Tara Betts

By Jasminum McMullen

Writuals explores how our city's rich literary heritage, cultural diversity, and iconic spaces inspire routines that fuel the work of local authors.

Tara Betts is the author of Refuse to Disappear, Break the Habit, and Arc & Hue. She is a professor in the Peace, Conflict Studies, and Social Justice program at DePaul University and part of the faculty at the Solstice MFA program at Lasell University. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including This is the Honey and The Overturning. Her short stories and essays have also appeared in numerous publications, including Octavia's Brood, Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories, and The Breakbeat Poets. 

CLHOF: What are your “writuals,” and how have they evolved?

Tara Betts: For me, I’m one of those people who cannot write at home, so I’m often haunting a coffee shop. There is something about people talking and moving around, buzzing around at the counter, music playing that breaks the solitary part of writing for me. I put together my last two poetry collections in coffee shops and I write a lot of prose there. Being outside my house cuts down my tendency to nap. Also, one of the signs I need to write is that my dreams become more vivid. I know something is trying to get out, so it’s more intuitive than a routine practice. I do love to have a couple of good pens, sharpened pencils, and a pencil sharpener on hand too. Sometimes, I take a break and read from the 2-3 books I brought with me too. A quote or a line can send me where I need to go to get started.

CLHOF: If you could have coffee with any Chicago author, past or present, who would it be and why? How has their work or legacy influenced your writing?

Tara Betts: If it’s Chicago writers from the past, I’d say Gwendolyn Brooks because her diction, syntax, and voice are so powerful and original. She was/is a master of form and sonics, and I think she’d have a wicked sense of humor. I saw her twice briefly when she was still alive, and I always wanted to chat with her. I also think she’d have some sharp insights on Chicago today and how it relates to the past of this city.

CLHOF: Chicago is a city known for its activism and social consciousness. How, if at all, do these civic engagement and social justice elements find their way into your writing rituals or themes? Do you feel a duty to reflect or challenge the city’s socio-political landscape in your work?

Tara Betts: I wonder if anyone asks writers from the dominant culture this question. We need to start doing that. Otherwise, I don’t know if it’s a duty so much as an underlying idea that writing is one way to envision a world that is more conducive to humanity and existing. Now, do I think Chicago as a city is deeply rooted in being vocal and organizing. Most creatives in Chicago have an overlap with the political backdrop of the city in one way or another. As for me, I often think about the quote from Muhammad Ali, who also spent time in Chicago. He said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” If you don’t contribute anything, then what are you doing?

CLHOF: Name a movie shot in Chicago that best describes your writing style.

Tara Betts: I would say “High Fidelity” meet “Cooley High” because I do love hanging out in a record store, and a lot of my formative writing years were spent in Wicker Park, back when Lit-Ex and Red Dog were the spots and it was a skip over to Guild Complex and a wild number of open mics, but I also spent time at some really powerful Black poetry sets too, like Jazz & Java hosted by Kim Ransom, Afrika West bookstore, Rituals, and Malik Yusef’s Full Moon Poetry. If you were a young poet back then, you had a lot of outlets that cross-pollinated and informed what you read, watched, listened to, and you met so many people. Writers would find each other.

CLHOF: What advice would you give someone who wants to write and publish in the city?

Tara Betts: I often find that people are in a rush to publish. Learn more about what’s out there and take a beat. Ask yourself if you really have something to say. We all do, but what makes you unique? Read widely. Don’t just read what your friends are reading. Expand and read widely—anthologies, international writers, authors on small presses, authors from different cultures. It can shift your approach in good ways. Be willing to proofread, revise, and edit. Also, read and support journals that publish work you might be interested in writing. 

Jasminum McMullen is an Associate Board Director at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, interested in engaging writers from or living in Chicago about their writing rituals. Her writing has appeared in Black Joy Unbound, Mamas, Martyrs, and Jezebels, Past Ten, and The Elevation Review.