By Staff Writer James Schryver
On Friday, April 15th, fiction writer and policy advisor, Arkady Martine, visited Eastern New Mexico University to give several brief lectures as well as read from her new novella.
Arkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer as well as a policy advisor for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, describing herself as a “jack of all trades, who likes electricity a lot.” This government work includes writing policy for climate change mitigation, energy grid modernization, and resiliency planning. In her first career, she was a professional historian of the middle Byzantine Empire which influenced a lot of her current writing. She also claims that the two careers she has now as a policy writer and a fiction writer are mutually beneficial.
Mrs. Martine is the recipient of two Hugo Awards for Best Novel (2020 and 2022) due to her debut novel and sequel A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace. She is releasing another novel, Rose/House, that should be out on e-book in mid-May of 2023.
Mrs. Martine participated in a short read of her new novella to a small audience in the Campus Union Building of Eastern New Mexico University’s campus mid-morning on Friday. She read from her new novella, Rose/House, for around 40 minutes to generate interest. She mentioned that after her two big “commercial” books, she wanted to downsize and make a book that “maybe only ten people will like.”
After this reading, she did a question and answer with students and faculty members. One of the questions that was asked was how she manages writing on top of her normal job. Mrs. Martine mentioned that if she is under a deadline, she tries to write about a page a day which equates to about 250 words. She claims that “This is manageable if you just sit down and make yourself do it.” She extends her answer in saying that her writing comes and goes. Sometimes she could work diligently on it for a few weeks, and something could come up and she might not get back to writing for several weeks.
Later in the day, Mrs. Martine led two lectures on Climates of Empire and Artificial Intelligence in the Jackson Williamson Liberal Arts Building (JWLA). In these lectures, she sat on a panel with other individuals who gave their thoughts on the subjects at hand.
Thank you Arkady Martine for enriching the campus of Eastern New Mexico University!