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Hello! Please tell me a little about yourself!
Hi, I’m Adrija Jana and I’m from India. I’m currently finishing Grade 12 and about to start college. I’m a humanities student interested in becoming a social scientist. I have been writing since a very young age. I’ve been writing poetry since I was in Grade 3. Apart from that, I’m also interested in filmmaking, research, and community work. Currently, I’m working on my poetry collection, and hopefully it’ll be out soon!
Why do you enjoy writing?
I wrote my first poem in Grade 3. That poem was about the freedom struggle of my country and how it became a democracy. I wrote that poem because I had recently started learning about the history of my country and there were very strong, overwhelming emotions inside of me. They automatically came out in the form of a poem as soon as I took up my pen. Since then, writing has been a very important way for me to express my emotions, and in recent years, it has also been a way for me to channel negative emotions in a way that would not harm myself or anyone else. Writing makes me feel lighter as if I’m creating my own world. This world gives me a sense of satisfaction and happiness.
How does expressing your creativity make you feel?
My creativity in the last few years has not only been a way of channeling my emotions, but also a way of protesting. Through my writing and my creative pieces, I have protested against domestic violence and the violation of rights. My writing is a way of inviting social change, especially in my community and across my country as well. This gives me a sense of satisfaction because as I said, community work is something that is very close to my heart and being able to express myself through creativity is a very, very powerful emotion. When I share my writing, I have seen that so many other people have been inspired by that and have been able to raise their own voices and talk about their experiences through writing. That being said, it is definitely a very empowering and inspiring emotion to express my creativity.
Tell me a story where you created the first piece that you were very proud of.
When I look back right now, I feel that the piece I created in Grade 3 was very childish, but at the same time the first piece that I was proud of because I had the courage to write about a painful past. I had the courage to write about the massacres an the bloodshed that happened, and I’m really proud of my younger self that I had the courage to put that in my writing. That is a piece that I still have preserved somewhere, and that is definitely the first piece that I am proud of.
Have you ever been published in a school newspaper, magazine, etc.?
Yes. My school publishes two types of magazines: a quarterly magazine and an annual magazine. I was first published in Grade 5 in 2014-2015, and from Grade 6 to Grade 12, I have been published in the annual magazine every year. I have had my poetries and short stories published, both in English as well as Hindi. In my last two years of school (Grade 11 and Grade 12), I was also a part of the editorial group. In Grade 12, I was also the Editor in Chief of the group. That has been my experience with my school magazine.
How does being published make you feel?
Before I was published, I was very proud of my writing as it was. It was something that was very personal to me; something that I enjoyed and had access to. When it got published, so many people had access to it. A lot of people had sent their feedback back to me that my poems make them feel like they are not alone anymore and helped them realize that there were people to help them through this troubling time, that there were people who went through similar experiences. Raising our voices against something that is socially unjust, against something that is wrong, is something that is our fundamental duty regardless of whether we are activists or not. Being published has helped me create this kind of impact, and that is something that makes me really, really happy.
Is there anyone who gives you inspiration for your writing?
There are two people who inspire me with my writing: one is Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind, and the other is my mother. First of all, Mitchell’s writing style is enough to interest people and inspire them to raise their voices. Next, my mother has been a very big inspiration to me. My mother got married about 20 years back and during that time, women in India were not encouraged to continue their education or job after their marriage. She had to give up her dreams after she got married, and soon she had me and my sibling. However, she did not give up. After 15 years of her marriage, she did start her own business along with my aunt. She is a very strong and resilient woman who inspires me a lot with everything that she has done, even after having many restrictions. And somebody that I need to mention is my English teacher from middle school. To be honest, she is the person who inspired me to start vigorously reading like the reader I am now. She encouraged me to participate in school competitions and she was the one who had faith in me. She has been a very important figure in my life, and I am still in touch with her. Without these three people, these three personalities, I do not think I would have progressed as far as I have now.
What do you do when you have writer’s block, and how do you overcome it?
I have noticed something; I have writer’s block not when I have a lot to write, but when I am continuously procrastinating. For example, I have made a list of magazines I have to submit to the teams that scouted me, and I’m continuously stalling on writing them, not writing for weeks. But if I start writing, I often find that I’m running out of ideas. However, that is not running out of ideas, that is me getting rusty after a long time of not practicing. In these cases, my inspiration is nature. Every time, what works for me is going out to my terrace at night and sitting down, just enjoying the moonlight and feeling the night wind on my face. I also enjoy listening to Chinese music. This has led to me being inspired in numerous ways. One time, I wrote an entire poem just sitting on my terrace at night. This is one of the things that seem to work for me. Secondly, I love just going out and observing people; not talking, not doing anything, just observing people going about their daily lives. That is something that can give someone a lot of inspiration. They just come to us in a flash, and it is up to us how to retain them. These are my two most effective methods when I get writer’s block.
Do you have a future dream job related to the hobbies you enjoy?
I do have a future dream job, and that is being a full-time writer and editor if possible. My current situation will not make that possible if I want to support myself and my family, but yes, that is a dream job I can’t give up and hope to pursue sometime shortly.
Do you have any future writings in the works?
I have a few future writings in store. So, I was recently commissioned by the Civic Life Project, which is based in the US, and it is an organization that inspires young adults to talk about democracy and its issues. They have shared my first poetry collection called Shackles, which is available on Amazon. They commissioned me to write poetry regarding democracy to be read out during their award screenings on September 21st. As I said before, this topic is one of the first topics I’ve ever written using poetry before, and although it may seem childish, it is something that is very, very close to my heart. I find myself fortunate to be able to write on it a second time.
What advice would you give to young creatives trying to craft their ethic?
Firstly, I don’t believe in giving advice, but I do believe in sharing what I have learned through my journey and experiences. For someone who is just starting out or for someone who is wanting to explore writing, the most important thing I have to say is to go ahead. Don’t let anything stop you; don’t let anyone tell you that writing is not your thing; don’t let anyone tell you that it is a difficult life; don’t let anyone tell you that there will be many restrictions and you won’t be able to make time for it. Don’t let anyone else make that decision for you. If you want to write, so be it. That is your own decision and just go ahead with it. If it works for you or if it does not work for you, you should have the freedom to be able to find out through your own experiences and mistakes. So, if you have an idea, if you don’t have an idea, if you want to get an idea, go ahead. An idea can be as simple as a leaf rustling in a gentle wind. As simple as that. And you can write an entire poem, an entire story, an entire novel on it. So go ahead, and get to it, you can do it.
Interviewed by Erika Chiu
Edited by Kanishka Kataria
Cover page by Brianna Paulino
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