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All of the poems from ‘The Underwater House’ follow a similar theme, how easy is it to stick to a theme when completing poems for a collection, and was this intentional?
Question By: Cara Brennan
The Underwater House was conceived as a sequence, following a story line. So it was intentional. It was quite easy to write this particular piece as the story came it me when I was away for a week writing in North Wales. I am really interested in the idea of the poetry sequence as it gives you more scope to develop a bigger subject matter.
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The poetry in this collection has a wonderful musicality to it ‘fumbled each other in a forest of grooved sugar’ (from Forcing Shed) when writing the poetry for this collection how important was the way it sounded in spoken word, I really enjoy reading at Poetry events because it adds a whole new dimension to my work, how important do you consider events like these in terms of your own poetry?
Question By: Cara Brennan
Thank you! I am really pleased that you thought the collection had music in it as this is very important to me. I read all my work out to myself alone in my house and must look very odd to postmen, meter readers and casual callers! I do a lot of events and enjoy reading work out aloud. It seems to bring the words to life off the page as well as in book form.
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Poems in your collection such as ‘Angel’ give a local voice to inanimate objects; where else do you get your inspiration from when writing in character?
Question By: Cara Brennan
I have thought a lot about the idea of marginal characters in this book, and voices that are rarely heard. The Blackbirds baked in a pie for instance, or the sister in Six Swan Brothers. I also like giving objects a voice to speak and have really enjoyed some of Charles Simic's poems that do the same thing; 'My Shoes' and 'Watermelons' for instance. (Charles Simic, Selected Poems 1963-2003)
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Many of the poems in the collection cover female themes such as motherhood/pregnancy, how have these experiences shaped the way your writing has evolved?
Question By: Cara Brennan
These themes seem to have been the ones that have been uppermost in my life in recent years and have crept into my poetry. I would imagine as life evolves, other themes will emerge. I am writing about the idea of space and solitude at the moment which feels very timely! I am keen that all of life experience is there to be written about from big events such as pregnancy and birth to smaller ones such as a view from a train window.
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You completed an MA in writing at Manchester Met, how important do you feel postgraduate study in creative writing in terms of establishing yourself as a published writer?
Question By: Cara Brennan
It was very important as a way of getting good critical feedback and helping to build my confidence. I went back to study as a mature student and really enjoyed the deadlines, group workshops and being part of a writing community. I do think it is possible to achieve these things without doing an MA. I did however, start taking my writing more seriously because of this period of study.
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As all young writers want to know, how did getting your first collection ‘Talking with the Dead’ published come about?
Question By: Cara Brennan
I had been sending poems to Cinnamon Press for a number of years and had been featured in quite a few of this publisher's anthologies. I then applied three times for their first collection award - an annual competition. I was successful on the third attempt and was joint winner with a poet called Sally Douglas. So tenacity helps!
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What are your top three tips for aspiring young writers looking to get published?
Question By: Cara Brennan
I would suggest making sure that your writing is the best it can be and well edited before sending any work off. I would regularly send poems or short stories for publication in magazines. My last tip would be to look out for first collection awards and have a manuscript ready to send off for these opportunities.
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