• Interviews,  On Writing and Art

    Interview: Farsickness Journal

    Intro: “Paris-based novelist Claire Polders discusses how watery places—from Iceland to Greece to the shores of her native Holland—have inspired her work.” Megan Harlan interviewed me for Farsickness Journal. February 2018. “There wasn’t really one place that most captivated me.…

  • On Writing and Art

    Shamed into Writing

    Superstition Review has asked me to contribute a podcast to their Authors Talk series. Visit their blog to hear me speak about the role of the Dutch in Indonesia, shame, and my need to explore shadows through my writing.

  • On Writing and Art

    Flash Addiction

    The kind and fabulous people over at SmokeLong Quarterly are publishing a series of essays and asked me to contribute. In “Why Flash Fiction?” writers and editors explore what draws them to the form. Preview of “Flash Addiction” Once I wrote my…

  • On Life,  On Writing and Art

    Writing frenzy

    I don’t believe in magic. I don’t believe in a mysterious force that guides me, but judging from my recent experiences, I would be foolish not to believe in inspiration. For the past two weeks, my husband and I have…

  • On Writing and Art

    Female characters in fiction

    Last night, my husband and I argued about female characters in contemporary novels. In his opinion I had been quite tough on Eugenides’ Madeleine – he agreed that she wasn’t as well developed as the male characters in the novel,…

  • On Writing and Art

    Lady Gaga and the fascist

    It was a fascinating evening last night at the Dutch Institute in Paris. Not at all what I had expected, but fascinating all the same. Or perhaps I should say: fascinating for the very reason that it delivered something I…