How Being an Immigrant Impacts Storytelling: Interview w/ Téa Obreht, National Book Award Finalist

My guest today on CREATIVE. INSPIRED. HAPPY is Téa Obreht, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, National Book Award Finalist, and international bestseller of The Tiger's Wife and other novels. Her latest book, The Morningside, is out in paperback now.

Today, we talk about:
how being an immigrant influences her storytelling,
writing in English while sometimes translating in her head from her first language,
how she wove in a Serbian folktale into a novel about climate disaster
why Téa dislikes writing in first person,
her advice for writers on spending time on social media,
where she discovers her next reads,
and so much more.

Chapters
00:00 The Journey of a Writer: Early Influences
04:02 Language and Identity: The Bilingual Experience
07:23 Immigrant Narratives: Shaping Stories Through Experience
10:22 The Morningside: A Glimpse into the Future
13:00 Folklore and Modernity: Weaving Tales into Dystopia
16:07 The Creative Process: Balancing Themes and Characters
19:09 Navigating Expectations: The Pressure of Early Success
21:37 Social Media and Writing: Finding Balance
24:35 The Role of Revision: Crafting the Narrative
27:43 The Writer's Voice: First Person vs. Third Person
30:28 The Impact of Recognition: Coping with Success
33:39 Reading Recommendations: Discovering New Voices

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