The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Shelly Bryant

By Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Why do you write?

In one sense, the answer to this question is simply “Because that’s what I do.” I have no grand agendas attached to my writing. It is an activity I am naturally drawn to. I love to encounter good writing, and I hope to produce it. For me, writing is closely connected to reading, and the role of reader-writer is a core part of who I am.

Tell us about your most recent book or writing project. What were you trying to say or achieve with it?

My most recently released book is Pine the Passing. It is the fifth in a series focused on the wuxing, or the Five Elements in Chinese thought. For me, this collection and the four that went before it (Under the Ash, Voices of the Elders, Harps Upon Willows, and The Lined Palm) are my exploration of the wuxing, a system of tension and balance that is expressed in every aspect of life and the world around us. If all goes as planned, it will eventually be a 25-book series, so I see Pine the Passing as a step along the path of exploration.