Welcome back to our Writers’ Room interview series! Today we’re talking with Cara Diaconoff, a member of the 2023 Seattle Writers’ Room cohort.
The Writers’ Room, located on Level 9 of the Central Library, offers a space for writers to work on their projects and access Library resources. Use of the room is through an application process for the Writers’ Room Residency.
We asked some of our current Writers’ Room Residents questions to learn more about them and their experience in the Writers’ Room. Today we spoke with Cara Diaconoff.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing! For folks wanting to learn more about your work, where can we find it?
I’m a writer of fiction—novels and stories. I’ve published two books so far. One of them, Unmarriageable Daughters: Stories, may be impossible to find at this point! It was originally published by a small press, Lewis-Clark Press. The other is a novel, I’ll Be a Stranger to You, which was published by another small press, Outpost19, as an e-book. It can still be bought through any online bookseller, I believe.
I’m still aiming to realize a bigger audience for my work. I have been trying for a long time to publish another novel, Marian Hall, which concerns an American woman who ran information for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and ’40s; it’s based on a real-life figure. I have not quite yet given up on submitting this novel to presses. Recently, I also completed a book of stories, The Folktale Collector’s Daughter and Other Stories, which all take inspiration from Russian folk tales or historical settings. A couple of the stories have been published separately so far; one of them, “Suite of Ice,” may be found here.
I also teach creative writing, English composition, and literature at Bellevue College.
What has your experience been like using the Writers’ Room so far?
I have enjoyed it. I really like the feeling of developing a more personal relationship with the library. It motivates me to work more consistently on my new novel than would otherwise be the case, especially during this current school term, when I’ve been especially busy at work. The Writers’ Room itself is particularly inviting on a sunny day, when it’s suffused with light. And it’s great to get to know the librarians just a bit; they’ve all been extremely nice.
What are your favorite writing collections or resources that you’ve used?
I have just been visiting the ZAPP Zine Collection and found it unexpectedly fascinating. I am partial to zines as a genre generally (I teach about them and have English 101 students make them). Specifically for my current work, I’m interested in zines about recent Seattle-area protest movements, since I’ve begun drafting a novel about a middle-class white family in Seattle who become deeply involved in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The ZAPP Zine Collection has zines from the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle that are very useful as historical background. I can read about the debates that protesters had at that time about theory and practice as well as understand some of the roots of the police/protester conflicts that were played out in 2020 as well.
Since my novel is set in 2020, I also enjoyed looking at the library’s online Covid-19 Community Collection. It’s interesting to be writing a novel set so recently—and in a time and place I knew well myself—yet still to have it feel like writing a historical novel. 2020 was such a strange and traumatic year that it does actually already feel “historical.” It’s good to look at posters and flyers and snapshots from that time to vividly recall that high-pandemic feeling: the spring months of being closed up in one’s room followed by the cataclysmic movements going on outside as the summer began with mass protests.
Is there anything you’d like to share with future Writers’ Room Residents?
Just that I wish them a productive time in the Writers’ Room! I hope to be able to meet some of them. Anyone open to a Facebook group or to occasional social hours should know that I’m interested in those as well!
Interested in applying for the Writers’ Room Residency? Applications for the 2024 Writers’ Room cohort will close December 22, 2023. Those accepted into the program in 2024 will have access to the room during the Library’s open hours through December 20, 2024. Click here to apply!
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