Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Delury.
Hi Jane, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I moved to Baltimore in 1999 to study fiction at Johns Hopkins. I’d been living in France, teaching English and writing my first short stories. A year after graduating from Hopkins, I took over a creative writing workshop at the University of Baltimore when the instructor fell ill. Almost twenty years later, I’m a professor at UBalt, where I teach fiction in the Creative Writing & Publishing Arts program and direct the undergraduate English program. When I’m not teaching or ignoring housework, I’m writing fiction. I’ve continued to publish short stories, a form I love, and have also written two novels. My second novel, Hedge, comes out on June 6th, and I’m already gearing up for pub day!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I started teaching at twenty-three during my graduate studies in France, and I took to the profession right away. I love helping my students to develop their writerly voices and sensibilities while becoming more passionate readers of great literature. I’ve been lucky in my teaching career because I found a happy home at UBalt early and didn’t have to paste together part-time writing positions at different colleges, as many creative writers do. It’s good that my teaching career has gone smoothly since the writing life can be bump after pothole after roadblock! First, there’s the writing itself, which brings me immense joy but is also time-consuming and at times frustrating—like many writers, I want every last word to be perfect, ultimately an impossible task. Then there’s publishing, which also has its good moments but is nerve-wracking and often disappointing. Right now, I’m feeling upbeat about the process because Hedge is coming out with a new press, Zibby Books, which is intent on reimagining the publishing process while creating an amazing community of writers and readers. It’s been exciting to be part of a new and innovative literary start-up!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My debut novel, The Balcony, came out in 2018. It takes place on an estate in France over the course of the 20th century and reflects my relationship with that country. With Hedge, I’ve returned to the USA. The novel is about a landscape historian whose attempt to leave her marriage and restart her career crashes into her responsibilities as a mother. Hedge takes place at Montgomery Place, an estate in the Hudson Valley, and at San Francisco’s Presidio. As a writer, I often draw inspiration from place and from history. This semester, those interests have inspired me to teach an undergraduate creative writing course at The University of Baltimore called “Writing from Place.” The students and I have been tramping the streets all around campus with our notebooks, seeking creative inspiration in historical buildings and natural landmarks like Penn Station and the Jones Falls River.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Ultimately, writing fiction is a solitary task. You sit at your desk and hope to be transported into another dimension by your characters. Nonetheless, I’ve found it incredibly helpful to have a writing community. This started in France, where I formed a writing workshop with a few English-speaking friends. Grad school at the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars provided me with lifelong mentors and a wider pool of astute readers. Living in Baltimore has given me a group of close local friends with whom I’ve long swapped work (and shoulders to cry on when needed). And now I’ve added on writer friends from Zibby Books. We live all over the country, but we text and call and Facetime when our books send us down rabbit holes. And we do a lot of laughing as well!
Contact Info:
- Website: janedelury.com
- Instagram: jane.delury
- Twitter: @JaneDelury
- Other: Linktree: @Jane_Delury
Image Credits
Wicked Petunia Photography
