67 min listen
Lisa Cupolo, author of Have Mercy on Us
FromWriters on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers
Lisa Cupolo, author of Have Mercy on Us
FromWriters on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers
ratings:
Length:
50 minutes
Released:
Dec 26, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
The youngest of six children, Lisa Cupolo grew up in the Honeymoon Capital of the World: Niagara Falls, Canada. At thirteen, she was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and spent much of her teens and twenties battling illness. She has spoken about how this trial was actually one of the blessings of her life, because it led her to writing. She learned to escape, creating stories when reality got difficult, and she imagined herself living the lives of her characters, and in the real world, she became an observer. Always a spiritual seeker, Lisa has a BA in philosophy from The University of Western Ontario. In her second year, her single mother put a second mortgage on their suburban home so Lisa could study in Nice, France. That changed everything.
She spent the next decade in Europe and her health improved dramatically. She completed a graduate degree in Portrait Photography from The London Institute in England and worked a stint as a paparazzi photographer in London and published celebrity photos in Hello Magazine and The Daily Telegraph and travel shots with Dorling Kindersley and Thomas Cook travel guidebooks. She continued to dream of being a writer.Back in Canada, her professional life turned toward championing artists, as a photo editor at a stock agency in Toronto and at the Banff Centre for the Arts supporting visual artist residencies. She spent a year in Kisumu, Kenya working at an orphanage and traveling in east Africa and eastern Europe.
After reading Carol Shield’s novel, "Unless," Lisa knew she had to pursue her passion for writing and was offered an entry level job at HarperCollins back in Toronto. While there, she wrote in the early mornings before work. In time, she became a literary publicist and represented some of her favorite writers: Elmore Leonard, Neil Gaiman, Lionel Shriver, Helen Humphreys, among others, and threw some terrific literary parties with Brick Magazine.
When she met her husband, writer Richard Bausch, Lisa moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where they had their daughter Lila. She completed an MFA in fiction at the University of Memphis and began publishing stories and finished her novel. They now live in Southern California and Lisa is at work on a memoir and teaches creative writing at Chapman University.
For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website.
(Recorded in December 2022)
Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettCo-Host: Marrie StoneMusic and sound design: Travis Barrett
She spent the next decade in Europe and her health improved dramatically. She completed a graduate degree in Portrait Photography from The London Institute in England and worked a stint as a paparazzi photographer in London and published celebrity photos in Hello Magazine and The Daily Telegraph and travel shots with Dorling Kindersley and Thomas Cook travel guidebooks. She continued to dream of being a writer.Back in Canada, her professional life turned toward championing artists, as a photo editor at a stock agency in Toronto and at the Banff Centre for the Arts supporting visual artist residencies. She spent a year in Kisumu, Kenya working at an orphanage and traveling in east Africa and eastern Europe.
After reading Carol Shield’s novel, "Unless," Lisa knew she had to pursue her passion for writing and was offered an entry level job at HarperCollins back in Toronto. While there, she wrote in the early mornings before work. In time, she became a literary publicist and represented some of her favorite writers: Elmore Leonard, Neil Gaiman, Lionel Shriver, Helen Humphreys, among others, and threw some terrific literary parties with Brick Magazine.
When she met her husband, writer Richard Bausch, Lisa moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where they had their daughter Lila. She completed an MFA in fiction at the University of Memphis and began publishing stories and finished her novel. They now live in Southern California and Lisa is at work on a memoir and teaches creative writing at Chapman University.
For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website.
(Recorded in December 2022)
Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettCo-Host: Marrie StoneMusic and sound design: Travis Barrett
Released:
Dec 26, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Brian O'Hare on his debut story collection, "Surrender": A former U.S. Marine Corps officer and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Brian O'Hare's debut story collection Surrender brings war to life. These 17 interconnected stories explore manhood through the lens of fatherhood, football culture, the military, war, and more. Brian joins Marrie Stone to talk about the art, craft, and business of fiction. He shares how training as an actor influenced his writing, the "architects and gardeners" in fiction, the importance of writing contests and creating a niche for yourself, how to market your work and so much more. For more information on "Writers on Writing" and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers