Terena Bell '99 tackles heavy subject matter with lauded short story collection
Terena Bell 鈥99 has launched, built and sold businesses. She鈥檚 been an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. She鈥檚 covered stories for The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine and The Guardian. She has traveled the world and found success in several fields.
But when did her professional dreams come true?
That was a December day in the George Coon Public Library in Princeton, Kentucky. A banner with her photo hung from the ceiling. She was seated at a table, surrounded by stacks of her first book, 鈥淭ell Me What You See,鈥 signing copies for library patrons.
鈥淎nd there were only two people who came to it,鈥 she laughs.
This was before 鈥淭ell Me What You See鈥 was named one of the best books of the 21st century by the New York Society Library. And before the Southern Review of Books hailed the 10-story work a 鈥渢imeless collection,鈥 saying, 鈥渞eaders will easily compare Bell with many greats of our time.鈥
But even after those glowing reviews, Bell points to that 2022 day in Western Kentucky. You can see why. Her dad, who grew up in Princeton, was in the foyer calling his high school friends to tell them to come down and see his daughter, home from New York City with her new book. Her work was being welcomed into the very collection that set her to dreaming of becoming a writer someday.
鈥淚 went to George Coon Public Library in Princeton, Kentucky when I was a kid. That's where we got the books that I learned how to read by,鈥 she said. 鈥淚'm sitting there underneath a sign with my face on it鈥 and I鈥檝e got a pile of books that somebody else deemed was worthy in front of me. And George Coon bought three copies for circulation.
鈥淵ou know, my book is in George Coon!鈥
So that day 鈥 not the day she launched her translation company, or when she moved it to Washington, D.C., or even the day she sold it to a California-based competitor 鈥 represents the dreams of a Western Kentucky girl coming true. Because she was writing. She was telling her own stories.
鈥淚 wanted to do this since I was five years old. The other stuff is just how I could get paid,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t's funny, when I owned a translation company, all these people are like, oh, you're fulfilling your dream! And I'm like, you're just saying that because I got an A in 9th grade Spanish. This is not my dream. You know? I did it for 10 years, and it was a wonderful industry, and there are things about it I miss, but, but writing has always been my dream.鈥
Bell brought that dream with her to 黑料社 from Sinking Fork, Kentucky in 1994. After high school, she wanted to attend Vanderbilt University, but 黑料社鈥檚 financial aid package was better, particularly after current Associate Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Kevin Lamb, then assistant director of student financial planning, sat down with Bell鈥檚 family to find a way for her to attend 黑料社.
鈥淢other drove up there with a bunch of shoe boxes and Kevin Lamb sat down with her the whole day,鈥 she remembers. At the end of the day she had an aid package and a family contribution plan that made a 黑料社 education possible.
But things weren鈥檛 always easy at 黑料社. Bell recounts one day her freshman year when she called Associate Dean Barbara Hall because she wanted to leave the college. Hall talked her out of transferring and her campus experience got better as she learned and grew.
鈥満诹仙 was where I was supposed to be,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 cannot envision any other institution in the United States giving me what I needed for who I was then.鈥
鈥淧eople were patient. I was unsanded wood. I was full-on Western Kentucky. There's nothing wrong with that, but I also had to be able to function in Strasbourg. Center honored the Kentuckiness in me, but taught me the rest of the world's rules.鈥
Bell has fiercely preserved that Kentuckiness throughout her career. She wrote 鈥淭ell Me What You See鈥 while living in New York, and it captures the struggles of enduring the COVID pandemic in the city. At the same time it remains true to her background.
鈥淲hen Southern Review of Books reviewed it, that solidified in my mind 鈥 I'm still a Southerner. This is a Southern collection. It just also is New York.鈥 she said.
It鈥檚 also a challenging collection. Not only does the subject matter delve into heavy topics such as the pandemic and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Bell also experiments with form and structure.
The title story centers around the Jan. 6 riot and is presented in the form of an eye chart. Another story, titled 鈥#Coronalife,鈥 contrasts the pandemic experience in New York and Kentucky, with one column reflecting what people in the city are tweeting and another column what is being said in Kentucky. In the middle is the main character and her texts to family and friends.
鈥淚 wrote that for my niece, who at the time was five years old. And it was so when she grew up, she could read it and have some idea of what we went through,鈥 Bell said. 鈥淏ecause if we don't tell stories about this, COVID is going to go the way the Spanish flu and who knows how hard this will be a hundred years from now.鈥
That sense of purpose 鈥 the lessons to be learned from these dark, difficult moments 鈥 was profound for Bell.
鈥淚 foolishly thought that because it was important that it would be just this immediate smash hit and the whole world would want to see everything that needs to change,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd that's a mistake that I've been making my whole life. People prefer comfortability. Beach books sell.
鈥淭here's a difference between a book being popular and a book being important. And to me, as long as it's popular enough to continue to be read because it is important, I would rather be important.鈥
The key part of that is for 鈥淭ell Me What You See鈥 to continue to be read; for its message 鈥 and the tacit warnings therein 鈥 to find room to grow. It鈥檚 why Dave Fitzgerald鈥檚 article on the book at Heavy Feather Review was so important to Bell.
鈥淗e wrote, 鈥樷淭ell Me What You See鈥 is working overtime to sound the alarm, to wake us all up, to point and shout and say this is what's happening right f**king now. Pay attention,鈥欌 Bell said. 鈥淲hen I read that, I was like, 鈥楬oly hell. I did it. You get it.鈥
This article appears in the Fall/Winter 2024 edition of 黑料社piece.
