Spinning Creativity with Toupie
Kaleidoscope. Merry-go-Round. Carousel. None of these titles Kathleen had been juggling uniquely echoed movement, colour, and change—the recurring themes of her new nameless collection. Although adamant on seeking a title that had ‘thematic and contextual mood links’ to this collection, she decided to step out for some good-old retail therapy to distract her from the creative limbo.
Find out what happens next in this fascinating behind the scenes interview with Kathleen Miriam Bleakley brought to you by Promita Guha & Luka McKew!
The Art
While shopping, a strange pair of buckskin-coloured boots caught her fancy. ‘Excuse me, what is this style of boots called?’ The
shop assistant casually tossed a one-word response. Toupie. Turns out, toupie is a French word for a colourful spinning toy. After a seamless check-out, Kathleen merrily walked out of that store with her new pair of boots and the title of her seventh collection.
What sets Toupie apart from Kathleen’s six prior collections is the way it celebrates over three decades of creative experience and experimentation. In keeping with this celebratory spirit, Toupie offers a range of new, selected, and revised poems as well as micro stories. “It is common for visual artists to have a retrospective, so that people who are already familiar with your work can visit it over, look at the span of time; not everything, but you know, the selected works … and audiences who are new to your work can also be introduced to what you’ve been doing recently, as well as go back. It’s been really fun and interesting. I’ve got one poem from my very first book ‘Passionfruit and Other Pieces’, which came out when I was twenty-three!”
Another unique attribute Toupie embodies is its welcoming embrace and understanding of variety of readers. There’s a bit of something for everyone—the regular readers, the new readers, the bored browsers, the nostalgia seekers, and the restless minds with the attention span of a goldfish, too! Toupie does so especially by combining brevity and impact, which is witnessed across both the micro stories and the poems.
The Process
Renowned English actor Sir Michael Caine once said, ‘Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath’. This couldn’t be truer for a writer like Kathleen. What we see and readily judge as readers is a meticulously crafted poignant book. But the grit to plunge into relentless labour to make that book happen stays hidden.
Kathleen’s work, especially her poetry, draws heavily on her lived and observed experiences. That is what bestows the refreshingly authentic feel upon her creations. She considers these as ‘mosaics’ of her life. Her micro stories, which she interestingly terms ‘faction’, entails layers of fiction with dollops of facts. These ‘facts’ are her unabashedly vulnerable truths.
In all humility and honesty, she believes that the deep experiences she pens are like ‘kernels’ that are layered by the time they dawn their published form. However, one still wonders what instils the courage to share the grief, loss, joy, and dreams through her beautifully weaved forms of textual expression. She thinks the courage is derived from her clarity of purpose—connecting with people—which helps her readers engage intimately with her writing. Surprisingly, it was her poetry colleague Kai who explicitly brought this to her attention.
“I couldn’t have told you what my purpose of writing is twelve months ago, but I have a poetry colleague, Kai, who was saying that he feels his own purpose isn’t always clear. He says, ‘Whereas you have a really clear sense of purpose. It’s about connecting with people’. I thought, ‘Thank you, Kai. That’s so pithy’.
The connection could be about a poem resonating with somebody, or it might be that a story amuses or surprises, engages, or even confronts somebody. I’m really grateful to have that sort of engagement from readers.”
Yet another method that prepares her for writer’s vulnerability is her vigorous and consistent engagement with writers’ communities, where you’re not only nudged to indulge in a plethora of writing exercises and workshops but also to accept critique from fellow writers. This particularly robs one of inhibition about revealing personal creations in public spaces. Kathleen even facilitates one of these forums herself.
The Person
A few minutes of interaction with Kathleen is all it takes to understand the self-assured person behind the literary genius. I realised this in our first conversation when she admitted to being an avid reader of writers she doesn’t necessarily share genres or styles with but has been profoundly inspired by. Natalie Goldberg being one of them. This informed me of the sheer expanse of her knowledge-base.
Another instance I recall was her confident statement, ‘what I read is not what I write’. It especially underlined her clarity about the distinction between inspiration and emulation. She emphasised that finding one’s own, true, authentic voice is a journey every artist must undertake. Form may be emulated, but voice cannot because the former is the craft, but the latter is all heart.
‘As humans, we have an intensity. Although you say I’m calm, I do feel things strongly… I’ll quote Janine Leanne, Editor of Meanjin and Poet … She said that craft is something you can learn, but you can’t learn heart. That’s really beautiful’.
To me, Kathleen is the epitome of balance, which makes her a complete writer. She displays in-depth understanding and knowledge about the nitty-gritties of her creative endeavours while also admitting the inevitable hiccups she must brace herself for as she is working on a project. She is unpretentiously open in talking about the challenges she encounters and is pragmatic about her go-to ways to navigate them.
Particularly, her calm embrace of the dreaded writer’s block as part of a creator’s life is awe-inspiring. Something that most see as a dead-end, she sees as a reminder to ‘take it easy’. Her way through such phases could be something as basic as engaging with a different kind of art form. Perhaps watching a movie or visiting an art gallery. Revealing her quirky side, she adds that it could also be a mere three-word response to a writer’s prompt: ‘BLAH-BLAH-BLAH’, because … well … why not?
I’d say if all else fails, maybe there’s a shoe store selling buckskin-coloured boots for you, too!
Made it this far? Grab a cuppa and watch this interview to witness the myriad hues of Kathleen Miriam Bleakley—the fascinating artist—unfold. Her upcoming collection Toupie will be launched in 2025, adding yet another gem to team Spineless Wonders’ record of literary hits.
This blog is based on an extended interview with Kathleen Bleakley recorded in 2024 by Promita Guha.
Luka Mackew is a writer and editor based in Melbourne, currently studying Professional Writing and Editing at Swinburne University of Technology. He volunteers as an editor with Other Terrain literary journal and works on promotional strategy and editorial preparation for Toupie, liaising with the author and coordinating communications, marketing initiatives, and content development. His own creative work often explores themes of realism and human connection.
Image Sources:
Spinning Dancer: Derek. R. (via Pinterest)
Camil Tucan: David Hitch. (via Pinterest)
Toupie Cover: Bettina Kaiser.