Writer’s Block: Uma Menon

All Lit Up: Is there one stand-out moment or experience you had that helped you realize you wanted to become a writer?Uma Menon: Becoming a writer has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I have a journal of poetry and short stories that I kept since before I could write myself; the first several pages were narrated orally and transcribed by my mother. Early in elementary school, I wrote a series of short stories, each inspired by an interesting photograph. Looking back, these experiences of imagining and creating my own stories as a child prompted me to discover my love for writing.

 Back to basics in Uma’s workspace!

ALU: Which writers have influenced you or had the most impact on your own writing?UM: Jhumpa Lahiri, author of several award-winning short story collections and novels, has had a formidable impact on my perspective of writing and storytelling. Her debut short-story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, was the first book I ever read that centered on characters of South Asian origin. As an Indian-American woman, Lahiri’s writing really empowered me to tell my own stories and realize that these stories are important and valuable. ALU: What do you enjoy reading?UM: I enjoy reading a wide array of genres, including poetry, literary fiction, memoir, and even children’s literature. I particularly love books that center around characters of diverse backgrounds and contemporary postcolonial literature. ALU: What’s the most surprising thing about being a writer?UM: Each project I work on is like a completely different world. Writing really allows me to enter the minds of different characters and various settings in a magical manner. Reading pieces that I wrote years ago is a very surprising experience in that I realize how much my perspective of the world has grown and changed.

Uma’s writing advice

ALU: Why do you write?UM: Writing, for me, serves many different purposes. It is a creative and therapeutic outlet, a way to better understand myself, a mechanism that allows me to imagine my own worlds, and a tool to advocate for change. I write because it makes me a better and stronger human being and allows me to communicate creatively with a broad and diverse audience.

* * *

Uma Menon was born and raised in the sunny town of Winter Park, Florida. She is a full-time student who will be attending Princeton University in the fall. Uma is a proud intersectional feminist and a vegetarian. Find more of her work at www.theumamenon.com.