Meet NUNUM's Summer 2019 Contributors: Samantha Simpson

7/22/2019

Samantha's piece 'Time Heals All Wounds' gave the Summer 2019 issue of NUNUM a centre, everything else in the issue sprang from it. So you can imagine how thankful we were to have her with us.

By night and early morning, Samantha N. Simpson writes fiction and nonfiction pieces, some of which have appeared in Kenyon Review, Exhuming Alexandria, Crazyhorse, REAL, and Prism Review. By day, she teaches high school English in the Boston area and leads summer workshops for the Young Writers at Kenyon Program. She lives in Reading, MA, with her husband and small collection of withering houseplants.

Samantha what was the first book you remember picking and reading by yourself?

The first book I remember choosing and reading by myself was this beautifully illustrated hardcover of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio. There was a picture in it of Pinocchio with his feet burned off, and it frightens me to this day.

Pinocchio, only thing I remember from it was his nose. What about more recently, what was the last book you read that made you say damn that was a good book?

That would have to be Naomi Alderman's The Power. I mean... damn. I went from delighted to gratified to horrified to quietly disturbed in the space of an afternoon.

Thank you, haven't read any of her's but now it is on the list. Speaking of lists, when something pops to mind what do you reach for, a pen or a pencil?

When I need to write something down, I reach for a pen. Pencils are for sticking in my hair and forgetting about.

Believe it or not, yeah I know. Okay finally, what advice would you give someone who is just starting to send their work out to journals?

To those just starting to send their work out to journals, I recommend setting aside at least one day a week to send out pieces. Make a date of it. And when one journal rejects your work, just send it along to the next one. Oh, and be kind to yourself and your work.