Interview with Hallie Marbet, Runner Up in the WOW! Q1 2026 Creative Nonfiction Contest

 

Hallie Marbet has been writing voraciously for five years, creating both fictional and non-fictional work. In addition to her shorter pieces, she’s written three children’s books: The Fire-sneezing Dragon, Changing Charlie and Chalk Doors, along with three novels: Final Dawn, Fog and Happy Sad Lands. She draws inspiration from tapping into memories of a rocky childhood and meaningful observation of everyday life. Her birthplace, Plum Island, Massachusetts, has always held her heart, but it never stopped her from living in more places than many. Currently, she resides with her family in Bracciano, Italy, teaching English as a second language to all ages. When she’s not writing or working, she’s either swimming, spending time with family or somewhere lost in translation. 

 ----------Interview by Renee Roberson 

WOW: Welcome, Hallie, and congratulations on placing with your beautiful and introspective essay, Losing Leaves. What first gave you the idea for this piece? 

Hallie: Memories of the Frank Church Wilderness have been bouncing around my brain for years. As you can see, there were a lot of sensory exploits and I dug deep to put them into words. I was twenty-one, just starting adulthood, but I knew that this experience would be character defining, mind-altering, and all encompassing. And it was. I started writing about it five years ago. It began as a much larger piece, with more specific experiences. But for WOW I honed in on crucial points. I'm currently working on a memoir for future publication. 

WOW: It certainly does sound like a life-changing experience and I'm so glad to hear it is also part of a larger body of work. What is your favorite line from the essay? 

Hallie: 'The echo of hooves on stone claps off the trees, frightening the birds again.' I like how the hendecasyllable sounds in the first clause of the sentence and how it changes after the comma, highlighting just how scared the birds were, how scared I was when that moose was standing in front of me. 

WOW: Thank you for picking that one out for us--I know how hard it is to highlight a favorite part of our own writing! As a children's book author, what do you enjoy most about writing for that specific audience? 

Hallie: It's easier to have more fun with the writing when the characters are animals. But it can also be more challenging since children are hard critics, the first critics. They know what they like. And if you can please a child with your words, that is success. 

WOW: So true! Who are some of the writers that inspire your own work?

Hallie: I love the depth and rawness of Charles Bukowski's writing. I read John Grisham like water. Stephanie Meyer has an amazing ability to get inside the head of the protagonist, and subsequently, the reader. And Stephen King is the king for me. I enjoy Agatha Christie's timeless writing. Pat Barker is a captivating author. And of course, John Steinbeck and Hermann Hesse are wonderful to read as well.

WOW: Bracciano, Italy looks like a magical place to reside! How is it different from your birthplace of Massachusetts? 

Hallie: These two places couldn't be more different. Bracciano, a bustling town, full of life and activity, is seated along the banks of Lake Bracciano. Thin streets snake throughout the small city, with cars screaming along them. Sidewalks are full of people at all hours of the day, except for lunch time, when shops close for a few hours. It's a great place for people watching and being seen. Plum Island, Massachusetts, however, was a very quiet place, surrounded by nothing but nature and water. The salt marsh was my backyard, where I would get lost for hours. And it may have been there, where my imagination learned to flourish.

WOW: I imagine it was! Your writing is a great example of how we can turn our experiences with nature and travel into compelling essays. Thank you for joining us again today.