Cheryl Snell

Biography

Cheryl Snell is a poet and fiction writer, author of the new novel Bombay Trilogy. Her work has been published in Antietam Review, Comstock Review, Red River Review,The Inflectionist Review, and many other journals with "Review" in their names. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net seven times.
Snell collaborates frequently with her sister, an expressionist artist, and one such collaboration, on game theory, won a chapbook competition. A trained pianist, Snell is happy to share a stage with her sister, on their art/word projects. "The flow and meaningful content made by a seasoned writer becomes even more seductive by the addition of expressionist paintings by Janet Snell. Rarely have poems been so well "illustrated"...as they are by the two Snells working in tandem." (Grady Harp, an Amazon Top Reviewer)
As for the new novel, the action is set against the same South Indian backdrop where Snell’s husband grew up, and where the fictional milieu depicted in her previous novels Shiva’s Arms, Rescuing Ranu, and Kalpavriksha grapple with modern variations on the theme of the meaning of home. During research for Bombay Trilogy, Snell absorbed the music and cultural customs, observed the festivals and fasts, but never did learn the language. However she credits her husband’s personal stories with facilitating her fluency in subtext.
Please visit her Amazon author page for updates. She'll keep a light on.

Smashwords Interview

from Carla Sarrett's Blog:There aren’t that many sisters working together in the way that they you and your sister Janet do (maybe there aren’t any?) How does the sibling part of your partnership fit into the artistic part? Do you fight?
Just with our brothers! Seriously, Janet and I have great respect for each other, and although we have a similar worldview, we’re interested in the points at which we diverge. Differing opinions are an opportunity to build something better, but I have to admit that the sister who feels most passionately about a particular point wins the other over.
Who makes the decisions about which images work best for which poems? I’d imagine it’s hard to pick! (And have you ever had second thoughts after you went to publication?)
Most of the poems are made to order. Janet will show me photos of her latest batch of work, and after we discuss meaning, mood, and inspiration, I will make a poem to complement a picture that speaks to me. I try to incorporate Janet’s imagery into my own to achieve the effect of a musical duet, with each voice responding and supporting the other. Her work is quite autobiographical, so I usually know what she’s “talking” about, but my words do not necessarily narrate her picture. I try instead to extend its meaning, so the connections are looser, more elastic.
As for second thoughts after publication--I have them all the time. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to have a good editor re-pair the works before publication. This happened with the linocuts in one of my poetry collections, and I thought the editor added an interesting dimension with her choices. This is not always the case -- don’t get me started!
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Cheryl Snell online

Videos

"What was the Inspiration for Rescuing Ranu?"
poet & novelist Cheryl Snell talks about the origins of her second novel

Books

This member has not published any books.