On the right, Adam Sol, the award-winning poet, joined a reading of Bengali Literary Resource Centre (BLRC) in Toronto. On the left, Marilyn Pandey, Suity Roy and Tasmina Hayat Khan.
uring this early spring Saturday morning of May 5, 2018, every member of Presenting Bengali Literature In English and Bengali Literary Resource Centre (BLRC) was running around in hopes of setting up at the Albert Campbell Library before this month's writer arrived. Running a little late, the members noticed it was passed 11 am, and their interview should have started by now.
Not a minute too late, the Canadian- American poet and writer, Adam Sol, arrives on set. Perfect timing! His friendly, playful manner warms up the audience as this month's event begins. Moderated beautifully by Tasmina Hayat Khan, the coordinator of the project, who began the program, then the mic was passed onto Suity Roy giving the brief yet fascinating introduction of Adam Sol. At the end Marilyn Pandey was assigned to interview the poet.
The introduction mentioned the writer's four published books, "Jonah's Promise", "Jeremiah, Ohio", "Crowd of Sounds", and "Complicity", being his most recently published book in 2014. Sol greatly received two Trillium awards for poetry. However, he is currently a professor of English, but claims to be scribbling down poems constantly - at work, home, coffee shops - wherever he can find a pencil and paper.
Another fact about Adam: he's a big fan of basketball. Besides his accomplishments of publishing four amazing poetry books, he proved during this discussion how pleased he is with a simple scribbled notes of poetry written down. He embraces his confidence in his words of poetry, and advice to never give up trying what you find pleasure in.
This confident attitude of Sol's brought inspiration to the audience, and lead them to ask questions about it. Some questions were of advice seeking, such as "How do you deal with rejection?' Sol simply answered with his own personal experience, talking about hisstart of publishing his first book.
He explains that he got 50 rejection letters before actually publishing. Shocking the entire audience he added, "The first book is always a struggle".
However, he never quit trying because he knew there were great little publishing houses that would come around, and they sure did. His first book, Jonah's Promise, was published by the Mid List Press. He said that he used the rejection letters to encourage him to keep on going further.
He kept going, and now four books officially published. Adam is certain of many things in his life, which includes his name, the fact that he is a father and husband, and that he loves basketball very much. Yet, the most important thing he is certain of is the fact that he takes great pleasure in the art of poetry.
At the end of the day, Adam sol didn't just leave as a dad, husband, professor, basketball fan, and poet. He left as a man who just wishes to write in lyrical words to first please himself, and that's exactly what never stops Sol from writing, especially in loud coffee shops, because "it's the white noise" that helps him think as he says a matter- of- factly.
-------Marilyn Pandey
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