The Writing University conducts a series of interviews with writers while they are in Iowa City participating in the various University of Iowa writing programs. We sit down with authors to ask about their work, their process and their descriptions of home.

Today we are speaking with Bethany Kaylor, a first-year MFA candidate in the Nonfiction Writing Program.

Bethany Kaylor is a first-year MFA candidate in the Nonfiction Writing Program. Her essays and fiction can be found at Sunday Long Read, Alta Journal, Salon, Sonora Review and elsewhere. She writes about all sorts of things, from female anorexic saints to lesbian separatists to ghostly ex-girlfriends. You can find more of her work at bethanykaylor.com. 

1. Can you tell us a little bit about what brought you to the University of Iowa? 
In high school, I found myself in a deep John Irving phase. Like, reading all of his novels, scrolling obsessively through his Wikipedia page, recommending The World According to Garp to far too many people, etc etc. Through this youthful obsession, I discovered that he's an alum of the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa, et voila! I learned about the university and filed it away in my writing brain. For the past few years, I worked a day job at a non-profit in Berkeley, CA and spent my evenings and weekends writing essays, a schedule that often left me feeling exhausted. So I decided to apply for an MFA in nonfiction to have more time in my life to focus solely on writing projects, and it was a no brainer that I'd try for Iowa. I didn't expect to get in, but I knew that I would regret not throwing my hat in the ring! I was thrilled to get accepted and excited to return to the Midwest for a little bit. 

2. What is the inspiration for your work right now?
At the moment, I'm finding myself really inspired by all the different aesthetic forms an essay can take. In my first semester, I took a class with John D'Agata called "The History of the Essay" and was exposed to so many different styles and approaches to the essay form that I never knew were possible! Giving myself permission to experiment with something new—like writing an essay in the form of dictionary entries modeled after Bob Flanagan's The Book of Medicine—is so exciting and invigorating. It's pushed me to think more deeply about how I structure narrative and themes and to lean less on traditional forms. The Nonfiction Writing Program is a really great place to experiment with the genre, and the professors definitely encourage it.    
 

3. Do you have a daily writing routine? 
More or less, yes! Although perhaps it's more of a "daily creative routine," because my writing process includes everything from research and close reading to drawing and journaling. That said, I generally read in the morning and generate words in the afternoon. Some periods are really productive, and others are...less so. But it's all part of the process, I suppose! 
 

4. What are you reading right now? Are you reading for research or pleasure? 
I'm always reading for both research and pleasure, and I'm starting to suspect the two processes might actually be the same. For instance, I'm currently reading Eve Babitz's kj , a book definitely built around pleasure and delight, but I also find myself studying the way she paces her scenes and constructs her sentences. Ergo, both research and pleasure! I'm also reading the zines of Al Burian from the late 90s and early aughts. He's a fascinating character—he took these crappy temp office jobs to make rent, but also to clandestinely use photocopiers for free to make hundreds of zines. His work is so far from mainstream conventional publishing and yet he creates these vivid characters and narratives. In fact, his zines are some of the most compelling writing I've read since coming to Iowa. 
 

4. Tell us about where you are from - what are some favorite details you would like to share about your home?
I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati is along the Ohio River and is part of the greater Ohio River Valley, which means it's actually rather hilly and forested and very much not a prairie. Since moving here, I've loved learning more about the Midwest's disparate geographic landscapes and histories. Cincinnati chili is probably the biggest controversy of the city, with some people loving it and some people despising it. I proudly belong in the former camp—Skyline Chili, forever!

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