ABOUT THIS EPISODE
What does art restoration have in common with the search for meaning, traumatic memories, and writing? Today's guest is Julie Esther Fisher, a fiction writer and poet, and she answers that question through telling stories about her creative journey through writing poetry, short stories, and now a novel. Her latest book, A Pearl is Just an Accident, is a novel-in-stories that, as described on her website, centers on "Eliza James, a paintings conservator whose work restoring damaged art mirrors her search for meaning within the fractures of her own past." In our conversation, Julie connects her curiosity to her childhood and learning to see both for survival and sustenance. She shares her fascination with what lies beneath the surface, the importance and reverence of silence, nature as a refuge, becoming an art restoration apprentice, looking for clues in her work that tell her what it wants to be, the two jobs of writing—explorer and critic—and why they should be separate, how lived experience fuels art, and why the novel-in-stories structure mirrors the way traumatic memory works. No matter what types of creativity you wield, Julie's wisdom in this episode will speak to you and help you find what you need.
Show Links- Julie Esther Fisher
- A Pearl is Just an Accident by Julie Esther Fisher
- Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa and translated by Stephen Snyder
- Episode photo from Envato Elements: Variety of Spring Flowers in Natural Light
