Neon Pajamas Interviews Ana Božičević

Neon Pajamas interviews Ana Božičević, author of, most recently, Joy of Missing Out (Birds, LLC, 2017). "Gravitating toward hybridity and expanding the scope of her pen, Božičević has incorporated poetry comics into her work as well as hypermodern text-talk," they write. From this conversation:

Are you currently working on any translation? Do you return to Croatia often?

I’m going at the end of June. It’s my dad’s 70th birthday then. Happy birthday, tata! 

I always want to be working on translation, and I was so happy to publish a book with Phoneme Media, IT WAS EASY TO SET THE SNOW ON FIRE  by Zvonko Karanović, poems in translation, not so long ago. There are many poets I’d love to channel in that enriching way. That’s also part of my current mission. :)

Outside of your own work, who/what have you been reading recently?

Again so much. I’ve been loving and following recent Birds, LLC books by Raquel Salas Rivera and Harmony Holiday, and new books by Cynthia Arrieu King and Gala Mukomolova and two from Diane di Prima. There is so much incredible poetry coming out these days, I am at a loss for words :) We are blessed with the power and complexity of work coming at us across media. As they say, I am here for it.

If you can, provide a photo of your workspace or describe with words. What are some essentials while you create?

Right now I am sitting at a window with a glass of water and yeah, a smoke. I like to write on my phone lately for the above reasons. Then often I write things down by hand and especially song lyrics and chords which I’m trying to transcribe like a real person. I sit at home a lot catching whatever vibe decides to come my way. I also love to write on the subway.

This is my little desk this morning.

See the poet's desk, and read the full interview, here.