Featured Interview With Emmanuella Hristova
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Oakland, California and grew up in the Bay Area. I’m the third daughter to Bulgarian parents who immigrated to California shortly before I was born. I began drawing at the ripe age of four, and studied the fine arts in high school. There, I received many art accolades, including a Congressional award for my piece “Boy in Red” in 2009. In 2015, I received my Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley. I earned my Master’s in Education from the same alma mater in 2017. After, I spent two years as an English teacher in Richmond, California. During that time, I self-published my first poetry collection: “The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder”. I speak English, Bulgarian, Spanish and am now learning French.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At a young age, I began drawing, reading and writing. As a child, I was an avid reader and writer, but I focused on the fine arts in high school. I had an unquenchable thirst for reading as a child, from the time I was in third grade to now! Some of my fondest memories of childhood are reading Lemony Snicket’s novels underneath my bed, a trail of chocolate foils following me behind me as I devoured my Christmas presents. I used to copiously document my travels as a child, and I also wrote dark poetry about love on Xanga as a teenager. I began writing poetry again at age twenty-four when I was in graduate school. Currently, I’m writing my first novel.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My biggest influence would be Georgi Gospodinov–his novel “The Physics of Sorrow” in particular. He’s a contemporary Bulgarian author and the novel is about a sense of apathy and identity-finding following the communist fall in Bulgaria. It also dabbles slightly in magical realism, which is surprising to see outside of Latin American literature, but it’s fantastic. “100 Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is also another novel that has kept inspiring me long after I finished it. Sylvia Plath is one of my favorite poets; her boldness in exploring her own darkness encourages me to explore mine. Similarly, the musical artist BANKS and her album “Goddess” aided and inspired me to write my first poetry collection, “The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder”. Then, rupi kaur inspired me to self-publish and promote myself on Instagram! I also think we have similar writing styles, ironically enough. Female (especially women of color) authors like Chimamanda Adichi and Yaa Gyasi (if you haven’t read “Homegoing” yet–go read it NOW) make me realize that I CAN make it as a female author, if I have a good enough story to tell. Lastly, “Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens has always been one of my favorite novels. I always come back to that opening chapter–its a masterpiece.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is a poetry collection titled “The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder”. I started it while I was a soon-to-be graduate musing about feminist issues like street harassment. Eventually, I began writing about the romantic relationship I was involved with at the time, and about the man I was falling in love with. When that relationship ended, the poetry took a tumultuous turn into heartbreak that melted into a depression once I found out my sister was dying, two weeks after my break-up.
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