thoughts and memories. Despite being written in 2018, the parallels to isolation enforced by the Covid pandemic are striking.
Manon says that she wrote the English translation shortly after writing the original Welsh text, rather than revisiting it through the lens of the pandemic. However, she says that she does look at the ongoing impact of Covid on society, saying: “I actually did the translation back in 2018, just for my own amusement really. I didn’t have any connections with English publishers at all, and didn’t have an agent.
“I enjoy the process of creative translation very much, which is why I did it. But then, Covid did come along and with it some quite uncomfortable similarities. It made me wonder about how reliant we are on technology, because without the internet and phones, I think lockdowns would have been completely different. It helped with the isolation. “I think that looking back at The Blue Book of Nebo and then lockdowns makes me think about how odd it is that we don’t seem to have changed much as a society as a result of what happened. We’re not kinder or more neighbourly. That’s a surprise to me, given that we had to face not only social isolation but also the very real prospect of ill health or even death.” Asked specifically about how The Blue Book of Nebo has impacted children and their experience of Covid, Manon admits: “I don’t feel qualified to answer that question!” but adds: “What books have always done for me is they’ve been excellent company, and that’s my hope when I’m writing. I truly do think of them as friends, and I don’t know of a better way to learn empathy or understanding than reading a story, I don’t feel I can judge others’ experience of my books, but I do hope that the characters feel real to the readers and are good company. “I always think that as the writer, I’m responsible for about three quarters of the experience – the reader provides the rest themselves. That thought is intriguing and exciting to me.”
Talking about her inspiration for writing and the process surrounding it, Manon says: “I tend to write from fear, or a lack of understanding- I suppose I use my books as a way of trying to process the world and people particularly. It’s a hugely therapeutic though sometimes exhausting way of going about it!” She says that time and space are important elements of that process, and she has learnt to build that into her writing. She explains that the creative process does not begin with a pen and paper, or sat staring at a blank computer screen.
“I usually spend a lot of time mulling 6 PEN&INC.
things over before I write anything, and creating and getting to know characters – walking is great for this,” says Manon. “A few years ago, I decided to start thinking about walking and wandering and wondering time as ‘working’ time. That’s been quite transformative to me, switching to thinking that you don’t necessarily have to be typing out words in order to be working on your book.” That recognition of the importance of allowing characters and stories the space to breath and develop before committing to the physical act of writing has helped to bring clarity to the process. Manon
adds: “I did a workshop with a collective called gentle and radical a few years ago, when I was doing a residency with Natural Resources Wales and National Theatre Wales, and they really made me consider my creative working practices, made me appreciate how, for me, the process of writing is as important as the end-product. Also, the value of slowness and space when creating. It helped me a great deal.”
Returning to the theme of books in translation, Manon feels they offer access to great literature that may otherwise be missed by non-speakers of that
Autumn-Winter 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
