The Interview: Max Wallis
Welcome to The Interview! An occasional column where Write Out Loud interviews someone you just might find very interesting.
Write Out Loud poet Max Wallis, already well-known and popular on the Manchester poetry scene has recently been accepted for a place on the highly prestigious Barbican Young Poets’ Scheme; I was able to ask him a few questions about his recent success
Let’s start off with you telling me a bit about yourself ... how long you’ve been writing, why you write, what influences you?
I'm 21. I started writing when I was in year five … so aged 10 I suppose. My mum used to force me to eat mangetout, which I hated. Instead of doing the normal kid-thing and throwing a tantrum or crying I went and wrote a poem about it. It all went from there. Thanks mum. I write because of the compulsion. Maybe I wanted to be famous and have a bestselling series of books when I was eight or so – but I don't think anyone actually writes for money – few have a chance at that. I write because it's a discipline, it's a passion and I'll be doing it until I kick the bucket or my fingers fall off. If you're a writer you write. Simple.
Are you more of a performance poet than a page poet, or both?
All my poetry's available on my website and in magazines, anthologies etc. I'd say I'm both. I think performance ADDS to the poetry of the page, at least for me. I write poems to be read but I perform them to be heard and there's a really important distinction there, I think. You have to know your audience and market in order to engage with them on any level.
How important is poetry today?
Come on poetry still is important, people just don't seem to realise as much. The amount of adverts which are using poetry in them at the moment seems to imply that there is a broad commercial appeal in it. Times change and I think a lot of poetry will change with it, as it always has done. There's a danger that because poetry can be focused on the minutiae of life that it can be lost in the fast-paced world we live in. We click a button and we've booked a holiday. We click another and two days later our week's shopping will arrive. We can swap money, swap clothes, order food to our living rooms and are just a click away from everything that we could arguably need. I'm interested in that. How modern life affects the way we live, love, exist. What's the modern interpretation of the love letter? Is it a text message or an email or something else? But poetry's more than that to me. It's a completely different section of the mind to writing prose. Poetry's quicker and can arguably be more moving. I just get a thrill from writing it and performing it.
Did I read somewhere that you’re about to start an M.A. ... tell me a little about that.
Yeah I'm currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester University which consists of poetry and fiction workshops (ending in a dissertation). It's good. Very similar to a lot of other workshops I've done in the past but you get a qualification at the end. Most of the time it feels like we're being mentored rather than taught, which is nice, I never really liked the feeling of university about university … I'm studying the course part time because of the other commitments I have.
You’ve just been accepted on to the Barbican Young Poets’ Scheme – you must be very excited about that?
Oh I saw the post and thought I'd apply. I'd just come back from performing in London the night before and the closing date was the next day and I just decided you might as well do it and work out how to go about it if you get on. We're being mentored by Jacob Sam La Rose and Dorothy Fryd. There are about 24 of us ranging from (I think) fourteen to twenty-somethings. Everyone's a really good writer but completely different styles. It's going to be so interesting hearing everyone's takes on similar themes.
Will it interfere at all with your education?
Nah, I like being busy. At the moment I'm commuting down to London every other Wednesday and then coming back on the Thursday or Friday. In January I hope I have a bigger opportunity to stay with people in London and live half my week down there and half of it up here in Manchester.
What do you hope it’ll do for you?
Well the Barbican is a useful thing to be associated with I suppose but really it's just the chance to do poetry in London every fortnight. It keeps life interesting, moving about the place and experiencing it all. I want to do a lot of things … more than I have. Doesn't everyone though?
Are we looking at a future poet laureate?
Haha – I'm not going to answer this. Either I'll look arrogant or too humble. Put the question into the text if you actually believe it but don't ask me to answer it :-).
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I suspect it won’t be long before we hear a lot more about Max, he is creating quite a buzz in the media but in the meantime you can find more and read some of his work at:
