12 or 20 (second series) questions with Omar Ramadan
Omar Ramadan is aLebanese-Canadian writer and PhD candidate in creative writing. He is theauthor of
This Sweet Rupture
(out now with UAlberta press!), the chapbooks SunDogs (forthcoming with Agatha Press),
Sesame Love
, and his works have appearedin Poetry Northwest, CV2, and The Polyglot. He lives in amiskwaciy (Edmonton).1 - How did yourfirst book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to yourprevious? How does it feel different?
This SweetRupture is my first book, and I am excited for it to be published and out inthe world. I've spent several years working towards this collection, and it haschanged my life in the way that I approach writing and think about thepractice/craft itself. It also alleviated a lot of self doubt regarding mycapabilities and intuitions regarding writing and the work that I am doing.People want to read this kind of work, read these kinds of stories, read thiskind of poetry, and I am happy to be putting myself out there, working throughall the ups and downs of being a writer and artist, and also enjoying theprocess along the way.
2 - How did youcome to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
I came to poetryduring my undergrad at UBC Okanagan in 2016. I was in the creative writingprogram (minor), and focused a lot of my efforts on fiction in most workshopclasses that I took. At the time, I didn't think that I could write poems, andlooking back, I am not sure why I held this belief. Maybe it was self doubt orthat I was invested in writing fiction that blocked my pursuit of writingpoetry. But in that last year of my time there, I took a workshop class withProfessors Matt Rader and Michael V. Smith, who are two writers I look up toand inspire my own writing, and they pushed me into a space that I falselybelieved I'd be uncomfortable in. I haven't looked back since.
3 - How long doesit take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initiallycome quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close totheir final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
I think itdepends on how driven I am by an idea. Sometimes a project will come naturallyand quickly, and I can push a draft in a short amount of time, or it takestime. So, a combination of both I think! I'd say for poetry, my first draftsoften appear looking close to their final shape. I find that poetry comesnaturally and easily, especially when I've been mulling an idea over in my headfor a while.
4 - Where does apoem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end upcombining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" fromthe very beginning?
The poems in ThisSweet Rupture started small. A piece here, a piece there. I was lucky enough toget enough pieces together to publish some of the poems that appear in the bookas a chapbook titled "Sesame Love" with Moon Jelly House. But I didkeep an overarching theme in mind when I was writing the poems, and thankfullyI did, because it was much easier to compile them into a coherent book.
5 - Are publicreadings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort ofwriter who enjoys doing readings?
I love going toand participating in public readings. I haven't had the chance to do that muchrecently as I've been a bit of a hermit with the amount of work that I have onmy plate, but I'm hopeful that I can get back out and do some readings/openmics. I find it important to my process to see and hear what other writers andartists are working on. It's inspirational!
6 - Do you haveany theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are youtrying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questionsare?
This is a toughquestion to answer. I don't usually frame my creative work through atheoretical lens. A lot of my work concerns father-son relationships,masculinities, migration. These are some of the aspects I think about whenwriting, but I like to leave interpretation up to the reader. I think it's moreexciting to hear what others might theorize about my work rather than hearmyself talking about it in that light.
7 – What do yousee the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even haveone? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
The writer willalways have a role in society/culture. I think one of the roles of thewriter/artist is to make uncomfortable art, art that gives pause, that makesone think about the world and how they move within it.
8 - Do you findthe process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I was very luckyto get to work with author and editor Kimmy Beach for this collection. I thinka good editor will either make or break your experience. You definitely want aneditor who will uplift you while also providing constructive feedback and criticismof your work. I think there also has to be a willingness on your end as well toentrust your words and work to an editor who might disagree with you on certainaspects, and a big part of being a writer is taking that feedback and workingwith it.
9 - What is thebest piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Good enough isgood enough.
10 - What kind ofwriting routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does atypical day (for you) begin?
I don't reallyhave a routine. I try to write at least one poem a day if I can; that usuallycomes out to a page or so a day as my poems are relatively shorter in length.My writing tends to happen at night as my days are usually filled with meprocrastinating on writing.
11 - When yourwriting gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a betterword) inspiration?
When my writinggets stalled, I tend to go look at some of the poetry books I have on mybookshelf and flip through them and that really helps rock me out of thatstall.
12 - Whatfragrance reminds you of home?
Bakhoor.
13 - David W.McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other formsthat influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
Music definitelyinspires my work. For This Sweet Rupture I listened to a lot of classical Arabsingers like Fairuz, Umm Kulthum, and Abdul Halim. I was trying to capture thatessence of home and nostalgia in this collection, so I listened to them when Iwas writing or when I was not.
14 - What otherwriters or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside ofyour work?
Cristalle Smith,Marc Herman Lynch, Kaitlyn Purcell, Nisha Patel, Matthew James Weigel, Matt Rader, Michael V. Smith, Gary Soto, Jess Rizkallah, Etel Adnan, Mohammed El-Kurd, Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Safia Elhillo.
15 - What wouldyou like to do that you haven't yet done?
Hike the PacificNorthwest Trail. Win a literary award.
16 - If you couldpick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, whatdo you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I do enjoy andlove working with my hands. I love working on cars and made a hobby of that.There's something satisfying about swapping a brake rotor and puttingeverything back together and the car still running afterwards. It's a goodtime!
17 - What madeyou write, as opposed to doing something else?
I was just anatural at it. I was also not cut out for sciences.
18 - What was thelast great book you read? What was the last great film?
The last greatbook I read was Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. The last great film Iwatched was West and Soda.
19 - What are youcurrently working on?
I am currentlyworking on a new body of poetry, and working on editing down my detectivefiction novel which is complete!
