Ten Questions for Marie-Helene Bertino

“Intuition is enough.” —Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Exit Zero
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“Intuition is enough.” —Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Exit Zero
“The short story form offers me a way to indulge my obsessions and experiment with various genres and narrative modes.” —Julia Elliott, author of Hellions
The author of Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird (Norton, 2025) encourages writers to consider a deeper definition of diversity and embrace alternative storytelling styles and structures.
“Editing down is something I dread in the abstract because I know I can lose motivation easily. But this book has ingrained the lesson in me fully.” —Dennis E. Staples, author of Passing Through a Prairie Country
The author of Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird (Norton, 2025) recommends writers embrace circuitous storytelling structures, typical of nonwestern literature.
“The magic happens in the writing, on the page. That’s the high.” —Mariam Rahmani, author of Liquid: A Love Story
The author of Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird (Norton, 2025) encourages writers to introduce a surprising element more than halfway into their storytelling structure.
When you venture to inhabit identities and communities beyond your experience, seek people and places to ground your work. A journalist and novelist explains how research skills help fortify one’s imagined realities.
“Nothing makes a clunky sentence more obvious than saying it out loud.” —Margie Sarsfield, author of Beta Vulgaris
Write a poem about the pains and pleasures of cold weather, a short story that brings together an unexpected series of events, or an essay that contemplates companionship.