Επιμέλεια συνέντευξης: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Chad Norman lives and writes in Truro, Nova Scotia. In 1992 he was awarded the Gwendolyn MacEwen Memorial Award For Poetry, the judges were Margaret Atwood, Barry Callaghan, and Al Purdy. His poems appear in journals, magazines, anthologies around the world. A new book, A Matter Of Inclusion is out now.
Please share your thoughts aboyt the future of literature. When you start writing? I started writing when I was 15 years old, mainly post-it notes, in order to communicate with my father. I then went on to write lyrics for friends in bands, who found it difficult to pen them. Then, as I came into my early twenties, I wrote a play, some short stories, but didn’t feel satisfied until I began writing poems. Now, almost 40 years later, I continue to choose writing poetry. As for thoughts about the future of Literature, I really don’t think about it much, seeing how I must concentrate on what I am writing now. If I had to say anything about it I guess it would be I hope the freedom I enjoy here in Canada will still be there for poets years to come.
The Good and the Bad. Who is winning in nowadays? I don’t quite understand this question. If you’re referring to me as an author, I suppose The Good would be the publishers and editors who have published, and continue to publish my work. As well as the people who buy my books and attend my readings, or show any interest in what I am writing today. As for The Bad, those funding sources which continue to hold me back now that I need their support being in my sixties, and not wanting to work anymore labour-intensive jobs. The other segment of this would be the writers who are Academics, and how they kiss each other’s arses when comes to awarding book prizes, writing grants, etc..
Tell us about your books, your projects, and what makes you inspired? My books. Well I have 20 or so titles. In the beginning they were chapbooks, and then in 1997 I finally secured my first full collection published by a recognized publisher in Canada. From then on I continued move back and forth, publishing my own books and working with other publishers here, but lately I have had to go to publishers in India and Zimbabwe. For some annoying reason I have been snubbed a lot by Canadian presses; it doesn’t take much here to send ripples across the small pond of Canadian Literature. Hahahahaha. However, miracles can happen. My next book, Small Parental Forest, will be published by AOS Publishers, out of Montreal. Fortunately, I have branched into writing books for children!
The book. E book or Hardcover book. What will be the future? My future, I hope, will finally be funded. The grants I apply for approved, and I can stay at home and complete, at least a rough draft of a new manuscript I am anxious to write, The Charity Of Clean Water. But, more importantly, I continue to have the good health I currently am blessed with. The other area I hope continues is that I am to travel and give readings from my books, which all have been published as paperbacks, and maybe an Ebook or two.
A wish for 2023. A phrase from your book. A wish for 2023? Yes, one is fine. And that would be: we as the human species end our devolvement…what wars continue to cause.
Phrase from my book, A Matter Of Inclusion: I wonder if all of you also feel and believe in the good in us, knowing it is there if we want it?
