Provocative Giraffe

Happy World Giraffe Day!

Interview with Jennifer Deborah Walker

🦒 For the piece you will perform 2 May, at the Provocative Giraffe Creators’ Showcase #5, what was the inspiration behind it?

So, my cat likes to play chess but with her rules. Playing chess for her means kicking over random pieces and hoping I don’t notice. After reading Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita years ago, I always loved Behemoth and his vodka-swigging, chess-playing antics.

🦒 Do you have a specific method for writing? What can you tell us about it?

Force myself to write something even if I am not in the mood. The magic of the “right time to write” is as rare as the stars aligning, I prefer to write anything at a given time and consistently. Just get anything down on the page and edit later. Alcohol also helps, but make sure you edit sober.

🦒 What do you hope the audience will get out of your piece?

A laugh or two, or at least some absurdity that will make their heads spin.

🦒 How did you get into writing?

I had a nervous breakdown in the middle of my PhD in physics. I went to therapy and my therapist told me to find some other outlet than physics and self-destructive behaviour. I tried drawing, it was meh. I started writing and that got me fired up.

🦒 Do you have any advice for new writers?

Write. Even if it’s bad, just write. And read. Read a lot, write a lot, and you’re on your way.

🦒 Do you have any advice for future Provocative Giraffe participants?

Don’t be worried about being too weird. The bar is set high.

🦒 Who are some of your favourite writers, and what is it you like about their work?

I love magical realism, especially Salman Rudshdie. I’m also a huge fan of Nabokov and his use of language. I recommend you go beyond Lo**ta with his other books like Pale Fire and Pnin. Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse are also other favourites.

🦒 What brought you to Budapest?

I’m half Hungarian and partly grew up here. I was living in Spain for 7 years and needed a change, and figured Budapest is a good choice, especially as I didn’t need to learn another language.

🦒 Has living in Budapest presented any specific challenges for you?

I am trying hard not to become a pessimist, which is easier said than done.

🦒 Are there any common misconceptions about your home country that you have come across while living in Budapest?

That British people have money :D

🦒 What are your plans for the near future?

I’ve been invited to write an essay on Hermann Hesse’s influence on K-Pop group BTS for an academic collection on Hesse with a big publisher, so fingers crossed this goes through as that’ll be my weirdest writing project to date. I’d also like to finish my novel – inspired by my life in Madrid but told from the point of view of furniture – at some point this year.