'Stay Brave' with Katherine May
‘Stay Brave’ is an interview series by woman-identifying creatives for woman-identifying creatives to inspire bravery in the creative life. [Created and curated by Leah Umansky]
How do you interpret the phrase, "Stay Brave?"
I think we sometimes have to remember that we've shown courage in the past, and can show it again.
As a woman-identifying writer, what are the ways that you “stay brave” in your life?
I'm not honestly sure I think about bravery! I'm not really a very brave person: I'm currently in hiding because there's a spider in my writing shed. Memoir writers are often called ‘brave’ and I don’t really understand it. I write down what I need to say, and the rest is craft. I see myself more as persistent than brave.
Who is someone in your life who models “staying brave” for you?
Every month I have lunch with a small group of friends who are all truly inspiring. I pay careful attention to the ways that they push forward in their lives, through whatever obstacles arise. I then feel like I have to live up to their bravery!
What writers, artists, and/or musicians do you look to to foster a sense of “bravery?”
I have a habit of asking 'What would Nina Simone do?
What’s a piece of advice you would pass on to your younger self about “staying brave?” What’s something you know now, that you didn’t know in the past?
I actually think I’d tell her that she doesn’t have to push through everything that feels bad - to question whether the things that seem to require bravery are actually the right things to do.
Can you remember a time in your life where you realized your own bravery? How did you use it to propel you forward?
There was a period of time in my teenage years when I realised that I had to learn to stand up for myself, whether it was to bullies or to unwanted male attention. I taught myself to be really direct and assertive, and I was surprised how easy it was if I imagined I was putting on a different hat. I developed a very strong ‘no’ which remains useful to this day!
What do you do when you aren’t feeling brave? What inspires you or motivates you?
I think it’s sometimes a signal to rest. Timidity is just as valuable as bravery - it’s part of our sensitivity to the world around us. If I’m not feeling brave, I give myself a break for a while.
In what ways would you like to be more brave in your creative life?
I’d like to feel as confident about writing fiction as I feel about non-fiction. I need to learn to push through the awkward feeling of exposure that surges up every time I try!
What is your proudest moment of bravery?
When I was just starting out as a writer, I won a competition and was asked to do a reading for an audience of 400 people. I’d never done anything like it before, and when I arrived, I realised I’d left my poems at home. I walked on stage and did the whole thing from memory, and I was so proud of myself afterwards.
What are you currently working on?
I’m deep into a new non-fiction book, and currently trying to wrangle all my wonky chapters into a first draft!
Thank you, Katherine, for being our final feature for 2024! Thrilled to end the year with this fine interview, and as we begin to enter the deep of winter. of course your voice is the perfect one for wintering. Thank you for marking the end of our 2nd year!
Katherine May is the author of Wintering, Enchantment and The Electricity of Every Living Thing. She writes the Substack newsletter The Clearing, and podcasts at How We Live Now. She lives by the sea in Whitstable, UK.
Leah Umansky is a poet, writer, curator, writing coach, artist and teacher. Her new collection of poems is OF TYRANT out now with Word Works Books. She earned her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has curated and hosted The COUPLET Reading Series in NYC since 2011. Her creative work can be found in such places as PBS’’ ‘Story in the Public Square,’ The New York Times, POETRY, Bennington Review, American Poetry Review, Minyan Magazine, The Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day and others. She is a writing coach who has taught workshops to all ages at such places as Poets House, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering and elsewhere. She is working on a fourth collection of poems ORDINARY SPLENDOR, on wonder, joy and love. She can be found at www.leahumansky.com or @leah.umansky on IG.
If you like what you’ve read, please subscribe, spread the word, and STAY BRAVE!
Feel free to leave a tip in the tip jar! I’d greatly appreciate it.
Blows my mind that you could remember and recite all your poetry like that, but I guess they become a part of your soul.