Q: What other writers inspire you?
A: I’m probably most inspired by writers who cling really stubbornly to their own vision and let themselves be weird and free…like Haruki Murakami, David Lynch, Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, Leonora Carrington, Ralph Ellison, and so on. I also love the creepy, moving fairy tales of Helen Oyeyemi and the tragic mysteries of Tana French and the mundane humor of Barbara Pym. For “Ennui Tea”, I might have been inspired by a favorite tale of retail life, Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman, which is about a woman who loves her work at a convenience store and rejects a traditional career or family; whoever you are, you’ll love it. I’m inspired by too many writers to list, though.
Ivy Grimes’s story “Ennui Tea”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 1 October 2021.
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