Episode 105: Interview with Joy McCullough

Today, Fable and the Verbivore have the great pleasure of sharing our interview with award-winning playwright and author Joy McCullough.

Joy has written two historical fiction plays (Smoke & Dust, Blood/Water/Paint) that explore the lives of real women that challenged what was acceptable in their societies. She’s published two YA books (Blood Water Paint and We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire), two middle grade (A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Across the Pond), and a NYT-bestselling picture book (Champ & Major: First Dogs).

In this episode, Joy talks about the unique benefits that writing a novel in verse allows, finding stories that have been lost to time, and that history has lessons to teach if we listen for the echoes. She also generously tells her own journey to being published and the persistence that it took to sell her first book, and encourages all artists to start writing the next thing rather than sitting and waiting for something to sell.

Joy also touches on the books she has coming out in 2022. She co-authored a Little Women retelling set during WWII titled Great or Nothing, is releasing a middle grade called (Not) Starring Zadie Gonzalez, and wrote a historical fiction picture book titled Harriet’s Ruffled Feather’s.

Both Fable and the Verbivore greatly enjoyed reading Joy’s work and would highly recommend checking it out. We hope you enjoy this episode, we certainly enjoyed having this conversation!

Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Joy McCullough is the award-winning playwright of Smoke and Dust and Blood/Water/Paint which both debuted in Seattle. She is also the award-winning author of the YA novel Blood Water Paint. Her most recent book release is the powerful contemporary YA novel We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire, which released in February of this year. She’s also published middle grade books A Field Guide to Getting Lost and Across the Pond, in addition to the New York Time’s Bestseller picture book Champ & Major. Her upcoming releases are:

You can learn more about Joy’s work on her personal website https://joymccullough.com/ and connect with her on Instagram @jmcwrites and on Twitter at @JMCwrites.

The Verbivore mentions the power clip she watched from the play Blood Water Paint performed by Macha Works Theater. Here is the link to that video:

Joy mentions that she’s been a mentor for pitch wars. Here’s some information on that:

Joy references her main character Artemisia from her play and book Blood Water Paint, this character is based on actual events that happened to Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi and the paintings she created. Here is some additional information on who she was and her work:

The Verbivore referenced an interview that she read that Joy did about Blood Water Paint. Here is a link to that article:

Joy also talks a little about the historical figure Barbara Strozzi who is the main character in her play Smoke and Dust. She was a prolific female composer in the 1600s. Here is a link to more information about her life and her work:

Joy references two posts about Marguerite de Bressieux on the rejected princesses website, the original and then the correction that stated that historical record is unclear as to whether or not she lived. Here are these posts:

Books Mentioned:

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

interviewBethany Stedman