The Author’s Road: Challenge,loneliness and desire

【活动回顾】作家之路：挑战、孤独和渴望
Event Review The Author’s Road: Challenge,loneliness and desire

时间：11月21日，周三，18:00 – 19:30
地点：树德生活馆
Time: November 21st , Wednesday, 18:00-19:30
Venue: Shuter’s Life
作家／Writers: Antonis Georgiou (塞浦路斯/Cyprus), Diana Evans （英国/United Kingdom），世宾/Shi Bin (中国/China), 孙频/Sun Pin (中国/China). 主持人/Moderator: 郭爽/Guo Shuang (中国/China)

中欧文化节树德生活馆的第二场活动于11月21日成功举办。此活动以“作家之路”为主题，邀请了塞浦路斯、英国、中国的四位作家参与，讨论他们如何成为作家，是什么鼓励他们选择这条充满挑战的道路等问题。

In November 21st, the second event with the theme of The Author’s Way at Shuter Life was successfully held. Four writers from Cyprus, Britain and China had joined this event to talk about some questions like how they became writers, and to discuss what encouraged them to take the challenging literary path.

作家是如何成为作家的？

How does writer become writer?

作家Antonis Georgiou首先分享了他的故事。他的写作生涯始于学校的写作课。此后，他一直注意观察生活，从不同角度，有深度地去看待世界。他还讲到了自己的家庭背景，尽管处于战后的艰难时期，父母也依然希望他能完成学业。那时的他虽然没有自己的藏书，却也能从图书馆和朋友家里借书。他还能从母亲和邻居那里听到不少故事。有一次，他第一次读一本现代文学小说，由某位塞浦路斯作家所写，觉得突然受到了启发。即使塞浦路斯人口稀少，疆域较小，他也一样可以在此写世界的故事。
Antonis Georgiou shared his story at first. He started writing at school’s writing class and since then he has been observing all the things and trying to see the world from different perspectives in depth. He also talked about his family. Although his family led a tough life after war, his parents still take pains to let him finish school. Although he can not afford books, he was able to borrow them from library and friends. What’s more, his mother and neighbour can tell him many stories. One day, when he read a modern novel written by Cypriot writer for the first time, he was enlightened suddenly.:although Cyprus is a small country with small population, he could still look at the world and write about it.

他说：“写作一种是内在的需求。我无法去解释它。我必须要写作，要给大家讲故事，与人们交流。这种欲望如此强烈！即使困难重重，即使我一直不确定我的写作风格，我也要坚持写作。”
He said: Writing is an internal need which can not be interpret. I need to write, need to tell stories to others and communicate with people. The desire is so strong! Regardless of great difficulties and my writing style uncertainty, I will keep going.”

作家世宾是第二个分享的嘉宾，他的第一句话就给人留下了深刻的印象。他说：“我是一个失败的作家。”尽管他从事创作达30年了，也还是有几本书卖不出去，没有什么读者。但是他欣喜地接受了这种失败。他说：“我对诗歌抱有理想，幻想，甚至是幻觉，这是我津津乐道并愿意用一生去做的事情。
Shi Bin is the second one to share. His first words indeed made a profound impression. He said: “I am an unsuccessful writer.” Although he has been writing for 30 years, he still had some unsalable books and few fans, he accepted such kind of failure in delight and said “ I have an illusions, ideal ideas, even more to say, hallucination about poetry. I am willing to dedicate myself into poetry.”

他在15岁左右开始写作，在潮州师范学校接触到了先锋文学。他觉得这才是文学，不同于那些现实主义和浪漫主义。他毕业后当了五年的小学老师，之后考上了华南师范大学，攻读中文系，因为他感觉到诗歌的召唤。他说：“诗歌能在瞬间连接天空和地面。”之后他去了许多地方工作，有江门市委办公室南方都市报等。谈及这段经历，他还建议写作爱好者还是需要找一份其他工作，满足基本生存需求，也能保持内心的稳定。
He started writing at the age of 15 and knew about pioneering literature at Chaozhou Normal school. He regarded pioneering literature as the real literature,unlike that of Romanticism and Realism. After graduation, he worked as a teacher at a primary school and later he was admitted to South China Normal University majoring in Chinese, because he had received a call from poems. He said: “ Poems can connect the sky with the ground in an instance.” Then he worked in different places like Jiangmen Municipal Administration and Southern Urban Daily. He suggested
Writing enthusiasts to find a job to meet the basic need of life and therefore calm their minds.

最后他说：“直到2015年我才觉得自己入了诗歌之门。有时候我觉得我的长处不在于写诗歌，但是我愿意去写诗歌。诗歌是一种伟大的幻觉。写作，必须要用这种幻觉，才能支撑自己走下去。也许我走不到伟大，但是写作必须要保持这种对幻觉的追寻，不甘于平庸，不满足于自己现有的文学创作和廉价的赞美。”他还认为当今世界是浮躁的，而诗歌是深邃而肃穆的，与当今时代格格不入。
At last he said : “ I have not reached the introduction of poetry level until 2015. Although I am not talented in writing poems, I love to do it. Poetry is a great hallucination which can help me continue my writing. Maybe I can not achieve greatness in the future, but I will continue to pursue that hallucination which makes me unwilling to mediocrity and unsatisfied with my current works and compliment.” He also believed that the world is fickle while poetry is profound and solemn, which will like a square peg in a round hole.

说到作家，人们总会想到两件事情：要么他一直都想开始写作，要么家里有许多书，但这都不符合作家Diana Evans的情况。她14岁时，才开始阅读和写作。使她走上作家之路是非常自然的，主观情感的需求。Diana Evans说：“我有很多情绪充斥在的身体里，它们越积越多，在体内横冲直撞，难以容纳，亟需一个出口——写作就是这个出口。”另外，她还与大家分享了英国文学市场的情况：英国出版行业在寻求改变，欢迎多元化作家。并且在英国当一名作家，既需要承诺能完成写作，还需要能找到合适的文学经纪人。

Speaking of writer, people will think he either wants to write at very early age, or has many books at home. Nonetheless, Diana Evans is different. She started reading and writing at the age of 14. She chose to take the challenging literary path because of the needs of her subjective affection and nature. Diana Evans said : “ I have so much emotions in my body that I can not accommodate them any more. I need to write to release my feelings.” Besides, she also shared the situation of British Literature market with us: the publishing industry welcoming writers with diverse cultural background. To be a writer in England, he should at first promise to finish the work in time and then finds a suitable literary agent..

无论来自哪个国家，作家的核心都是一致的。听罢其他作家的分享，作家孙频有了这样的感受。因为人性是相通的，因此表达人性的文学也可以跨越国家，而作家作为创造文学的人，也或多或少有着共通之处。她认为写作与个人的性格、成长经历密不可分，成为作家的总是那些与众不同的人：以她自己为例，她觉得自己不是一个能干强大的人，追求强大的人不会去当作家。她认为作家与柔弱有关，内在的软弱性是她向文学投靠的诱因，正因为与世界的相处无法如鱼得水，才要寻找另外一个空间、去创造日常之外的另外一个维度。她也提及了创作的艰辛：“文学虽然是幻想性的，但是文学之路却不虚幻，而是艰辛的，需要一个个字写出来。”

After listening to their sharing, Sun Pin found that writers are the same in essence regardless of nationality, because human nature is shared. When literature can cross borders, writers as the creators have something in common. She thought that writing is highly connected with one’s personality and growing experience. To be a good writer, you have to be special. Taking herself as instance, she was not a competent and powerful woman ( Competent people will not choose to writers）。 She had something weak. Mental weakness let her get close to literature. Because she could not get along well with the world, she need to find another space and create a new dimension being away from daily life. She also mentioned how difficult writing is . She said :“ Although literature is about fantasy, there is no fantasy in the challenging literary path. It is tough. Every word is typed.”
在问答环节中，作家和读者们畅所欲言。
In the Q&A session, writers and readers fully communicate.
其中有读者问作家们是一般写想写的东西还是会看市场的需求来创作？ Diana Evans认为这个问题很有意义。她表示作家虽然要了解市场的反馈，在一定程度上取悦读者，但是更要写自己想写的东西，同时关注作品的社会和政治方面的积极影响，
One of the readers asked a question: “ Do you often write anything you want, or write according to the market? Diana Evans answered that although writers needed to care about feedback of the market and amuse readers to some degree, they should focus on what they want to write more and concern its positive impact on society and politics.

还有一位读者了解到Antonis Georgiou既是作家，也是编剧，便询问如何平衡写剧本和小说的时间？Antonis Georgiou回答说当需要直接一点时，他会创作剧本。当表达深邃的思想时，则需要小说。

Another reader has known that Antonis Georgiou is a writer as well as playwright and asked him how he balance the time of writing plays and novels. Antonis Georgiou answered that when he is asked to write in more direct way, he will write plays. When he wants to deliver profound ideas, he will write novels.

作家之路充满了挑战，孤独感和渴望。作家是如何成为作家的？相信听众们一定有所收获。
People will face challenges, feel the sense of loneliness and get impetus from great desire to write in the path to be a good writer. How does writer become writer? We believe that participants have known a little.