerful way to hold both individual moments and larger, unfolding stories.

Q: What’s a memory of a story or book that made you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: Roald Dahl’s The BFG is the first book I remember reading completely on my own, when I was in early elementary school. I loved all Roald Dahl’s books when I was a kid, and I love reading them to my kids now. Through all the creepy, uncanny, and seemingly hopeless events of his books, the heroes always prevail because they’re never willing to give up. His books taught me to face my own fears and build resilience in the face of adversity.

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: One of my favorite poets, and earliest I remember consistently reading, is Marie Howe. I’m captivated by the way she writes about topics that are sad, traumatic, difficult to talk about, but in a way that feels approachable and manageable for the reader. I also love Mary Oliver’s poetry for her attention to nature and introspection. Her writing has helped me understand, in my own writing, about how simplicity and depth can work together.

Q: What’s one writing habit you can’t live without and one you wish you could break?
A: I still do all my initial drafting with a notebook and pen, just like I did when I was supposed to be paying attention to chemistry class in high school. When my ideas are fresh and flowing, I can’t be in front of a screen or else I’ll be revising my own ideas on the spot and end my writing session with a blank page. That said, once I do get a draft into the computer, I wish I could be more patient with my revisions. I have a habit of expecting poems to be done in two to three drafts, so I sometimes give up on them too soon.

Q: When do you feel most “in the zone” with your writing—early mornings, late nights, or somewhere in between?
A: I’ve never been successful rising very early like some admirable writers, but my favorite time to write is mid- to late-morning, like 10am-noon. Though nighttime is usually my TV and reading time, I also often have inspiration for revisions late at night and can sometimes be found returning to my desk after the kids are in bed.

Q: What’s a book that changed how you think about writing or storytelling?
A: Marie Howe’s poetry collection What the Living Do tells a somewhat chronological story through the order the poems are arranged. This was the first poetry collection I read in which the poems worked both individually and as a whole to tell a story. In fact, this was the first time I’d seen poetry really tell a story, and not just a singular moment of observation. It made me realize that I can tell bigger, more complex stories through my poetry.

Q: Do you have your own circle of writer friends? If so, what other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
A: I’m currently working on my MFA in Poetry at Spalding University, where I’ve met many amazing writers. I have a group with about eight other writers in the program who I keep in touch with nearly daily through a WhatsApp chat, motivating and supporting each other, answering each other’s (not stupid) questions. I don’t think I would have submitted to this anthology without my MFA group’s encouragement and validation.

I’m also very close with my brother, James Persichetti, who is a middle grade and YA queer adventure fantasy writer. We talk regularly about our writing ideas, what we’re working on, what we’re struggling with, and all things life in general. Seeing his persistence and success in writing and publishing has given me confidence to pursue my writing dreams as well.

Q: What themes do you find yourself returning to again and again in your work?
A: I’ve always been interested in the grief process, how universal yet how individual it is. I consistently write about loss and grief, memory and nostalgia, relationships, infertility, womanhood, motherhood, and mental health. Lately I’ve also become interested in writing about identity, place, nature, and interpretations of home.

Q: What’s your go-to snack or drink while writing?
A: I love having a beverage while I’m writing – coffee, tea (hot or iced), sparkling water, a smoothie – anything I can sip on slowly while writing keeps me going. I’ll also usually keep some kind of mixed nuts or trail mix on hand (spicy peanuts mixed with cashews is a recent favorite) for afternoon fuel.

Q: What’s a quirky or unexpected detail about your writing space?
A: My writing space is covered in post-it notes with inspirational quotes, plus cards and postcards from friends, my kids’ artwork, and little trinkets I’ve collected over the years, including an origami boat my husband made for me when we were dating in college, a mini terrarium in a salt shaker, and (perhaps my most prized trinkets) a small statue of an angel with the words “THANK YOU” engraved into her dress. I worked in Oncology Research for a couple years and one of my patients gave this to me on my last day. I admit, I didn’t like that job at the time (I was never a fan of science fields, and I just wanted to be writing all the time) but I loved my patients. I keep this angel on my desk to remind me of all the stories I encountered through that work and of all the brave and incredibly strong people I met, the memory of whom continue to inspire me. Even those times in our lives when we feel like we aren’t where we want to be can be enriching and can contribute to our writing.

Q: What’s the most rewarding feedback you’ve ever received from a reader?
A: A few years ago, I took an online fiction writing class through Gotham Writers Workshop. When I presented my short story to the class, the instructor gave this feedback (public feedback that the whole class could see): “This was an exceptionally well-written and richly detailed piece. It’s clear that this is a product of not only an avid reader, but a frequent writer, and the prose seems polished to a gleam. In fact, I’d urge your classmates to take another gander at the story. This is powerful and impressive work [and] a pleasure to read.” Feedback that my story was not only professional and perhaps “finished,” but also the public call for my classmates to take note of it as an example of excellence, was so rewarding and encouraging.

Q: What’s a challenge you’ve faced in your writing career, and how did you overcome it?
A: Time is always my limiting factor. Between non-writing-related jobs that pay bills and raising two young, demanding kids, I’m often writing in the literal margins of my life. Even now that I’m working on my MFA and can devote myself fulltime to my writing, I always want to read and write more than I have time for. Overcoming this challenge is ongoing, but I find I meet it best when I can be flexible in how I compartmentalize my time and how I define “productive.” Ten minutes of writing here and there while I sit on the sidelines at sports, notes scribbled into my phone at the dinner table, it all adds up. Even thinking through revision issues while out for my post-lunch walk is a part of the writing process.

Q: How do you define success as an author? Has that definition evolved over time?
A: First and foremost, I write for myself. I write as a way of unpacking and understanding my own experiences and emotions, and I write as a way of exploring different perspectives and ways of seeing the world. Second (but perhaps equally important), I hope my writing connects with a reader who shares some of my experiences, or at least feels seen in my writing in some way. There are a lot of common human experiences that still don’t get talked about much, like infertility and mental health, and I hope my writing can be a conversation starter, if only between me and one reader who needs someone to talk to. I’ve always had the goal of publishing a book, and I still hope to someday, but when a reader, even a family member or friend, finds my writing relatable and moving, I’ve succeeded.

Q: What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
A: The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich. I love all of Erdrich’s novels, but The Beet Queen is my favorite because the descriptions are so vivid. I’m not the sort of reader who can easily picture characters, settings, scenes, and other elements of a book in my head while reading, but even having read The Beet Queen years ago, I still hold clear images, as well as sounds and smells, from that book.

Q: Do you have an all-time favorite writer, or does your favorite change over time? Who is your favorite writer today?
A: I have rather old-school tastes in literature. I can never pick a single favorite writer, but some of my favorite books are Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!, Don Delillo’s White Noise, F. Scott Fitgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, José Saramago’s Blindness, and Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones. Favorite poets include John Berryman, Billy Collins, Marie Howe, Jack Kerouac, Audre Lorde, Mary Oliver, Walt Whitman, and Ocean Vuong.

Q: What’s a surprising or unusual skill you have that might make its way into a story one day?
A: I have a great memory for birthdays. Tell me your birthday once and I’ll likely remember, and I still remember many of my childhood friends’ birthdays as well. It’s a good party trick to learn everyone’s birthday and then be quizzed on them later, and I’d love to write a character with this weirdly specific form of recall.

Q: What’s a new genre or style you’d love to experiment with in the future?
A: I’d love to write more magical realism and speculative fiction. I believe dreams are a way in which our brains practice emotions and explore alternate life outcomes, and I’d like to do some of this exploration in my writing as well. I also believe magic is real, we just have to know how to see it, which is why I love the idea of magical realism, working small magical elements into everyday life.

Q: What do you think the future of storytelling looks like in a world of evolving technology?
A: This is a tough question… I’m a very analogue person by nature and I don’t connect well with the digital world. I’ve tried audio books and e-readers, but I just can’t get over my need to physically hold a book in my hand and turn paper pages. I do appreciate, though, how the proliferation of online publishing has made writing more readily available to a wider audience of readers. I hope that evolving technologies help more people come to love reading, but that we always remember and value our reading roots in paper books and the tangible connection to the Earth they provide.

Q: What projects are you working on at the present?
A: My main focus for the next few years will be on my MFA thesis, but I’ve been exploring lots of new themes in my writing, primarily identity, family relationships, and place; and I’ve also been exploring new forms including wildly experimental, prose poetry, and lyric essays. I also have a novel-in-stories on the backburner right now that I’m sure I will return to as time allows.

Author Bio

Emily Persichetti Schuster is a writer of poetry, lyric essays, and short fiction. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Poetry at the Naslund-Mann School of Writing at Spalding University, where she is also a Graduate Assistant on the social media team and a student reader for Good River Review. Her work is published in Studio One, and is forthcoming in 2026 in Allium, A Journal of Poetry & Prose. Emily lives in Athens, Georgia with her partner and their two kids. Besides reading and writing, her favorite things to do are drink coffee, make things out of yarn, and be in nature. Find her on Instagram @empschuster_creative

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