'If we stop seeing the beauty, they have won'
Author Pam Houston talks about why art matters in today's political climate, how writing can help us protect the Earth, and what she loves about Wisconsin.
I’m thrilled to share this Q&A with the author and activist Pam Houston, who I had the chance to spend a week with in February in Bayfield, Wisconsin, during a gorgeous and very cold writing retreat. For those just getting to know Pam, her breakthrough work Cowboys Are My Weakness launched her onto the literary scene in the 90s and since then she’s published many more works including fiction, nonfiction and essays. She’s a sought-after instructor who divides her time both within and outside of the U.S., and she is a strong advocate for the Earth, feminism and social justice. Here, we talk about Iceland and her other favorite places, writing about landscape, and why art is more important than ever.
You also can find Pam on Facebook and Instagram.
Where is your hometown? Where do you live now?
If you mean by hometown where was I born, the answer is Trenton, New Jersey. If you mean where did I go to high school, the answer is Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Neither of those feel anything like a hometown. I have lived for the last 35 years near Creede, Colorado, and I love my barn and my pasture, but the town of Creede has never felt like home either. If I had to claim a hometown, I guess it would be Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I spend a lot of time. But I have never really lived there except for a few weeks and months here and there.
I like that women are equal in Iceland. I like that they are most literate population by far. I like that the air and water are clean, and that the environment is a priority of the government.
You also recently purchased property in Iceland—why Iceland? What do you appreciate or what inspires you about that country?
I love so many things about Iceland. The Icelandic horses, first and foremost, and I love to ride them on multiday treks into the highlands and along the coasts. But the horses are only the top of my list and the list is very long. I like that women are equal in Iceland. I like that they are most literate population by far. I like that the air and water are clean, and that the environment is a priority of the government. I like that there are hot springs and heated outdoor swimming pools everywhere. (Geothermal power rules!) I like Sigur Rós and Jón Kalman Stefánsson. I like skyr. I really like the character of the Icelandic people, a character the horses embody. They are brave, loyal, have great endurance and also a sense of humor.
I have always thought that my job as a writer was to make people see and smell and taste and touch and therefore fall in love with the natural world.
Landscape/environment figure prominently in your writing. How do you encourage others to incorporate these into their creative work? Why is this important?
Well, first I believe that the best way to tell a story is to find metaphors in the physical world that will translate the meaning your want to convey to your reader. Because I spend as much of my life outside as possible, most of my metaphors are to be found there. But also, it is no secret that we are on a crash course with our own climatic and environmental destruction, and I have always thought that my job as a writer was to make people see and smell and taste and touch and therefore fall in love with the natural world.
I can feel the wildness there, especially in winter, and it speaks to me. It feels like one of my homes.
What do you like about leading retreats in Bayfield, Wisconsin particularly?
I love that big lake. Superior has always felt to me like a complicated and powerful woman. I like being near her in all her forms, walking alongside the water, on the surface of the ice, swimming as far out as I can in August when the lake turns over. I love the caves, and the deep north woods. Maybe because of flatness, northern Wisconsin seems underrated to me as a wild place, and maybe the people who live there like it that way. But I can feel the wildness there, especially in winter, and it speaks to me. It feels like one of my homes.
The current regime depends on us only seeing the ugliness in the Earth and in each other.
I think lots of people feel overwhelmed and helpless concerning the current administration—you’ve talked about continuing to write and make art as a response, as well as sharing beauty, which you do with your photographs each day. Why and how does art remain important and relevant in these times?
Well, historically, when fascism takes over, they generally kill and imprison the artists first. Art tells a deeper truth than a politician can, even a politician who is trying to tell the truth, and we have so few of those left. You simply cannot be in denial about what is happening in this country and make great or even good art at the same time. Art also celebrates beauty. Human beauty, the Earth’s beauty, all the beauties. The current regime depends on us only seeing the ugliness in the Earth and in each other. If we stop seeing the beauty, they have won.
Without Exception is a book that investigates the similarities between the abuse and control of women’s bodies and the abuse and exploitation of the natural world.
Tell us about your latest published work, Without Exception.
Without Exception is a book that investigates the similarities between the abuse and control of women’s bodies and the abuse and exploitation of the natural world. I wrote it specifically to try to get the women’s reproductive/environmentalist vote out in the 2024 election. It details my own history with abortion as well as my mother’s. I got my first period the month Roe V Wade was ratified and I went into full menopause just as Roe died. It’s lifespan corresponded precisely with my reproductive lifespan, and as a result I was able to have precisely the life I wanted, which will not be true for many young women moving forward.
Do you ever experience creative blocks? (if so, please describe, as well as how you break through them) Where do you get your inspiration?
I don’t use the term writers block for the same reason I don’t use the term jet lag. Why call a thing like that into the room? As for inspiration? Animals first, then the wild world, then a few particular poets: Carl Phillips maybe first among them. Then other writers: James Baldwin, Leslie Marmon Silko, Toni Morrison, Ross Gay, Ursula Leguin. Certainly travel as well.
Do you work on any other creative pursuits besides writing?
I love taking photos and always have. I don’t try to sell them, so that I ensure my enjoyment level stays high, but I am starting to post a bunch on Substack and I am really having a good time pairing the photos and the writing.
Here’s Pam’s Substack:
Why/how did you start writing to begin with?
I was an only child, born to alcoholic and abusive parents. I had the world’s greatest babysitter named Martha Washington who taught me to read when I was two and a half. Stories seems like a terrific place to live.
What advice would you share with the next gen of writers and/or people who want to pursue their creative side?
It seems to me that one silver lining of the fact that the American Dream is essentially over now, is that there is no reason to pretend to pursue it. Which frees those people who want to pursue creativity in any form to do so. And the satisfaction to be found here is so much greater than money. One only needs to glance at an oligarch briefly to see how desperately unhappy they are.
Talk about your nonprofit and any upcoming opportunities for writers that you’d like to share?
Writing By Writers puts on about 8 yearly events for writers outside the normal structures of the University. We offer everything from generative weekends for any level of writer to a two year book building project to something called manuscript boot camp, where people bring entire manuscripts to be read by a faculty member and four other class members. We are taking applications for boot camp right now, as well as out two week workshop in Chamonix, France, and we are also offering a series of on line courses. You can check out what we do at writingxwriters.org.
What’s something people might not know about you?
I was a color guard in junior high and one of the few who could “do a quad” which meant hurling my rifle into the air and catching it after it had done four summersaults in the air.
Anything else you would like to share?
I am working on a book of animal essays.