When you’re 26 and you watch a lot of cartoons, there’s a sense of obligation to justify it. I am not ashamed of finding my screen-based joy almost exclusively in shows marketed for children. I only mean that it is…
James Joyce and the City of Dublin
There are two ways a writer can become synonymous with their city. (There are probably quite a few, but for the purposes of this post, there are two.)
One is to be so successful and/or talented, capturing your country’s truth with such style, that you make the city famous through the public’s interest in your life.
The second is to be from a city so small that they don’t have much choice but to invest in your name.
I think there is an element of both when it comes to James Joyce and Dublin.
“Cryptopedia” – An Interview with Andrew Demcak
Andrew Demcak’s “Cryptopedia” is a collection that lives up to the mystery and intrigue promised by its title. “Cryptopedia” succeeds with that most fundamental and pleasing of poetic ideas: finding harmony between form and content. The 2017 Anzaldúa Poetry Prize finalist is a poet, a novelist, and, as he says, a “content creator in various forms.”
Demcak is a Renaissance man who works in unusual ways, cutting up blocks of text from a variety of sources and rearranging them, to create his poems. In “Cryptopedia” he mixes this method with the murky, monstrous and mysterious to create something unsettling yet genuinely moving and thought-provoking. Demcak’s success comes from his pitch-perfect subject choices and his ability to turn a seemingly random selection of lines and quotes into a twisting narrative, a short, emotive gut-punch. It takes talent to write poetry, but Demcak has proved he is not only a great talent, but a true craftsman.
Demcak’s poetry has appeared in a range of journals and we were lucky enough to have him share his craft, as well as some words of wisdom, with us at Newfound.
[Lukao] by Craig Santos Perez: The Birth and Life of an Island
Right from the get-go, Craig Santos Perez lets the reader know that the space they enter is a personal one. Poetry collection [Lukao] (Omnidawn, 2017) is laden with natural beauty, heartfelt stories and sincere love. It also reveals the everyday truth behind the island of Guam and, indeed, the world at large.
Before we even reach the poetry, the collection offers what Perez calls a “poemap,” a picture outlining Guam’s cable network. The small island is crisscrossed with black lines which, according to Perez, “carry almost all transpacific Internet traffic.” Guam is a hub, interconnecting the USA with other continents. It’s a striking image to begin a book of poetry with, not least because of its utilitarianism. Guam is a tool for the United States, the reader sees, introducing the expectation of seeing the life and love breathing between those cables. Or struggling between them.
Turning 25, Meditation and Productivity
Lately I’ve been meditating. Not on anything in particular, when I can help it, but rather practicing the art of meditation.
Comedians and Kids Books: The Problem with Jumping on the Bandwagon
I should start off by saying that perhaps it is more of a British occurrence than North American, but the wave of comedians finding newfound fame and success by writing children’s books is still going strong, regardless of how far it has spread.
It began a few years ago when comedy writer and performer David Walliams, known for his lewd sketch shows and bawdy characters, wrote a number of best-selling children’s books.
The Required Reading Interviews: Daryl Yam
The Required Reading Series highlights voices from across the world, showcasing their opinions and sharing their inspirations. The literary scene, that wide and slippery beast, is fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of its individual parts, as well as a desire to share knowledge and ideas. Here we’ll explore the world’s front line of emerging, beginning, ambitious, desperate and passionate writers, ask them how they came to be writers, what they are reading and why you should be reading those things too.
Daryl Yam is a Singaporean writer of prose and poetry, a co-editor of the SingPoWriMo anthology series by Math Paper Press and an arts organizer at the literary non-profit Sing Lit Station. His first novel, “Kappa Quartet” (Epigram Books, 2016), was longlisted for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize, and has been released in both Singapore and in the UK.
Writing mostly about topics that inform his identity and personhood, Yam is drawn to stories of freedom and those that explore friendship, sexual and gender identity, the necessity of self-care, and the consumption of art, media, and culture. He takes particular delight in stories that are situated around the world, which feeds his grander impulse to write stories that are trans-nationally, globally situated. Yam is also employed at Sing Lit Station, a non-profit which promotes the reading and writing of Singapore literature.
Joshua King: Did you grow up surrounded by literature, or a creative atmosphere? Or was it something that you discovered by yourself?
Daryl Yam: Home, I would say, wasn’t a particularly “creative atmosphere.” My parents were never the sort, nor were they active consumers of the arts. As the first child however my mother made sure I read plenty of Enid Blyton and the Key Words Reading Scheme when I was little. It seeded within me an essential love for reading that clearly never went away. Eventually my parents would divert their attention to raising my two younger brothers, and so the process of discovering the world of literature lay very much in my own hands. Whenever the family went grocery shopping at Thomson Plaza, for instance, I’d excuse myself and go browsing for books at Popular instead. Once I spent so much time in there I didn’t even realize my parents had gone back home and left me behind.
The Required Reading Interviews: Thomas Korsgaard
The Required Reading Series highlights voices from across the world, showcasing their opinions and sharing their inspirations. The literary scene, that wide and slippery beast, is fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of its individual parts, as well as a…
The Required Reading Interviews: Clara Burghelea
The Required Reading Series highlights voices from across the world, showcasing their opinions and sharing their inspirations. The literary scene, that wide and slippery beast, is fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of its individual parts, as well as a…
“Flower Wars” – An Interview with Nico Amador
Nico Amador’s “Flower Wars” is a collection that lives up to its oxymoronic title. It is grounded, it is alive and growing, but it is also full of tension, power and conviction. The 2016 Anzaldúa Poetry Prize winner is nothing less than the heartfelt work of a poet formed by the strength of his political beliefs and his desire to understand and express his place in the world as a queer, trans and mixed-race poet.
Equality, A Collection of 25 Personal Essays: What Do You Think Of When You Think Of Equality?
What do I think of when I think of equality? A good question, and, no doubt, one able to give us as many answers are there are people willing to answer it. “The multi-faceted issue of equality is ubiquitous and incredibly relevant,” writes editor Paul Alan Fahey in the introduction to “Equality, A Collection of 25 Personal Essays,” (Vine Leaves, 2017) which covers sexuality, age, race, gender and more.
2017: A Year In Review
Well, what a 2017 it has been.
Poles Apart: Climate Change and the Literary World
Fossil fuels are burning, the world is warming and storms are brewing. This we all know (apart from the most powerful man (-elect) in the free world and his posse, but that’s an argument for another time, namely, when we’re knee deep in seawater and our skin is crisping). So, if the truth of climate change is something most thinking people take as a given, why is it a topic so rarely tackled by contemporary novelists?
Perhaps We Can Be Better, If We Read and Learn
Sometimes one has the pleasure of feeling like a citizen of the world. Perhaps they felt like that on the day of the moon landing, when Armstrong told us what a leap our species had made. In 1920 women in the US were given the right to vote, and I’m sure many looked up at the sky that night and thought about how much closer they suddenly were to women worldwide. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected the most powerful man in the free world, and for eight years people believed not that anything was possible, but simply that we, as a species, were daring to look at one another without prejudice.
A Place You’ve Never Heard Of: Attleborough, Norfolk, UK
A robed clergyman hurries through the gated entrance, clutching a book to his chest. No points for guessing which one. His legs, spinning like an escaping Scooby Doo, take him through the flower patches and into the church. The church has a sign outside it which says, “Weight Watchers Meeting Tonight 6.30 pm.” But his visit is probably more business than leisure.
Excerpts From My Notebook: A History of Bad Ideas Made Me A Better Writer
Going through old notebooks is like watching old videos of yourself: It highlights how embarrassing you used to be and what poor decisions you used to make.
Nihil Est Machina: Finding Literary Beauty in a Godless Universe
In the volatile world of the internet, I still occasionally come across the notion that not believing in a god is to not believe in anything. Non-believers are still all too frequently seen as cold and cynical, undervaluing the world if they value it at all.
Why I’m Staying in New York Part II: Why I’m No Longer Staying In New York
The life of a writer, for all the adventurous yarns they weave, is essentially a quiet one.
If the writer wants time to write their great story of heroism and mayhem, then the very excitements that are being written about must give way to solitary contemplation. This conundrum can leave the writer without inspiration from everyday life regularly coming their way, wishing for an injection of something new into their life.
When the writer is out in the world, the creative creature in their brain must strain to take in everything that might become characters, scenes and ideas. In the writer’s darkest moments, which are not few and far between, perhaps they wish to witness a terrible traffic collision or overhear a violent and nuanced argument, just to feed the creative creature something juicy.
I often feel this way. Good stories are born out of many absurd or unique realities sewn convincingly together. The ideal situation, if I really want to make my writing convincing and well-researched, is to be thrown into some crazy scenario. As long as it isn’t dangerous and it is only temporary, my writing will surely benefit.
What a mix of dismay and delight I felt, then, on being told I will need heart surgery earlier this month.
Why I’m Staying in New York (For The Time Being)
Graduation season means that a flock of ex-students will be shot out into the world wondering what opportunities will present themselves and what successes will come next.
Thom Schramm’s The Leaf Blower: Love, Loss and Leaves
A leaf blower is a strange object to base a poetry collection around, one might think. It is not beautiful, it is not a part of any regular person’s life for more than an afternoon each summer.
A Letter To My Past Self: Help, I’m About To Graduate
So, past self, you must be wondering why I’m getting in contact with you. It has been a while, after all. A whole year.