Interview with Lopa Banerjee in FIVE QUESTIONS about her latest book OF LOVE, JAZZ AND OLD FLAMES

Today, we have with us a very versatile and committed writer, whose literary oeuvre seems to be increasing every day by leaps and bounds. So, let me fire my first salvo at Lopa Banerjee- a poet- novelist and now also an actor-producer.

Santosh Bakaya Q 1: Tell us something about Lopa, the Woman and Lopa the writer, also enlighten us about your greatest idiosyncrasy, your fads and foibles which you think, might endanger your writing prowess, and where the writer and the person converge.  

Lopa Banerjee:  Santosh, first of all, let me extend my thanks and gratitude for choosing me for this beautiful author interview! To answer your question, Lopa the writer , is to my understanding, a rather cerebral, emotional extension of Lopa, the woman and mother, and I think both fuel each other’s desires, passions and most importantly, self-love. It is nothing but self-love coupled with gratitude for the world and my most intimate surroundings that have made a writer out of me eventually.

When I think of my numerous fads and foibles, the first that comes to my mind is that I procrastinate a lot, either in big or small initiatives that I become a part of, whether writing projects or other creative endeavors. This is the reason why I take it slow, and take each day as it comes, going with the flow of that given day.

 
Santosh: Oh well, at the risk of endangering my blood pressure, I think I will have to take that procrastination bit, with a pinch of salt- ha ha. I have known you as a nyctophile who writes with an impassioned intensity, and it is your nervous energy that propels you from one highly acclaimed work to another. But then, I do agree there is a flip side to everything ….

Lopa: The flipside is that I tend to lose faith in myself during that phase of procrastination. However, once the fire erupts in me, there’s no stopping me and then I come back to my own elements. As a matter-of-fact, I also do put my heart too much on my sleeve, being an intensely passionate person, which I need to control from time to time, though I believe this foible hasn’t endangered my writing prowess at all. Rather, it has made me the writer and poet that I am today—a confessional, emphatic and unapologetic writer and poet.

Santosh Bakaya Q 2: Yes, a writer who pours her heart out on paper.  I have read whatever you have written, and noticed that you write passionately about whatever you feel strongly about. What is the source of this passion?

Lopa Banerjee: You are extremely, extremely kind about my writing, Santosh,  as you have always supported my literary journey by writing brilliant forewords for all my books till date, choosing the right publisher for me when I needed him the most, and reviewing my books and sharing them with the world. What more could I have asked for? 

 Santosh Bakaya: Please don’t embarrass me by saying all that. That is the least one can do for friends in the writer community.

Lopa Banerjee: My parents used to tell me that I was a very quiet and observant child, who metamorphosed into a passionate, vocal woman in the course of the journey of her life. I can strongly sense and feel microbes of follies and hangovers in my own life, and also the air of betrayals and apathy, which has been very strong in the kind of environment I have grown up on. 

Santosh Bakaya: Well, I don’t see these ‘microbes of follies’ and ‘the air of betrayals and apathy’ having affected you in an adverse manner. 

Lopa Banerjee: Well, I agree, somewhere down the line, these have also become the source of sustenance for me, in the sense that all these have inspired me to give vent to my emotions through the garb of literature, poetry and art. I always say that ‘Anger has been my weapon of choice’, and sometimes this anger has taken shape in the form of protest poetry that I have written from time to time. However, when I sing, perform at the radio or on stage, I try to balance my happy self with my intensely passionate self, as the arts give me solace and fill me with positive creative energy. I strongly acknowledge that literature and art has been a great source of healing and attaining catharsis throughout this life, and it will always remain so.

Santosh Bakaya Q 3: Do you feel more comfortable while writing poetry, or while penning prose?

Tell us something about your latest book ‘Of Love, Jazz and Old Flames’, your first book of fictional tales, is it drenched in musicality as the name suggests?

Lopa Banerjee: Honestly, my journey had begun with prose writing only, as I came into the writing world as a feature writer, online journalist and content writer. My first solo book as an author has been the award-winning memoir ‘Thwarted Escape: The Immigrant’s Wayward Journey’ (Authorspress, 2016) which was the product of my alma mater in USA, University of Nebraska at Omaha, where I used to study Masters’ in Creative Nonfiction writing some years back. 

Somewhere along the way, poetry publications happened as poetry has always been the food for my soul, my source of sustenance amid the darkest of times for me. It’s difficult to say whether I chose poetry as a medium to give vent to my pent-up emotions, or whether poetry chose me as a vehicle to express unsung lyrics, but in the course of this journey of mine, both poetry and prose have walked together, hand-in-hand, and I have drenched myself in the essence of both these apparently diverse forms. I would say I am a believer in the fluidity between genres and forms that way my prose sometimes becomes lyrical, and my poetry becomes an amalgamation of poetic vision and the details of prose.

My latest offering, ‘Of Love, Jazz and Old Flames’ (published by Notionpress, in collaboration with Women Empowered-India) which very recently came on Amazon, is an out-and-out literary fiction, with a romance novella ‘All That Jazz’ and 10 interconnected stories, based in India and in the United States. The novella and the stories are set in the backdrop of the throbbing city of Kolkata, the suburbs of Bengal, the mist-laden mountain cities of North Bengal, Delhi and its outskirts and in various cities in USA.

 Through this collection of fictional tales, I have attempted to trace the journeys of various women, the men in their lives, and also the life of a transgender woman, the sparks of their indomitable passion and desires and subtle, irresistible emotions that define those myriad journeys. In the end, as all the journeys seem to merge, the tumultuous saga of loving and losing brings us closer to understanding the essence of their lives, and perhaps in some measure, our own too.

Smeetha Bhoumik of Women Empowered-India, my editor and cover artist for this collection of stories has done a beautifully impressive job as a mentor and guide in the whole publishing process of this book, guiding me how to interconnect these stories and find the missing links, only to discover the myriad mysteries that comprise our journeys as humans. She has also done a fabulous job with the cover and with naming the various chapters of my romance novella ‘All That Jazz’ which is a tale of three singers, songwriters and composers who were part of a musical band.

It is my debut work of fiction which I am sure will resonate with a lot of readers who love poetry and prose in equal measures.

 
Santosh: Q 4 Yes, Smeetha Bhoumik, I know her as a very hardworking, highly sensitive and creative woman with a noble vision.  I have also had the honour of interviewing her for this column.

 Your prose, I have noticed, can be very lyrical, but some readers /publishers crinkle their noses at lyrical prose. What would you like to say about this?

Lopa Banerjee: I think the publishers who crinkle their noses at literary, lyrical prose are only interested in publishing commercial fiction due to the demands of our times. There is no harm in promoting and publishing commercial fiction with water-tight genres and formulaic plots, characterization, as they quickly assume that will ensure a sizeable readership and in turn, good sales of the books. However, the flipside is, in the process the youngsters are moving away from reading quality literature with engaging vocabulary, diction and compelling storytelling or narration which can be literary and appealing at the same time. I strongly believe that there will be a revival of literary prose amid the generations to come, and substantial writing, either in prose or poetry will stay on in the hearts of readers, however vicious the circle might appear now. We must never lose hope and refrain from compromising with mediocrity of any kind.

Santosh Bakaya Q 5 : One more question before we call it a day. Please do tell us something about your forthcoming projects.

Lopa Banerjee: There are quite a few, but I can speak only about the selected few right now!

After my debut fiction book ‘Of Love, Jazz & Old Flames’, a romance novella and 10 interconnected tales, which is all slated for launch on 25^th January, 2020 at Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library, ICCR, Kolkata, my next publication will be a prestigious translation project, which will be the first English translation of an award-winning novel of Bengal’s doyenne of literature, Ashapoorna Devi. The book is already with the publishers and they will decide on the publication date this year. I am truly looking forward to it!

Besides, I am working on a poetry collection in collaboration with a Mexican-American poet and artist based in Dallas, the theme of the book will be centered on our diverse ethnic identities.

 I am also planning on showcasing the short poetry film ‘Kolkata Cocktail’ which I co-acted and co-produced, along with Ipsita Ganguly and Gopa Bhattacharjee at meaningful, significant literary and artistic forums in India and USA, to connect with the diaspora audience.

As a teacher and writing instructor in Dallas, Texas, I look forward to teaching two courses in creative writing this forthcoming spring and fall semesters, one in creative nonfiction/memoir writing and the other in poetry writing (both workshop courses). Hence, my life will be a roller-coaster ride of diverse experiences and I am thankful to God for these unique opportunities given to me. 

 Santosh: It was indeed a pleasure interacting with you. Looking forward to reading this book, the cover of which tells us that the reader should look forward to some intriguing tales. 

Author bio:

Lopa Banerjee is an author/poet, editor and adjunct instructor of Writing, living with her family in Texas, USA, but originally from Kolkata, India. Her memoir 'Thwarted Escape: An Immigrant's Wayward Journey' and her debut poetry collection 'Let The Night Sing' have received honorary mentions in The Los Angeles Book Festival and New England Book Festival 2017 respectively. Her manuscript of ‘Thwarted Escape’ has also been First Place Category Winner at the Journey Awards 2014 hosted by Chanticleer Reviews and Media, USA. She also received The International Reuel Prize for Poetry in 2017 and The International Reuel Prize for Translation in 2016 (for 'The Broken Home', her English translation of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's novella), both instituted by The Significant League, a literary group. She has authored five books (memoir, poetry and translation) and co-edited four anthologies of poetry and fiction. Her literary work has been widely published in many e-zines and anthologies. Recently, she has been an honorary poetry fellow at Rice University, Houston, and a featured poet at many other prestigious forums. ‘Of Love, Jazz and Old Flames’ is her debut book of fiction.