Επιμέλεια συνέντευξης: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Lidia Chiarelli was born and raised in Turin (Italy), where in 2007, she founded with Aeronwy Thomas the Art-literary Movement: Immagine & Poesia. Lidia’s passion for creative writing has motivated her to write poetry and she has become an award winning poet since 2011. Her writing has been translated into more than 20 languages and published in Poetry Magazines and on web-sites in many countries. She is also an appreciated artist, working on installations and digital collages. https://lidiachiarelli.jimdofree.com/ https://lidiachiarelliart.jimdofree.com/
Share your thoughts about the pandemic and the future of literature…after. The pandemic was a great test for all of humanity. Every single country in the world was hit and had to deal with something sudden and unexpected. Individuals reacted differently, but in general they had more free time to think and meditate. Certainly literature was also affected by the outcomes of the long pandemic: about two years of total or of partial isolation led authors towards a greater introspection.
The Good and the Bad. Who is winning in nowadays? A prayer in the Catholic religion addressed to the Archangel St. Michael says: deliver us from the advancing darkness. In front of us we can see how darkness and evil are advancing: wars, deaths of innocent people, often children, diseases, wickedness of the human soul… We can only hope that Man will abandon evil (by the way, let’s remember that the 3 original sins of the rebel angels were: pride, rebellion, unbelief) and walk toward the Light of the Good.
Tell us where inspiration is coming from for you? “Poetry is emotion recollected in tranquillity” – this sentence by William Wordsworth is the key that prompts me to write poems. My poems used to be inspired by nature in its different aspects, but also by urban views – the same perspectives that had attracted the attention of Allen Ginsberg in his poem ‘Supermarket in California’. In more recent years however I have seen how some works of art can convey emotions and I have tried to rework these emotions into words. In 2007 Aeronwy Thomas and I founded IMMAGINE & POESIA Movement and the second point of our MANIFESTO says: “Poetry and figurative art lead to moments of Cross Fertilization”. On a purely aesthetic level I think that what is generally known as ‘ekphrastic poetry’ has conveyed an incentive to the development of “beauty”.
Are the people read books or no? According to recent statistics, an average person reads four books annually. The main reasons for not reading more books are: lack of time, not enjoying it, underestimating the benefits.
How many books have you written And where can we find your books? I have written 4 collections of poems and images and they available on Amazon. Moreover my poems are published in more than 100 anthologies from different countries.
Do you believe that our life, our destiny is written or we can change it? I think that we can change our destiny by changing our mindset. According to oriental philosophies, every human has the power to change his destiny by changing his karma (according to the principle of karma every action of an individual can influence the future of that individual – concept of cause-effect). This means that – generally speaking – we can try to create the future that we want.
Religion is the cause of many wars- a lot of people they say that. What do you think? There have been many wars that were caused by controversies over religions. However I believe in THE GOLDEN RULE: the major world religions can bring a message of Peace and Love towards the others.
Money brings happiness? The research tells us that money contributes to happiness when it helps us meet basic needs. But above a certain level more money doesn’t actually produce more happiness.
The book: E book or Hardcover book? What will be the future? E books are becoming more and more popular, but, according to a recent survey, hard cover books will continue to be important like little treasures to be kept and picked up when you need to reread your favourite passages and phrases again and again.
What do you think about the year of technology? Are we lost ourselves inside the mobile phone the computers… Technology has enabled people from all social backgrounds to have access to different resources. In addition, technology is also being used to help people who need some kind of assistance to improve their quality of life. Let’s also consider that while technology can take away job opportunities for unskilled workers, it also generates new job opportunities for those actively adapting to the latest technology skills. I think that artificial intelligence is becoming more and more real in several organizations.
Environmental issues. Are the progress the technology and the humans are responsible for all this disaster? Why? The main environmental issues include pollution, overpopulation, waste disposal, climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect… Of course the humans are responsible for all this disaster, but in recent years we have seen a greater awareness of the seriousness of the various problems, and research is being developed for solutions.
A wish for 2023. In these dark and difficult days we have sometimes heard repeat the words that Fyodor Dostoevsky attributes to Prince Myškin: Beauty will save the world. I would like to take this sentence as a message, as a motto for all of us particularly for those who work in behalf of Art and Poetry or simply approach them.
