Worldwide writers

Irish writer Gavin Corbell, Czech Republic writer Halina Pawlowska and Chinese writers Yao E’mei and Zhou Jia’ning talked about the topic “worldwide writers”

Garvin Corbell said, “I started as a writer, then I went to be a radio host. My personal life is a bit complicated. When I graduated from the college, my first novel Innocence written in a short term was published. However, the novel in 2013 had been composed for 10 years. This shed light on the fact that I literally have no sense of time. Although I complain about the pressure of being a writer and I am vulnerable when under pressure and the anxiety and pain is unimaginable, at the same time I comfort myself by remind myself that it is after all a great career for me.”

“I was a journalist for a time period. I bought the house and had to pay off the debt while I was still writing. Writing a novel needs expression of oneself. Inspiration does not come only from books, but also a lot of other things like music and paintings. Writing sometimes can be really devastating. Words and sentences are chained together. It is like a hotpot from Chongqing. Every kind of materials and thoughts can be tossed into it.”

“I live in Ireland which is a small-sized country in Europe. Travelling is a way to escape from the daily life. And when I came back, I reassessed my life. Some part will sure to be gone. Globalization have made cities to be alike. It is scary. Rapid development of economy and smartphones have affected our life. Nowadays we pay by QR code after purchasing in a mall. The footsteps in life never seem to stop while those in literature can. Literature allows us to leave some blank space for people to explore and create. Recently I have been working on a novel from a view of female. It is important to read the works of writers of different genders. It might have something to do with the fact that I have a sister and was raised up by my mom. I do not know whether the book will be found offensive upon being published. There is a heated discussion over gender equality, politics and climate in my country.”

Halina Pawlowska said, “I have contracts with publishers so I kind of have to write, which sometimes drove me out because I am not really diligent. My source of inspiration comes from the aura I have captured from the surroundings. I mine for writing materials from my family, my friends and my children. My father had greater impact on me. When I was 5, my father would play with me and asked what happened and what happened next to it. One thing after another, I used my imagination and pictured about how I would react under the same circumstances. This childhood training benefited my imagination a lot. I love travelling. In Czech Republic, we have the population of 10 million people, half the amount of that of Shanghai. I walk down the street of my homeland, everyone knows about me and greets me and takes a selfie with me sometimes. But in Shanghai, I am a foreigner. This gives me vigor to create something new.”

“I travelled to Africa once and broke my bone by accident and I cried for that. When I went back to Czech Republic, however, this experience turned into an interesting novel. From the day when human came into being, globalization began. Because love, hatred and death came along with humans. And it still hasn’t changed now, even in literature. People are nowadays more reliant on the images from technology and are getting used to it, which is not good for thinking further than words by appearance. Young readers are significantly affected.”

“I used to write before sunrise or late at night. Now I write during the day until I am really tired. Inspiration comes to me when I am outside walking. They are mainly some stimulus from life. But embarrassment happens. I wrote a novel about the stories of acquaintances around me and it made my family unhappy. Afterwards, I never wrote things related to my family.”

“When I was young, I used to ride trains to travel around. I got excited every time before embarking on the journey. I spent three days and two nights at a train to Xinjiang. A few years later, I wrote a novel based on tourism. Travelling is a practice of life. Globalization makes it possible for us to learn about lifestyles of people from different countries. You log in WeChat, you see everything. Literature is about writing things we don’t see.”

Zhou Jia’ning said,” I start writing upon getting up in the morning. I write from 9 or 10 am till 3 or 4 pm. I go out for a walk when I feel exhausted. I hang out with my friends and talk to them. In order to store energy for writing, I spend two hours at night, writing only about 300-500 words in total. If I intend to write a 30,000-words novel, it will take me 100 days. This mode of writing is focus-demanding. It practically sabotages the willpower. I do not have a job and lack experience in life. These I will overcome. Maybe it’s destiny and maybe it’s my personality. I seem to pull some odd people to me and be friends with them. Some extraordinary people or things give me inspiration like shining pearls. The recent novel I have been working on is set in the 1990s. I did some field trip by myself. I visited places like libraries, hotels and shopping malls. Fiction is combined with reality. It is intriguing to portray a city like this. Putting Shanghai in terms of globalization creates illusion for me. Though it seems easy to communicate with each other, it is in fact really hard to do that. What I mean by that is that in this era, what will be put forward is not the works that easy for readers to sympathize with but the ones that do the opposite way.”