Today we’d like to introduce you to Timothy Otte.
Hi Timothy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Books and art have been a central part of my life since I was young and I’ve always been moving towards a life spent alongside readers, whether I could see that path or not. I studied theater and English in undergrad and then got involved in the Minneapolis theater and poetry communities after I graduated in 2010. I got involved in a very small literary organization supporting writers who were looking for community and trying to publish. I wrote and produced a show as part of the Minneapolis Fringe Festival that was based on a long poem I’d written as an undergrad. I applied for MFA programs before deciding to stay in Minneapolis and take a job with health insurance instead of take on more debt. Eventually, I was accepted into the Loft Literary Center’s Mentor Series, which was an incredible opportunity as it meant I could get a little of what I wanted out of an MFA program without giving up the security of my job.
In 2015, toward the end of my Mentor Series year I was in the final workshop with Kao Kalia Yang, one of our cohort’s nonfiction mentors. Near the end of the workshop, Kalia asked us all, “Where do you want your writing to take you in the next five years?” She then turned to me and asked me to start. On the spot, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind: “I want to read books and write books and talk about books. How can I do that?” Kalia responded by offering to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf if I applied to the publisher of her first book, a local nonprofit press.
Kalia’s support was a pivotal moment for me because it meant that someone thought it would be possible for me to build a life and make a living around books. I learned a tremendous amount at that job that continues to help me in my current life as a writer and bookseller, but was laid off due to a budget shortfall. After a couple of years pouring beer at a taproom, a time that included the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I applied for a job at Wild Rumpus Books, which became the first job I’ve ever had in which I can imagine what it looks like to still be doing it decades from now.
Working at a bookstore means I’m less beholden to an editorial list and my tastes can be much more idiosyncratic. I love that I get to read literary fiction, middle grade fantasy, poetry, and picture books (among so many other kinds of books!). These days, I feel like I have a much bigger view of what literature and books are capable of containing, which has only broadened what feels possible for me to accomplish on the page as a writer.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The best and worst thing that happened to me was being laid off from my publishing job. There was a budget shortfall due to a foundation shifting their grant-making, which meant my job was eliminated at the end of the fiscal year. It was devastating—I was an English major who made good and got a job using my degree! Beyond feeling like I had let down my loved ones, I felt like I’d had my identity stripped away. I was a “book person” and had a job that proved it. A friend offered me a job pouring beer in a taproom which turned out to be a great reset because it gave me a paycheck and got me out of the house. I met a lot of people and it was a job I couldn’t bring home at the end of a shift—you can’t stress about a happy hour rush when the shift is over—which gave me the space to reflect on what could come next.
I read books on my transit commute and learned that I’m a “book person” because I love books and because I continued writing through the challenges. I’m very grateful for that lesson. I was also lucky because I had been laid of months after receiving a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, which helped ease the financial strain, but also meant that I had work to do on a manuscript and a series of public events to plan. I dug deep into a manuscript called Landscape Quartet which has shaped a lot of the path I’ve been on as a writer since then. Since working on that manuscript, I’ve completed two additional poetry manuscripts. All are as yet unpublished in their entirety, but some of the work has been published in literary journals or as chapbooks.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My art and living and labor are all bound together. A decade ago, I told Kao Kalia Yang and my Mentor Series cohort that I wanted to read books and write books and talk about books, which is pretty much exactly what I’m doing now. Except this time, I don’t feel like and English major who made good, I feel like I’m just getting started. A little over a year ago, three of my coworkers and I purchased Wild Rumpus Books from the founding owner and since then have been learning how to be booksellers who also run a business.
My work as a bookseller is inextricably linked to my life as a writer. Being a bookseller doesn’t mean that I sit around all day reading (ha! as if!), but it does put me in contact with a lot of books and a ton of readers, which influences the way I approach my own writing. Everything I read goes into the garden of my thinking. Just as a garden needs a variety of nutrients and circumstances to produce flowers and food, every story, every poem, every book becomes rain and shade and sunlight and compost. I try to read broadly as well as deeply because it makes me a better bookseller and a better writer.
That I get to share books with kids and the grown ups who love and care for them feels like a small miracle. I get to see people connect to all kinds of books and those experiences are on my mind when I’m writing. I approach writing with a greater sense of play. I’m less precious about what I write, less interested in trying to make poems that will be liked a little by a lot of people and more interested in making something that a small number of people love.
I’ve published a couple of zines and chapbooks, poems in print and online journals and anthologies, and dozens of essays about poetry. In 2024, jimmy at furious beautiful zines made a gorgeous small print run micro-chapbook of the first 12 pieces in a manuscript called Psalms After Jamme. There might still be copies available at The Book House in Dinkytown…
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I have a lot of great childhood memories, but one time I sat on the very small porch on the second floor of our house reading a book during a summer storm. The eaves of the house kept me dry and for about 15 minutes until the storm passed I listened to the rain battering the big oak tree and the roof overhead while a book took me to another world. I’m forever chasing that feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.timothyotte.com/
- Other: https://wildrumpusbooks.com/
