Meet the Author: Marina Antropow Cramer
This week in our ongoing "Meet the Author" series, we spoke with Marina Antropow Cramer, author of Roads (Chicago Review Press), Anna Eva Mimi Adam (RunAmok Books), and the forthcoming Marfa's River (Apprentice House Press).
Marina Antropow Cramer was born in Germany, the child of Russian refugees from the Soviet Union, and emigrated with her family to the United States in 1956. She holds a BA in English from Upsala College. She has been a waitress, fabric store manager, traveling saleswoman, telephone fundraiser, used book dealer, business owner, and bookseller. She lives in New York's Hudson Valley. Her work has appeared in Blackbird, Istanbul Literary Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, Bloom Literary Magazine, and the other side of hope magazine.
Describe your book in 25 words or less.
Roads is the story of a Russian/Ukrainian family who become refugees in postwar Europe after being forced to work in Nazi labor camps. It deals with themes of separation, loss, displacement, and ultimately, hope.
What inspired you to write this book?
The story is based in part on family history, as well as first-hand accounts from other survivors. I felt that this part of the World War II experience - that of ordinary Russians and Ukrainians caught between Stalin and Hitler - had not received much attention in literature. It is another aspect of refugee and immigrant life, a universal theme that is still very much with us today, adding to the relevance of the story.
Tell us a little about the book writing process.
It took years! Though I have lived with some of this material all my life, through family recollections and contact with immigrant communities, I needed to develop the skills to put them into a cohesive narrative. I found I needed to do some serious research to get the history right, as a foundation for the story of what happened to these people and how it affected their lives.
My routine, in the beginning, was frequently interrupted -- the day job (which I left in 2012 to focus on writing), family obligations -- took their toll on my time and mental energy. Generally, the morning hours are best for new writing; rewrites and editing can happen anytime.
What do you do for fun when you're not writing?
Reading, of course, several books at a time, from novels to history, science, essays, and poetry. Listening to music, especially opera. Also cooking and being outdoors (where a good deal of writing/editing happens, in my favorite blue chair under the big pine in my yard). I have enjoyed growing vegetables in the past, but defeated by deer and groundhogs, now confine my efforts to herbs in pots.
What's the next project you're working on?
Marfa's River is the story of a character from Roads, and how her life is affected by the catastrophic death of her child in the earlier book. It takes place eleven years later, in the ‘50s, in Brussels. It's in production now, scheduled for a spring 2023 release.
What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Just do it. Focus on the work and stay with it, even if seems to stray from your original intention. And hang out with other writers, in person or online, for mutual support and useful critique.
What are you currently reading?
Jim Harrison's Legends of the Fall; Hillary Mantel's The Giant, O'Brien; poetry by A. Molotkov, Future Symptoms; and an audiobook version of Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World, by William Alexander.
Tell us about one of your favorite books or a book that changed your life.
I will always love The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, for its wisdom, humanity, and gentle humor.
Do you have a favorite quote from a book?
"People finally don't have much affection for questions, especially one so leprous as the apparent lack of a fair system of rewards and punishments on earth...And we are not concerned with the grander issues:...we can't seem to go from large to small because everything is the same size. Everyone's skin is so particular and we are so largely unimaginable to one another." — Jim Harrison, Legends of the Fall
Who are some of your favorite authors?
Anton Chekhov, Virginia Woolf, Hillary Mantel, George Saunders, Margaret Atwood
If you enjoyed this interview and would like to learn more about Marina Antropow Cramer and her work, you can visit her website at MarinaAntropowCramer.com, or connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.
Roads and Anna Eva Mimi Adam are currently available in store and online.