Marcy Dermansky on Astoria and writing about Queens

Today's Forgotten Borough plug comes from contributor Marcy Dermansky, who has an interview up on 30th Ave, a new site that celebrates the diversity of 30th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, and the stories of the people who live there.

In her interview, Marcy talks about she came to live in Astoria and her Forgotten Borough piece, "Waiting for Big Bird"—the first story she wrote about her current home turf.

[Marcy] moved to Astoria ten years ago.

"I certainly didn't know I'd be here for this long. I came to New York and people said 'move to Queens, it's happening, and it's cheap'. We like it so we've stayed and have moved a couple of times around here. Astoria is very community-oriented. I've almost liked it better since having Nina than beforehand, which you wouldn't necessarily expect. Suddenly I know my neighbors a lot more. I keep meeting mothers with strollers. People are warm and helpful."

Her short story "Waiting for Big Bird" is set in Astoria (specifically in Café Bar on 34th Avenue) and is coming out in a forthcoming anthology called Forgotten Borough – Writers come to terms with Queens. But she says: "That’s the first time I've written about Queens. I think with fiction a lot of times you write about a place after you've left it. I'll probably write more about Queens when I live somewhere else."

Click here to read the rest of Marcy's interview, and check out the other stories of 30th Avenue! Imagine if there were a website for every neighborhood in Queens...