.Writers.on.Writing.

Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.

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.W.o.W. #14

Hannah Rousselot

Who is your greatest writing influence?

I love Andrea Gibson. I saw them perform when I was a student at Smith College and it was a momentous experience for me. It was the first time I saw another poet speak so openly about mental illness and queerness, things that are a huge part of my life as well. They gave me “permission” to write about the hard stuff.

What does your inner writing voice tell you?

Trust yourself.

Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.

Since I’m bilingual, I’ve always been aware of the duality of language: it’s something used to communicate, but you can never communicate what you are thinking exactly. It’s an approximation based on the vocabulary and language you have at your disposal. Yet, language is one of the only ways we have to connect with those around us. I discovered this firsthand after I wrote my very first poem about my hamster’s death. Even at that young age, writing felt very natural to me, and I haven’t stopped writing since.

Connect with Hannah (she/her), a queer French-American poet, on Twitter or Facebook. Her poem “displaced” was featured in Yellow Arrow Journal’s Vol. V, No. 2 issue HOME.