What motivated/motivates you to write?
Writing is a way to express myself and connect with people who recognize some of their own perception in mine. It also grows out of my love of language, especially the music, precision, and play of words.
Do you enjoy writing?
Yes, I enjoy taking a seed, sometimes nothing more than a title, and then nourishing and growing that seed into a compelling story.
What is the best piece of advice you have received? Or, what is the best piece of advice you would offer an aspiring writer?
Sometimes a story refuses to come together, and that is fine. Put it aside and work on something else. Return to it six months later, and often you will see a way forward. If you still don’t, let it go and move on.
What is the role of the writer in society?
That depends on the type of writer. Broadly speaking, writers observe, examine, and often challenge norms in an ever-shifting landscape. The best writers understand complexity and competing truths, but they still take a literary stand. Great literature can entertain, warn, provoke, and endure.
Which mistakes have you learned the most from?
I have learned the most from believing a draft was finished when it was not. More often than not, the “final” draft is simply the last draft before the deeper work begins.
What are the major benefits of being a writer?
One benefit is the freedom to work anytime and anywhere. Another is the satisfaction of saying something that is true. And every time I write, I learn about language, about people, and about the world.
Would you mind sharing a photograph of a part of your bookshelf (or your library) that is meaningful to you? What makes it meaningful to you?
My bookshelf reflects the range of my interests across both fiction and non-fiction. It is meaningful to me because it reminds me that reading widely is part of how I think, feel, and write.
Sigrun Benjamin is a fiction and nonfiction writer whose work explores sustainable food systems, climate change, late-stage capitalism, and the human condition. She holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Food Systems and was a major contributor to Farm to Table: The Essential Guide (Chelsea Green, 2016). She recently completed co-writing her first novel, Seedland, an 85,000-word speculative eco-fiction work, with her husband, writer and educator Darryl Benjamin. A previous version of “Screams of Renovation” was a finalist for the Cream City Review Summer Prize in Fiction. Her work was also a winner of the 2025 George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest.