INTERVIEW WITH VICKI HENDRICKS

What is the name of the piece that you have in Grabbed?

“When in Madagascar”
 
Can you speak to the evolution of writing your piece? 

Since my experience was literally an attempted grab, I thought of it immediately. However, as the piece evolved, I realized that the moment was not worthy of mention amid the rape and abuse in a collection of this sort. The grab remained in my mind more as a curiosity than a moment of peril. Yet, Madagascar itself is indelibly stamped on my being, engulfed in emotion for those people that I could not help. My inability to make a speck of difference on such a scale is what I will keep forever, and sharing that became the importance of the piece. Though on the surface, my concerns might seem out of line with the purpose of this anthology, on a deeper level, relief of suffering is our shared hope.  
 
As a writer, do you feel obliged to share difficult experiences? Why?

This is the first personal experience I have ever felt compelled to share. I thank you for the opportunity. 
 
Vicki Hendricks is the author of noir novels Miami Purity, Iguana Love, Voluntary Madness, Sky Blues, and Cruel Poetry, an Edgar Award Finalist in 2008. Her short stories are collected in Florida Gothic Stories. She currently lives in central Florida, the rural locale of her most recent novel Fur People.

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