Hilal Omar Al Jamal
An interview with Hilal Omar Al Jamal by Mary Duke
What got you into writing?
Culture. I’m really fortunate to have been thoughtfully receptive and creatively reactive to my acculturation.
How long have you been a writer?
I started writing poems, songs, and stories as a kid. Throughout my childhood, my adolescence, and my adulthood, I’ve written creatively. I’m a musician as well as an author; my lyrics gained me some popularity in Los Angeles’ DIY music scene. Folktale Records released my first album, Melting Wax Daisies and the Demoralization of Urban Culture, in 2005 and my second release, Home Recordings, was released in 2009, the same year my poem “avalanche” was accepted for publication. That said, I guess I’ve been writing for no more than 20 years and no less than 3.
You have been creating terro(a)r, a book of poetry, prose, and illustrations. Can you explain the inspiration behind this work?
I committed myself to the project about a year ago, inspired as much by my academic work as a literary and cultural critic as by my experiences as a musician in the DIY music and arts scene in Southern California. Under the moniker Brother Mitya, I released a record in 2011 called Terror (Folktale Records) in collaboration with a number of good friends, including illustrator and musician Kristina Collantes, musician Ryan Beal of Norse Horse, and Aaron Freeman of Mothers of Gut, to name just a few of my collaborators on that project. Kristina, who sings on the record, is also responsible for its amazing cover art, a graphic representation of the lyrics to the title track “terror,” a poem also featured in our book. That project coupled with my academic research into trauma theory, the poetry of Raúl Zurita, and the art actions of Colectivo Acciones de Arte inspired me to start working on terro(a)r. I began organizing the project around the themes of trauma and terror; it became a semi-autobiographical (mis-)representation of my love-stricken life, my psychology, and my worldview.
What were the major challenges in writing terro(a)r and the self-publishing process?
The major challenges of writing and self-publishing—revising and layout work, respectively. I spent about 10 months revising the poetry and prose in terro(a)r. I’m convinced that editing is the most important activity in the writing process, even more important than the initial composition. It was challenging to say the least to fashion something cohesive and relatively accessible to my readers out of what began as a hodgepodge of cryptic writings.
As for self-publishing, layout work was probably the most challenging step. Kristina offered up an initial layout, the assignment was then passed on to Mark Gatteneu, whose work was extraordinary but didn’t quite result in the design I had in mind. I got a copy of Adobe InDesign and took on the layout work myself, making a number of relatively minor adjustments to Mark and Kristina’s layout and preparing the final draft for print.
Do you have any other writing projects in the works?
I’m working on wrapping up a project called smut. It’s a chapbook length collection of sonnets about pornography, fetishism, and sexuality. Each of the ten sonnets will be accompanied by a full-page illustration by Chris Payne. The release also incorporates a soundtrack composed and arranged by Jocelyn Jade Noir (Alak). Smut should be released by March 2013.
I’m currently starting to work on a project called enfim. The project involves hyper-translations of poems I’ve written in a hybrid of Portuguese and Spanish and am translating into English, syllable by syllable. The poem “em translatión” featured in terro(a)r is written (hyper-translated) in the mode I’ve described:
em translatión
from terro(a)roriginal:
(¿) por-qué dé-vemos
tô-mar
em cüenta
o que
inter-pret-amos ,
só
mos
y tejemos
en las telas
entre am(b)os (.)em translatión
(¿) why, be-cause we should look
to that sea
for ourselves,
who,
delivered and interwoven,
are lone
some
quilting points
in the fabrics
of our masters ’
(b)lackened loves (.)
For enfim, I’ll be collaborating with some visual artists in Brazil, where I currently live and work as a language specialist. It’s probably clear by now that I’m really into collaborations.
Do you have any specific writing rituals or routines?
Writing rituals or routines? None. I should probably consider developing a routine; I’m a pretty undisciplined writer.
How do you work through moments of writer’s block? Any advice for other writers in their pursuits?
I don’t believe that I’ve ever experienced writer’s block. I’ve gone through periods of shit-writing. I worked through them by earnestly endeavoring to write more thoughtfully and revising my work. Advice: don’t overcomplicate the writing process with nonsense like “writer’s block.” Just sit the fuck down and be productive!
Who is one of your favorite authors?
Vicente Aleixandre is one of my favorite authors, especially his book La destrucción o el amor.
Did you celebrate when your project was funded on Kickstarter? If so, how?
Kickstarter is fantastic. I really can’t thank our contributors enough for their support. I was really happy when I learned that our project was fully funded. I think I cracked open a bottle of cachaça and spent that night working on the book.
You are a musician in addition to being a writer. Do you prefer one art form over the other? Does either art form inspire the other?
I feel like I am sort of on hiatus from songwriting. I’m a lot more invested in writing poetry and prose at the moment. Preference? I prefer to blur the lines between prose, poetry, lyrics, and music.
Anything else you’d like to share about terro(a)r or yourself as an artist?
Kristina Collantes is an amazing illustrator and a wonderful person. Her contributions to terro(a)r are beautiful. I am very lucky to have worked with her on this project. terro(a)r was self-published in collaboration with folktale records (www.folktalerecords.com), an independent record label based in Los Angeles. Folktale distributes paperback editions of terro(a)r. The book is also available in high quality pdf format on my website (www.hilalomaraljamal. com). I want to thank all of our (future) patrons (in advance) for supporting our work by purchasing our book and/or sharing their reactions to and interest in our art with others.
