Parched Quill 2023 | Poetry Awards ✓

🪶 interview with a winner

interviewer : AngeBlancRose
the grand winner : biswasbarkha

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Hello dear poet! My name is Rose, and I'll be your interviewer for becoming the Grand Winner of PQA 2023. Congratulations on the win! How are you feeling about it?

I am fairly enthusiastic since this is my first time becoming a grand winner.

Oh wow, that's great! So, how long have you been writing poems for?

It's been three years

For quite some time then :D
Your anthology, "An Ode To Melancholy" is definitely a great collection, as conveyed to us by our Judges. What is the main theme your poems explore in this collection?

When I started writing this, I didn't think of a theme, but as I started writing more poems I realized that all of them conveyed different kinds of heartache and thus I decided that I would like to express all kinds of heartache in this book.

That was definitely well thought out! What was your main inspiration behind this anthology?

It was not an inspiration but my heartache, some mine and some of the other people around me. Emotion is my best friend when writing, I guess.

It's definitely not an easy task, writing from one's emotions, but you've done it beautifully! How do you stay motivated in writing poems? Do you every face a writer's, or more appropriately a poet's block?

That's a universal problem, I am still a rookie, and I still have a lot to learn. Even the most experienced people get poet's block and I think it's very normal to get one. We can't always have a sky full of stars, sometimes it will rain, and sometimes it will be cloudy but that doesn't mean the stars are gone, the stars are always there, all we need to do is to have patience. The poet's block is not the absence of stars, that is, a person's ability to wind beautiful emotions, poet's block is merely a cloud hindering your views. For my poet's block, I keep myself calm and give myself rest, reading other people's poems and listening to songs help a lot!

I see! That's an amazing way to describe a poet's block and great tips too :D Have you ever written in any other forms of literature, apart from poetry?

Thank you very much <3
Well, I write a lot of personal letters to my friends, does that count? And yes, I have a very embarrassing history of writing fanfictions in my teen years, I've deleted them after cringing for 1 month straight.

Letter writing does count, as it is also an art of the words ^^
I think we've all been through our fair share of writing cringe teen fan fics xD
Who's your favourite poet?

Exactly, cringe writing also has its fun and thrill. I love Shakespeare and John Keats. But I also have Nikita Gill as a huge inspiration for me, I love her poems and how she expresses all those feelings in them, she is my idol and it's hard choosing who is my favorite.

I see :D Are there any poetry anthologies on Wattpad / any other platform you'd like to recommend to our readers?

I haven't read many poems on Wattpad and I don't remember much about them, my apologies for that. I like Celia Martinez's poems, she's on Instagram and insta is a good platform for people who like listening to poetries from poets' voices.

Those are good suggestions too! Speaking of suggestions, what suggestions / tips would you like to share for someone who's just started writing poetry?

I am a rookie too so I might not be much of a help. But to dear someone who has just started writing poetry, please don't give up, it is worth it, you might feel that your poetries isn't that good, and you might feel like not showing them to anyone. I feel that too sometimes, but trust me the journey is worth it, just express yourself most beautifully, and believe you can express yourself beautifully. The result doesn't matter, the journey does.

Wow, that's a great motivating tip for budding poets! Lastly, we would love to hear from you about your experience in PQA 2023? Did you enjoy it? Do you have any suggestions for our next edition?

I loved the experience a lot, it was fun. There aren't much of suggestions but I think more interaction might make everyone feel more relaxed since some people like me get nervous easily. Thanks a lot for this competition and this interview!

I see, we'll take a note of it! Thank you for participating in our awards! We hope to see more of your wonderful works in the future <3

Thanks a lot! It was nice working with you all and I'll make sure to improve myself as much as I can!

🪶

Congratulations once again to all the winners and participants of PQA 2023!

Keep Writing,
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