Poetry: Interview with Angela Sim, author of “무인도”
New Voices is taking a hiatus this week, since everyone is having the time of their life at AWP. If you’re stuck at home and feeling the FOMO, you’re in luck! Our New Voices contributor Angela Sim (whose poem, “무인도” will be published next Friday) answered a few interview questions for us, and we’ve picked some of the best ones to share with you.
FP: What is a single word that brings you joy? Why? This interview contains 196 words (not including these lines) so please limit your answer to 196 words.
AS:“Bittersweet” brings me joy because of an inside joke between my mother and I.
On Instagram, someone sparked a debate over what the English translation for “섭섭하다” would be. This is a Korean expression that contains a number of emotions- used in regrettable or disappointing situations. My mother found a comment suggesting “bittersweet.” While we weren’t fully on board with this translation, my mother and I have, since then, had fun using the word to describe everything we encounter.
What continues to surprise us is how more often than not “bittersweet” gets the point across. Chick-fil-A changed its nugget recipe? Bittersweet. My father started wearing leather skinny jeans? Bittersweet. The word’s like a puzzle piece in how we look for situations to fit it into, and we’ve been entertaining ourselves with this task for months. Now I can’t hear anyone else say the word without holding in a laugh, thinking about how my mother would immediately jump at its usage.
FP: Tell us your life story using only titles of books (in any genre) published between 1900 and 2000. You may only use five titles, but you may also incorporate a quote from one author as long as they are not responsible for any content from the selected books.
AS:
- The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Hwang Sun-mi
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Who Do You Think You Are? by Alice Munro
- How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
FP: Pop Quiz: everything that happens in the world today is because of:
A) boredom (Angela chose “boredom”)
B) love
C) war
D) other (please explain in 200 words or less)
FP: Last but not least, what are you currently reading?
AS:
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim
Look out for Angela Sim’s New Voices poem next week, and if you’re at the bookfair, remember to hydrate!
Angela Sim
Angela Sim (she/her) is a Korean American writer with work forthcoming or published in ANMLY, Hobart, Antiphony, The Inflectionist Review and more. She attends George Mason University.
