Young Wordsmiths of Boi Mela, a TBS Graduates exclusive series, follows the journey of some of the young authors of Boi Mela. This week we explore ‘Under the Veil of Metaphors’, a compilation of several separate writings arranged under eight segments, each being its own small world where the writer puts forth an array of surreal visions.
“Slowly, the fight became an addiction. He visited my pool every night, drank from my water, and scarred me just a bit on daily basis. I returned the favour by piercing a tiny fragment of his flesh with my knife and later calling it off as mine.”
– Precious, Under The Veil of Metaphors
Inspiration to pen literature comes from the most unanticipated of sources, often as happy accidents.
For Nuren Mahnur Sukanna (alias Ren), it was the letters she wrote to her loved ones.
Instead of the free-flowing style of prose, for Ren, letter-writing served as a gateway into a unique form of poetry – dramatic monologues.
For this instalment of ‘Young Wordsmiths of Boi Mela’, TBS Graduates caught up with the budding poet for an exclusive interview.
TBS: At what point of your writing journey did you decide that you want to take on the challenge of writing an entire book? What was the decisive factor in doing so?
Ren: Ever since I’ve been a kid, along with being a reader, I’ve had this fascination towards writing letters. The sheer pleasure of putting ink on paper and conveying my thoughts and emotions always thrilled me. So being very honest, I’d say the journey of writing “Under the Veil of Metaphors” started with writing random letters to my friends, my people-who-matter.
As for a decisive factor, there wasn’t necessarily any, just that- one day I put down a piece of thought in one of the letters and figured, it’s more of a literary piece than a personalised letter. That’s the day this thought came to me, that when I’m old and grey, maybe I’ll have a book, a book of dramatic monologues where all my thoughts and visions would be portrayed metaphorically. A book I will name “Under the Veil of Metaphors”. It was 2018, and I decided on the name of my book even before I had written a single piece of the book. And that’s how it all came to be in the gradual course of time.
TBS: What is the overarching theme of your book? What keynotes did you explore?
Ren: My book “Under the Veil of Metaphors” is basically a compilation of a number of separate writings arranged under eight segments, each segment being a small world unto its own.
In the book, I tried to put forth the array of surreal visions always swarming in my head in inks, depicting them in metaphors. I tried to voice out my thoughts and emotions regarding different things, situations and incidences that I’ve been through.
But here’s the catch, each writing is sketched in a manner that can be predicted in a hundred different ways.
There will be as many interpretations of a single writing as many readers, and for me personally, that has always been the beauty of art.
TBS: Are there any authors who had a significant impact in your choice of theme or genre?
Ren: As for the genre of the book, it’s a literary fiction, a form of dramatic monologue.
Dramatic monologue is a term of poetry where an individual character utters speeches, interacts with people, and addresses metaphors to describe situations and moments. Basically a person alone describes the whole plot and characters.
But in a number of my writings, you can say I am one of the characters myself. As for who inspired me to voice my theme or genre, there isn’t anyone specific. I would say John Green has always been my literary Lord, but his genre is very different from mine. I’ve read a number of series, sci-fi and novels, among which the works of George RR Martin, Khaled Hossaini and Elif Shafak might have a significant influence on my writing style to an extent- but to be honest, I’ve read very less poetry till date.
I do plan to explore more on the genre that I’ve personally perceived, for I do believe that, to be a good writer it’s mandatory to be a great reader first. But in this specific book, I can’t say there was any significant impact of an author in my selection of theme or genre. It was all me, simply an experimental work of literature.
TBS: How did you ensure that you provided unique voices to your characters?
Ren: Speaking of putting unique voices to characters, I didn’t exactly improvise much. Most of what the characters say or do are incidents that actually took place. I simply coated them in surreals, sometimes putting them forth as they were. And since most of it is in abstract, I didn’t really establish a rigid voice anywhere, for I wanted the book to be intellectually open.
Sometimes, I tried to fit myself in unorthodoxy, took up a handful of elements around me, rearranged them in any form which gave me a whole new cosmos to explore. “Under the Veil of Metaphors” is a book where I wanted the readers to see their own bizarres through mine, their own eyes to explore more colours than mine. For I figured, that’s how miracles are brewed.
TBS: Who should read this book? What is your target audience niche?
Ren: It’s a book open for almost all age groups, but I’d say it’s better suited for readers in their 20s to 30s. People with a love for poetry, philosophy, metaphors and abstracts would be the better explorers of this book.
TBS: How have the readers responded so far?
Ren: The readers have responded way better than my expectations, a humble thanks to everyone. The reviews they’ve given were truly wholesome and beyond my expectations, and I cherish them dearly. Some even went so far as to say that my writing resembles Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson, and I honestly don’t know how to respond to that. It’s a big honour for me that people would read my book and actually give their reviews, and I’ve gotten more than my fair share of that already. I’m truly grateful to every single reader for it all.
TBS: Publishing a book in the Boi Mela isn’t just about writing it. How was your journey from the pages to the stall?
Ren: The journey of publishing a book surely wasn’t a path without thorns. At first,I tried sending the manuscript to some international publications, but at one point figured out that they require agents, the entire method of which is not very feasible for me.
As for the publications within the country, it’s harder to publish an English book for a debut author than one in the native language. Some publications wouldn’t give me the freedom of cover and font selection, page arrangement and other minute stuff. Also, from a business perspective, since the genre of my book isn’t exactly popular or conventional, it was hard to get a publisher in the beginning.
I did hang on to my dream and kept trying, to no avail. At a point I began to fear that my writing wasn’t good enough and began to question my self-worth. That’s when I got :a mail from “Jolodhi Prokashon” that said, the editor and publisher of Jolodhi, Nahida Ashrafi apu (who later came to be my guardian angel in the whole process) has read my manuscript and wanted to talk to me directly.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
In my personal journey, the bumpy road of publishing a book was smoothed down by the grace of this magical human being Nahida Ashrafi apu, without whose continual support and cooperation the journey would’ve been immensely hard. And I’m forever grateful to her for that.
TBS: What, if any, are the challenges that you faced in the entire publication process being a student? How did you overcome those?
Ren: As an outsider in the field of publishing and being unaware of the means, the first challenge that I faced in the journey was the very procedure of it. While submission of manuscripts, publications require synopsis, author’s bio, cover letter, publication history, a few sample writings, or a variety of combinations of these stuff. Being an unorthodox genre writer, not all publications were suited for me either.
So I had to do quite a bit of research in finding out the apt publications for me, the opening dates for submitting writings, since not all publications take submissions yearlong. I had to prepare separate emails for each publication while submitting the manuscript, since all their requirements were a bit different from the other. It was time consuming and required patience, along with effort.
Altogether, it was quite an experience, the whole journey- and I don’t regret a single bit of it. But most importantly, I have to mention this one human being without whose cooperation none of it would come to be, my friend Minhaz Fahim, a true friend who has been with me through it all, did almost all the research works on my behalf, sat by me and helped me out for hours with immense patience throughout this journey.
I could never truly express my gratitude to him for everything he had done for me, for no amount of thanksgiving would ever suffice.
TBS: Do you think we need more young and young-adult writers, since the popular writers are always from an older generation? How would we benefit from a young pool of writers? What kind of opportunities do you think young writers should get to be able to reach their full potential?
Ren: Yes of course, I do believe that the literature world would massively benefit from a pool of young and young-adult writers. The older and more popular writers sure write extremely well, there’s no doubt about that.
I myself grew up reading books of authors of the older generations, whose experiences and creativity reflect in their writings which I treasure dearly. But with the passage of time, along with modernisation, change of perspectives and social structures, it is necessary to address new concepts, discuss new philosophies, put forth new approaches, ideologies and literatures on that behalf, and who better to do that than the youth? Also, since youths are unafraid of experiments, new genres of writing can also come into being if they are given enough opportunities.
I personally believe that the young and young-adult authors of the new generation are tremendously talented and brimming with potential, but not really appreciated or discovered to their full extent. If there were more literature based workshops, youth magazines, platforms for submissions of manuscripts, both online and offline; if publications weighed books based on its literary value than business perspectives; and if the youths were more appreciated for pursuing their dreams that are not strictly academic by their guardians, teachers and society, I figure, more young artists would come forward to express what they have to offer, and not only in literature but in every aspect of art. And that’s how the footsteps of a cultural revolution begins.
TBS: What is one specific advice you would give to aspiring student writers who are just starting their journey?
Ren: As I said before, I don’t find myself fit to give anyone advice, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from life, that is, never give up. Keep pursuing what you want to do, with a bit of time management and an abundance of patience, and life will equip you with all you need along the journey. If you are true to your resolve, the universe will help you out. Always did, always does, always will.
While we eagerly await the culmination of this wordsmith’s literary dust, we discuss the making of another young poet, Mashrafi Hassan, and his book ‘Laler Alorone’ in the next chapter of ‘Young Wordsmiths of Boi Mela’.
Under the Veil of Metaphors can now be found at the Jolodhi Publications stall (Stall No. 75) in the Amor Ekushey Boi Mela.