Blog – Inklette Magazine

BOOK REVIEW: ‘LILIES ON THE DEATHBED OF ÉTAÍN’ BY OISÍN BREEN

Books Editor, Stephanie Gemmell, reviews Oisín Breen’s Lililes on the Deathbed of Étaín (Beir Bua Press, 2023) and writes: “Breen’s talents for integrating traditional poetic influences with more experimental techniques, along with his evident reverence for the tradition of Irish poetry, make this collection distinctive, compelling, and powerful.”

Words about Music: Powerful Music Memoirs (Part 1)

Musicians seem to be storytellers by nature, conveying complex feelings and ideas through song. Unsurprisingly, musicians and songwriters can also be talented authors, narrating their own life stories to share their experiences with their fans and other artists.

While there are countless great music memoirs, a few excellent books stand out for their artistry and candor. In no particular order, I chose to highlight 10 music memoirs for their openness, honesty, and skillful storytelling. These books also reflect their authors’ unique wisdom about music, artistry, and life, all conveyed through each artist’s distinctive voice.

BOOK REVIEW by Stephanie Gemmell: LADY DIRECTOR BY JOYCE CHOPRA

Books Editor, Stephanie Gemmell, reviews Joyce Chopra’s Lady Director (City Lights, 2022): “At its core, Lady Director is a sincere book about a woman creating her own path in the world, building her artistic and professional trajectory in an industry undeniably hostile to her presence.”

Lives Reimagined in Fiction: On The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata by Gina Apostol

Guest writer Hazel Ann Cesa reviews Gina Apostol’s The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata (Soho Press, 2021) and writes: “an exploration of the Philippines’ revolutionary past, an evaluation of the challenges of translation and interpretation throughout the process of meaning-making, and an inquiry into the role of the intellectual in unveiling the politics of historical truth by countering the “authoritarian version of truth” with an “egalitarian version of truth.” In this story about a story, it is clear from the get-go that the author writes for the Filipino readers first, everyone else second.” Read the full article to learn more.

The Things We Know: Finding Comfort and Fire in Disability Knowledge During a Global Pandemic

“In the midst of the daily onslaught of ableism provided by people negating Covid, I found myself drawn to books written by disabled and chronically ill writers, especially non-fiction that engaged with our possibilities to live and to create lives worthy for all. I was hungry for the wisdom, humour, poetic phrases and biting commentary of fellow chronically ill and disabled people to counter a world in which our very right to existence is daily debated. I longed to see disability and chronic illness as a well of possibility, a lens which enables inclusive thinking,” writes guest writer Charlott Schönwetter.

In Conversation with Sergio Troncoso

Devanshi Khetarpal was intrigued when the writer Sergio Troncoso, author of Nobody’s Pilgrims, mentioned at a reading that he is now motivated to write because of craft-related challenges. The two recently met up at a cafe in New York to talk about the same and discuss the challenges of craft, besides other aspects of the writing life. Read a fuller report of the conversation here.

Book Review: The Middle Finger by Saikat Majumdar

Books Editor Areeb Ahmad reviews Saikat Majumdar’s The Middle Finger (S&S India, 2022) and writes: “While it is unable to cogently explore “the connection between the artistic, the intellectual, and the erotic”, which Majumdar identifies as the heart of the novel, I will not deny that it generates interesting epiphanies about artistic creation and compromise, appropriation and authority, meritocracy and capital, privilege and performativity. One cannot deny that the idea itself is quite intriguing but its execution as a narrative is less than decent and leaves much to be desired.”

Don’t Stop Because You’ve Hit a Block: Unconventional Techniques to Spark Writing Inspiration

Gathered based on experience and other writers’ recommendations, these 15 techniques by Books Editor Stephanie Gemmell include suggestions for how to make authentic progress in your creative process and ultimately overcome writers’ block. While no individual writing approach or activity offers a universal remedy, these methods offer a variety of options to address possible root causes of writers’ block and foster inspiration.

MADNESS AND THE INADEQUACY OF LANGUAGE IN SWADESH DEEPAK’S ‘I HAVE NOT SEEN MANDU’

Guest writer Abheet Srivastav (Instagram: @abheet_srivastav) reviews Swadesh Deepak’s memoir, ‘I Have Not Seen Mandu: A Fractured Soul-Memoir) translated from Hindi by Jerry Pinto and writes: “The question worth pondering, for me, was how do I begin to understand this fractured memoir? How do I inhabit this language, which is borne out of a lack, a madness whose central theme is its failure to be articulated? At the beginning of the book, Jerry Pinto, puts a caveat for the reader, “Where you think fit, add the word ‘perhaps’. For some unsettled memories are fractured.” Hence, we begin with mistrust, or maybe a warning of the fantastical events that will subsequently transpire. Against Swadesh Deepak’s gun with which we hunted his characters, all we have is a ‘perhaps’, rendering the space between language and truth infertile.”

Book Review: ‘Streaming Now’ by Laurie Stone

Books Editor Stephanie Gemmell reviews the latest from Dottir Press and writes: “Stone’s writing in Streaming Now bluntly captures the complexity of life, as she details events ranging from the unremarkable to the life-altering. Based on what she includes, Stone’s forthrightness in this book serves less as a literary device than an effort to build real trust with the reader.”

Book Review: ‘The Lustre of a Burning Corpse’ by Anureet Watta

Guest writer Priyanka Chakrabarty (Instagram: @exisitingquietly) reviews Anureet Watta’s poetry collection, The Lustre of a Burning Corpse and writes: “In Watta’s poetry I meet that historian who is documenting a queer past, living a queer present, and imagining queer futures. This documentation is unlike the history of victories and conquests. It is a meticulous collection of intimacies, with one’s self as well as with lovers and beloveds. I often witness the gatekeeper and the straight present, it lingers in this collection too, but Watta grazes against it in anger and humour.”

Book Review: ‘If You Could See the Sun’ by Ann Liang

Books Editor Anne Caywood rates this 4.5/5 and writes, “It’s very rare I click request on an eARC as fast as I did for this one, but my mouse moved astronomically quick when I saw the stunning cover paired with dark academia, magical realism, and academic rivals to lovers set in somewhere that wasn’t England or the east coast United States. There was no way I was taking no for an answer.” Read the full review here.

Book Review: ‘Dominant Genes’ by SJ Sindu

Guest writer Akilah White (who bookstagrams at @ifthisisparadise) reviews SJ Sindu’s Dominant Genes (Black Lawrence Press, 2022), winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition.

Discover poet-lyricists: Artists embodying the relationship between words and music

As distinct art forms, poetry and lyrics remain inherently intertwined. While many artists focus their energies on one or the other, some poets and musicians naturally express themselves through both mediums. To highlight songwriters whose work traverses and transcends the boundaries between lyrics and poetry, Books Editor Stephanie Gemmell chooses 10 artists whose work reflects different musical genres, poetic themes, and personal perspectives. Read more for our curated Spotify playlist and for many book recommendations.

In Conversation with Auður Jónsdóttir

Devanshi Khetarpal interviews one of Iceland’s most acclaimed writers, Auður Jónsdóttir. Auður’s latest book, Quake, has recently been published by Dottir Press and has been translated from the Icelandic by Meg Matich. In this conversation, Auður talks about her latest book, her process as well as her explorations into languages and translation, among other things.

Our Guide to Local Bookstores

Our Books Editor, Anne Caywood, compiles a list of some wonderful local bookstores all around the world, with inputs from staff members about some of their favorite spots. With a special emphasis on stores that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic or that queer-owned or BIPOC-owned, this is one list you should bookmark.

Inklette Magazine Reading at NYC Poetry Festival 2021

Inklette Magazine hosted a reading at the 2021 NYC Poetry Festival‘s on July 25 at Colonel’s Row, Governors Island. The poetry readings on behalf of Inklette Magazine were delivered by Devanshi Khetarpal (Founder and Editor-in-Chief) and Maria Prudente (former contributor and Prose Editor).

THE COVID-19 SERIES: INTERVIEW WITH JANICE PARIAT

What can the literature of lands, territories, nations or zones do in the midst of a pandemic that has made our borders and outlines seem more containing while a virus, invisible to the naked eye, journeys and shape-shifts across them and renders them porous? How do we restore and reconcile with this new, mutating politics of spaces?

Janice Pariat is a writer who comes to mind. In this interview with our poetry editor, Smriti Verma, Pariat answers questions about the landscape of Indian literature and the space of the north-east in it as well as her ‘Where We Write’ series on Instagram.

The COVID-19 Series: The Quarantine Train

“When the poet Arjun Rajendran posted about a poetry workshop on Facebook, the response was immediate and overwhelming. The workshop soon became the talk of the town, and needed a name.”

Learn more about The Quarantine Train, a poetry movement which started online at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, from some of its members: Anesce Dremen, Ankush Banerjee, Aswin Vijayan, Kinjal Sethia, Kausik KSK, Prashant Parvataneni and Arathy Asok.

The COVID-19 Series: Interview with Michele Filgate

Devanshi Khetarpal interviewed the writer and editor, Michele Filgate, on the pandemic and how it has changed aspects of life and writing. Check out the blog for some podcast, film and book recommendations as well!

The COVID-19 Series: The Apocalypse & Apocalyptic Literature

Inklette editors Angela Fabunan, Laurelann Parker, Savannah Summerlin and Joanna Acevedo did a special COVID-19 video chat around apocalyptic literature, the apocalypse and the role of the arts during a pandemic.

Our Favorite Writing Prompts

It’s that time of year when the weather is changing, the world is being quarantined and folks are looking for new sources of inspiration and solace. Check out some of Inklette’s favorite writing prompts below to spark your creativity!

Interview with Ryan Black

Inklette’s Blog Editors, Naomi Day and Joanna Cleary, interviewed the Queens-based poet, Ryan Black. Ryan is the author of a chapbook, Death of a Nativist (Poetry Society of America, 2016), and a poetry collection, The Tenant of Fire (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019). Our blog editors asked him about how he tracks time and place in his poems, how he traces specificities and leaves threads in his poems unthreaded.

Writing in The New Year

2020 began four days ago, and folks around the world are already eagerly fulfilling their New Year’s Resolutions. The Inklette team came up with three questions to jumpstart thinking about their writing lives in 2020. Take a look through our answers, and come up with your own!

Bookstores We Love

It is the holiday season, which means it’s time to visit some bookstores and buy book-gifts for your loved ones. The Inklette team has curated a list of their favorite bookstores across the world. So check them out if you happen to be in any of these cities.

What We Love(d) and Want(ed) More Of as Young Writers

The young writers’ community is an ever-growing one and while great resources, networks and programs for young writers do exist, they are not always accessible to everyone. As a magazine run primarily by young writers, we decided to ask Inklette’s staff members what they love(d) and want(ed) more of as young writers and for young writers.

Best Books We Ever Received As Gifts

Regardless of which winter holiday you celebrate (if any), November and December are often filled with gift-shopping trip after gift-shopping trip. While we all like that special feeling we get when we give someone a gift they adore, it’s no secret that spending hours at the mall is exhausting, time-consuming, and, quite frankly, expensive. However, the Inklette team has compiled a list of the best books we’ve ever received as gifts to remind everybody what the holiday shopping season is about (and, if you’re unsure what gift to get your book-loving friend/family member/significant other, look no further).

NaNoWriMo: Planning and Execution

November is National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. It’s a time of year when writers following the conventional rules challenge themselves to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or at least 1,666 words per day. Others use this month to set time-based intentions (e.g. write 1 hour a day for 30 days). Two members of the Inklette team are doing NaNoWriMo this year. Here we’ve shared a little bit about our preparation processes, and what the month looks like for us.

In Honor of Black Speculative Fiction & In Response to Naomi Day

In honor of October being Black Speculative Fiction Month and in response to the lovely and informative piece written by Naomi, another Inklette Blog Editor, I’ve decided to try my hand at writing black speculative fiction. Naomi’s piece featured a writing prompt, steps one and two being to write down something that is interesting about the world around me and consider the rules that govern it and the way that exists. The next step is to write an alternate history for whatever I’ve chosen that gives the same end result regarding its use and purpose, but in a different way. I consider myself to be a bit technologically inept, so I decided to reimagine how cell phones and texting came to be.

BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION MONTH

“Black speculative fiction does this through the lens of those who are part of the African diaspora (which is why the term “Black” is used—it makes it clear this envisioning includes Africans, African-Americans, Afro-Latin people, and so on). This is critically important because this is a group of people who are often pushed out of the present reality, not to mention excluded from visions of the future. The mere existence of Black people, particularly in America but all across the world, is too often seen as a physical and cultural threat and depicted as being against the norm. Writing Black folks into the future is an act of resistance as well as a call of hope.”

Staff Tales: Favorite Blog

While we are accepting submissions for the post of Blog Editor, we thought it would be great to ask our staff what they like most about the Inklette blog and talk about some of their favorite blogs. Here are a few perspectives.

Finding Time to Write

The start of school comes with many perks to look forward to: a change in routine, seeing old friends who were away during the summer, making new friends, and so on. However, it is undeniable that it also comes with a plethora of homework, one that ebbs and wanes until the end of the term. How does one find time to write in the chaos of academia? The Inklette team was asking the same question, and compiled a list of tips to help student writers find time to write during school terms.

In Conversation: Blog Editors

Following up last week’s blog, our Blog Editors are back with a conversation on questions about who they write for, what they write about, how they write, when and where they write and, lastly, why they write. Read on for more provocative insights.

Experiments with Reading / Writing

The idea of finding oneself as a writer in what one reads is an attractive notion. And as difficult as it is to answer larger questions about what we write and why or how, our readership and experiences or experiments with reading can help us find answers, however changeable they may be, to some of those questions. The Inklette team tried answering some of these questions by flipping through the pages of books we are currently reading or books near us, kept an inch away from our grasp, and copying sentences or two that answer the questions of who we write for, what we write about, why we write, when we write and where. We hope you enjoy this blog, not only as a potential reading list to kick off the fall but also as an experiment in reading ourselves in what we read.

Indigenous Voices

Having celebrated Canada Day and the 4th of July earlier this month, many people in North America may be feeling more patriotic than usual. However, it is of utmost importance during these days of national celebration to acknowledge and pay respect to the voices of those who rightfully claim first ownership of these lands. Here are some provocative, humourous, heartbreaking, and, above all, relevant works by Indigenous writers that you should definitely put on your summer reading list!

Interview with Angela Gabrielle Fabunan

Blog editors, Joanna Cleary and Maria Prudente, interviewed one of our Poetry Editors, Angela Gabrielle Fabunan on her recent poetry collection, The Sea That Beckoned, which is out now from Platypus Press!

Pride: A Reading Collection

Although the spirit of queer pride should last 365 days a year, today marks the last Friday of Pride month 2019. Here are the top picks of LGBTQ+ literature or works of literature written by LGBTQ+ writers to last you all until June 2020.

Literary Playlist

The world of music and language, literature, poetry, books share intimate connections. In the process of reading and writing, we can often be reminded of music and songs. Exploring these connections, we have compiled for you a literary playlist consisting of a few songs that remind us of writers, of their works, and add to our own experiences as readers and writers.

Favorite Reading Food and Drinks

Summer’s almost here, and hopefully, that means having some time to relax, read, and munch on your favourite snacks. We asked the Inklette team what they like to eat and/or drink while reading, and their answers do not disappoint.

The Met Gala & Our Notes on Camp

What is ‘Camp’ and what are its textual relationships like? Where do the ideas of Susan Sontag or Christopher Isherwood or Oscar Wilde step in? And how can one interpret or observe and critique interpretations of fashion as they intertwine with texts and ideas? Maria Prudente and Devanshi Khetarpal share their thoughts on the Met Gala and, of course, their very own notes on camp.

Conversation About Rejection

Blog Editors, Joanna Cleary and Maria Prudente, speak to each other about rejection, how to have a healthy approach or routine attached to it and how to learn lessons from it rather than personalizing rejection.

Interview with Domenico Starnone

Devanshi Khetarpal interviewed Domenico Starnone, one of Italy’s most well known writers, in Italian and translated it for Inklette Magazine. She asks him about the difficulty of reading, of being changed by what we read, and of the role of movement, time, language and our experiences play in our reading and writing.

Interview with Mihir Vatsa

Our Blog Editors interviewed Mihir Vatsa, an Indian poet and the editor of Vayavya, for this week’s blog. In this interview, we ask him about the practice of writing and the habits that pertain to it in some way or another. We also ask Mihir about not only staying committed to writing, but also staying committed to writing about Hazaribagh.

Staff Recommendations: Short Stories

If you happen to be looking for some good reads to browse through as the days lengthen, perhaps on your porch or at the beach, look no further. The Inklette team has compiled a list of beloved short stories and short story collections for you to peruse at your leisure.

On Shakespeare’s 455th Birthday

To celebrate The Bard’s 455th birthday, our Blog Editors, Joanna and Maria Prudente, exchange thoughts about the relevance of Shakespeare’s works, their favorite plays and how differently Shakespeare’s works figure textually and theatrically.

On Writing and Memory

Our blog editors interviewed Smriti Verma, a poetry editor for Inklette about her relationship with memory, and its relationship to her writing. The interview traces the way we navigate writing from or about memory, and how we trust it if we do.

Interview with Cow Tipping Press

“It wasn’t until this summer that I noticed that there was one community that none of the writing in our seven issues had focused on: people with disabilities. I probably wasn’t the only one to forget about this group; they are often ignored in diversity initiatives, at least in part because it is hard to fit them under the argument of “We are all the same on the inside” when, by definition, they have minds and bodies that work differently from neurotypical people. Different, however, does not mean deficient, as I learned this summer working as a volunteer at Cow Tipping Press, an organization that cultivates and publishes the writing of adults with disabilities.”

INTERVIEW WITH ANDERS CARLSON-WEE

Our Social Media Manager, Sarah Lao, interviews Anders Carlson Wee who states how “art is an ongoing sequence of attempts. Artists are always kind of trying things, and all art is a leap into the unknown because art’s not something that needs to be duplicated.”

TRAVELLING IN ITALY AS A POET

“In Italy, as I reflected on this practice of writing, I realized that the arrival of language into my mind and on the page is what truly dispels the darkness of this loneliness. With Italian as a third language, I had received another friend to populate the space of my mind, the depth of my heart.”

MARCH: A MONTH RICH WITH WRITERS

March: (sort of) spring, daylight savings, and St. Patrick’s Day. Even better, however, this month also happens to hold the birthdays of several talented writers, both famous and not. While the list goes on and on, spanning from Robert Frost to Henrik Ibsen to Dr. Seuss, our blog editor, Joanna Cleary, presents six lesser known, but equally gifted, authors born in March. Time to add them to your reading list.

Interview with Linda Ashok and Jamel Brinkley

Our blog editors, Maria Prudente and Joanna Cleary, were interested in interviewing writers about their obsessions and repulsions and how they influence writing. Scroll down to read their interviews with two writers we love, Linda Ashok and Jamel Brinkley.

Interview with Jenn Givhan

In celebration of International Women’s Day, our blog editors, Joanna Cleary and Maria Prudente, interviewed poet and novelist Jenn Givhan for the Inklette blog. Read on to know more about the women writers who inspire her, writing about motherhood and lots more!

In Conversation: Blog Editors

Blog editors, Joanna Cleary and Maria Prudente, talk about their writing lives and its challenges, writers who inspire them, the importance of an artistic community, and, of course, blogging and their plans for the Inklette blog!

On Having A Blog

“My blog is relatively young, just two months old at this point, and while I’m scared I’m running through ideas at an unsustainable rate, it’s still given me more or less what I wanted. It’s nice to have a platform to articulate the ideas that bounce around in my mind in lazy moments, and it’s given me a real opportunity to connect with people.”

Revision and How To Make it Not Suck

“No matter where you are in your writing process, revision will always come around. It creeps into your thoughts and makes you question if your writing is good enough, or if you should even keep going if the pages behind you are trash.”

In Defense of Fiction

“But still, even when I’m conceiving a scene for something I’m writing, it’s usually in the language of film, working out the lightning, color palette, scenery layout, and audio. It’s usually a struggle to incorporate senses like smell, touch, or taste, senses you can’t see on the screen. And I can’t help but ask myself why.”

826LA

Inklette’s blog shall be featuring organisations, groups and individuals from all across the world that work to promote creativity among children and underrepresented communities.

We would like to thank 826LA for being a part of this initiative. Special thanks to Art and Photography Editor, William Higgins.

On The Female Body

“Being a Poetry Editor for Inklette, I spend an embarrassing amount of time writing and reading poetry. Here is a list of poems about the female body that each emotionally resonate with me.”

Period Dramas and Soul Food

“It’s beautiful, but not to a degree of hurting: just the right amount, the right music, the right shot, all of it coming together to create an effect so enrapturing and raw that you feel like you’re falling asleep.”

Here’s Why Art Is Never Easy

“Our lives are struggles, to bear witness, to speak out, to stand for something which we believe is worth standing for. If you thought it is easy, it isn’t. But easy, isn’t always beautiful.

The artists will tell you that.”

Let’s Talk About Fan Fiction

“It’s an uncomfortable topic when it comes to literature— because it’s not really considered as such. When anyone can publish anything online, using pre-existing characters for what most likely will be a short cliche romance story, it isn’t considered very impressive.”

Letter From Art

“Since my inception, perhaps even before—when my idea was being conceived in black holes—I was meant to be imbibed, not made. I had smooth, flexible ends, not the stiffness of unwritten rules and tacit protocols which were forced upon me by every movement no matter how much liberal and anti-establishment it called itself to be.”

Five Reasons Why You Can’t Write Poetry Proven Wrong

As difficult as this may be to accept, in order to write good poetry, one first has to write “sort of good” poetry. In order to write “sort of good” poetry, one first has to write bad poetry.

How to Write a Good Break-Up Poem (or any Good Poem, really)

Break-ups suck. Whether they are with a significant other, friend, or family member, the process of ending a relationship is never easy. However, if you are an aspiring writer, you may be wondering not so much as to whether you’ll ever find love again, but rather how to write a break up poem as scathing as Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 137” or as full of grief as Pablo Neruda’s “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines.”

Artwork by Margaret Lu and William Higgins

Presenting artwork by Art and Photography Editors, Margaret Lu and William Higgins.

Four Poets Reflect on ‘Home’

Tishani Doshi, Lydia Havens, Trivarna Hariharan and Derrick Weston Brown reflect, through poetry, on what home means to them.

Reflections On A Failed Writing Experiment

“But in my rush to make myself a better writer I forgot that life sustains writing, and that life is important in and of itself.”

How To Find Inspiration To Write

“Something to recognize is that everything that crosses your path, every situation you find yourself in is a potential story, even if it’s just something that you relay back to your friends later after it happens.”

Pushcart Nominations

Inklette Magazine is thrilled to announce its Pushcart nominees! Read on to know more about them and what inspired their work.

Interview with Michelle Wosinski

Recently, Art and Photography Editor, Shweta Pathare, interviewed Graphic Fiction Editor and Contributor, Michelle Wosinski, for Inklette’s blog. Read this informal interview to know more about ‘Mitch’ and view her work!

Blaine’s Fire

“Blaine didn’t light up his schoolwork either, he burnt his personal writing. Every page filled to the margin.” Read a short story by our Prose Editor, John S. Osler III.

What It Means To Be An Editor

Editor-in-Chief, Trivarna Hariharan, reflects on her editorial stint. “Editors work within frameworks and paradigms fenced by rules which are adhered to. This disallows them from being biased or coloured by factors other than the ones assigned to the working of the magazine,” she says.

In Response to ‘The Sacred Androgen: The Transgender Debate’ by Daniel Harris

Cisgender people are in a position of power and have privileges that transgender people do not. Writers have the wonderful and beautiful tool of language and the ability to employ rhetoric to make readers see things differently. In the case of Daniel Harris’s “The Transgender Debate,” his writing was not that of beauty, but of destruction.

Staff Tales

The Inklette team comprising entirely of youngsters in high school or college has been busy curating submissions and adding the final touches to the magazine’s second issue, due to be released in early April. But in addition to editorial duties and preparing for finals, the multi-talented members have been involved in a host of other creative and profitable activities as well, whether it’s being published in literary journals, winning competitions or even graduating from high school an entire semester early!

Inklette interviews Sprout Magazine

Inklette interviewed a dear friend, Sprout Magazine, that turns one next month.

Sprout envisions “a space where young minds can share their thoughts and opinions about society through creative expression.” Sprout is a nonprofit, online literary journal for teens, by teens and publishes “creative media that demonstrates awareness of the world and social commentary, sharing art in its purest, rawest form.”