Taking your achievements into account, you are very young as a writer. Have you faced any disadvantages in the literary branch because of your age?
Definitely yes. Especially in my beginnings, I felt disregarded and underestimated. The majority of people around me (both family and literates) interpreted my activity as "a play" or "a hobby" or they thought I am learning poems by heart and reciting them in competitions. First of all, it was never "hobby" not "passion": since I began to write, at age 5, I knew it was my divine destiny, something that will be the meaning of my existence whether I die poor, abhorred or unrecognized. Second of all, this notion that prevails is very harmful: we tend to take the youth as unautonomous and unable to achieve something greater than praise from adults; or in other case, we support children merely by praise, not letting them fulfill their greatest potential, because "they are not ready" likewise when they grow up a little we expect them to throw everything away and become something they never even expressed a desire to be because "they are not even that great of an artist". But sorry! Back to me. I did face many harsh comments about my age but I got through it, call me egocentric or not.
How did you notice your poetry developing during puberty?
My brain has always been restless and especially during my teens I felt bored quite often so I basically spent my entire childhood writing. But I did not "change" anything. I just went with the flow of life, like we all do. The person we are consists of all our thoughts, feelings, fears, desires, everything we have experienced and everything we haven't. So even after you learn new information, you are not the person you used to be. You die and you are reborn countless times, and writing is the only tangible evidence of the author's soul. However, what formed me during growing up was mostly being raised by my own world of books and my fantasy, because the real world was full of loneliness and cruelty I did not understand.
What makes a book worth reading?
The book that is worth being read - the great book - must, in my opinion, stimulate you in some way; bring you intellectual, emotional or existential enrichment. Yet, firstly - the great book has a soul. The great book feels as if you had a friend.
Your second collection of poetry is very different from Wounded Poems. What made you change your style?
Seek the Upside Eyes, There are Two. is a book of duality. I am melancholic and clueless, facing rage and a need to free myself; on the other side, it depicts rebirth, feminity, freedom, rudeness and primality. In Wounded Poems, one piece was often a page or longer, while in Seek I became more minimalistic. I realized that fewer words do not make the work less complex or less informative - I wrote everything I wanted to, nothing stayed unrevealed. I deem that Seek is a partially feministic collection, I summarized that in the second poem How to Kill Goethe - I, as an artist, am no longer a creation of suffering from a man but rather a creation of suffering on my own. It is also illustrated by my acryl abstract paintings, being the first time I revealed them publically.
You are also a painter and chief executive officer of Žilina Literary Association. Do these experiences bring you extra skills that are useful to you as a writer?
Everything I do is interconnected, so yeah. Especially the co-members of ŽLA absencia významu are a great source of inspiration to me. I learned how to work better with people in the literary branch and how to work in a team. Collective work is by no means something that will cause you to be outshined by others - it's the exact opposite, you can show your uniqueness and infiltrate the branch much easier, not even speaking of beautiful memories with my co-members. Even though I am a CEO I want to keep a friendly and non-hierarchical approach. When it comes to painting, I mostly paint my feelings, thoughts and associations, things that cannot be properly described by the concreteness, just like when I write. My literature and my paintings complement each other better than I can say.
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