Update: You can pre-order her coming poetry book All These Little Resonstrances from Finishing Line Press until September 24. I recommend that you do, and also that you tell someone who loves good poetry.
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/all-these-little-remonstrations-by-aurore-sibley/
1
You are the newest a long line of people I know who excel in several artistic
expressions. In your case, singer/songwriter, poet/writer. Which came first,
music or writing?
This is a
great question. Music definitely came first, as my mother used to sing to me
regularly and my dad was a music enthusiast, so I was exposed to and listened
to a lot of music from a young age, and I began playing the piano at age seven.
My parents read to me every night as well and I had an interest in writing from
a fairly young age. I remember working on my first “novel” when I was in fifth
grade.
2.
I read your blog post about your father. Tell a little bit about his influence
on you here, please.
My father
was a journalist and spent much of his career focusing on the arts and
entertainment, reviewing concerts, and interviewing musicians. He had a great
and eclectic taste in music and I grew up listening to a wide variety of jazz,
folk and rock because of him.
3.
Your music is very interesting and quite enjoyable. I like the way you
transition from one musical genre to another and maintain the quality. How did
you accomplish that?
Thank you!
I play a number of instruments and because I listen to and appreciate so many
types of music, I’ve gone through stages where I focused on a particular genre
as a musician. Growing up I played western classical music, in my early
twenties I mostly played jazz and blues, then got deeply into bluegrass and
Americana and also sang with a Balkan choir in my thirties, so my interests
have been all over the place. That has allowed me to jump around from
instrument to instrument and genre to genre, sometimes blending them a bit into
whatever sound I’m going for.
4.
In songwriting, which comes first: text or music?
Sometimes I
just hear a melody and go from there, but usually, the way I know that a song
is a song and not a poem is when a line comes to me with a melody. I write
poetry as well but when I hear a line with a melody, then I know it’s meant to
be a song. So, they come at the same time if I’m songwriting, actually.
5. Who are some of your musical and
literary influences?
That’s a
big question because it’s quite varied. Some of my biggest literary influences
include Dr. Oliver Sacks and Robert K. Massie. I love biographies and read more
non-fiction than fiction these days. But I would also say writers like Amy Tan
and Barbara Kingsolver have influenced me as I love a good family saga or
character study.
When it
comes to music, it could be a really long list, so I’ll just say: Beethoven,
Bill Evans, Mose Allison, Nina Simone, Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Lucinda
Williams, Patti Smith, and Dinah Washington as a start.
6 You have a poetry book coming out with
Finishing Line Press. There must be a lot you want to say about it.
I find it really interesting that my poetry
has been accepted for publication more than anything else because I think of
myself as a writer and songwriter, but not a poet. The poems are most often
deeply personal and so it feels strange to put them out into the world, as
opposed to fiction, for example. This coming chapbook features a lot of poems
about my dad and my daughter, as well as my experience over the past six years
of being a single mother.
7. Your “novel in the wings”: what can you
share with us about it?
Ah, my
‘novel in the wings’ is a mystery novel. I had been working on a manuscript for
years that I was stuck with, and I thought, I should write something fun and
light and something that would move along and that I knew I could finish and do
well, so I switched gears and spent a few years focused on that, and actually
finished it, which feels great! Now I just need a publisher. Meanwhile, I’ve
gone back to the novel on the back burner and still don’t quite know where to
go with it, but it’s starting to take shape.
8 . For me the concept of “place” is very
important in my writing, especially in poetry.
California is one of those places for me; you have lived there much
longer than I have. How does “place” enter your creative work?
Place plays
a really important role in my writing as well. My mystery novel is set in Santa
Cruz, where I live, and many of my poems are ocean-centered. But all of my
other fiction takes place in the Midwest where I spent my childhood. I love
writing about old farmhouses in Wisconsin, for example.
9.
We are both educators. What do you teach, where did you study, and how does it
complement your music and writing?
I was
trained as a Waldorf grades teacher, (in New Zealand initially, where I lived
for a couple of years), and focused on remedial education for children
struggling with reading, writing, and math. I also spent many years teaching
piano prior to that, and these days I’m teaching from home and doing all three
of those things online. It’s not ideal, but it’s been interesting and doable
from home while we’re all sheltered in place.
10.
Is there anything else that you want to add? How can people contact /follow you? Thanks!
Thank you so much! The chapbook through Finishing Line Press will be out sometime in 2021. I have a website where links to my writing and music can be found, which is http://www.auroresibley.com, and I can be followed on Twitter @auroresibley7
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