the tuesday interview: francesca lia block

Francesca Lia Block's writing is everything everyone says it is: lush and punk and poetic. But, more than that, her stories say: if it's important to girls, it's important. Her novels thrum with this: if you feel it, it's real. When I found her books, I found the weight she gives to the interior lives of girls, startling. I understand why we carry her books in our bags and pile them next to our beds.

RQD: What are you working on now?

FLB:I'm waiting to receive editorial notes from editors on two projects, an adult psychological fantasy/murder mystery and a young adult paranormal. The Weetzie Bat prequel, Pink Smog, is coming soon. I'm currently editing an online anthology called Love Magick, with stories by my friends, colleagues and students.

I'm very involved with the characters from the adult book and have been trying to write their story for years. My main character, Ariel, is in love with the beauty of words and uses words and imagination to try to escape the reality of her mother's cancer and her best friend's disappearance. Until she can't any longer. Or maybe she can...

RQD: What other artists influence you?

FLB: Kahlo, Arbus, Fellini, ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman and Asian art, 1980's Los Angeles punk rock, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey etc etc.

RQD: What book or story or poem do you return to over and over?

FLB: The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell

RQD: What are you reading now?

FLB: Daniel Handler’s The Basic Eight

RQD: What were you reading as a kid?

FLB: Everything I could get my hands on. I was most influenced by poetry, fairy tales and mythology.

Photo: Diane Arbus