An Interview with Melinda Worth Popham
I was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1944. I hold degrees from the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and Yale Divinity School, and was the recipient of an NEA grant. My novel Skywater was named an American Library Association notable book, and my memoir Grace Period was a Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist. After fifty-plus years of writing and raising a family in Los Angeles, I now reside in my hometown.
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
The title Sweetness and Light originally referred to two dangers of my little brother’s early childhood onset of Type One diabetes: sugar and blindness. But over time it evolved into the idea of appearance versus reality, as captured in the phrase first penned by Jonathan Swift: “All is not sweetness and light.” It described my family to a T: a family headed by a man obsessed with propriety and appearances, a family in which, all appearances to the contrary, everything was not all sweetness and light.
How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?
Sweetness and Light is my fourth book to be published, but the joy of having my book in hand was as raucous the fourth time as the first.
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
As a child, I had a terrible stutter, and writing became my means of verbal fluency. I wrote on a great big gorilla of an old-fashioned typewriter called a Remington Noiseless. It was on a metal typing stand down in the basement, so I had to be brave and conquer my fear of the basement in order to become a writer.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
For two years when I was in my twenties, I taught English at a posh girls’ school in California. The kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst was one of my eighth-graders. Ages later, I taught creative writing in UCLA Extension’s creative writing program and then at California State Channel Island.
What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?
My favorite part of the process was working with Alex Kale, my editor. There were two places in the manuscript where she suggested I provide more detail, some specificity. I did so, and it was transformative.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
I’m building up a bank of pieces to launch a bimonthly newsletter called AfterWords.
How was working with Atmosphere Press? What would you tell other writers who want to publish?
A pleasure start to finish! I’ve published twice via top-notch agents, self-published once, and now via a hybrid press.
Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.
Atmosphere Press is a selective hybrid publisher founded in 2015 on the principles of Honesty, Transparency, Professionalism, Kindness, and Making Your Book Awesome. Our books have won dozens of awards and sold tens of thousands of copies. If you’re interested in learning more, or seeking publication for your own work, please explore the links below.