Q&A with Liza Libes
Meet the Literary Mastermind Behind Pens and Poison
Whether you’re a newcomer or a long-time follower, you’ve been reading Pens and Poison, where you’ve learned everything from complex literary analysis to my educational hot takes. But who am I? Here’s your chance to learn all about Liza Libes, the poetic soul behind your favorite Pens and Poison posts!
I asked you lovely people to send me your burning questions over on Instagram and am excited to be answering many of these questions today! Here are some answers to top questions, and don’t forget to follow me over on Instagram for your chance to participate in future Q&A’s!
What inspired you to start Pens and Poison?
After making the fraught yet necessary decision to withdraw from academia after I discovered that an academic career might not be a great fit for me, I transitioned to the real world and found that few people read literature and far fewer people understood it. I began to feel a void in my heart that had previously been occupied by literary discussion and quickly realized that literary study did not have to be just confined to academia. I founded The Pens and Poison project to promote literary education and foster appreciation for the written word, as well as to bring back the idea of literature as a work of art rather than a political vehicle. All across American college campuses, English literature students are being taught that literary study must necessarily rest on the far-left ideologies of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and others. As a result, literary fields such as publishing, academia, and journalism are increasingly becoming dominated by ideological extremists who are bringing the focus away from literary study and towards their own political agendas. I believe that literature should not be politicized, nor should it be understood under these arbitrary political lenses. As I grow the Pens and Poison project, I hope to spread literature to all and to bring back the focus of literary study to the importance of the humanistic tradition.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out on social media?
I started working on my social media channels about five months ago. Since then, I have amassed 12k followers on Instagram and 22k subscribers on YouTube. Many of my followers are in disbelief that I have only been around for several months, and others are shocked to hear that I grew my socials so quickly with no prior social media experience.
I started off posting one reel every day—what I call my "daily literary bite." At the start of my Instagram and YouTube journey, I would post reels primarily of me talking about a fun literary fact for 15-30 seconds. Many of my current reels have retained this format, though I have now added others into the mix based on trial and error of what seems to get my audience most engaged.
I have learned a heck of a lot through putting myself out there on social media and have three main tips for those just starting out:
1. Post every day! For me, consistency was key. Some reels did not do very well, some reels did much better than I would have ever expected. Posting daily with no exceptions—even on the days where I was tired, busy or sick—helped me understand the audience I was engaging and develop content that my followers best appreciated.
2. Don't pay attention to what other people are doing. Sure, there are some Instagram "trends" that can be helpful, but I truly believe that what helped me grow was posting content that was unique. I came into Instagram with a blank slate—with no prior social media experience—and I believe that this was inadvertently the key to my success. I just posted what I wanted to post, and it turned out that no one else had done anything quite like this. This helped me stand out and develop a fresh brand rather than hopping on existing social media trends.
3. Embrace the haters. The most shocking part of my journey was receiving so much backlash for just wanting to spread the love of literature. It got me down at first—especially as a young woman online—but I soon learned that the more people hate on you, the more successful you become. It means that people are paying attention and are jealous of what you have achieved.
How do you balance your time between writing, social media, your company, and other responsibilities?
In the 5th grade, my homeroom teacher made us buy differently-colored folders for each subject: red for math, blue for English, orange for social studies, and so on. That was the first year of my life I distinctly remember having to be organized in order to survive. I went to a wickedly competitive high school that made my college degree seem like Kindergarten, and I learned from a young age to color-code, calendar, and compartmentalize (my three C’s of organization). I pride myself on my organizational skills and have taught myself to divide my tasks in chunks and accomplish a little bit of everything every day.
Currently, I have five broad categories of projects I work on at any given time: my company, my novel, my social media, my blog, and the current book I’m reading. I make sure to visit three out of these five projects daily and schedule my days accordingly. On one day, I might work on my novel and read my book after I’m done with the company, and on another day, I might shoot some videos and write a blog article. On weekends, I tend to focus most on reading and writing. I write out the tasks I’d like to accomplish for the day at the start of each week so that I have a clear sense of what’s ahead. As an entrepreneur, I don’t have much of a structured schedule for work, so I need to be maximally organized to continue to progress on these endeavors. Pens and Poison doesn’t build itself, and neither does my writing career.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
I met the editor I’ve partnered with on nearly all of my literary endeavors during my sophomore year of college, when my writing was heavily influenced by my infatuation with the Victorian greats. My editor called me out on crafting overly-flowery sentences and told me to just write as if I would speak. My writing voice has resembled my speaking voice ever since, and it’s been substantially stronger. I’ve developed a particular pulse and cadence that best captures the raw facets of my identity. I’m not a fan of the sorts of contrived sentences that you find in The New Yorker. I do think that my editor is right: write as if you would speak.
What books or authors have had the most influence on your writing style?
I did a reel several months ago where I asked ChatGPT which poets’ writing styles my poetry resembled, and unsurprisingly, it told me Sylvia Plath and T.S. Eliot. These are my two favorite poets and the poets I did my undergraduate and master’s theses on respectively. T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath are hands-down my biggest inspirations, and I love both of them for their unique understanding of human psychology and the human condition.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about classic literature?
A lot of people in my English program dismissed the classics for being written by old white men. I think that this is one of the biggest problems in the literary world—people assume that just because a particular work was written by a demographic they don’t personally relate to that it holds no objective value. What all literature has in common is the ability to speak to the human condition regardless of race, class, sex, etc. Great literature says something meaningful and universal about human beings that applies to everyone—and it has value regardless of your background.
Who is your favorite Dostoyevsky villain?
Ooh. I’m going to give a bit of an unorthodox answer here. I’m going to consider the Underground Man as a villain because he tells us as much in the opening line of Notes from Underground. The Underground Man represents the human vices that we often find in our own psyches, reminding us that human beings are far from simple and perfect creatures. We are often stubborn, reclusive, and sometimes even evil. Without giving too much away if you haven’t yet read the book, I think the Underground Man’s treatment of Liza at the end of this short novel is one of the most heartbreaking moments I have read in literature, reminding us all to be kind to our loved ones.
How do you define literary fiction as opposed to genre fiction?
First off, literary fiction has to tell us something profound about the world around us. It is less of a departure from our world than a commentary on human beings. Literary fiction could have happened in your own world, and given that many authors write from their own experiences, oftentimes, it has. Literary fiction often emphasizes writing style and offers a sense of novelty rather than rehashing many standard tropes often found in genre fiction. Literary fiction gives us something that relates to ourselves and prompts us to examine our own lives and the world around us.
What’s your process for choosing the books you feature on Pens and Poison?
I have a 70 page document for reel ideas that I visit every time I prepare to get behind the camera. I update it at odd hours in the night or after an introspective shower. I pick ideas that are both spicy and insightful. I want to make my opinions known and tailor my content to my authentic literary takes rather than the dominant discourse in various literary communities.
What’s next for Pens and Poison?
I’m always expanding the literary love! I launched several new projects recently, including The Pens and Poison Podcast, the Liza’s Book Club series, and The Pens and Poison Mag. I’m excited to continue growing the Pens and Poison mission to create an authentic literary hub and hope to soon reach a greater audience.
That’s all for now! If you enjoyed this Q&A with Liza, check out an earlier Q&A with me over on my YouTube here. And don’t forget to subscribe to Pens and Poison on YouTube for more poetic goodness.
Glad to find your substack, and great idea!