Interview with Ye Mimi
Ye Mimi was born in central Taiwan in 1980. She recently graduated from the National Dong Hwa University Graduate Institute of Creative Writing and English Literature. Her first volume of poetry, Pitch Dark, was published in 2004. She currently lives in Taipei.
Could you share some information about your personal background?
I grew up in central Taiwan in Chiayi city. My grandmother managed a small hotel in an alley, and my childhood memories are closely connected to this hotel. I was a melancholy and shy girl in high school. I started writing a novel when I was in the ninth grade.
From a young age, I dreamt of living in the mountains or by the seaside. I studied Chinese Literature at Dong Hwa University in Hualien, where I lived for seven years. Living in Hualien had a great impact on my writing I've written many poems, essays and novels based on these experiences.
What was the program like at Dong Hwa?
I studied with several poets during my time at Dong Hwa, including Yang Mu, Yang Tse, Chen Li and Hung Hung.
After graduating, I enrolled in the MFA program at The Graduate Institute of Creative Writing and English Literature at Dong Hwa, which was established in 2000. I was in the third entering class of students in the MFA program. The program is the only one of its kind in the Chinese world. Some of the visiting lecturers included Ya Hsuan, Luo Zhicheng, and Zheng Chouyu. The primary faculty for the program are Li Yungping, Tseng Chenchen, Kuo Chiangsheng and Melusine Lin.
As an undergrad, I had already taken classes at the Institute. So I was able to study with most of the teachers who came through the Institute.
I don't believe that creative writing can be taught. But I learned a great deal from the writers at the Institute from their ways of expressing themselves the way they spoke, the way they saw.
Which of your teachers made a particular impression?
Chen Li and Hung Hung were particularly important to me.
When I began writing poetry, I signed up for Chen Li's poetry workshop. During my first two years in the program, he was very direct with me in his criticism. It was an experience that pushed me to refine the flesh and blood of my poems and establish my own style. Chen Li also introduced me to the work of many foreign poets.
Later, I took Hung Hung's script-writing class and started to write short film scripts. Hung Hung generously loaned me his collection of films and introduced me to the theater scene in Taipei. He inspired me to combine poetry and film together.
Tell me about your book Pitch Dark. How long did it take you to write the book?
I wrote the poems in Pitch Dark between the ages of 19 and 24. The poems are snapshots of my daily life. The first poem was written in Alaska, where I traveled to and worked during the summer of 2004. The last poem They was the first poem I ever finished, written in 1999.
The Council for Cultural Affairs in Taiwan awards grants to help young writers publish their first books. I was awarded a grant from the Council and used the money to work with Agua Design to publish Pitch Dark in 2004. In 2006, the book was awarded the Golden Butterfly Award for book design from the Taipei Book Foundation.
Tonsam publishing company assisted with marketing and sales of the book and helped to get the book on the shelves at Eslite bookstore in Taipei. In Taiwan, many independently published poets work with Tonsam to market and promote their work.
The design of Pitch Dark also includes photographs and illustrations are these also your work?
Aside from the image of an Alaskan glacier which is mine, the photography and illustration are the work of the designers. After reading my poems, the two designers created illustrations that reflected some of the imagery of the poems and collaborated with me on the design down to the smallest details, including a long poem sequence for which the designers created a fold-out format. A close friend wrote the general introduction for the book and consulted on the project with the designers, and I invited my favorite poet Shang Qin to write the critical introduction for the book.
After collaborating together on Pitch Dark, Agua Design invited me to collaborate on some of their products. They give me a subject, and I write simple English poems which they print on the covers of their notebooks. These projects can be viewed here.
Has any of your work been translated into English?
Alulu Kuo translated We Plan Our Escape for the 2005 Taipei Poetry Festival which appeared in Homeland and the World: An Anthology of Poems for the 2005 Taipei Poetry Festival. Steven Bradbury has translated two poems from Pitch Dark which will appear in the summer issue of Chinese PEN. Aside from that, Steve has also translated three of my more recent poems.
What was it like living on Green Island? Did your environment influence your writing?
I moved to Green Island in the summer of 2005 to do my student teaching at Green Island Junior High School. It was a good place for my writing I worked on a novel during my time on Green Island. I enjoyed my life here at night, I often went to a place near the seaside to watch the sunset. I have written a few poems and essays about Green Island. They are very different from the poems I wrote in Hualien.
In past times , Green Island was known for serving as a prison for political prisoners and criminals . In the past few decades, i t 's become famous for its natural beauty . Lots of tourists come here to visit and the island is getting more commercialized. That's the only negative thing I worry that the scenery will disappear one day. The island still houses a prison for criminals, but political prisoners are no longer held here.
Are there any common concerns and themes for the poets of your generation? Who are your contemporaries and peers?
The new generation of poets is largely concerned with living life today and with language play. I don't read my contemporaries much. But I have a few poetry friends Sun Tzuping and Chen Chiehan. They also write essays, novels, and music criticism and are both creative and sensitive authors. I get a lot of enjoyment from reading their work.
Who are some of your favorite writers and influences? Which writers have influenced the language play in your work?
Alice's Adventure in Wonderland was the book of my enlightenment. It opened the imaginative world for me. I am also drawn to Kafka's novels - every time I read his work, I think I could be dreamt by him.
From a young age, I have had a very active dream life. I have had many dreams most of them fairly strange, which I remember vividly after waking up. When I was 20 years old, I started to write down these dreams in a journal. I n Pitch Dark, there are a few black pages with hand-written notes they are my dream records.
Don Quixote is also a favorite book. Hong Kong Writer Hsi Hsi and Taiwanese poet Hsia Yu both play with language in a wonderful way. I can't tell if they influence my work or not, but their work inspires a desire to write.
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