Eva Tihanyi was born in Budapest, Hungary, and came to Canada at the age of six. She has published five books of poetry and a collection of short stories, and has taught at Niagara College in Welland, Ontario, since 1989. For further information visit her website: www.evatihanyi.com
Questions & Answers
Is there a specific moment that inspired you to pursue poetry?
Not one specific “moment” but I knew when I took my first creative writing class in Grade Ten that poetry was something I could become passionate about. I had a remarkable English teacher named Jack Clark, whose encouragement set me on my course.
How/where do you find inspiration today?
Everywhere and in everything. It’s all about paying attention.
What is your writing process?
Like most writers, I keep a notebook in which I record images, ideas, phrases. It is out of these that poems eventually grow. I am most productive in the early morning.
What is your revision/editing process?
I let a poem sit and keep revisiting it until I feel that it is time to let it go.
Did you write poetry in high school? If yes, how did you get started? If no, why not?
Yes, I began writing poetry in high school. As I said in a previous answer, my English teacher was instrumental.
Do you use any resources that a young poet would find useful (e.g. websites, text books, etc.)?
I have a book of synonyms that has come in very handy over the years (even more so than the thesaurus).
When you were high school aged, what would have been helpful/motivating to hear from a published poet?
That poetry matters. That it can be beautiful and powerful and magical. That talent is not enough; it must be sparked by passion and fueled by craft. That writing is its own reward.