Author Q&A with Kathryn O’Day

Kathryn O’Day is a nonfiction writer and former teacher. She writes about work, friendship, politics, and cities. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the Northwind Writing Award. Her creative work has appeared in Pangyrus, Another Chicago Magazine, Prose Online, and The Northwind Anthology, and she reads fiction submissions for TriQuarterly Magazine, which also published her interview with Aram Mrjoian. Much of her free time is spent wandering around the Cook County Forest Preserve, composing long, elaborate lists, and dreaming of the day her memoir hits the bestseller list.

O’Day’s creative nonfiction piece, Amongst Women, is featured in Issue 17.

Tell us about yourself.

Up until quite recently, I never would have called myself a writer. I’ve always been a reader, though, and once in a while, when I was young, I’d read about writers and imagine myself as one of them. Sometimes I’d even try my hand at a scene or a poem. My commitment never went much further than that, however.

After graduation, I forgot about writing altogether and focused instead on my new passion, teaching high school English. But then, two decades into my career, I decided to leave the profession. I loved my job, but I could feel myself burning out. 

A few months into my “retirement,” I found myself returning to my old daydream. At first, I simply sat down and wrote, naively thinking dedication to the task of writing would soon produce a best-seller (if only!). It wasn’t long before I realized how little I actually knew about writing, so I set out to learn. I joined writers’ groups and signed up for workshops. Eventually, I decided to pursue an MFA in Prose and Poetry. “Amongst Women” is an essay from that program, actually.

Tell us about your upcoming memoir. What inspired you to write it?

The memoir is a love story about teaching. It begins with my decision to become a teacher and ends with my decision to leave a dysfunctional system. My inspiration to write it arose from my heartbreak and bitterness over the loss of a job I loved. Because I really did love teaching. I just couldn’t balance it with family obligations, and the struggle to do so was taking a toll on my health. 

At first, I saw the book as a straightforward insider’s take on urban education. So many people think they understand what it takes to be a teacher, but all too often, they have no idea. It gets frustrating, particularly when politicians get involved. 

Over time, however, I realized that my book was a memoir, not an expose. This meant I had to rewrite everything, maintaining the arc of the story, but shifting its focus from a series of scenes in classrooms to the world contained in my head. At first, I worried that this introspection would shift attention from the system, but over time I realized that it actually helped me to make connections between my small story and larger narratives around gender, work, race, and economics, all of which influence the discourse around education. 

How did becoming a high school teacher change your life?

Becoming a teacher was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made (yes, despite all the heartache—maybe even because of it!). At first, I was simply trying it on, desperate to make use of my English degree without having to sit in an office all day. I had no idea whether I’d be any good at it. But then I found myself face to face with actual teenagers, and I was almost instantly disarmed by their warmth, their insight, their wisdom. I assumed at first that I’d simply gotten lucky, landing in that particular environment with that particular group of students. Then years passed, and I found the same traits among mixed-gender groups in public schools, as well. This is another thing I really want to get across in my writing—the surprising sweetness of teenagers.

What lessons did educating young minds teach you?

Where to begin? My students taught me to be patient, to be hopeful. They taught me how beautiful and rich literature really is. They taught me to listen. Really, they taught me how to teach!

“Amongst Women,” tells your story of becoming a teacher and how your students impacted your life. Are you still in touch with any of your students? 

I am, mostly through social media. It’s such a joy—following their paths! One of my former students is a news anchor now. Another is a zookeeper. And countless others are teachers, themselves. 

How have those relationships developed over the years?

Most of them have grown somewhat distant, naturally. You go from interacting every day to catching up on Facebook. And people change, of course. That group of girls I taught in the story are almost forty years old now, with daughters of their own. 

Tell us about the reunion that brought you back together with your first students.

It was wonderful, not only because I reconnected with my former students, but because I also reconnected with some of my former colleagues. I don’t write about it in “Amongst Women,” but I worked with a wonderful group of teachers at that school. It wasn’t uncommon for us to chat in the halls for literally hours at the end of the school day.

As a teacher, are your first students the most memorable? Why or why not?

I hesitate to say yes, only because I taught so many incredible kids over the years. Still, I have extremely vivid memories of the Class of 2004. Part of this is because it was my first year. Another part is because I taught students in that class all three years that I taught there. I taught them as freshmen, then as sophomores, and later in electives. 

What are your favorite writers to teach students about? Why?

The best writers for high school students tell stories that resonate with their worlds. This doesn’t mean that kids can’t appreciate other times, places, societies. Kids love Shakespeare (most of the time), though they don’t live in Elizabethan England. Still, it’s crucial for students to feel that the text is speaking to them, not simply at them. 

One book that I remember resonating with a lot of kids was Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. It’s a tough read—a story about inter-generational trauma written from multiple perspectives. Still, it generated a lot of important discussions around family and the roots of abuse. I got the sense that a lot of students felt seen when they read it, perhaps even comforted.

Another popular book was Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. One student told me it was the first book she had actually read all the way through for a class. I asked her why she liked it. “Because it’s real,” she said.

What do you think of when you hear, “The Good Life?”

I think of that lovely short story written by Willa Cather, an author I admire. And then I think of Nebraska, a place I’ve always liked, though I’ve never been a resident. I’ve spent time there, though. I’ve been photographed in a cornfield and played with kittens in a barn and eaten runzas straight from the oven. It’s been a while since I read Cather’s story, but I get a sense that her Nebraska was not too different from mine. 

Listen as Kathryn reads a snippet of her essay, Amongst Women:

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Thank you, Kathryn, for allowing us to share your essay with our readers and for taking extra time with us on this Q&A and audio recording. We’re glad we were able to connect and we wish you the best with your book and all your writing endeavors.