What is the role of a book editor? Do editors make suggestions to improve characters, pacing or plot? Can editors make sentences flow better? We asked these and more questions of Ann de Forest who is an editor, a writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Ann enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity to explain the art of editing. With fascinating stories of her various editing work, Ann also shares her experiences of having her own work being edited. “I identify as a writer”, say Ann “but during the course of my career I realized I liked to edit and – I was good at it. I think every writer starts out as a reader first, then you start writing and then – you learn about editing.” Ideally, suggests Ann, an editor works as another set of eyes, a more objective set of eyes. Ann de Forest discusses Ways Of Walking her most recent book where brings together 26 writers who reflect on walks they have taken and what they have discovered along the way. Some walk across forbidden lines, violating laws to seek freedom. Some walk to bear witness to social injustice. Still others engage in a subtler subversion—violating the social norm of rapid, powered transportation to notice what fast travelers miss. Overall, it was Ann’s editing task to let the writer’s voices be heard without changing or interpreting the individual style of each essay. Ways Of Walking is a perfect example of how that can be achieved.
Amanda Jayatissa’s delightful and charming demeanor underplays her deliciously dark and compelling, psychological whodunit, My Sweet Girl. The new novel by the Sri Lanka-based author is centered on the meaning of identity and all the layers it can have. This is the story of Paloma who thought her perfect life would begin once she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage and made it to America. But, she finds out no matter how far you run, your past catches up with you. At thirty years old and recently cut off from her parents’ funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Paloma has to admit, it feels good helping someone find their way in America – that is until Arun discovers Paloma’s darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country. Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him face down in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment but by the time the police arrive, there’s no body – and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place. Paloma is terrified this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago. Did Paloma’s secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?
Colleen thrives on reinvention. For over two decades under the name, French artist Cécile Schott has continuously pushed her compositional practice into new directions. Her creative approaches have included complex samples and loops, instrumental processing and even dub production techniques. Each album immerses the listener in a wholly unique world while remaining unmistakably a work by Colleen. Schott’scompositions glow with carefully considered textures that move in captivating revolutions while subtly evolving. A connective thread of Schott’s work is the exploration of the intricacies of emotion while reveling in the act of contorting pop and classical forms into new shapes. More than just a creative approach, sound synthesis here becomes a means to interrogate complex concepts, from the self and perception to shifting notions of what is “reality”. The vast catalogue by Colleen is essential to explore, for this edition we selected, Sun Against My Eyes from the album, Les Ondes Silencieuses, this is exceptional music.
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