A native Californian, Christine Larusso’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Prelude, The Literary Review, Court Green, Narrative Magazine, The Awl, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from New York University, where she was awarded a Starworks Fellowship. Previously, she worked in editorial capacities for Guernica Magazine and Washington Square Review. She lives in Brooklyn.
What doors do you open at The Offing?
Assistant Poetry Editor (AKA Slush Reader Extraordinaire). I try to dabble in all departments, though, mostly hoping that the rest of the staff’s greatness will rub off on me.
What doors does The Offing open for you?
The Offing has given me a community I don’t have anywhere else. Amazingly, we’re spread out all over the U.S., but anytime we’re chatting, hanging out on Skype, emailing back and forth for hours about the poems, the stories, the letters, the good work that comes to us — I swell up with pride. These people are my family.
Is there a piece you’ve worked on or found at The Offing that’s been especially meaningful to you?
There’s so many. It always feels rewarding to find an “undiscovered” poet when reading slush, because as someone who submits, submits, submits until her heart is aching, it’s disheartening to see the same cis white names published over and over in so many other journals. When our department read Tyrone Palmer’s poems, we all (virtually, remember we’re not all in the same state!) leapt to our feet in excitement. I hadn’t heard his name before, but I won’t forget it.
What would you like to see us do with the donations we receive during our fundraiser?
Pay our writers more money. Host readings and events. Be more present, be louder, be stronger.
