Conversations with Writers

Award-winning South African poet, Joan Metelerkamp's poetry collections include Towing The Line (Carrefour, 1992); Stone No More (Gecko, 1995) and Into the Day Breaking (Gecko, 2000). She is also the author of Floating Islands (Mokoro, 2001); Requiem (Deep South, 2003); Carrying the Fire (substancebooks, 2005) and Burnt Offering (Modjaji, 2009). In this interview, Joan Metelerkamp talks, among other things, about the vacuum that exists on the South Africa poetry scene: Do you write everyday? For periods I have written every day, but not recently. In theory, I’ve wanted to. But I tell myself that fallow periods, periods of waiting, also happen. I don’t like it, and also I think the more out of a rhythm I get the worse the not-writing becomes. I lose heart in my own process, and doubt my own task. (My own poems remind me of this tension between simply “being” and “making”). The less energy I have, the less I seem to generate. It’s not only that I’m impatient but I li

Speculative fiction author, Jason Bicko has worked as a barman, garden labourer, care home kitchen hand, slot machine engineer and bingo caller. His work includes Alien Inc. which is available as an e-book from Sonar 4 Publications. In this interview, Jason Bicko talks about his concerns as a writer: How would you describe the writing you are doing? Unobtrusive, I would like to say. I don’t go in for literary impact because I don’t like that in the books I read. I want the story to go straight into the reader’s head -- I don’t want them to fight through the prose, constantly reminded that they’re reading a book. One author I find excellent at the subtle prose is Stephen Leather . I have no target audience other than those who pick stories for what they might want to read at that moment. That’s how I read. I don’t go to the crime section in the library because I fancy a crime novel that day. I pick up various books, read the blurb, and choose the one that I like the sound of. It might

In this interview, Lori Titus, author of the short story collection, Green Water Lullaby (Sonar 4 Publications, 2010) talks about stories and the effect they have on people: When did you start writing? I started writing when I was about ten years old. I originally started by writing down nightmares I had, which always seemed to go away once they were on paper. At some point, I wasn’t having bad dreams anymore, but decided to start creating stories just for fun. I used to take my stories and poetry to school, and would turn them in to my teacher for extra credit. Early on, my teachers encouraged me, that this was something I should pursue. So it’s always been a plan of mine [to get published], but figuring out exactly how I was going to do it was more difficult. How did you eventually manange to do it? I was surfing the internet one day and happened to notice that there were a lot of short story websites around which accepted work from unknown authors. I sent a couple of st

In this interview, Molly Roe , the author of Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires (Tribute Books, 2008), talks about her writing: How would you describe the writing you are doing? Until about five years ago, I wrote only academic papers, but I began writing fiction as an outgrowth of my genealogy hobby. At first the stories were just for my family and myself, but later publishing became my goal. My writing combines family genealogy, Irish and coal region lore, local history, and imagination to create historical fiction for young people. What motivated you to write for this audience? Since I teach junior high students, they seemed the logical target audience. I read and evaluated middle grade and young adult library favorites and decided that an historical fiction novel similar to the Dear America series books would suit my style and abilities. I also wanted my students to learn more about local history -- of which coal mining and the Molly Maguires are a huge part. Imagine my sur

Kathleen G. Collins' work has been featured in magazines that include Today's Health and Wellness magazine. Her work includes Depression: Cancer Of The Soul (Storyhouse, 1999) a short memoir about her experience of bipolar disorder, and Suspended (Sonar 4 Publications, 2009), a novella about three people who become the unwitting test-subjects for a new drug. In this interview, Kathleen G. Collins talks about her concerns as a writer: When did you start writing? My first published sci-fi thriller, Suspended , released July of this year is actually the end result of many years of “journaling”. I have struggled my entire adult life with bipolar disorder and one of the many ways that my doctors and therapists have taught me to cope with the mood swings and frustrations of the medication's side effects was to write in a journal daily. As time went on, I discovered that I really enjoyed writing. In 1999, I finished a short memoir about my experiences with bipolar, Depression:

Musician, graphic designer and local historian, Jay Luke is a graduate from Marywood University. He is also a project engineer with the Olyphant Coal Miner Memorial Association. His first book, When Coal Was Queen (Tribute Books, 2009), looks at the history of Olyphant, Pennsylvania. In this interview, Jay Luke talks about his writing: When did you start writing? I began writing while in grade school. It was mainly lyrics. I would write these songs and kept at it as often as I could. I think, looking back, my earliest attempts are very laughable, but on the same token they were the springboard to better things. Without those early fearless attempts, I may not have had the courage to dive in later on in life. So I never gave up and kept refining my writing craft. I think things really heated up for me during my high school years. I think it was where my creativity came into its own. With each song I'd write, I noticed they always told a story of some sort and that was when I decide

Educational psychologist and novelist, Maureen Myant was born in Glasgow where she currently lives and works. Her first novel, The Search (Alma Books, 2009) has been translated into Spanish and Dutch. In this interview, she talks about the challenges posed by juggling writing, studying and work: When did you start writing? My first attempt at writing a book was when I was about seven. I was in the garden and had just finished reading an Enid Blyton book (I think it was about fairies) and I thought 'I could do that.' So I ran inside, got some paper and a pencil and wrote about three pages. Then I was called inside for my dinner and when I went out again I found that the pages had disappeared - a wind had sprung up. I thought all I had to do was search my memory and what I'd written would come out again fully formed but of course it didn't. After that early start, I didn't do much writing for years apart from some very bad poetry during my teens and some terrible at

Dylan J. Morgan was born in New Zealand and raised in the United Kingdom. Currently, he lives and works in Norway. His books include the novel, Hosts (Wild Child Publishing, 2009; DJM Entertainment , 2009) and the novella, October Rain (Sonar 4 Publications, 2010). His short stories have been featured in anthologies that include Gentlemen of Horror (Sonar 4 Publications, 2009) and Wolves of War (Living Dead Press, 2009) as well as the January 2010 in Issue 9 of Necrotic Tissue . In this interview, Dylan J. Morgan talks about the importance of growing as a writer: When did you start writing? I remember writing some books when I was still in school, but on those occasions they were just pieces of paper folded in half, stapled together and the stories were written in pen and they weren’t very good. Storytelling has always fascinated me and I started reading full length novels at an early age. I’ve been writing seriously now for 6 years. Reading books and discovering I had a talent w