Why I Write Wednesday: IUWC Participant Elaine Olund

Growing up with a grandmother who inspired her to explore many facets of art, former IUWC participant Elaine Olund knew she wanted to pursue art from a young age. For her, “writing was just another medium” to express herself. Elaine keeps her art and uses it as inspiration for her writing. She creates sketch journals that combine pictures and words, “just like when [she] was six,” that combine everything she reads, learns, and wonders about into a raw state. Below is an example of a page from Elaine’s sketchbook.

Elaine attended IUWC for the first time in 2014. The first time she participated in the writers’ conference, she did not take part in the workshops. However, in her second year attending IUWC, she participated in the poetry workshop. She said that this workshop impacted her mindset about her work in a very positive way. “We are all on our own journey,” she said, “and IUWC is about accepting people where they are.” The feeling of acceptance while being surrounded by people with extensive manuscripts was one that motivated Elaine to deepen her own craft.

Elaine’s favorite piece of her own creation is from her poetry book The Invisible Suitcase. The piece is titled Under an Empty Sky, and she loves this poem because it combines many of her interests (including desire, climate, human relations, and what we do to each other and the planet) into one concise poem. Her favorite place to work on her writing is in the comfort of her own home. However, she describes independent writing time as the soil, and conferences like IUWC and collaborative work as the sunlight or fertilizer that helps her grow and get out of her own head.

She is currently working on a several new pieces including another poetry book, a sketch journal that she has added to throughout the pandemic, and a young adult novel—a story set 100 years in the future in Indiana that details the aftermath of soil collapse and desertification. Check out more of Elaine’s work on her website!