Akash Mattupalli
Oyster River Pages: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?
Akash Mattupalli: I actually used to find English literature pointless, perhaps that was the result of growing up in an Asian society that favoured STEM. My English teacher when I moved to England inspired me to challenge my views and to see the beauty in words, which opened me up to writing poems, and eventually short stories. As I got older, I’ve used it as a means to understand myself and my surroundings more.
ORP: Do you write or create with an audience in mind? If so, how do you consider the relationship between that audience and your work throughout your creative process?
AM: I don’t write with an audience in mind, I started to write as a means of catharsis. My writing is more of a thought experiment, a way to organise my opinions and feelings, creating a mirror on the society around me.
ORP: Who do you consider to be your creative ancestors and contemporaries for your art and/or writing? How does your creative work converse with theirs?
AM: I was heavily inspired by how Arundhati Roy and Chinua Achebe wrote about their surroundings. Having grown up in postcolonial countries like them, I was awed at how relatable and colourful their descriptions were. I was inspired to write about my upbringing, and the internal conflict I face with being a third culture individual.
ORP: Do you know more than one language? How does this influence your art and/or writing?
AM: I speak English, Telugu and Hindi fluently and I’m conversational in Spanish and am a beginner in Mandarin. Having moved around constantly, I like to experiment with my writing style and interpret concepts I want to write about through the lens of the different cultures that I was immersed in. In one of my short stories set in my family’s hometown, I enjoyed literally translating Telugu idioms and sayings into English.
ORP: What books have you read many times?
AM: Perks of being a Wallflower.
