This interesting interview with the fascinating Zadie Smith... got me thinking about my writing process.
Extract:
About news...
"It's on your phone, in your mind constantly," she told The Book Show.
"When you are committed to the urgency of non-fiction and the news, there is a widespread belief in reality of the news. [But] 100 years ago, we had a slightly more analytical perspective, we understood it was a monetised thing," she said.
In the current context, she feels that fiction, and the novel, have lost the predominance they once enjoyed.
"Suddenly, there's this very scandalous feeling of, 'Why should I have to read this thing which isn't real?' That's suddenly [society's] feeling."
(...)
But books have acquired a curious new currency in the digital, data-driven 'surveillance age', says Smith.
"To read is to be out of the observing eye — apart from if you are reading on your Kindle of course."
"In front of the book, the reader is free — interpreting what you read, thinking, without performing it back to someone, without being observed, without it being codified or monetised. That seems to me a very exciting thing right now."
"When I am feeling very optimistic I think the future of fiction is a radical future of people who are really determined to exist in the privacy of books."
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Zadie is one of the main inspirations the main character in my novel learns from. A novel no one wants to publish yet, but that I try to get out there still.
As I'm currently writing texts as part of my residence at the Arnolfini gallery in Bristol, I reflect deeply on the links between news and fiction.
Some of the 20th century's greatest writers were also journalists, from Hemingway to Martha Gellhorn and Hunter Thompson, Albert Londres in France.
Hopefully, this constant entanglement between reality and imagination will successfully make sense in my current explorations.
Two photographs from the 'Still I Rise' exhibition
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I'll talk more about this exhibition on feminism and resistance, and about the writing that I'm working on for the gallery.
It's currently all work-in-progress, but the first texts are ready.
I'll posted the first one here on Sunday 1st of December, the day after this tour/talk...
See you there, hopefully...
SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2019
TOUR | WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE- MELISSA CHEMAM — Arnolfini
A few words from the gallery:
We are delighted to have Melissa Chemam working with us as writer-in-residence throughout Still I Rise. On this tour, she will link pieces of writing to a selection of artworks currently exhibited in our galleries.
Freelance journalist/reporter, radio producer and writer, Melissa Chemam has been presenting her work for print, television and radio since 2004. She has reported for the BBC World Service, Reuters, DW, France 24, and Vox Africa, among others; while her writing has been featured in The Public Art Review, Transfuge Magazine, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Skin Deep, The Bristol Cable, Bristol 24/7, CIRCA Art Magazine, Public Pressure, and The Times Literary Supplement.
Writing is her favoured means of expression, covering literature, the arts, music, but especially social change, migration issues & international politics. Passionate about travel, she has lived in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi, Bangui (in Central African Republic), Bristol, and Paris (where she was born in 1980). She has travelled to more than 14 African countries in the past 10 years, and 40 countries worldwide.
Her first book published, 'Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone', on Bristol's music, art and politics, was released in the UK in March 2019.
Freelance journalist/reporter, radio producer and writer, Melissa Chemam has been presenting her work for print, television and radio since 2004. She has reported for the BBC World Service, Reuters, DW, France 24, and Vox Africa, among others; while her writing has been featured in The Public Art Review, Transfuge Magazine, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Skin Deep, The Bristol Cable, Bristol 24/7, CIRCA Art Magazine, Public Pressure, and The Times Literary Supplement.
Writing is her favoured means of expression, covering literature, the arts, music, but especially social change, migration issues & international politics. Passionate about travel, she has lived in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi, Bangui (in Central African Republic), Bristol, and Paris (where she was born in 1980). She has travelled to more than 14 African countries in the past 10 years, and 40 countries worldwide.
Her first book published, 'Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone', on Bristol's music, art and politics, was released in the UK in March 2019.
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