Interview with Jennifer Hill

by Kathy Ruff

Jennifer Hill, speaker at BDWN’s second Write it Right writers’ conference on April 16, 2011, authored six collections of poetry, two collections of prose and several collections of bewilderment. She is editor and designer at Paper Kite Press, and co-owns Paper Kite Press Books, an independent bookstore.

Hill’s conference workshop, Altered Pages, explores a combination of the visual and language, an exercise in literary production by destruction, a session of creation by elation, a chance to make the process of writing as fun as you remember finger painting was.

Jen shared some of her thoughts on writing with us.

BDWN: How long have you been writing and what do you write?

HILL: If I say "I've been writing for as long as I can remember" does this make me more relevant? What if I said "I've been writing poetry since last week"? That said, I'm 41 years old and I've been writing poetry, short fiction, and plays with joy and abandon since I was about eight. I used to write in the back of my closet. Now I write at a desk in a room that is at the back of the house.

BDWN: Where do you find inspiration?

HILL: People are inspiring to me, considering the lives of objects, sharing ideas, watching clouds, the pattern of gum on sidewalks, questions that have no real answers, the writing and artwork of others. I like to watch people who are good at what they do work. I'm inspired by a lot of things. It's acting on that inspiration that really matters, I think. You can see something amazing, be inspired to make something and do nothing with your idea. Then what?

BDWN: What advice would you give to writers wanting to break into the poetry genre?

HILL: Read a lot of other writers. Write. Then read some more.

BDWN: What can attendees of your session at the conference expect to take away from your session that will help them to pursue their writing goals?

HILL: What we will be doing in this workshop will help you to see the page in a fresh way. This workshop will un-knot the knotted, rewire the uninspired and delight the curmudgeon.


Paper Kite is located at 443 Main Street, Kingston, Pennsylvania, or online at paperkitepress.com. Check out Jen’s blog at jenniferdunnhill.blogspot.com.