Janna Brancolini

What was your favorite book as a child?

My favorite book as child was “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury.

Do you remember the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

I fell in love with creative nonfiction writing during my junior year of college. I was earning my Bachelors degree in Journalism, and I took a magazine writing class expecting it to be fairly similar to my other news writing courses. In fact, it opened me up to an entire world of literary journalism and criticism. Each week we turned in writing exercises, and the professor would just gut them. If you managed to write a single beautiful, evocative sentence, it felt like a victory. Later I went to law school and stopped writing creatively for a while. When I finally started again, it felt like coming home.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

The most adventurous thing I’ve done was move to Italy and pursue a career as a foreign correspondent. This year I also tried scuba diving for the first time, which was quite thrilling.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I listen to classical music when I write. If I’m feeling tired or sluggish, I listen to dramatic composers like Dvořák and Stravinsky to wake up my brain. If I’m feeling overstimulated or distracted, I put on something soothing and consistent like Debussy’s “Études”.