Established in 2018, TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books.
On April 30, 1982, two women
and their families hijack a Polish passenger plane flying from
Breslau to Warsaw in a bold attempt to escape Martial Law in Communist
Poland and find safety in West Berlin. Inspired by real events, Voices in
the Air is told from the point of view of four women hijackers: a cotton spinner,
whose husband wants to avoid a long prison sentence, a schoolteacher with a
sick daughter, a pregnant fourteen-year-old who has visions of the Virgin Mary,
an ambitious young filmmaker, and a stewardess in love with the married
pilot. Will they find happiness beyond the Iron Curtain or was the
hijacking not worth the risk?
Which
character did you most enjoy creating? Why?
I
had the most fun creating the character of Ania, the flight attendant. I
immediately loved her irreverent, provocative voice, especially in her
interactions with her inhibited and rural cousin, but underneath that bravado
was a woman desperately in love with a married man and willing to do anything to
be with him. After the hijacking I felt great sympathy for her stubborn belief,
in spite of everyone, that her daughter will one day be able to respond to her
and communicate.
And
which character gave you the most trouble, and why?
I
struggled with writing about Julia (the filmmaker) the most. I knew that she
would be a witness to the hijacking, and that years later she would interview
the women involved, but I didn’t know what her story would be. I felt that I already
had all the perspectives I needed in the other female characters, until I
realized that Julia would have a daughter Zuza who was, in a way, “hijacked” by
her grandmother who acted like she was her mother. Julia would have to decide
between Zuza and her chance to stay in the West. Julia’s story also required
the most research, as the movie industry in Communist Poland was an involved
process, complicated by the many levels of censorship involved. The themes of ambiguous
morality, censorship and self-censorship
became very important in the novel.
Tell
us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.
Before
I wrote Voices in the Air I had published a short story collection Lemons
(Mansfield Press, 2017), edited an anthology of Polish-Canadian short
stories, Polish(ed): Poland Rooted in Canadian Fiction (Guernica
Editions, 2017), and wrote another novel, which remains unpublished. I spent a
long time querying that first novel, and after receiving no offers, I gave up
on it. In the meantime, I wrote Voices in the Air, and again, I had a
few full requests from agents, but ultimately it was rejected. I was growing
very frustrated and depressed because nobody seemed to want my novels. I
switched gears and queried small presses in Canada and some in the US, which
one can do without an agent, and with which I’ve had good luck before. I
eventually received two offers of publication and accepted one. Palimpsest
Press publishes great poetry and stylistically innovative novels, and Aimee
Parent Dunn is an amazing editor. A big positive of publishing with a small
press is that the author has more influence on the book design, cover and
interior, which I appreciate very much.
What’s
your favorite piece of writing advice?
Write
first, edit later - the first draft is a bad draft. This lets you actually
finish your work without letting the inner critic sabotage the process.
My
favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.” What
surprised you in the writing of this book?
Sometimes
during writing your mind spontaneously comes up with an unexpected and yet
perfect solution to a problem, or a connection, or something that happens that
you know is just right. It is a magical moment and feels amazing. The creative
process is hard work; you are consciously inventing characters or a plot,
choosing between different possibilities, following different paths that might
lead nowhere. And then, all of a sudden, you receive this surprising revelation
like a gift from the writing gods.
How
did you find the title of your book?
Titles
can be so difficult – they need to indicate what the book is about, the tone of
the work, the genre, but at the same time they can’t be too obvious, too
obscure, or misleading. The choice becomes even more complicated when the novel
in question is written about a different time and culture and the title needs
to be more explanatory that it would have been if it were published in the same
country and language. Certain phrases and words can have different connotations
and be less obvious to a different audience.
I
had a running list of titles, including Escape to the West; Flight over the
Iron Curtain; Escape to Western Paradise; Hijacked to the West, but they all
seemed too obvious and too general, plus they implied an
action/adventure/thriller genre, which might attract readers who would be
disappointed to find out it is a literary novel told from a female perspective.
I
then came up with Women Hijackers, (which actually would have worked better in
Polish, as a single word Hijackers in the feminine form), and finally, The
Wives of Hijackers, which seemed an intriguing, sellable title, but perhaps a
too gaudy. Air Partisans was too mysterious.
It
was my writer friends who suggested Voices in the Air. I feel like this title
indicates a literary novel, it may be too subtle, but it encompasses the female
voices, the plot, the themes of the novel, as well as its unconventional
structure which includes documentary film-style interviews with the hijackers. It
also evokes a feeling of loss, an echo, and regret, which reflect the mood of
the novel.
Inquiring
foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your
book? (Any recipes I might share?)
Voices
in the Air
is a nostalgic book for me, as it takes place in Poland, where I was born and
lived until I was 14 years old, so of course I mention Polish dishes that I
particularly love. One of them is pickle soup, made with kosher pickles and
cream, and bigos, a thick sauerkraut and cabbage stew with meat, sausages and
wild mushrooms. I recommend them both; they are delicious and not that difficult
to make. Here are the recipes:
https://www.thekitchn.com/polish-pickle-soup-recipe-23628556
https://www.polishyourkitchen.com/polish-hunters-stew-bigos/
*****
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MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: https://kasiajaronczyk.weebly.com
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MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: https://palimpsestpress.ca
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A COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: https://palimpsestpress.ca/books/voices-in-the-air-kasia-jaronczyk/
