Margaret McMullan is the author of nine award-winning books including the novel, In My Mother’s House, the story collection Aftermath Lounge, and the anthology, Every Father’s Daughter, a collection of essays about fathers by great women writers such as Alice Munro, Ann Hood, and Jane Smiley. Margaret’s young adult novels How I Found the Strong, When I Crossed No-Bob, and Sources of Light have received best book awards from Parents’ Choice, School Library Journal, the American Library Association, and Booklist among many other educational organizations.
Margaret’s essays have appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Herald, Glamour, The Millions, The Morning Consult, Teachers & Writers Magazine, The Montréal Review, National Geographic for Kids, Southern Accents, Mississippi Magazine, and other periodicals. Her short stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Deep South Magazine, StorySouth, TriQuartly, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Greensboro Review, Other Voices, Boulevard, The Arkansas Review, Southern California Anthology, and The Sun among countless other journals and anthologies. A recipient of an NEA Fellowship in literature and a Fulbright at the University of Pécs in Pécs, Hungary, Margaret has served as a faculty mentor at the Stony Brook Southampton Low-res MFA Program in New York where she also taught on the summer faculty. She was the Melvin Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Evansville, where she taught for 25 years. She writes full time now in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
Welcome Author ~ Margaret McMullan
I’m a huge fan of Jane Friedman’s work and one of her articles caught my attention. It was a Q&A with Margaret McMullan, titled Getting a Memoir Published in a Difficult Market. Naturally I was attracted to it because I’ve written my own memoir and am looking to published it.
As I read through the Q&A, her story had an unusual background that caught my attention. I contacted Margaret in the hope to get a signed copy of her first memoir, for my book club giveaway.
Her memoir is called Where the Angels Lived and it will be one of my future book giveaways as well as part of my book review. I am honored to share my interview with her.
I’m so humbled and excited to connect with you, Margaret. Your achievements include being a published author of seven novels and a recently published memoir, as well as numerous written articles and essays on creative nonfiction and journalism. Wow! What inspired you to write Where the Angels Lived?
A few years back, I went to Israel as part of a writers group.
I’ve written novels about the civil war, civil rights, Hurricane Katrina. I thought I knew about loss, but nothing prepared me for my visit to Yad Vashem, when I typed my mother’s maiden name in the data base and up popped “Richard,” a name I did not recognize.
“You’re the first to ask about him,” the archivist there said. “No one has ever asked about this man, your relative, Richard. You are responsible now. You must remember him.”
So, I set out to properly remember Richard. I applied for a Fulbright to the University of Pecs in Hungary, and then I went there with my husband and son. I taught at the university, researched Richard and other family members while my husband taught English at our son’s middle school. I thought I would just be writing about Richard, but our whole experience went into the book, Where the Angels Lived.
What message (theme or takeaway) would you like for readers to embrace about your story?
I set out to remember Richard. In order to do this, I had to find out who he was, where and how he lived and where and how exactly he died. I searched for the details of his life and death. By remembering Richard, I honor him. I hope that we all remember Richard, WWII, and the Holocaust. All of it. So maybe, it won’t happen again.
What amazing experience did you learn or discover while writing Where the Angels Lived?
I went searching for one story: Richard’s. But I found so many other stories, and even a few living relatives neither I nor my mother ever knew about before. I was able to introduce my mother to her cousin, Anna. And even now, since the book came out, people who knew my relatives are contacting me. This journey feels never ending in the best possible way. I wanted to write about how we are all connected in some way. And it’s proving so true.
What’s next for Margaret McMullan
Is there another book in the making?
Once I can slow down again, I hope to finish a young adult novel I’ve already started. It’s set in Mississippi.
Could you share a little more with us, about your next book or possible release date etc…
I’m afraid I don’t want to jinx it! I’m that superstitious!
With your experience as a creative writing professor, as well as a published author, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a writer (including myself)?
Everyone is different. For me, it’s important to get to my desk every day. I write best in the morning. That’s when I feel most focused. So, for me, it’s important to write about 3-4 hours a day, starting in the morning, in order to make progress, keep myself moving forward on whatever project I’m working on. Otherwise, I’m in a terrible mood all day. I have writer friends who do the same, but they write 30 minutes a day. Whatever your habits – just keep showing up. I have to write a lot of pages to get to the heart of a story. That requires patience and time.
Connect with Margaret McMullan
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
