Today we’d like to introduce you to Kris Spisak

Hi Kris, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

I have not only been a writer and a storyteller for as long as I can remember, going back to the stories I would shape when I could barely write sentences, but I’ve also been a story collector my whole life. At bedtime as a child, my father wove tales so captivating that for years I believed they were true historical accounts of an ancient warrior woman. Around the family dinner table, my grandparents never shied away from their memories of the horrors — and thus the necessitated determination, bravery, and endurance that followed – of surviving World War II as Ukrainians. Tales of witches lingered even as emigration forced so much more to be left behind. All the while, my mother piqued my interest in language itself, including not only the subtleties of how English functions but also how words can tap into secret depths of meaning that only the curious will ever discover.

These roots profoundly shaped my creative journey.

My first book, Get a Grip on Your Grammar, published in 2017 from Career Press in the United States and then in 2020 from Harper Collins India. Because I have always had a professional passion for working with other creatives, empowering them to find their stories, their best words, and their voice, my next two books followed this focus. Both The Novel Editing Workbook and The Family Story Workbook published in 2020, one title prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and one in the midst of it. The contrast of those two launch days, nine months apart, is a story unto itself.

My first novel, The Baba Yaga Mask, met the world next in 2022. Now, every writer wants their book to be timely. However, for my dual-timeline novel that shifts between the present day and World War II Ukraine, specifically the last moment in history that Ukrainian soil was invaded by foreign forces — for this book to launch mere weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine was a surreal experience.

The shock and dread of those first few weeks of war is something words almost can’t explain. Realizing, after some time, that I had a novel that added cultural understanding and historical perspective to the present-day moment, was when my faith in the power of story was renewed. What can any of us do during a war? We do what we can. My tiny piece, beyond the humanitarian aid donation drives for the people of Ukraine that I am still holding connected to book club events, was to tell the story of the Ukrainian people as I knew it, as my family knew it, and as my family lived it, even if through the channel of fiction.

The Baba Yaga Mask went on to win multiple awards and also become an audiobook, yet the folktale character of Baba Yaga herself kept lingering in the back of my mind. She is an Eastern European witch with endless tales that my protagonists whispered like codes of bravery between each other, but the world didn’t know this enduring folktale character as well as it could. Hence my writing journey continues.

My newest book, Becoming Baba Yaga: Trickster, Feminist, and Witch of the Woods (Red Wheel / Weiser Books, 2024; Tantor Audio, 2024) returns to nonfiction, exploring Baba Yaga’s classic folktales, how her character has endured across millennia of Eastern European history, and how her old tales with their cunning ways can still empower us all.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Any creative’s journey is a story upon itself. The concept lingers of an artist born with brilliance and hitting it big, but the story is never that simple. The years of learning and practicing are rarely included in the public-facing story. The rejection slips and rollercoaster ride of emotions along the way are scenes cut from the film and left behind on the editing room floor.

The greatest thing about this moment is that there are more ways to publish than ever before in the history of humanity. Simultaneously, the hardest part about living in this moment in history is that there are more writers than ever before. As a creative, it is both empowering and deflating. How do we capture the attention of readers who have a multitude of choices?

Yet we write on; we press on. We wordsmith and transform and elevate our stories however we can, even when challenges within the publishing world can feel like meeting Baba Yaga herself. The old witch of the woods may eat us up, or she might make our biggest dreams come true. Those protagonists that push on and endure, showing bravery, steadfastness, and consistent levels of respect, do consistently find their paths out of the darkness and back toward the brilliance of the light. Our names may not be Ivan or Vasilisa, two that are common in Baba Yaga tales, but still, we can relate.

Personally, I’ve wished that I could ask the old witch to slow down the passage of time, one of her many specialties. Accomplishing everything you want to and need to within the confines of a day can be overwhelming amid everything that makes up our lives. Yet we carry on, for that is how dreams become realities. It’s the only way, witches or no witches.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

From my frequent posts on Instagram, sharing little-known secrets of famous stories and storytellers as well as the fascinating history of words and the English language, to my five books and more in the works, everything I do is designed around the singular theme that well-written words and well-told stories can change the world.

Whether you are a creative on your own writing journey, someone who wants to capture your unique family’s story, someone fascinated by the history of language and storytelling, or simply someone who loves a compelling tale, I have book for you. Discover my titles at https://kris-spisak.com/books

And please connect with me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kris.spisak/). I love making connections with others as curious as I am!

My creative life brings me such joy, and connecting with others only expands it.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?

Becoming a creative brand has fewer limitations than you might first imagine. You do not need constrain yourself to one medium or style, as long as there is a cohesion to what you do and what you share with the world. Sometimes, that cohesion isn’t in genre, but in theme.

Early on, I set out to be a fiction writer, but through the twists and turns of my story, I’ve had the opportunity to write abundantly across many styles. The only limitations that exist are the ones you allow for yourself.

Pricing:

• Becoming Baba Yaga: Trickster, Feminist, and Witch of the Woods – $16.95
• The Baba Yaga Mask: A Novel – $18.95
• Get a Grip on Your Grammar – $14.99
• The Novel Editing Workbook – $14.99
• The Family Story Workbook – $14.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kris-spisak.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kris.spisak/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KSWriting
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtg-xR-dqKr3UoKgn1dCTAg