#17 Maggie Wang, poet

'I’ve been 'writing’ in my head while running.'

Maggie Wang is a poet and critic. She's a 2021 Ledbury Emerging Poetry Critic and Barbican Young Poet and the recipient of the 2022 Sir Roger Newdigate Prize. She is the reviews editor at SUSPECT, the journal of NYC-based literary nonprofit Singapore Unbound. Her debut poetry pamphlet, The Sun on the Tip of a Snail’s Shell, was published by Hazel Press in September 2022 and takes its inspiration from the sixth mass extinction.

Where do you write?
Recently, I’ve been 'writing’ in my head while running, though it’s mostly phrases rather than complete lines, much less complete poems.

Morning writer or late-night words?
I’m a morning writer, but I tend to revise at night.

Coffee, tea, or any other drinks?
Water or, in the winter, ginger tea.

Handwritten notes or phone files?
Mostly phone files and sometimes voice notes.

Something to nibble while you write?
Fruit and nuts.

What's your most tempting distraction?
Research. Does that count?

What's on the speakers?
I listen to a lot of lesser-known Baroque music: Biber, Pandolfi, Heinichen, Fasch.

What are your pre-writing rituals?
I like to read before I write. I subscribe to several poetry newsletters—Poem-a-Day, Poetry Daily, and Poem of the Day—and sometimes read through backlogs of those.

Perfect bookshop to hide on a rainy day?
Perhaps not a rainy-day bookshop since it’s on a river, but Word on the Water in London is delightful. And if you’re ever in Whitstable, check out Harbour Books.

The best word in the English language?
There are beautiful words like ‘ineffable' and 'gossamer' and 'insouciant', and then there are the simple but amazingly multidimensional words like 'set', which must be one of my favourites.

A poem that has changed your life:
Walt Whitman’s ‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’ in three animations.