Marian Leah Knapp
Marian Leah Knapp is a writer and community activist. Her previously published books include Aging in Places: Reflective Preparation for the Future, A Steadfast Spirit: The Essence of Caregiving, and, with Vivien Goldman, The Outermost Cape: Encountering Time. For more than ten years, she has written a regular column for the Newton TAB. When Marian was sixty-four years old, she went back to school to obtain a PhD. She passed her dissertation defense right before her seventieth birthday. Marian lives in Chestnut Hill, MA.
Twitter: @MarianLKnapp
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
My film preferences cover a wide range of moods and topics. A movie that closely resonates for me with my book, Prohibition Wine, is The Homesman (2014), directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. This dark, tortuous story reflects the bitter life for women on the American frontier in the mid-1800s. My book’s central character, my grandmother, could have been a similarly tragic figure, but was fortunate to have family around her and an extraordinarily strong will to survive intact.
At a completely opposite end, I love Mama Mia - the music, dancing, talent, and oh so silly story!
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing?
I sew sometimes. When I was a teenager, my mother gave me a Singer Featherweight so that I could alter clothes or make my own because ready-made dresses were for girls much taller than I was. In the many decades since, I have made curtains, slip-covers, pillow covers, and, recently, masks for COVID protection. I created traditional prayer shawls (tallitot) for my grandkids’ bat and bar mitzvahs which they will have forever as memories of joyous times we all shared. I have a new machine, but my old Featherweight is affectionately attached to my heart.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
Whenever I write something it feels like an out-of-body experience. I have the sensation that there is a little person sitting on my right shoulder who somehow directs words down my arms, to my fingers, and onto the computer keyboard. When I read whatever appears on the screen or on paper I say – gee, this is good! But I can’t quite believe that I was the one who actually wrote it.
Is there another profession you would like to try?
I wanted to be an archaeologist and, in fact, have some educational background. In the past, I was on a number of digs for wannabees like me, but family and other responsibilities made it not feasible to pursue this interest professionally. But I’m still hooked. I read a number of archaeology magazines while wondering what it would be like to be on site, in the dirt, and finding something that would contribute to knowledge of an ancient world.
Does food inspire your writing?
I love to cook, bake, and try new recipes. Over many years when at friends’ homes or in restaurants, I was struck by how much good food was thrown away. I began to see a fun and environmentally sensitive challenge - how to use leftovers. What to do with not quite sour milk? – make muffins. Take the one remaining ear of cooked corn, a slightly hairy carrot, the last potato and make corn chowder. I contemplate writing a book on a philosophy of leftovers which would be less about recipes and more about treating the earth gently by not wasting its precious food resources.
