I mars 2007 debuterade Lolita Ray som poet, med boken The right of a voice. Boken innehåller ett 30tal dikter som hon själv översatt till engelska, alla illustrerade av fotografier tagna av hennes vän, den walesiske fotografen Rhys Jones. Deras samarbete skedde helt via internet, men upprinnelsen till boken var ett multikulturellt projekt, 2020Vision som bestod av en utställning på Pontardawe Art Center, med dikter, citat och fotografier. Slutligen åkte hennes band, Little Failures till Wales, och gav en konsert på teatern i Pontardawe Art Center. Där startade idén om en poesibok, illustrerad med fotografier. Det walesiska förlaget Tregolwyn publicerade boken.
In March 2007, Lolita published her first poems, a collaboration with her friend from Wales , Swansea-based photographer Rhys Jones: ‘The Right of a Voice", published in 2007 by Tregolwyn, an independent publisher in Wales
‘The Right of a Voice’
This is a gift of a book, an unassuming treasure that could so easily be overlooked in an age that favours glossy over-packaging and cleverness. The Right of Voice is a collection of poems and photographs that were initially brought together as part of a multimedia event in Pontardawe in 2005. The poems, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into English by the poet, and the photographer has selected images that reflect the voice of each poem.
I like the gently oblique poems about loss and bereavement, especially ‘Invisible Angel’ with its notion of metempsychosis: ‘Now you walk/Amongst trees and soil/A piece of your life/Is branch and root.’
The tone of the poems is reminiscent of the short stories written by Tove Jansson.
‘The Right of a Voice’: An honest book that comes from the heart.
Suzy Ceulan Hughes
A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.