Diana Kussainova

What was your favorite book as a child?

I used to love Korney Chukovsky’s “Fedora’s Grief.” It’s a poem about a woman named Fedora who mistreated her belongings to such an extent that they one day came alive and ran away from her. To this day, I am obsessed with material things, but if my belongings suddenly became sentient, I doubt they would’ve treated me differently than Fedora.

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

I started writing when I was a kid, and it’s now hard to come up with a reason for it. If I were to try and guess, it would be to make my make-believes a little more real. 

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

My friend organized a charity stand-up event, and I was one of the performers. My best joke was about the primatologist Jane Goodall and chimpanzees, but only my friend (who, by the way, had already heard it three times) laughed. It all went downhill from that. 

Not really; I’m just joking!

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

Sometimes, I listen to music while writing, but mostly, I just work in silence. Music can set the right mood, and it’s stimulating. That said, it can also distract from the process.