Writer-translator-video artist-cultural curator, Kristian Carlsson was born in 1978 in Malmö, Sweden, and began writing poetry at fifteen. He made his publication debut in 1996 and has published 20 books in Swedish -- ranging from poetry to prose to conceptual pieces. He also writes original fiction in English, published in several magazines in England, USA and Canada, and in 2013 the thematic prose collection "Small Press, or Else" (Dracopis Press) was published. As a translator he has mainly worked in the field of poetry; translating to and from English, such as by introducing contemporary Swedish poetry in English and women beat poets from the US in Swedish. He has also translated accomplished Bengali poet Anisur Rahman's first collection of poems in Swedish "Sex årstider" [Six seasons] in 2012. Among his most recent translations into Swedish, are "Bengaliska moln" [Bengal Clouds] introducing 17 contemporary Bengali poets and a new volume of Rabindranath Tagore's poetry.
Kristian's themes include a personal and psychological journey, spirituality, childhood, nostalgia and more. He also works for the reform of language. Architecture and painting are his pet subjects and he has taken many of his symbolic articulation from them.
The poet is visiting Dhaka after having taken part in the National Poetry Festival held on February 1 and 2, and spoke to The Daily Observer on aspects of poetry and translational work.
What inspires you to write poetry?
My brain seems constructed for it, it is the way I think about things, in images and emotions and construction of language.
How do you begin a poem?
They mostly begin with a feeling and from that the rising of a few words.
What does "being creative" mean to you?
To use the most of your brain and get something very concentrated out of it. Maximum work and minimum result, so to say.
What are you trying to communicate with your poetry?
The power of language. And the weakness of social injustices.
What makes a poem "mind-boggling and cerebrally sound"?
The concentration of words, and big leaps in thoughts. It is the gap between two irreconcilable images that makes the reader think.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
It is "Patience." To write poetry takes long time, I am productive, but not by writing every day, it is more important to think and contemplate every day.
Tell me the focal point of your poetry.....
I want to challenge language and its rules, as well as society and its rules.
