I’m happy to be able to bring you an interview with Canadian writer Ava Homa. Ava and I have been friends for a few years, so after the publication of her first collection of short stories, Echoes From the Other Land, I was excited to ask her to talk about her book, writing and reading on a writer’s blog.
Bio adapted from her website: Ava Homa was born in Tehran and grew up in Sanandaj, Kurdistan. Ava experienced war as a child and the aftermath of war in adulthood (Kurdistan uprising, losing loved ones, economic crisis and inflation). She graduated from Allameh Tabatabai University, the Iranian ivy league, in 2005, with Master’s degree in English. In September 2005 she became a full-time faculty member to teach English at Azad University, Iran. In 2009, Ava graduate from University of Windsor with Master’s in English and Creative Writing. Echoes from the Other Land, Ava’s first collection of short stories in English was published by TSAR. Echoes from the Other Land is the story of human endurance, resistance, passion and pleasure.
Onto the questions!
Q: What inspired you to write Echoes From the Other Land?
A: I’m inspired by the pain in mine and my people’s lives, the oppressive rules under which Iranian people, especially women, magically survive and the humanity that surprisingly stays intact. I wanted to give these struggles, courage and resistance a voice, an authentic image as opposed the image the mainstream currently has of Iranian women.
Q: Speaking about Iranian women, your short stories are all focused on female characters. Which character in Echoes From the Other Land would you most want to be? And of course, why?
A: It would have to be Anis from “Fountain.” She is introverted but strong, smart, complicated, rebellious, accomplished and incredibly patient.
Q: Yeah, who wouldn’t want to have those kind of characteristics. Let’s shift gears here and talk about MA/MFA programs. I know you’re a graduate from the University of Windsor’s MA in English and Creative Writing (as am I). What’s your honest opinion about MFA programs or MA programs in Creative Writing? Do you think you have to graduate from one of these programs to be a writer today? What are the benefits/drawbacks based on your experiences?
A: You definitely don’t have to be a graduate from a Creative Writing program to be a writer, which is why I did not pursue my PhD. However, you have to write and read a great deal. MA programs make you do that and that’s the best side of it, in my opinion. Also, in a MA program you are exposed to a diverse type of writing, either by professor’s recommendation or what your peers write. Their feedback gives you a sense of how some potential readers will perceive your writing. The negative side of MA programs is that sometimes these things don’t happen. For example, feedback from peers sometimes become the opposite of constructive. Writing is subjective after all.
Q: Okay, so you had to read a lot in your MA program (me too!). That leads me to my next questions: what are your three favourite books and why?
A: I am a voracious reader of fiction and can’t really give you a list of my favourite books but I enjoy all the books I finish reading because if I don’t like them I put them aside. Usually, each fiction offers some new insight about human nature and we are such complicated beings that writers can explore our experiences infinitely. I enjoy any fiction that intrigues my imagination, has subtle and powerful dialogue, multi-dimensional characters, simple, spare prose, and unbiased and not judgemental motives.
That being said, I have tried reading genre fiction and never finished reading one, have picked up some “best sellers” and never gotten through more than a few chapters. They are not unworthy of reading; it’s just that I am not intrigued enough to continue reading them.
To get back to your question, I don’t really have “three favourite books” but Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger and Raymond Carver have had a significant influence on my writing style. They were the writers whose books I read several times to figure out how they created the effect that mesmerized me. I wanted to know what was their secret.
Q: Okay. So you’ve studied some of the masters to write better. Now that you’ve published your first book of short stories, you are in a way a “master” of the art. So, what advice do you have for aspiring writers?
A:
I have three recommendations:
1. Write.
2. Write more.
3. Write some more.
I read that somewhere and I think it is really the most important
thing writers should and can do.
Be your own best reader, your sharpest critic but not before you have finished writing your first draft. Write about the things you are deeply passionate about, what you’ve touched. Feel the joy of writing rather than getting stressed over it. Finally, always respect your reader’s intelligence.
Good advice. Thank you Ava for giving us a little insight into your reading and your writing! You can read more about Ava here, you can visit her publisher’s website here or you can check out another book blogger’s review of Ava’s collection here. If you’re the tweeting kind, feel free to follow Ava here. And if that wasn’t enough, for those of you who would prefer to listen to a short story (or sample Ava’s work) check out episode #22 of the Words to Go Podcast for “Glass Slippers.”
Stay tuned for a little surprise in the next day or two. Let’s just say you might be reading your very own copy of Ava’s newest collection of short stories.
