Alina Zollfrank

What was your favorite book as a child?

Favorite childhood book? So, so, so many. If I absolutely had to choose one, it would be Walter Krumbach's Meine Puppenkinder with its glorious rhymes and vibrant illustrations. It was a hand-me-down from my mom, and when she sent it to me years later, once I had established my own life way over in the US, the smell of the pages took me right back to my childhood home. (But I feel guilty for not mentioning the many other books that have paved my path as a reader, writer, and human being.)

What was the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

My dive into creative writing was inevitable. I started with my parents' white teaching chalk on our beige coal shed door when I was little and took off from there. I filled diaries with story ideas and critical rants, and my most prized possession was an electric typewriter I bought in high school. I was a shy kid with profound health issues, and writing provided escape and purpose. It still does. That is probably why Stevenson’s “The Land of Counterpane” has always resonated with me and why many of my creative nonfiction pieces focus on patient experiences in modern health care systems and on matters of accessibility for people with disabilities and chronic illness. I mostly write in English now, but a lot of my work is grounded in ancestral stories and the immigrant experience.

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

My real life hasn't turned out nearly as adventurous as I had hoped, but my children's births — high-risk and yet empowering — might be the most daunting, fulfilling experiences thus far. They both will cringe if they read this, but none of the risks I have taken in my life — from hopping on planes and relocating to California by myself at age 18 to to marching in the Monday Peace demonstrations in middle school when the German Democratic Republic was crumbling — none of that compared to the exhilaration and deep emotion I felt when having my babies. It helped that my husband had prepared a global soundtrack, which included some powerful German and Mexican rock anthems!

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I had to think about this one because I become hyper focused when I’m creating. It turns out I don’t listen to music on purpose when I write, but there is often a backdrop because one of my children plays drums, the other one plays cello and guitar, and my husband almost always has music going in our small home. My best writing, though, has flown through and out of me when I have enjoyed a quiet space just to myself, with the Washington rain providing a steady, reassuring rhythm.