Nova Ren Suma Discusses Antioch, Noir-Style
by Christian Feuerstein '94
Nova Ren Suma '97 is a fiction writer from the Hudson Valley now living in New York City. DANI NOIR, her debut novel for tweens, is out now (for more about DANI NOIR, see the book’s official website daninoir.com). Nova is now at work on her debut YA novel, IMAGINARY GIRLS, which is forthcoming in hardcover tentatively in Summer 2011. Nova was a fiction fellow with the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), a resident at the MacDowell Colony, and will be a resident at Yaddo in 2010. She holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where she was co-editor-in-chief of the literary journal COLUMBIA, and a BA in writing & photography from Antioch College.
On Memories of Antioch College: I first heard of Antioch College when I was about sixteen, living in Woodstock, New York. One of my friends in high school happened to be the son of an Antioch professor, and we were talking about colleges we wanted to go to. He said he was going to Antioch College, and I remember asking where it was and then saying no way would I go to college all the way out in Ohio. Funny thing: I applied to a few eclectic liberal arts schools and when it came down to having to make a choice between Hampshire, Bard, and Antioch, Antioch won hands-down. It was the best fit for me—I loved the vibe of the school, the courses offered, the distinctly individual students, and the co-op program. And it was by far the most supportive with financial aid. So I went off to Antioch, even if it was twelve hours away from home. And the son of the professor? He ended up at Antioch College, too.
I had a self-designed major at Antioch because I just could not choose between creative writing, journalism, and photography. My major combined all those things and gave me the opportunity to do what amounted to two senior projects—lots of work, but I loved every minute of it. I didn't know at first which direction I'd take after Antioch, if I'd try to write for magazines or newspapers or take photographs or write fiction, but when I got into the MFA in fiction program at Columbia University while still a student at Antioch, my fate was decided for me. I went straight off to New York City to be a writer, but everything I learned about journalism and photography factored into my process too. And it was my experience on different co-op jobs while an Antioch student that led me to all the jobs in the New York publishing industry I've had over the years, at places such as the small-press publisher RAW to big houses like Penguin and HarperCollins. Nowhere else could I have self-designed a major so distinctly me, and gathered up so much useful work experience, than at Antioch.
I'm about to reveal myself to be a big romantic, but going to Antioch shaped me not just as the writer I am today, it also changed my life in the most significant way I could imagine: it gave me the love of my life. I met Erik, my best friend and husband and the one person who I trust to read every word of every draft I write (which, for a writer, is the highest compliment I could give), our first month on campus. I have a very vivid memory of talking to him for the first time in the common room of Willet Hall in Birch. We've been together ever since. When we graduated and I started at Columbia, he moved to New York City with me, and he started film school at NYU soon after. Though we still live in New York to this day, we returned to Yellow Springs just once since graduating Antioch, in the fall of 2007, when alumni gathered when the College's troubles were first announced. It was an intense, dramatic weekend, but it also gave us the chance to revisit all the places we remembered from our early years together. I'm so happy to know that's not the last time we can visit the Antioch campus.
On professors who made an impact: Since I had a self-designed major that combined more than one discipline, it probably makes sense that there were two professors whose influence continues to resonate to this day. Dennie Eagleson, my photography professor, showed me a passion for art and the telling of people's stories—through images, which translates in my mind so easily to words—as well as a love and respect for process. Even now, it's the process of writing a novel that carries me through, not all the stuff you hope and expect to come after. And it was my journalism professor and senior project adviser, Ann Filemyr, who taught me the power of voice and how to choose and embrace which story to tell. As I write, today, I can hear her writing advice in my mind, big-picture as well as how to reign in my word choices and sculpt my sentences.
On her current projects: DANI NOIR is my first novel for tweens, and it just came out this fall from Simon & Schuster. It's about liars, cheaters, and a 13-year-old girl's growing obsession with old black-and-white noir films—not to mention a certain femme fatale who stars in them: Rita Hayworth. When Dani discovers that someone's been lying in real life and not just in the movies, she heads off to uncover the truth using her beloved Rita Hayworth as inspiration. 
That was my first time writing an original novel for young adults, and it was so much fun I can't stop now. Today, you'll find me hard at work writing my next book, IMAGINARY GIRLS, a YA novel about two sisters and their bond that can't be broken, a story exploring magical realism and set in the Catskill Mountain region, where I grew up. The novel is due out in hardcover tentatively in Summer 2011 from Dutton. And I'm also in the midst of developing a new tween novel, too, so we'll see how that goes. This writing thing... it gets very addicting.
On the future of Antioch College: Like many alumni, I was waiting with baited breath to see what would happen with the College. I'm thrilled to see it gain its independence, and I can't wait to see how this will develop and what it will mean for the students and professors and other community members when it reopens. All I can hope is that the new independent Antioch College lives up to the Antioch College I was lucky to attend: a school that expands your mind, allows you to experiment, and ultimately challenges who you are and who you think you want to be. Antioch changed my life; I can't wait to see it do the same for future Antiochians.
The one thing she'd bring: Longevity. I hope Antioch College never closes its doors again.