Jana Egle is a novelist, poet and songwriter. She is the author of the poetry collections “Hearing the Unspoken” (Dzirdēt noklusēto) (2002) and “Ice Sky” (Ledus debesis) (2023) and three short story collections – “In Light” (Gaismā) (2016), “Strangers or Milen'kiy Ty Moy” (Svešie jeb Miļeņkij ti moj) (2018) and “Birthday” (Dzimšanas diena) (2020).
Her poetry and short stories have been translated and published in English, German, French, Hungarian and Lithuanian (including the Samogitian dialect). Her short story, “The Pit” (Bedre), has been published in the international online magazine, Words Without Borders, and the feature-length film, “The Pit”, based on this work, has won several international awards.
In 2017, Jana Egle became a member of the Latvian Writers' Union.
Despite life's many twists and turns and states of mind, you have always written. Your first publication was a collection of poems in the newspaper, Kursas Laiks in 1995. Did you dream of publishing your own book at that time?
I sometimes thought that I could write so many good poems that could make up a book. But always, as time went by, the ones I had written in the past seemed too unsuccessful, and there were always only a handful of poems that seemed publishable at the time. The fact that “Hearing the Unspoken” came out in 2002 is more the result of the enthusiasm and perseverance of the other author, the photographer Irina Tīre.
In 2016, your first collection of short stories, In Light, saw the daylight, for which you received praising reviews and also made the list of LALIGABA nominees. What were the stimuli that allowed you to mature for such an important step and made you decide to publish your first book of prose?
A combination of circumstances, the courage to enter the Literary Academy, a few people who believed in my stories and encouraged me to put them together. A lot of seemingly small, at that time small, insignificant events and choices, which eventually led to In Light coming into the world. I think the decisive element was the workshop at the Literary Academy with Inga Žolude, which I attended in 2014.
Writing and other creative works are your daily life now, but you also wrote when you were working full-time and basically had no time for this process. What was the driving force that kept you writing at night? Did it help you to deal with the emotions you accumulated during the day?
When I had already started writing stories, I was very captivated by the process and by the possibility of being inside the world of the story. To be with the characters of my stories in crucial and difficult situations in their lives, to see life and the world from their point of view, to take part in the resolution of difficult psychological situations, to act them out, trying not to interfere in them with my own judgement and suggestions for a more successful development of events. The search for the most direct and concise expression in order to precisely define and convey to the reader what is happening outside and inside the character. I found it all wildly fascinating. The time when I was working full-time and writing in parallel was really living in two worlds. It couldn't stay that way for long, and I had to choose.
Can you describe your creative writing routine? Do you write devoting specific days and hours to the process, or do you write more based on feelings?
When I have clear deadlines to complete and submit my work, I can work very systematically, dedicating a specific amount of time each day to writing, dividing the volume into days and also completing the tasks I set myself. But that's when I already know clearly what needs to be written, I've got the idea out and I understand the structure of the story. Other times it goes differently. But there are other jobs, different projects that I tend to get involved in. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do several things at the same time, so when I'm doing something else, the writing gets pushed into the background.
You have published three collections of short stories and one book of poetry. Please tell me, have you ever wanted to write another format, such as a novel? Perhaps you can reveal your future dreams and plans for publishing books?
I have never wanted to write a novel and I don't want to at the moment. However, I am not saying that I will never write it. I have a phrase for this (im)possibility – I would be very surprised if I found myself writing a novel. But some new territories, things that have not yet been done, still interest me. So I got into translating children's books from Lithuanian, which is a very nice and interesting job, it takes some effort, but it's also very rewarding. So I was persuaded to write scripts and lyrics for a TV programme for very young children – Ukulele. I never know what someone else will suddenly offer, to whom I will gladly respond, and – even if not gladly, then with a kind of wicked sense of challenge that I just have to try and do it. Why not?
About books – yes, I have plans, I've already spoken here and there, so I'll just say here that the immediate plans are for three different books, and when I've finished them, I'll tackle an idea that I've been carrying around for a while, that I love and that is important to me.
To conclude, please share any advice or suggestions you might have for young writers who are still dreaming of publishing a book. Why is it worth giving up fear and doubt and making this dream come true?
I find it hard to articulate why someone else should fulfil their dream. I didn't really have a dream myself, but some events and circumstances have led to me getting these books published, and I am extremely grateful to those events. They have given me a different life, a new perspective, new energy and freedom. I did not actually set out to become a book author, but I have allowed myself to go through processes that have given me that great feeling – at the same time a strong fear, right down to the reactions in my body, and at the same time a huge temptation to do this and only this. I enjoy writing. I don't know if I answered the question, but I really don't have any great suggestions.