Nuala Ní Chonchúir Interview
I'd like to give a big warm welcome to Nuala who is here as part of her Virtual Book Tour for her pamphlet 'Portrait of the Artist With a Red Car' which is published by Templar Poetry Press.
I have long been an admirer of Nuala's writing and was lucky enough to meet her last year at Flatlake Festival, so I am delighted that she has taken time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions.
We have our red carnival outfits on and I know Nuala loves shoes so have set out a special pair for her. And the guys on the car bonnet are who we are hanging out with in true carnival style tonight! So let's get down to the Interview.
Nuala, I really enjoyed the poem 'Saint Patrick's Day, Achill Island', which, with permission of Templar Poetry,I have pasted below. I love it for its way of bringing me back to a colloquial, rural Ireland that is fast disappearing, could you tell us how this poem came about? The ending is very powerful, had you planned to end it this way or did it surprise you in the same way that I imagine it surprises the reader?
Saint Patrick's Day, Achill Island
'Jamesie,' she says to me, from the chair,
'put the green frock on me today,
I'm feeling powerful festive.'
'I will, Dolly,' says I, 'it's the one colour
that brings up the gold in your hair.'
'Don't cod me,'she roars,'the hair's a disaster.'
We settle down, watch the parade on RTÉ,
and drink six bottles of porter apiece.
'This is the life, Dolly, hah?' I say,
but there isn't a gug out of her;
all I hear are gulls and the hum-thrum
of a tractor going down the boreen.
Hi Liz, it’s lovely to be here in Gran Canaria. Thanks for having me on my virtual tour for Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car.
I’m glad you like the poem. I wrote it in response to photographs taken by Kathy Marsh of an old man on Achill Island and of a doll in a green dress. She invited writers to make a connection between the two images through poetry or prose. She called the project ‘James Barrett and the Doll in the Corner’ and it was exhibited as a multimedia exhibition in Belfast and will be made into an Art Book.
To answer the second part of the question. No, I didn’t plan the ending. I don’t plan as I write. I start with an image and/or line and I write to see where that takes me. The poem is about loneliness and the odd things it makes people do. In this case, imaginary conversations between an old man and a doll.
I also particularly enjoyed the title poem 'Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car', to me it is like a prose-poem or flash-fiction piece and very different in tone and narrative to the other poems in the book, have you written or are you writing any other prose-poem pieces? And do you think there is a different process to writing them? Are they a little like joining your love of poetry and short-fiction together?
Yes, it’s a prose poem. I haven’t written lots of them but I love them as a reader and as a writer. I’m quite finicky when it comes to the layout of a poem, so if a poem I’m writing sounds very prosey, as opposed to a piece with very definite line breaks, internal rhymes etc., I feel it works better as a prose poem. There’s a couple of them in my second collection Tattoo:Tatú. I’d love to write more of them.
I don’t make the connection myself between my poetry and my fiction: my poems are usually about personal things, my stories are very much fictional. As this poem is based on actual events, it works better – for me – as a poem.
Nuala, you also write Irish language poetry, are there any poems in the pamphlet that are also written in Irish if so, which ones, and if not, which, if any, would you like to translate to Irish or re-write in Irish? Could you speak to us a little of this dual way of writing as your poetry book Tattoo: Tatú is a bilingual book of poetry. Will your next poetry book also be bilingual? Are there any plans at the moment for a new full collection?
I’m more of a translator than a writer in Irish. I’ve always loved translation and I did my MA in Translation Studies. None of these poems in Portrait have Irish versions. Some of the ones about the female body, like ‘Fruit’ and ‘Menses’ would be fun to translate into Irish – those kinds of ones worked well in Tattoo, I thought – the sensuous ones. Irish has great vocabulary around the body. The idea for Tattoo:Tatú being bilingual was suggested by my then publisher Arlen House. The publisher knew I was writing a little in Irish and he thought it would be good to get those poems out in the world. I haven’t written in Irish since then (2007). My writing life is so busy that I tend to prioritise the things that are most important to me: fiction, poetry and paid writing work!
My next full poetry collection The Juno Charm will be published by Templar Poetry in November this year. I also have a novel You coming out in April from New Island. So it’s full steam ahead!
I love the title, Nuala, thank you very much for visiting and for answering my questions. It has been a pleasure. Best of luck with all the exciting publishing times that lie ahead...
And thank you, Liz. It’s been lovely answering your questions. Your readers can buy Portrait of the Artist With a Red Car here. if they are interested.
(All carnival images from here)
posted by Liz at 5:51 PM
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