Q&A with Louise Nayer

 

 

 

Louise Nayer is the author of the memoir Narrow Escapes. Her other books include the memoir Burned. Also an educator, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write Narrow Escapes, and how was the book’s title chosen?

 

A: The book started as an article about travelling in Morocco when I was 20, camping, staying in youth hostels, getting very sick, avoiding predatory men, hitchhiking, and having adventures, some quite risky, all in a country so different from America.

 

When I submitted the article, the editor said it needed a “narrative arc.” I rewrote it, and it was rejected, again, but the editor said, “This should be a book.”

 

That particular time in history--the early ‘70s and the massive peace movement, hitchhiking as a woman, my desire to be with the “real people” and not on a sanitized tour, took me to places few get to see, like being invited into the home of three Berber women.  I didn’t realize that I was being brave (or some people might say stupid!) and wanted to explore that time in my life.

 

Also, my first memoir, Burned, was about a terrible accident that burned my parents when I was 4 and ends when I was 9. I needed to continue my story, to explore the adult I became, how I left home like so many others and how writing and teaching saved me.

 

The title, Narrow Escapes, came to me after a few years of writing the book. I narrowly escaped danger on the road and my parents narrowly escaped death in the cellar where they were burned. The title represents both my inner and outer journey to deal with the past and take risks in the present to live a full life.

Q: The writer Roberto Lovato said of the book, “Louise Nayer plumbs the depth of her extraordinary life—traveling the world, facing love, death and destruction—to remind us of a simple truth: the intrepid heart is and will remain our greatest ally at a time that threatens to make calamity ordinary.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I was honored to receive this blurb from Roberto, who has seen a lot as a global journalist.

 

I think he means that even with all the personal horror of the accident that burned my parents, and the horrors of child labor that I saw as I travelled, that it’s compassion for those who are suffering all across the world and a desire to make the world a better place that is most important.

 

The intrepid heart is the courage to see the world as one, no one better than anyone else. During that time in history many of us believed that the world would change and wars would be a thing of the past and peace would reign. We can still hope!

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: Writing the book helped me understand my own journey better with both the sadness and the joy. I struggled to become an adult, to love without fear that everything would blow up, and to become a poet and writer, not the easiest route to take. I also learned it’s okay to seek help for emotional distress and I found it.

 

The joy was also there throughout the story too, my love of adventure and the transformative power of words. Like many young people I needed to find my own path, different from my parents.

 

I also understood better why relationships I had in my 20s ended and I was lucky to find love, marriage and family in my 30s.

 

I hope readers will better understand that time in history: the Civil Rights Movement, The Women’s Movement and how so many of us stood up against the military industrial complex and fought against those who tried to take away our rights. At this time in history with our rights being eroded, it is especially important to keep up the fight for true equality.

 

Q: Did you need to do much research to write Narrow Escapes, or was most of it written from memory?

 

A: A lot of the book was written from memory but I did do a lot of research. With the internet (which didn’t exist when I was growing up),  I could find photos of the “souk,” the big square in Marrakech, in 1970 and remember what it looked like to make my descriptions richer.

 

When I wrote about driving cross-country I could pull up the names of some towns I forgot and even see what kinds of trees were in the town square.

 

I also researched the Mormon Temple which I stopped at in Salt Lake City to remember the names of the different rooms I visited and the paintings on the walls.

 

In one scene at a trucker stop, I looked up the exact date so could add what was happening that day when someone was reading the paper (Patty Hearst was arrested).  So yes, I did a lot of research. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Before I started Narrow Escapes, my second memoir, I completed a draft of a novel which I had planned on finishing. My writing took a different route!

 

Right now I’m taking a break and just beginning to think about delving back into the novel. I might take undeveloped scenes and work on them—as well as undeveloped characters.

 

I’m also enjoying taking more walks, going to the gym, teaching a bit and reading. For so many years, even with working full time and raising my children, I was always writing and desperately needed to write. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I’m taking it easy now and realize that this is okay. Still, I would love to have my novel see the light of day!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: As much as writing has fed my soul, teaching has always been a “calling” for me throughout my life. Witnessing so many students tell their stories, some very difficult stories, has been a great honor. 

 

I’ve gotten to see a number of my students have articles and even books published. I feel lucky that I found both writing and teaching as my path in life and that I can pass down my knowledge to others!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb