Artist Spotlight: David Hadbawnik
“There are only two things you really need to succeed in the art of creative writing: a passion for reading and a passion for writing. Talent is nice, but it’s not going to help if you don’t love what you’re doing and work hard at it.”
Poet, translator, medieval scholar, and teacher David Hadbawnik is the author of Sonnets to Orpheus and Other Poems and the translator for Aeneid Books I-VI. Of the latter, the Boston Review hailed Hadbawnik’s. translation as going “ a long way toward moving the narrative into the hands of contemporary readers.” In both his creative work and his translations, Hadbawnik time travels readers to an ancient past before bringing us back to our own time and place a little better, braver, and stronger than when we left. Scroll on for more!
1.) Tell us a bit about your “art origin story”? When did you first fall in love with your art?
I remember being a little kid and writing a story about robots attacking me on the way home from school. After that I became a voracious reader -- had a subscription to the Twilight Zone magazine and would wait by the mailbox for it to arrive every month. Writing stories and poems helped me get through all the "heavy stuff" that came with growing up and going to school, and more and more I found myself falling in love with words and stories and what they could do.
2.) What role have teachers played in your development as an artist? Any one stand out?
I was kind of lost at sea as a teenager until a teacher by the name of Mr. Chute more or less saved me from failing out and falling into depression; this was in 10th grade. He encouraged me to write, giving me tough, honest feedback on my writing, and provided me with the tools to gain confidence and succeed as a young writer.
3.) What advice would you give to young folks thinking about pursuing an education or career in the arts?
There are only two things you really need to succeed in the art of creative writing: a passion for reading and a passion for writing. Talent is nice, but it's not going to help if you don't love what you're doing and work hard at it.
4.) Describe how you use art and creativity in your craft as well as your everyday life.
I try to open myself to the world around me, pay attention, listen, and respond. In some ways that is all art is. I carry a little notebook around and jot things down in it every day. It is how I connect to the world and escape myself -- my petty concerns and self-interest. To me art and creative writing is about connection, a care for the people and things around me that also sustains me.
5.) How can art make the world a better place? Can you share a personal example?
Well, we are in the midst of a very difficult and challenging time. In many ways I believe much of our current predicament is due to our culture turning away from art and what art can give us. A former teacher of mine, Diane di Prima, once wrote, "THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST THE IMAGINATION." Imagination is, again, how we connect and empathize and emerge from our little shells. We cannot understand what someone else is going through without it. Certainly, for me, over and over again, imagination has opened a view that gets me beyond myself and into the world. And now that I have a young son, I see that playful kind of childlike wonder that comes along with his burgeoning imagination, and I hope he's able to foster and continue to grow that faculty, as painful and difficult as it sometimes is.