Position: Visiting Assistant Professor
Department: English
Courses: Readings in Contemporary Non-Fiction, MFA Program: Writing Workshop, Structures and Techniques (a non-fiction reporting and writing class)
This week I had the opportunity to talk to one of my favorite professors, Maggie Jones. I am currently enrolled in her Readings in Contemporary Non-Fiction course and it is by far one of the most engaging and satisfying classes I have ever taken at Pitt. Maggie is an inspiration; not only is she a visiting professor this year, but she is also a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. Her work as a journalist has been published in The Washington Post, Slate, Salon, Elle, Mother Jones, The New York Times Sunday Book Review and The Philadelphia Inquirer. In addition, she was a 2012 Neiman Fellow at Harvard University. If you are interested in studying non-fiction authors, I highly recommend taking Maggie’s class. And if you want to learn more about Maggie herself, check out her website here.
HC: When did you first know you wanted to become a writer?
Maggie: Not until college. But I wasn’t a very good writer then, so it took awhile!
HC: Why did you choose to teach at the University of Pittsburgh?
Maggie: Usually I write full-time for The New York Times Magazine and other publications and don’t have much time to teach. But when Jeanne Marie Laskas, the head of Pitt’s writing program, asked me to fill in this year for someone on sabbatical, I was thrilled. It’s great to bring to the students some lessons I’ve learned about reporting and writing over the years. And I love introducing students to some of my favorite non-fiction writers.
HC: What is the most rewarding part about being a professor?
Maggie: It sounds cliché, but it truly is the students. I love getting to know students and talking to them about research, reporting and writing challenges – along with learning about their lives (if I hadn’t been a writer, I might have become a psychologist). I also love seeing when students fall in love with beautiful sentences.
HC: What is the most challenging?
Maggie: The time it takes away from my own writing. I’m used to having a lot of time for reporting and writing and it’s been an adjustment to put that on the back burner.
HC: What do you enjoy the most about writing for The New York Times Magazine?
Maggie: I love reporting on people and worlds far different than mine (and then learning, indeed, that our worlds aren’t actually so different after all). I love when a rough draft finally starts to come together. (But I hate the beginning of the writing process, when I’m convinced I’ll never be able to pull it off.) And I also love working with my wonderful, smart, compassionate editor. Writers need great editors.
HC: Who is your favorite writer or who has been your inspiration?
Maggie: In non-fiction there are so many. Joan Didion, George Orwell and E.B. White were early inspirations. I also am a fan of so many contemporary journalists/non-fiction writers: Katherine Boo, Adrian LeBlanc, Darcy Frey, Sara Corbett, Michael Paterniti are just a few.
HC: What is your favorite subject to write about?
Maggie: One of the best things about being a reporter is going into worlds that I initially know very little about and meeting people who open their lives to me. I’m constantly surprised by people’s generosity and trust.
HC: What do you like to do in your free time when you’re not writing or teaching?
Maggie: I have two kids, ages 10 and 12, so that consumes a lot of my free time. I love to travel. I have to go to yoga or I’m not a very nice person. And I love to spend afternoons in movie theaters (except I hardly ever do anymore) and to sit by myself in a coffee shop and be drawn into fiction or non-fiction that I can’t put down.
HC: And finally, what advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Maggie: Work hard, be patient, accept criticism from editors/readers and, above all, persevere — even in the face of rejection. It’s a really hard business and, often, a lonely one. But plenty of incredibly talented writers have been rejected dozens of times before getting anything published. And if you are serious about writing, carve out a little time every day to practice it.
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