Malahat Review
Creative Nonfiction Board intern
Anne Hung talks with the summer issue #215 contributor about stories as memory devices, writing from the perspective of a young narrator, and how every fiction is somebody’s documentary.
AH: Told from an eleven-year-old girl’s point of view, “You Should Be There (When They Go)” grapples with mental illness, trauma, death, and compassion. What inspired you to explore these complex topics through such a young narrator?
CB: My original plan for this story was relatively lighthearted. I wanted to write a story about a kid with a horse, because when I was a kid, I had a horse, and it was a neat time. I loved him (good old Hudson) with my whole, tumultuous pre-teen heart, and to this day I think that has been the simplest, most unselfish transaction of love I have experienced. So, I figured writing about a horse based on Hudson (the quirky and bumbling packhorse of my childhood) would be a fun exercise an oppor