Marianne Manzler on the power of creating a personal record

Through her journal entries and personal essays, Minneapolis writer, editor, and Loft Literary Center educator Marianne Manzler is building a body of work around her experience being diagnosed with cancer in her 20s as well as shining a light on the person behind the illness. In this interview, she tells about experiencing imposter syndrome as a biracial child growing up in a predominantly white suburb, how she learned to lean into her voice as a writer, and why she has a goal of 100 rejections per year. Her creative process has also yielded great success. She was a Fulbright scholar in Malaysia in 2016. Her essay “On the Making of a Mumu,” which originally appeared in Fourth Genre, received a notable in Best American Essays 2022. Her work can also be found in The Seventh Wave and 5280. Marianne is currently the interim education program manager at the Loft Literary Center. Marianne Manzler's website: www.mariannemanzler.com/bio The Loft Literary Center: https://loft.org/