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Ralph Chiaia: What do you do all day? Give me a schedule of your life.
Heitham Black: It varies so much from day to day. I have been waiting for the Canadian Immigration people to give
me my work permit so recently I've been mainly writing, going for road trips, cleaning the house but I hope to get
back in to full time teaching soon.
Ralph Chiaia: Tell me the boring stuff: birth and job.
Heitham Black: I was born in London, England to Irish parents. My job plans are to teach and take over the world!
But I guess realistically I best stick to teaching English. I prefer teaching high-school, especially the inner-city
kids. In terms of writing I have been influenced by Cain's Book by Alexander Trocchi, Invisible Man by Ralph
Ellison, Lyrics From The Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers, Dead Kennedy's, stuff like that.
Ralph Chiaia: How often have you been published?
Heitham Black: Well, it's creeping up into double digits. Since I arrived in Canada, things are really taking off.
Ralph Chiaia: Where do you plan to live in Canada?
Heitham Black: At the moment I'm in Winnipeg but ultimately want to be in the middle of nowhere!
Ralph Chiaia: Do you think living in the middle of nowhere will help your writing?
Ralph Chiaia: Tell me a bit about your process when writing, how often you write, what your biggest obstacles
are, and what your strengths are.
Heitham Black: I'm not sure but I like to be away from people as it gives me more time to reflect on things. I have
an ambition to run my own farm. Usually I just write, leave it for a while, and then go back and look over things. I
guess my biggest obstacle is that I am really stubborn and don't want to conform to what I see as 'the norms'. I'm
not sure about strengths, I guess I definitely do my own thing. I've read many libraries worth of material; I like to
get out and live. It probably sounds arrogant but I really don't care what other people think about my writing in
many ways - although of course I want them to like it. What makes my writing experimental is that I really want to
challenge people, to shake them up and get a reaction.
Ralph Chiaia: I think you're quite successful that way. I see your writing jumping all over the place, attacking the
reader with images, while challenging the language, and breaking molds little by little.
Ralph Chiaia: Do you enjoy people's comments on your writing?
Heitham Black: Sometimes - I used to get really angry when people were critical, but I've started to realize that I
am not above criticism.
Ralph Chiaia: Which experimental writers do you like to read? Have you read Italo Calvino?
Heitham Black: Yes I love 'If On A Winter's Night A Traveller' and I enjoyed 'Labyrinths' by Borges.
Ralph Chiaia: Borges is a tough person to read.
Heitham Black: Yes, but it is important to escape from boring conventional writing. Sometimes I get tired of
reading about some middle-classed person who has got dumped and immediately plunged into some kind of crisis.
Ralph Chiaia: Do you yourself have a partner?
Heitham Black: Yes. I have been married for 5 years to my beautiful muse. My wife is a jazz singer and a welcome
escape from the world.
Ralph Chiaia: I could see jazz influencing your writing. There's a certain riffing quality to your verse.
What does your desk look like? Describe it from any angle.
Heitham Black: There is an African Violet, a couple of candles that I light for inspiration, a big pile of unpaid bills,
a tray of dimes, and my digital camera. We try to tidy it but are just incredibly messy people!
Ralph Chiaia: Do you believe that the mess is symbolic of creativity or does it make your neurons feel like twisted
vines in a rainforest?
Heitham Black: I don't know!!!
Ralph Chiaia: Have you traveled a lot?
Heitham Black: Yes. I believe it is really important to travel and realize how differently people live. Life is too
short to remain inert.
Ralph Chiaia: where are some of the nicest places you have traveled to?
Heitham Black: I really enjoyed going to Meknes in Morocco until I was run out of town - there were some real
drug issues going on in that town. I think Birmingham, Alabama is an important place to go to, especially walking
round the park where you can envisage the horrible atrocities that we are capable of. Sagres in Portugal is a great
place to reflect.
Ralph Chiaia: Have you been to Asia?
Ralph Chiaia: As a writer you certainly comment on society. What do you currently think of Western society?
Heitham Black: Not yet but my wife's cousin lives in Thailand and we are hoping to get there soon.
I think Western society is an absolute disgrace! It is horrible the way we think that we rule the entire world - I
despise the fact that a few hundred million people seek to portray their reality as the only thing that matters.
Ralph Chiaia: Why do you believe people think they are the only thing that matters? who do you think is
responsible for this "disgrace" as you say? Also, do you put your politics into your writing?
Heitham Black: I think in this material age that the ego of individuals seems to be the most important thing. It is
bizarre that some Western folk have become so myopic in their view of the world. I don't know who is
responsible, I guess we all are. I'd love to put politics in my writing but sadly I have become afraid of the mass
market.
Ralph Chiaia: Where do you consider home? What visual of a street, a bus stop, a restaurant, a park, whatever,
gives you the absolute feeling like "yes, this is where I should be on the earth."
Heitham Black: I don't know yet! I suppose home is being with my wife and the cat of course! I love wide open
spaces and am constantly revising my perfect place!
Ralph Chiaia: What are your plans for your poetry? Do you also write fiction?
Heitham Black: I have been neurotic about my poetry for a long time but it is being published quite a bit at the
moment. I'm not sure what my plans are - definitely to challenge people as much as possible. I write a lot of
fiction, and have been published a fair amount recently. I have also been writing about jazz for a local magazine. I
just want to write as much as possible - whatever the form or genre.
Ralph Chiaia: What genre do you consider your writing? Your poetry, I mean
Heitham Black: I really don't know, for so long I have been anti-genre. I suppose I just want to be original. I don't
know if that makes any sense.
Ralph Chiaia: Is there anything else you would like to say?
Heitham Black: I could confess all of the sordid details of my life but you're not a priest! Or are you?
Ralph Chiaia: Definitely not.
Heitham Black: That's a shame! I always enjoyed my experiences in the confession box!
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