Local Author Liz Arnold Wins 2026 NYSCA Support for Authors Grant

John Harrison: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome to X 1 0 1. Always classic. It’s John Harrison in the Cayuga Health System sponsored studios. And joining me over the line is Liz Arnold here to talk about, a really awesome grant that she’s, been, will be receiving and of course, her memoir that she’s been working on. Liz, thanks so much for joining me.

Liz Arnold: Thank you for having.

John Harrison: Of course. Happy to, get, to really sit down and chat about this. I am, some of my listeners know, I, I love to read, I’m, I’m always reading. I’ve got a, a huge collection. I, I did some part-time work as an editor, I, I love to jump on on these things and talk with other authors and, and lovers of literature.

Let’s start, with. Congratulations on this grant. You wanna, tell the listeners a little bit about the grant, what it means and some of the process, that went into receiving it.

Liz Arnold: The grant I received is called the NSCA Support for Artists Grant. NSCA stands for New York’s.

State Council on the Arts, it’s the organization that, or the council that provides funds for artists via a sponsoring arts [00:01:00] organization or nonprofit. I, I paired with the Center for the Arts of Homer, Ty Marshall, and it’s to create or develop new work in the upcoming fiscal year. 2026. The grant money I received, will help support me, as I.

Work in the upcoming year on this book I’ve been working on for quite a while. It’s a memoir and, as a writer, I think that time is the most valuable tool. What we’re always looking to have more of. The grant funds enable me to really focus more on my book by allowing me to turn down other freelance work, freelance writing assignments I would normally take.

To pay the bills and, live. The grant allows me to not have to take so much of that work and to focus more on my writing. Really exciting.

John Harrison: Yeah. And hey, speaking of focusing on your writing, let’s, hone in on, that memoir you’re working on. Again, folks talking with Liz Arnold, working on a memoir called, working title right now am am I allowed to.

Say it, give people a Sure, yeah. A space this big, that’s the working title. And I mean, in my [00:02:00] experience, the working title always ends up, stick it around for, at least a while. But, you wanna talk a little bit about that maybe even start with. Where you got a space this big from?

Liz Arnold: I’m glad you’re curious. I’m not sure I wanna give away what exactly that refers to. Ooh, okay. Because I think it does reveal at the end of the book. We’ll see.

John Harrison: Oh, okay. Gotta hook people in. Right. Gotta get ’em to, to get to that last chapter.

Liz Arnold: Yes. And then it’s the reveal, right?

But yeah, I can tell you a little bit about the book. It is a memoir, I think what it, what’s referred to as a hybrid memoir now, which, is a combination of personal narrative and reporting. The book is, I, I, I, I describe it as exploring the meaning of work, in my life after my father’s suicide, which was about 25 years ago.

He was a dentist, depressed for most of his life. And I think he always felt it seemed that work was a problem, mm-hmm. If he found a different job or work seemed to be a big source of stress for him. And dentistry is, is quite a stressful profession. Yeah. With what’s rumored to be quite a lot of suicides, although that’s hard to prove.

But, [00:03:00] after his. Death. I started looking at the role of work in my life and, had some, I think misconceptions about what work can provide and that, it’s called limitations as far as, bringing anyone happiness or a, a sense of peace. The book really follows my life through.

Jobs and my work history and looking at, the meaning of work, what it can bring us as far as, happiness and a sense of identity. And, and a sense of belonging. I think ultimately the book is about a search for belonging.

John Harrison: Of course. That, that I definitely sounds an amazing read.

It’s gonna be a hundred percent, top of my Good reads list, when it, when it comes out. And I, I think it’s interesting, talking about the, the subject of work and, and relating it, even back to the, the grant where you’re gonna have even more time to work on this, this, this, this memoir, this writing about, the relationship with work, a little ironic that, you’re, you’re able to pass up on, on certain work opportunities to focus on working.

On this one, but it definitely, sounds it’s gonna be a great [00:04:00] read and something that everyone can relate to. I, I feel is is that that relationship with your job and what you do and your place in the world and everything.

Liz Arnold: Exactly. Thank you. I hope that, I hope that everybody who reads it can have, feel some identification with, with the book, whether it’s, having a suicide in the family, but or, or a friend or been touched by suicide in some way.

But really. Everybody has this relationship to work. I think that’s a little fraught and, we’ve spent much of our time doing it, I hope that, readers of, of all kinds can, can learn something from it and, take something away from it.

John Harrison: For sure. Excited, for it.

And, again, congratulations, on, on getting this grant and, not having, much more time, coming up in the next few months where you’re gonna be able to, to put, put pen to paper or I guess, fingertips to. Typewriter, typewriter. Nobody uses those anymore.

Keyboard. Liz, thanks so much for, for joining me today over the phone. Anything else you wanna talk about? Any, any, anything you want to add on, with, with, the Center for the Art, being able to, to help you out. Time Marshall, of course. [00:05:00] The, the nsca, support for arts.

Anything you wanna, you wanna mention?

Liz Arnold: See? Yeah, I would say I am really excited to be able to partner with, the Center for the Arts of Homer because I’m relatively new to Corland County. We moved here at the end of 2021 and, from Brooklyn, Oh wow. We are back and forth.

Yeah, back and forth. My husband, works in the city, we spend a lot of time there still. It’s exciting to be a part of the community and get to know people and the center for the US of Homer is incredible. Yeah. And I the programming there is vast. From the book Club to music and many, many offering.

It’s pretty exciting to be a part of the community and get to know people at the local level and to be able to receive this support. It’s exciting. It’s really great to be able to bring, programming to the community too, because as part of this grant, NSCA requires a, that.

We host an event that’s open to the public, I’ll be hosting a reading of some kind. Ty Marshall and I will talk about in that in greater detail, but we’ll have some public offering at some point in [00:06:00] 2026.

John Harrison: Oh, awesome. All right. Yeah, another thing to look out for and maybe we’ll get you back on the phone, when that comes up, we can, talk more details on that.

Liz Arnold: Yeah, sounds great.

John Harrison: Well, Liz Arnold, joining me over the phone line talking about. Upcoming memoir with the working title A space this big. Thanks much for joining, and again, another big congratulations on, on the grant, and I wish you the best.

Liz Arnold: Thank you much. Thank you for having me. It was great talking to you.

John Harrison: Of course. And for everyone listening at home, it’s been John Harrison on X 1 0 1.