Hey everyone,
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with Thom Hawkins from Maryland. He has written books soliciting anecdotes from people on a particular topic (In Name Only, A First Time for Anything, Alphabetical Orders, Musical Madeleines)—as well as children’s books (The Yeti Made Me Do It, Baldwin, Two Kings, Claudine)—and has co-authored several poetry books (Thirty Placebos; O, DeJoy; Slight Refreshments). His video art and drawings have been displayed at exhibitions or in performances in Baltimore, Wilmington (DE), Philadelphia, and New York. Thom has also appeared with the Baltimore Improv Group, Ignite Baltimore, Ignite DC, and on The Stoop Storytelling podcast.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
I have four poems in the anthology. “New Policies” is extrapolated from a real incident where I tried to ban hugging across the department at work. “On Reading Bukowski to a Baby” is also based on a real-life situation where I tried to combine reading with soothing an infant (my son, who is now sixteen!). “The True Word” was inspired by something I read about history and culture; history is so strange and magnificent, it is often the point of departure for things I write. Finally, “Being and All” combines stories of aggressive policing with the philosophy of being. I think of myself primarily as a storyteller, whether in prose or poetic form.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
As soon as I learned how to read I was hooked. My interest in writing didn’t come along until high school. I went to a Jesuit high school, and the priest who taught the religion class my sophomore year said that he liked my class reflections and offered that I could write a short story in lieu of taking an exam. So, really, I was just trying to get out of work. For my undergraduate degree, I went to Washington College in Chestertown, MD, known for the U.S., largest undergraduate writing prize. I didn’t win, but I did earn the school’s very first minor in creative writing. I later got a master’s of library and information science at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and I’m now enrolled in an information sciences PhD program at a school in California. I’m fortunate that there’s a lot of overlap between my job (which is technical in nature), my education, my research, and my writing. It’s often difficult to know whether I’m doing something for work or personal reasons!
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
If I’m looking for a specific book just to read or reference temporarily, I first try my local public library. If I’m looking for a book I might want to keep, I go to bookshop.org, where I order through Washington DC’s Solid State Books. With my busy schedule, it’s much easier for me to read short books, so I’ll often pick short books from another culture to be exposed to different times and places. It’s hard to pick just one favorite store, but to represent my home town of Baltimore, I have to go with Normals Books and Records. I’ve bought so much from there over the past twenty-five years, I joke with the owner about acting as their offsite storage facility. I’ll give shout-outs as well to some other fine used bookstores I frequent: Baldwin’s Book Barn in West Chester, PA; Second Story Books and Capitol Hill Books in Washington, DC, Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg, PA, and Bookhaven in Philadelphia, PA, where the owner described his buying strategy as “when someone buys a book, I buy more books by that author”–the result being that I often find books I didn’t know about by authors I love.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
I love to browse used bookstores–especially for the magic of finding something I didn’t know existed. If it’s not in their inventory, librarians will always help you find what you need.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
It’s wonderful to see, in what certainly seems like a time of adversarial conditions, a resurgence of independent bookstores, including co-ops, and a diversity of owners and employees. One of my favorite things to do is ask an employee for recommendations–books that they find exciting and well-written. It’s a great conversation-starter with someone you know also loves books. Libraries and librarians are also a wonderful resource. I taught my kids at a young age to go to the information desk to talk to a librarian about what they were looking for, or for recommendations. Using the catalog is like using GPS–it will take you right to where you need to go, but you will miss a lot along the way.
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I’m currently writing a book about people who do jobs related to music–critics, DJs, engineers, teachers–and how their work impacts their relationship to music. At the moment, I’m studying the structure of oral histories to inform how I’ll develop the interviews into a cohesive book.
Well, that’s Thom Hawkins from Maryland, everyone! Stay posted till the next one, we’re heading further south into North Carolina!
Wild Ink Publishing 