Akemi Brodsky

Akemi is the author of a handful of unpublished novels and a smattering of unrecorded song lyrics. Her work is character-driven and genre-fluid because this gives her thoughts more space to wander.

Instagram: @AkemiCBrodsky

Favorite non-reading activity?

Not counting everyone’s favorite activity (watching tv), my favorite non-reading activity is cooking. I love reading recipes and I love tinkering with them. Writing is of course a huge creative outlet but it can also be quite complicated and requires a long-term outlook to complete a project. Cooking is a creative outlet with far lower stakes that I can participate in every day and it usually turns out ok. My only problem is that despite being a writer I never write down ingredient measurements, so I can never make the same thing twice (even if I want to).

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?

I love sweet and savory combined! For instance, in the UK, where I spend a lot of time, movie theaters sell two types of popcorn – sweet and salty – and the best way to have it (in my opinion, which is of course the correct opinion) is layered one over the other. Sweet salty sweet. It’s delicious!

I think food finds its way into my writing without me trying. I love cooking and, obviously, eating and when I am working on a setting a scene, food is often the first thing that comes to the mind of my characters (ahem, myself) and one of the easiest things to describe because I am already very keen!

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

Absolutely, I experience Impostor Syndrome all the time. I didn’t study creative writing in college, I never did an MFA, and while logically I believe that creative pursuits can stem from anywhere and that having a different academic background is actually a positive in some ways, it is very difficult to shake the feeling that I lack some sort of official “writer’s sacrament,” and that I will never truly belong in a literary cohort. Not that I have any regrets. Writing is something I continue to learn by practice and will continue to work on throughout my life, but my education in science is something I would have missed out on if I did not pursue it in college (not that I remember all that much of it now…).

Vacation druthers… City or Rural destination? Why?

Trick answer, both.

I love a city because I love to observe. I love to see how other people live and imagine what it would be like to grow up in a different place. I also love to try new restaurants and local specialties (particularly baked goods), so the bigger the city the more things to taste!

I don’t go too rural, for instance I don’t do much (read any) camping, but I love a rural destination for the quiet and the fresh air. I love seeing new landscapes – truly knowing that you are in a different place because the Earth itself looks different, not just the buildings. I love walking (slowly) and thinking through whatever might be bothering at the moment, fact or fiction, or, even better, just letting my mind go blank.

Is there another profession you would like to try?

My second dream job is inspired by the role of Drew Barrymore in the film Music and Lyrics. I am not terribly skilled at writing music (though I have recently made some attempts) but I would love to try my hand as a lyricist. Songs are a sort of condensed form of novels that explore a moment in time and I think that a lot of writers tinker around with lyrical work. For me, songwriting keeps me creative when I am having a difficult time working through a tricky section of a novel and gives me a sense for word choice

What do you worry about?

Everything.

What piece of clothing tells the most interesting story about your life?

Probably my hiking shoes. Not my most fun or treasured item of clothing, but they do take me many places! My sister and I walked the Thames Path (184 miles from source to barrier) together, a few days at a time over a handful of years. We started when we were a bit younger and walked the first leg of it with, if I’m being honest, a fairly severe hangover. We finished the last leg recently, just before she had her first baby. Nothing too dramatic happens on the walk but we get to talk (and talk and talk) about all the things ever, over pub lunches and pints of cider and it’s pretty much the best. It is these types of days that inspire me both in my own life and in the fiction I write.