Eight Questions for Harald Voetmann

Very happy to be able to say that my interview with Danish writer Harald Voetmann has been published by the kind folk at Full Stop Magazine.

More or less everything I have to say about the interview is in its intro, but it’s worth repeating here that I really did love Awake (do check it out – through ND Books in the US or Lolli Editions in the UK) and I can’t wait for the next couple of books.

With thanks to Harald, of course, and Denise at Lolli Editions. And a special thanks to Michael at Full Stop for giving the interview a home.

Rounding up the Dead Man

I’ve been neglecting this space in recent months, so I’m behind on posting about the Dead Man pieces RIC has published.

A little about the Dead Man – regardless of what else is happening in my life, and irrespective of what else I am writing or reading or thinking, he is a constant. He manifested in hard times, survived a pandemic, and continues to follow me, hiding in my shadow. It’s comforting to know he is there.

Thanks to S for giving the Dead Man space to make a nuisance of himself.

The Dead Man at the Cathedral

Untitled (The Dead Man’s Remorse)

Untitled (The Dead Man Shells Walnuts)

The Dead Man and the Palm Reader

On ‘The Dreamer I + II’

My pieces The Dreamer I and The Dreamer II have been published in MAP Magazine.

These essays are part of the series A Year of Carte Blanche and Other Chimeras, commissioned by my impossible friend Daniela Cascella who is guest editor at MAP. I told D that lockdowns and an indefinite pandemic were killing my lit vibe, and she invited me to write about this. The crux of the essays, then, is really: reading for pleasure is great > finding delight or the richness of life in reading is even better > but it only gets you so far.

They were hard essays to write but it seemed important to write through – write into – the moment. If nothing else, I think I have done that.

Both essays feature original images made by my good friend and frequent collaborator Michelle Lynn Dyrness – it always feels like a little bit of magic to have her work respond to and accompany mine.

On ‘A Personal History of Attention’

My piece with Michelle Lynn Dyrness, ‘A Personal History of Attention’, has been published in Vol. 1 No. 3 of Firmament, Sublunary Editions’ print journal. Michelle did the images, I did the words.

This is a real thrill for me for a few reasons – firstly, it’s my first piece in a print journal (!) for a long, long time. How good is paper.

Secondly, it’s always great to work with Josh and the crew at Sublunary who are performing small press miracles.

Thirdly, I really, really like this one as it was the first official collaborative piece Michelle and I did together – we also, with Kyle Coma-Thompson, made a postcard which Sublunary printed off and dispersed, but that came together in other ways. For this, we bounced prose and images back and forth till we had something we felt coalesced into a single piece worth your attention. Since then, we have done more work together, all of which I pray sees the light of day.

If this sounds like your thing, do order a copy, subscribe to Sublunary or check out their backlog.

On ‘The Dead Man Did Bad Things’ and ‘Untitled (The Dead Man Must Come Back)’

The pandemic continues, we are in lockdown and the Dead Man stays dead. As I write this, the state government of Victoria tells the residents of my state we cannot enter. I cannot leave my home without a mask; I cannot go beyond a 5km radius. Calasso died today. It is 2021.

There is little left to say.

Read The Dead Man Did Bad Things.

Read Untitled (The Dead Man Must Come Back).

With thanks, as always, to Saudamini.