Professor Lisa Cupolo draws upon decades of travel in her debut short story collection

Creative writing professor Lisa Cupolo leans on her memories from all over the world in order to capture the human experience in her W. S. Porter Prize-winning collection of short stories titled “Have Mercy on Us.” Photo collage by ANGELINA HICKS, editor-in-chief. Photos courtesy of Lisa Cupolo

With experience as a paparazzi photographer in London, a humanitarian worker in Kenya, a script doctor in Los Angeles, a publicist in Canada and an observant author everywhere she goes, it feels as if creative writing professor Lisa Cupolo has accessed the multiverse. 

Despite having a resume vast enough to cover two lifetimes, Cupolo does not, in fact, channel her skills from parallel universes. Instead, she has lived much of her adult life on a year-by-year basis, never staying in the same location longer than three years and pursuing every spark of interest. 

But it wasn’t until the age of 20 that Cupolo caught the travel bug when she left Western University in Ontario, Canada — where she was studying philosophy — and landed in Nice, France as an exchange student.

“When I got off the plane I was like, ‘Wait a second, I'm home.’” Cupolo told The Panther. “I had this real awakening when I got there and really shifted in exploring who I was supposed to be.”

“Have Mercy on Us” is available for purchase at Regal House Publishing, Amazon, Kindle or anywhere you buy books. 

Drawing from her experiences all over the world, Cupolo authored 10 fictional short stories which were compiled into a collection that won The W.S. Porter Prize in 2020. This earned her $1,000 and the opportunity for publication. On Jan. 24, Cupolo’s short stories were published in her debut collection under the title “Have Mercy on Us.” 

Hailing from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Cupolo spent much of her teen years fighting illnesses, including rheumatoid arthritis. While her sister would be out attending parties, Cupolo said she would stay behind and write letters to her sister that she would leave under her pillow. Cupolo found her introduction to fiction in these notes, often imagining the events that transpired during her sister’s evenings. 

“I became an observer,” Cupolo said. “I was out, no longer on the frontlines, but I was observing everybody else do these things. It’s definitely what shaped me into being a writer. You understand empathy. Once you have suffering in your own life, it’s the greatest gift in a lot of ways. From the smallest ways to the biggest ways, you felt that feeling before and you can transfer it to your characters.”

Much like Cupolo in her early adult years, many of the characters in “Have Mercy on Us” are away from home. The plots in several of her stories consist of a woman stalking a drug dealer who is the father to her grandson, a young woman who attends the funeral of her father she never met and a woman married to a renowned artist whose blatant adultery causes her to take back her independence. Although these may not be direct experiences for Cupolo, these narratives are told against the backdrop of familiar worlds and feelings. 

“(The saying) is, 'Write what you know,' but I say write what you feel,” Cupolo said. “In this collection, I take chances. I write from one incident in Zora Neale Hurston’s voice. I write from the point of view of a man — that’s not what I know, but I write what I feel. What I also do… is blow up the things I know. You create more trouble and add more characters. 

“The more you write, the more you let it breathe, the more you ruminate about it — (your stories) become further and further away from what they were.”

One of Cupolo’s stories takes place in Kisumu, Kenya, where a man returns to his village to reunite with his estranged son. Kisumu is where Cupolo spent a year performing humanitarian work during the AIDS crisis. Cupolo's experiences gave her the opportunity to make an impact, but allowed her to reexamine her perspective and her worldview. 

“It took me a long time to write about it, because it's such a shattering experience in terms of changing my experience of what I know to be true and what a good life is,” Cupolo said. “It’s the cliché of the kid with the stick in the wheel having more fun than the kid in America with their $2,000 toy — it’s true in a lot of ways. But also the idea of the savior aid worker is something I really struggled with and didn’t like about being there. It was very formative for me.”

Cupolo draws inspiration from authors Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields and Anton Chekhov. The title “Have Mercy on Us” is a reference to the short story by Chekhov called “Gooseberries.” In the story, three friends named Bourkin, Aliokhin and Ivan Ivanich are bathing in a lake. When Burkin and Alehin exit the lake, Ivan Ivanovitch begins swimming and diving. During his grand, euphoric time, he exclaims, “Oh, Lord, have mercy on me!"

“It’s the most beautiful moment ever,” Cupolo said. “‘Have Mercy On Us’ can be like, ‘Oh my God, my life is terrible. Have mercy on me,’ but it’s also have mercy on us for these little moments of joy and grace and the tenderness we get in life."

Cupolo earned her bachelor's degree in philosophy from Western University in 1993, a master’s degree in portrait photography from The London Institute in 1996 and a master’s degree in creative writing from The University of Memphis in 2008. Prior to “Have Mercy on Us,” Cupolo has had short stories featured in several publications such as Narrative Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review and Ploughshares. 

Following its release, “Have Mercy on Us” has been met with acclaim from avid readers, fellow authors and critics alike. The collection was even reviewed in The New York Times where journalist and author Sindya N. Bhanoo writes, “The stories traverse the world, leaping from a small Greek village to Alberta, Canada; Mombasa, Kenya, to Catalina Island, Calif.; but the struggles within are less ‘exotic’ than familial, and painfully human.”

“That (New York Times review) was thrilling,” Cupolo said. “The reception has been amazing. I hear from people every single day about the stories and a lot of writers that I respect. I’ve been on cloud nine, honestly. I hear from people who certain stories touched them and that is really remarkable. I finally feel like I have a seat at the table. It’s my own doing of going, ‘Okay, you have something to say.’” 

After years of travel, Cupolo has settled down in Orange, California, where she and her husband Richard Bausch both work as professors at Chapman. Cupolo initially got into teaching as a way to make money, but after 10 years, she can’t see life without it.

“I could choose not to teach, but my students are so amazing,” Cupolo said. “(I love) lighting a fire under students by sharing stories. They love my stories and then they tell their stories. It’s a community built in the classroom with writers. It’s so intimate because it’s your life and your thoughts on the page. When they realize they actually have talent… It's so beautiful. I love it.” 

Outside of writing, Cupolo enjoys watching movies, reading, gardening, exploring her passions of meditation and spirituality and preparing to help her teenage daughter tackle the beast of college applications. 

Cupolo is teaching a course titled “Writing the Short Story” (ENG 312) in the fall. Cupolo will be speaking at several panels and literary festivals, which can be found on her website. She is currently working on her next project, which is a continuation novel of one of her characters featured in “Have Mercy on Us.” “Have Mercy on Us” is available for purchase at Regal House Publishing, Amazon, Kindle or anywhere you buy books.