Eleni Cay is a Slovakian-born poet living in England and Norway. Her award-winning
first collection was published by Parthian Books and her second poetry collection Love Algorithm is forthcoming by Eyewear Press. Her most recent poems appeared
in Acumen, Atticus Review, The Cardiff Review and Poetry Ireland Review. Eleni
is known for her filmpoems, dancepoems and multimedia poetry, which have been
screened at international festivals and featured on Button Poetry. The Love Virus is Eleni’s debut novel.
1 - How did your first book change your life?
How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel
different?
I wrote my first book in Slovak when I was twelve.
The title was ‘The Spring in My Heart’. It was a teenage novel about a girl
called Katie. It was printed in fifty copies, my sister made a beautiful cover
for it. My latest book was written in English, the story is an e-book,
audiobook, paper-book, accompanying website. The main character is still called
Katie, so I kept the connection to her, but the language, style and readership,
have changed over the years.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as
opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Just like many other children, I enjoyed
playing with sounds before I could speak words, and when I could speak some
words, I enjoyed when they rhymed as they do in lullabies. So if we compare the
distances, then the walk to poetry was the shortest, followed by fiction and
then non-fiction.
3 - How long does it take to start any
particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it
a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or
does your work come out of copious notes?
Loads of note-making, writing, re-writing, with
occasional verses readily available in the mind factory.
4 - Where does a poem or work of prose
usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining
into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very
beginning?
Poems begin in small happenstances, novels
begin in more predictable places. Both need equal attention to make it into a
book.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to
your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I am a huge introvert and any conversation
beyond four eyes can be stressful for me. I prefer when others do the reading
and I play some piano in the background.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind
your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work?
What do you even think the current questions are?
It varies from book to book, from poem to
poem. I guess the perennial question that animates my writing is the
question of Love (with capital L). Love towards the living and non-living
beings of water that surround us, that constitute us, and that we keep on
ruining and repairing.
7 – What do you see the current role of the
writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the
role of the writer should be?
The writers I admire use their platforms to
spread beauty, knowledge and truth.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an
outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Essential for final proofread, and difficult
for pieces that deliberately deviate from conventions.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've
heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Listen before you speak, read before you write,
live before you judge.
10 - How easy has it been for you to move
between genres (poetry to fiction)? What do you see as the appeal?
It is their cross-over that I find most
appealing (which is why I ended up writing a verse novel).
11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend
to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I have no writing routine; I write when I can. My
typical day begins with a small bowl of rice, a big cup of green tea and a
smile.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do
you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
Chopin or Bach.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Minty smell of menthol candies at my
grandfather’s flat (that’s the place I used to call home).
14 - David W. McFadden once said that books
come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether
nature, music, science or visual art?
All of the above, and also dance, architecture
and technology.
15 - What other writers or writings are
important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
Milan Rúfus for my poetry, Fyodor Dostoevsky for
my novels, and Haruki Murakami for life.
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't
yet done?
The list is long! Top contestants for this year
are to read Bashō in original, kiss by the Northern Lights and start my own
apple orchard.
17 - If you could pick any other occupation to
attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have
ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I am a full-time researcher and a part-time
writer, my dream is to swap the time proportions.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing
something else?
I tried dance, music, painting, but I guess the
linguistic mode is closest to my natural abilities.
19 - What was the last great book you read?
What was the last great film?
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I am not a fan of films;
I have seen only a handful in my life and are yet to see a great one.
20 - What are you currently working on?
A sequel to The Love Virus.
No comments:
Post a Comment