Today we talk about Fire Pages, a book by Dylan Robert Wolney, published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Dylan Robert Wolney, to get to know him better, what was the moment that led him to the writing of his book Fire Pages, as well as how he chose the title of his book.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- What was the moment that brought you to the writing of your book?
These pages were compiled line by line over a period of approximately two years. They are the result of a period in my life when I was afforded time for introspection and walking with pencil and paper became a favourite past-time. Schizophrenia is a complex question. There is no definitive answer to a condition that occurs so personally and I think that any person with the diagnosis would describe it differently. For me, I can engage in an inner dialog and it has been a source of inspiration. Talking in this way allows me to take on subjects with the benefit of other points of view. Occasionally a line is said that I deem as having poetic merit. I will jot down the sentence and collect them in this way one by one. The juxtaposition of separate sentences goes to create something totally other. I am enthused by the unexpected result and it was my desire to share them.
- What are the crucial themes of your book?
My psychic path would meander through a myriad of topics and spontaneously arrive at single sentence image/idea forms. These can be seen as cross-sections of the continuous larger dialogs that I was free to engage in as I was by myself. For the most part, each sentence is a subject compressed into an individual line but take on a different connotation as it is combined with other sentences. I can only offer an interpretation but no definitive meaning as they were written without intent. Part of the appeal for myself when I go back to read it, I bring new insights and I discover new correlations of meaning. With a very wide arrangement of topics, some reflect my own experiences and some do not at all. I think that it would be difficult for the reader to decipher which lines are autobiographical. From faeries and prayers to nightmarish descriptions, it is a spectrum set within extremes that give the experiences fullness. Questions about the metaphysical, of mortality, beauty – are some of the underlying themes.
- What is the message you want to communicate to your readers?
There is no underlying message that is trying to be conveyed to the reader. The whole collection was written for the self and only later intended for publishing. It is my hope that the reader will pause and question potential interpretations. Any interpretation is wholly the reader’s own. The author can only offer an interpretation as the poems were written without intent. “…it is very important to be exposed to new ideas, to something which you may not be accustomed. It is good to see what is beautiful, but you must also observe the ugly things in life, you must be awake to everything. Similarly, you must be exposed to things which you perhaps don’t quite understand, for the more you think and ponder over these matters which may be somewhat difficult for you, the greater will be your capacity to live richly.” – J. Krishnamurti.
- How did you choose the title of your book?
The book was written without a notion of what the title of the collection would eventually be. I dedicate the book to fire – the element that provides light. A flame consists of two qualities – heat and light. It is a dancing, alive thing. An analogy for inspiration is the inner flame – the inner light. I wanted to use an original image for the cover of the book so I chose an oil painting that I had done. This is a picture of a faun – a male who has the legs of a goat and a tail. Atop his head is an animal mask. The creature is enthralled by a flame that he holds in his hand. I wish to the reader a fire of their own, something they can hold in their hand; something that will shed light into new areas of thought.
What is to give light
Must endure burning
-Viktor E. Frankl
- Are you working on a new writing project you can tell us about?
I continue to write down ideas that may one day lead to a second collection of poetry. Also, I have been transferring old journals to my computer. Some of the things I wrote in the past were forgotten so I look at them with fresh eyes. One goal of mine is to write screenplays. I have fifteen different movie ideas that I work on. I would really like to work in the medium of film and I thought that an interesting project would be putting images to ‘FIRE PAGES’. Mostly I paint.
Europe Books thanks the author Dylan Robert Wolney once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book Fire Pages. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my dear reader, I wish that this book captures your attention and curiosity, allowing yourself to free your interpretation of what you will read; I wish that it opens your heart and your mind to something different thanks to what you will find here written and, at the same time, will enable you to find your inner flame!
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!