Interviewed by :
Niroshan Pathberiya
Nothing Prepares You and Stitch Your Eyelids Shut reminds us none other than
Vivimarie VanderPoorten with her genuine smile. Winning many an award,
including the prestigious Gratiaen Prize in 2007 for her poetry collection Nothing
Prepares You, she feels humble and honoured to be a readers’ poetess.
As a poetess, as well as a university
lecturer Dr. Vivimarie VanderPoorten has contributed graeatly for both creative
and academic work. Her involvements in researches on bilingual education,
second language acquisition and gender studies have also been remarkable as her
creative work.
Taking time from her daily schedule, she
happily joined us for our discussion.
What is new these days?
What are the new things you are engaged in?
I am currently involved only in my
academic and professional work, not really writing any creative stuff seriously.
I write a poem occasionally but they need to be edited and worked on.
Having
published two successful poetry collections, what sort of a response do you get
for your poems?
Readers’
response to my work has been pretty awesome, going by the emails and fb
messages and phone calls I get.
Was being a
writer (poet) one of your childhood ambitions? Or is it something you were interested
in later as an adult?
No, nothing
of what I do now has been a childhood ambition. It just happened
To reach
this position today as an internationally recognized poet, how helpful were
childhood experiences?
I don’t really think I deserve the label
‘internationally recognized’, am not there yet, and possibly will never be. My
childhood experiences fed my creative processes obviously, but I don’t know of
any direct link between my poetry and my childhood, except maybe that it was
very eventful and full of ups and downs, so I learned early on that I was
sensitive.
What/who
are the other incidents/figures inspired you in your journey to be a poet?
Lots of personal incidents as well as
growing up in a war-torn country with its violence and brutality made me
respond to incidents in a creative way. I studied English Lit at uni for my
first degree so I guess studying all these amazing writers may have inspired me
though not consciously. Many people’s work has inspired me, including poets
such as Kamala Das, Indran Amirtanayagam, Sharon Olds, and many more
A Lot of
renowned writers make reading a part of their professional life as well as personal life. They read a lot. How has
reading become a part of your life?
Reading is as essential as breathing, I guess. I
cannot go to sleep unless there is a book near my bed, I cannot go on a journey
or trip or get on a plane without a book in my bag. It has always been a major
part of my life ever since I was able to read and write.
What
are you currently reading?
Currently, I am reading “The Book Thief” and Lahiri’s
“Unaccustomed Earth”
What are
the additional things you gain from the books you read?
Travelling
in other people’s minds, feeling what they feel
We would
like to know your favourite books and favourite authors?
Too many to
mention. I am in awe of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I read and re-read Margaret
Atwood’s novels and poetry, Milan Kundera, Sylvia Plath, E.E. Cummings, Wuskawa
Szyborska, Anne Sexton, Pablo Neruda. As I said it is hard to single out a
favourite writer.
Other
than the genre of poetry, have you ever considered about other genres such as
novels. Short stories and etc... ?
I have
considered it yes. It is still all in my head. I like to next publish a book
which will be a collection of poetry and prose, but nothing is sure yet.
Being the first
poet to win the Gratiaen Prize, and being awarded many other awards, including
the 2009 SAARC Poetry Award, how do you feel it to be an award winning Sri
Lankan English poet?
I was the first poet to win the Gratiaen but not
the only one .Well I feel humbled and honored because I think there is a huge amount
of talent among Sri Lankan. Shehan (Shehan Karunathiklake) has won much bigger
international awards and we should be very proud of him. There is no particular
feeling that really stays in relation to winning awards. What is much more
profound is when readers and strangers tell you how intensely they like your work
or how a particular poem or book means so much to them, or made them laugh, or
gave them an insight. For me, those moments outlast the momentary high of
getting an award
What
is your message for upcoming writers/poets in Sri Lanka?
Write honestly, edit your work brutally, be open to
criticism, and believe in the story you are going to tell.
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