MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT

Mentor Commentary:
Katie Strine

Recipient Reflection: 
Hania Qutub

On "The Diagnosis" by Hania Qutub

by Katie Strine

Hania’s work stayed with me immediately because I heard a familiar distress in her voice. Living and marching through each day unable to form any real, tangible understanding of atrocities. Graphic horrors shared without any ability to prevent them. For me, it wasn’t the exact subject matter on which she wrote, but rather the feeling that it could have been any confrontational subject. The way news can jolt before life forces us to move on, as Hania observes. 

The submitted draft, though, wasn’t quite ready for publication, and I was excited to help Hania finalize its structure. Hania immediately worked my feedback into another draft. Back and forth we went as the piece shaped itself into its final form. The heart of the essay heard in Hania’s voice presented itself from the start; I simply assisted the presentation of ideas. 

I enjoyed working with Hania and am grateful she trusted me with her work. The strength of Literary Cleveland exists because of such collaboration, and, like Hania, I value insight gained from others in our field. 

Katie Strine

Katie Strine is a fiction writer and educator. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, Necessary Fiction, Barely South Review and others. Once nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Katie has also been supported by The Kenyon Review. She has formerly supported GSR as a reader and has volunteered with Electric Literature and Typehouse Literary Journal. Nothing compares, however, to working within the community that Literary Cleveland and GSR support and inspire.