Natalie Harris-Spencer

Oyster River Pages: How is your art or writing informed by current social and/or political issues?

Natalie Harris-Spencer: I’ve become fascinated by the plight of DREAMers and my fellow “aliens” in the United States. I can’t help but think that my personal immigration journey, as stressful as it has been at times, might have turned out quite differently had I not been British and white. All these immigration stories keep spilling out of me. I write from the chasm of deep conflict between acceptance and alienation.

ORP: How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your relationship to art and writing, either in the creation of it or the consumption of it?

NHS: It’s been incredibly overwhelming at times. Some days I just stare at the keyboard, waiting for creativity to come. Other days, it lurches, quickens, takes shape, almost aggressively so. Now, more than ever, I feel an acute pressure to write, to use language to somehow make a difference. Mostly, I’d say it’s had a positive effect on the speed and quantity of production, but not always the quality! I’m editing myself much more than usual.

ORP: Do you believe that hope is a luxury, a responsibility, a danger, or something else? Why?

NHS: Oh, it’s a requirement, especially as a writer. You have to approach writing suited up in your armadillo shell and ready for a slew of rejections and heartbreak. I’ve been digging into the plight of the long-suffering Jewish immigrant in post-Holocaust literature for my MFA research essay, and the common antidote to suffering is always hope. As a Jewish immigrant, hope is deeply engrained in my and my family’s narrative.

ORP: If you could choose one writer or artist, living or dead, as a best friend or mentor, who would it be? Why?

NHS: Curveball, but Roald Dahl for his mastery of story, plot, and twist. His collection for adults from the 1970s, Tales of The Unexpected, informs every story I write. The twists are breathtakingly brilliant.

ORP: What do you think is the most essential advice that most writers and artists ignore?

NHS: Don’t take it personally.

Natalie Harris-Spencer is an English writer, digital editor, and blogger living in America. Her work has appeared in the Archipelago Fiction Anthology, CultureCult, The Dark City, The Satirist, the Stonecoast Review, and more. She was selected by Oyster River Pages as one of their Emerging Fiction Voices, and she is the winner of the Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Stonecoast, University of Southern Maine, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Aspiring Author. She is currently working on her second novel. Natalie enjoys surprise in fiction. And tea. Read her story “Fish Out of Water” from Issue 4.1 here.