Q&A: Jake Arthur

Author photo by Ebony Lamb

Te Herenga Waka University Press has just published the poetry collection A Lack of Good Sons by Jake Arthur (no relation to our manager Jane, though they share a publisher!). It is described as a “wonderfully unsettling, funny and romantic first book”. Jake has a PhD in Renaissance literature and translation from Oxford University, and he kindly answers our quick Q&A below.

1. How are you and what have you been up to lately?

I’m well. I’m firing on all engines. And on cylinders. There are also pistons involved. I’m well, but I’m not a car guy. This has been brought home to me by recently learning or failing to learn how to drive a manual transmission. Need to stick to poetry.

2. If you were working in a bookshop, how would you hand-sell your book to customers? What would you say to convince them to buy and read it?

I’d say, if you’re looking to get into poetry, you could do worse than starting here: A Lack of Good Sons does a lot of different kinds of poetry and you might like at least one of them. Then you can take that and run with it.

3. What books (or other art/media) influenced you while working on this book, or generally in your life?

I try to mix high-brow and low-brow. I think you need to be able to crash down to earth in a poem and in your life. But you also need those times of ascent. I try to read and watch accordingly. Some of the poems in this collection were influenced by Goya’s Black Paintings. I got some poetic inspiration from the dictionary, and from Mary Ruefle. And I’ve always loved the reality show Survivor.

4. What good books have you read lately?

I’ve been really enjoying Norman Rush’s Mating, and I’ve been dabbling in sci-fi, with Ann Leckie and N. K. Jemisin. Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun is a near perfect novel. I try and space out reading classics, but I’ve been on a George Eliot bender for the last few years – I loved Daniel Deronda.

Buy A Lack of Good Sons (Te Herenga Waka University Press), $25