The Literature Times: Welcome to The Literature Times, author. Congratulations on the release of your book. What responses are you getting from your readers? Please share your experience with this book.
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: First of all, I appreciate Evincepub Publishing getting my first poetry book published internationally. I received an interesting response, “ A huge congratulations to the Authors of this book. It is an amazing poetry book and I appreciate your hard work and dedication. ”
The Literature Times: What encourages you to become an Author?
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: In 2017, I had to abandon my ancestral land to escape the genocidal operation and the violence. At present as a survivor, I am living in the world’s largest refugee camp located in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. Since 2020, I have been penning different kinds of poetry and have written over one hundred poems. Mayyu Hamim, one of my best friends assisted me in the publishing process and he invariably encourages me to be a great poet and an Author in my life.
The Literature Times: What are your favorite topics of writing? Please tell us something about your interest areas in the literature.
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: Many topics haunt me to write and keep me acquainted with them. Some of my favorite topics of writing are love, freedom, education, peace, humanity, identity, and the plight of Refugees. My interest areas in literature are to be a well-known author like “William Shakespeare” and others else.
The Literature Times: We were hoping you could tell us about some of those writers who had inspired you and whom you follow!
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: Many writers around the globe had inspired me are “William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, William Faulkner, William Blake, Williamsji Maveli, John Keats, John Milton, John Donne, Robert Frost, and Robert Browning, etc. Among them, my favorite poets who I always trail are “ William Shakespeare and John Milton. ” Reading their poetry fetches me comfort. I gain knowledge and their unique literary devices help me improve my creativity and sharpen my brain.
The Literature Times: The titles seem different and catchy; how you decided it? Please let us know the story behind it.
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: It was an onerous task to determine the titles of our book to be suitable to our innermost feelings. We had been facing different types of anxiety and had to become victims of the genocidal operation and the violence in ARAKAN before fleeing to Bangladesh because of being Rohingya Muslims. Therefore, we thought several titles for our book which will be focused by the readers to know exactly what was going on in the life of Rohingya. Finally, we finalized to give the title of our book based on our creation as “The Untold Memoirs of Arakan”.
The Literature Times: What are your achievements so far? Tell us something about your writing career.
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: I am an award-winning poet and many of my poems have been published in international anthologies, magazines, and significant websites. I have won many poetry contests and got many literary accolades. I am a co-author of over one hundred anthologies and also have compiled several anthologies published all over the globe. My first poetry book has been published all over the globe, namely, “The Untold Memoirs of Arakan” with my valuable crony, Pro Sawyedul Amin on February 1st, 2023. For this, I have been awarded Certificates, Appreciation letters, Trophies, Medals, etc.
The Literature Times: What is your current goal in writing a career? How do you see your future in writing?
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: My ambition is to be an eminent author to inspire every human as a literature contributor all over the globe which I am feeling after all one of the victims of Rohingya to every human around the globe. I eagerly hope that I will be the owner of several books at international libraries if I am going to keep my writing journey continuously.
The Literature Times: Are there any other books being worked on by you? Please let us know about your future projects.
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: My next project of the penning journey will be enthusiastic poems depending on the reality of the Rohingya community or an eager love story of the Rohingya duos like “Romeo and Juliet”.
The Literature Times: How do you see Indian writing in the 21st century? What changes do you see in the modern way of writing? Do you feel it has changed over time?
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: Indian writing has developed excellently in the 21st century due to the improvement of writers and readers. I see there are many changes in the modern way of writing due to using technology such as literary platforms and websites on social media that inspire the writers. Yes, I feel it has changed over time.
The Literature Times: How easy/ difficult it was for you to publish your book? What message would you like to give to budding authors?
Mayu Foyajul IsIam: I had also to undergo different types of challenges to publish this book such as I have no photos for using as a book cover related to the book title and no knowledge for illustrating a cover without copyright but one of my teachers help to the pictures of the book cover, I have neither national card nor permanent address for registering anywhere with any proper documents, I have not either bank account for paying anywhere and receiving royalties from any market place or KDP account for publishing book. I didn’t get anyone to give me a hand throughout this journey. The above challenges had been faced just because of being Rohingya. I didn’t lose hope and also began hard working in the study of the above-all challenges to be able to publish this book. Finally, I have successfully gotten published our book everywhere with my ability after completing the study. I would like to send a message to the budding authors that “The more you face challenges, the more strong you will be. So whatever the situation is, never lose hope without trying once to solve anything in your life. I am pretty sure that if you try, you can solve everything. Never give up your penning journey but also keep inking with a smile continuously ahead because it will impact your future life.
