Six Questions for
Mark Galarrita
Mark Galarrita is a graduate of the 2017 Clarion West Writers Workshop. His writing can be found in McSweeney’s, Electric Literature, Split Lip, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, and elsewhere. His play, MANNY PACQUIAO PUNCHES THE WORLD BUT THE EARTH DOESN’T EVEN FLINCH, was a finalist in the 2020 Arts in the Armed Forces contest judged by David Henry Hwang. Previously he was the Editor-In-Chief of The Whiting Award-winning journal: The Black Warrior Review. Currently, he is a McNair Fellow at the University of Alabama MFA program where he was a recipient of the Don F. Hendrie, Jr. Short Story Prize in 2018 and 2020.
This interview was conducted by James Kuang in February of 2020.
1. Can you talk about your journey as a writer. When did you start writing creatively and when did you know that you wanted to be a writer professionally?
I tried to become a comedian after high school and that didn’t pan out because I didn’t like the hustle. Writing was cheaper and you didn’t have to socialize with so many people to get anywhere. So, I stuck with that. I mean, it’s a similar hustle, but at least with writing—compared to stand-up or improv—the work is all on me. People can give me advice or critique my stuff but if I’m not going to take the time to write, revise, edit, read, cheer on or help other writers, and send my stuff out there in solitude, it’s not going to work out. It’s difficult, sure, but this is easy compared to what my family did to get to this country and make a life here. I think about that all the time. I think, regardless of the art form, you need luck, perseverance, a strong support system, and stamina to keep going. Or you can just have rich parents or a bread-winning partner who is willing to pay your portion of the rent while you mess around with words and Writer Twitter. I don’t have that kind of support system so I’m a fool for this one.
2. You’re quite active on Twitter. Your Twitter handle starts with “Writer in Residence at Panda Express.” Why?
I want Panda Express to give me money and call it a writing fellowship.
3. You retweeted “Publishing is a blood sport and it will come for your feelings.” Can you expand on why you think that way? Are there any specific moments from your life that led to that conclusion?
I used to do physical training (running, HIIT, rucking, etc) and box. I apply the same PT habits to my work. I don’t always put 100% when I should be and I fail a lot, but I always try to put the work in. The doing is the key.
4. You’ve written about your heart attack for Electric Literature and how it happened during your intensive MFA. Do you think that has shaped your view on publishing/being a writer?
Oh yeah. I am going to die, so I should publish a book. Otherwise, I’ll bring great shame to my immigrant parents.
And Clarion West was intensive; my MFA is not intensive.
5. Shifting gears a bit, one of my favorite descriptions of I.M. Pei is that he isn’t a great Asian American architect but a great architect who is Asian American. You wrote in your essay on Ken Liu, the Asian American speculative fiction writer, that “pigeonholing yourself is a myth.” Can you expand on that? Do you feel that Ken Liu has been unfairly relegated to being only a great Asian American Writer or a great speculative fiction writer instead of being a great writer?
Yeah, write what matters to you. Ken Liu’s translating, lawyering, programming, and writing Star Wars novels. At night, he spends time with his family surrounded by his multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. He’s doing just fine.
6. Reflecting back on yourself, do you feel that others have pigeonholed you either as a minority writer or as a speculative fiction writer? Do you feel that others automatically characterize your work as that of a minority writer and not simply that of a writer?
I haven’t sold a book yet, so we’ll see.