A few questions with Lucas Church

Lucas Church won our 2010 Fiction Contest with a short story called “Clothes Lines.” Last night, Church shared the stage at Eyedrum with the dancing bananas and Tahitian beauties of Blast Off Burlesque and read his prize winning story about George, a slip-wearing, fortune-cookie-eating high school janitor. Before the party, we caught up with Church to ask him a few questions.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m 31 and from North Carolina, specifically from the Appalachian mountain area in the western part of the state. I live in Decatur now and my day job is working in Emory’s main library.

When and why did you start writing?

I started writing in college because I didn’t know what else to do with myself. I shuddered at the idea of a job where I would work in  a cubicle. I ended getting a great job at Emory where I, ahem, work in a cubicle, so life is full of surprises.

My BA from Appalachian State was in English with a Creative Writing emphasis, and ASU was an incredible environment for a college-age writer - very supportive faculty there. I’ve also taken fiction writing classes at Emory with some excellent teachers.