How can you do justice to a love affair with Rye? Capture its special atmosphere and the emotions it evokes? Poetry and photography have come together to do just that in ‘Writing Rye in Light’, the latest collection of poetry by Anwesha Ayra illustrated with black and white photography by Caroline Fraser and beautifully printed by Adams.
In a talk given by Anwesha and Caroline on the first Monday of Rye Arts Festival, they shared how significant events in their lives have influenced their work, how their collaboration came about and what it is about their experience of Rye that has inspired them.
Anwesha was born in Bombay into a family of film makers (her grandfather, Bimal Roy, and her father, Basu Bhattacharya, were both film directors) and from an early age, wrote poetry; one, written at 14 years old, ‘Ballad of Nature’, ran to several pages long, inspired by her love of the natural world.
Having moved to Rye from London 13 years ago, Anwesha writes poems that resonate with the light, the sounds, the great tree characters, and glimpses of the history, of our hilltop town.
It is a special thing to hear the writer of a poem reading it aloud to an audience. The pacing, expression and emphasis brings it alive and makes the poems even more personal. It takes courage to write, and more to read one’s work aloud to an audience, so hearing Anwesha read ‘Rye Awake (4th May 2007)’, (from her earlier collection ‘Lettered Rye’) written after the death of her and her husband Sagar’s daughter, was extremely moving. It is a poem about grief and of arriving in the town that “held me in my grief, made me feel safe”, and as such bringing a realisation of the ‘rightness’ of the place that helped her creativity to flourish. In her talk, she explained, how, when returning to Rye, the sight of a particular field, tells her that she is home and once more where she belongs, a sentiment that many of us share.
Other readings captured moments, both past and present – the smell of Sagar’s ‘Strawberry Vape’, the cool and quiet of St Mary’s Church and memories of Bombay in ‘Mary on the Hill’ (both in ‘Lettered Rye’).
‘Rooftops in the Rain’ describes the sounds of the rain in vivid alliteration. Water “Slithers and slams still sliding down” and “It drips with a rhythmic robustness instead/ not like diamond dust drizzling London”. Photos and words complement each other as in ‘Caging a tree’ and ‘Poetry Tree’ – light and shadow, and a wonder at the resilience and calm strength of the trees,- are caught in both.
In ‘Writing Rye in Light’ Anwesha’s writing and Caroline’s photography reflect shared passions. They met at a craft fair in 2017 and bonded over their love of light, of nature, of paper and of Rye. Caroline took up photography when a diagnosis of breast cancer caused her to pause and reflect on life, prompting her to take a photography course, focussing on representing nature. “Life is so much richer when you take up your passions and discover what matters. I get so much enjoyment out of small things such as a leaf in a puddle and in quiet, calm places in nature and landscape,” she told the audience. “In this project it was a challenge to take pictures in a town.”
Caroline’s photographs beautifully capture the light, patterns and textures of the trees, walls, streets and small corners seen in the poems, and the book includes a map showing all the locations that the poems are linked to, helping the reader to discover them for themselves.
It was impossible not to come away from hearing both Anwesha and Caroline talk without being inspired by the passions of the creators of this collection, having a shared sense of appreciation and protectiveness towards the natural world around us, and an ever-growing love for our little town.
‘Lettered Rye’ and ‘Writing Rye in Light’ can be bought from the Rye Bookshop and The Paper Place in the High Street.
Anwesha is running a two-day short story writing course, Writer’s Eye, at The Paper Place on October 5 and 6 from 10-3pm, costing £75. Materials provided – just bring a pen!
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Caroline Fraser .