Books / Poetry
Interview: Vanessa Kisuule
Leading Bristol writer and performer Vanessa Kisuule has just published her second poetry collection. Julie Fuster finds out more
What can readers expect from your new collection, A Recipe for Sorcery?
I like to think of it as the illegitimate love child of a poetry collection and a recipe book. I’ve been thinking a lot about eating, nourishment and what feeds us both in terms of literal food and also the things we take in visually, mentally, emotionally, sexually. Also knowing that the collection would be centred around my experience as a woman and the women that I know and love, it was poignant to reflect on the fact that the practical job of cooking and feeding is still often the preserve of the woman. Instead of thinking of that as a lowly and thankless job, I want that to be something we revere and admire. After all, if we don’t feed you, you’ll starve. Our kindness and nurturing is a very powerful force – I wanted the recipe format to honour that.
is needed now More than ever
The power of friendship and womanhood are recurring themes in your work. Are your poems mainly aimed at women?
In my mind, my audience and mirror has always been other women. I like to hope that my poems can appeal to people from all walks, all genders, all ages and all races but absolute universality is perhaps a myth. I certainly have a varied intersection of people approaching me and purchasing my book. But I know that girls, women and women of colour in particular have really responded to what I do and that for me is the most important thing, that I can speak something to them that feels healing, restorative and true.
What is it like to work with Bristol-based publisher Burning Eye Books?
Clive and Jenn are just bloody wonderful. They care about spoken word, they care about inclusivity, they care about the agency of their writers and they have such an authentic grassroots approach. I could not be with a more understanding, supportive and encouraging publisher. There are more established publishers, but for me as a performing poet it really doesn’t matter as much to be with a more well known publisher like that (though I do love much of what they put out). Most of my sales come from people buying a book from me after a show – they aren’t going to care whose publishers I’m with or if I stapled the thing together in my living room. They just like my work. So for me it’s crucial to be with a publisher that supports my vision, can offer me a fair percentage from sales and understands how people engage with my work and can help me produce a book that they can acquire easily – formal notions of prestige don’t really factor, especially when our art form is so niche anyway.
You seem very attached to the city. Would you say that Bristol gave birth to you as a poet?
I actually started performing poetry just before I came here for university, so I suppose the London scene ‘birthed’ me but Bristol subsequently raised me. The scene here is small but thriving – this city is chock a block full of creatives and activists doing amazing things. To live here is to be inspired. Bristol may not come out overtly in my work, but the influence of my friends, my surroundings and the politics that come with that are certainly there. As venues, Raise The Bar and Milk are great poetry nights to go to – whenever I do I’m reminded anew how warm, inviting and exciting our scene is. My favourite Bristol poets are Rebecca Tantony, Malaika Kegode, Anna Freeman and Tom Dewey.
What do you say to emerging poets in Bristol?
Go to an open mic. Perform. Chat to other poets you meet there. Repeat. The scene is so friendly, you’ll soon get the bug and you’ll be going all the time. Go to workshops, read and watch twice as much as you write and perform. Be inspired by others but always focus on honing your own individual voice. Be brave, honest and explorative with what you write – write what must be said, not what makes you look good. Also, have fun. If you’re not having fun then none of it matters !
Vanessa’s new collection, A Recipe for Sorcery, is available now burningeye.bigcartel.com/product/a-recipe-for-sorcery-by-vanessa-kisuule
The collection will be launched at Watershed on January 24 https://b247-test.webringly.com/whats-on/books-and-spoken-word/poetry/raise-the-bar-vanessa-kisuule-2/
Read more: Award winning poetry publisher Burning Eye Books
photo credit: Ailsa Fineron
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