Little Rabbit

How did the idea for Little Rabbit come to you?

I’ve always wanted to write a literary novel where a woman really lusts after a man and it doesn’t destroy her life. Female desire is not often depicted in literary works, and when it is, it’s usually paired with punishment or tragedy. I want more writing that takes female lust seriously and centers it as a subject for high art.

Also, in winter 2020, I listened to the audiobook of Mating in Captivity by the relationship therapist Esther Perel and was really intrigued by the section on Perel’s clients who are strong feminist women who realize they like to be dominated in bed. Perel described the women as worrying that these desires somehow detracted from their egalitarian values. I realized I wanted to write an empathetic, embodied account of one woman grappling with this same experience.

What’s your relationship to dance?

I am an avid admirer of dance with two left feet. I love to dance in a casual way—like back in the Before Times, when it was more relaxed to go to dance parties—but I don’t have any formal training myself. I was lucky, though, in 2019, to overlap at a residency with a choreographer and two of his dancers (not a basis for the choreographer, though I’m sure you don’t believe me). During the residency, we got to see him creating new movement on these dancers. I didn’t understand before how dependent choreography is on a specific person’s body. The process totally captivated me—it seemed so different from writing, where you’re all hunched up at a desk forgetting to take care of your physical needs. I became completely envious and decided I wanted to write about dance.