Provokator sits down with Prague’s most infamous young poets
By Bethany Shaffer

In anticipation of their second appearance at the Prague Fringe Festival the notoriously precocious Ancient Geeks took time from their busy schedules of balancing rhyme and meter and calculating iambs to talk to Provokator. The Geeks, who began meeting with their instructor, Clare Wigfall, in autumn of 2005, meet once every two weeks in a classroom of the English International School in Libuše, to share their work and find inspiration. Two years after its establishment, the Geeks have risen to fame in Prague, thanks to last year’s performance at the Fringe, and a handful of coffeehouse gigs. Their success is as much a testament to British author Clare Wigfall’s patience, guidance and knowledge, as it is to their own hard work and creativity.

The Geeks are an eclectic bunch, their origins spanning the globe, and their interests almost as diverse, however, it’s nice to see that despite their precocious abilities and diligence, they are still a group of normal kids, full of energy, spirit and a little bit of kookiness now and then. The Geeks are made up of thirteen-year old Grace Mitchell, who moved to the Czech Republic for her father’s work; Lilly Persina, 11, from Moscow, who has lived in The Czech Republic for the majority of her life; Daniel Newton, 11, from Johannesburg, South Africa, in the country for parent’s work as well; Rachel Davis, 11, daughter of a Czech woman and a British man; Ondřej Beneš, 11, the only full-blooded Czech in the group who spent some time living in England; Jerry Li, 11, who hails all the way from China; and Samantha Kolowrat, 11, an American with Czech/Korean/English heritage, her family moved here before her birth due to her father's business. 
 

My visit with the Geeks was a thoroughly pleasant one, a wave of nostalgia sweeping over me from the moment I walked through the door. Though the one thing that kept ringing unfamiliar was that no one such as Clare came along and did that for me when I was eleven, which only makes one wonder, what on Earth will these kids be accomplishing in ten years time.

Provokator: What interested you in writing in the first place?
Daniel: My Dad suggested it. I wrote a story and my Dad entered it in a competition and it came in second place, and then I entered another story and it came in first.
Rachel: My Mom wanted me to continue with English after I stopped attending the International School, so she enrolled me in this class with Clare.
Grace: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I would go to my grandmother’s house and she had these writing sheets and I would just write stories. And then I started writing on the computer
P: Do you typically write on the computer?
Lilly: No! I always have like twenty sheets of paper and I just rewrite the poems over and over again.
P: You mean when you’re editing?
Lilly: No….
P: So, just for penmanship?
Lilly: Yeah, I guess.
Grace: I write all the time on the computer. I find it much easier, but sometimes I get inspired by writing something by hand.
Rachel: I get inspired at writing club usually and start writing something by hand and so I just finish it later by hand too.
P: Who are your biggest influences?
Daniel: Ondra and Jerry. Oh! And J.K. Rowling.
Ondřej: Daniel, and Clare.
Rachel: Yeah, Clare and Jacqueline Wilson.
Lilly: I get influence from everyday life rather than from classics.
Grace: Michelle Paver, the author of the Wolf Brother series. And I get really inspired by Tim Burton films.
P: Well, that brings me to a question I was planning on asking later on. What other forms of media or art inspire you to write?
Rachel: Clare have us musical inspiration in one workshop, and that was really cool. I also get inspired by my friends.
Grace: (with great enthusiasm) Oh yes!! Music inspires almost everything I write. A band called The Rasmus, inspired the trilogy I wrote.
Lilly: Usually like slow, lyrical music inspires me.
P.: You mean like classical music?
Lilly: (scrunching her nose in distaste) No!
Clare: Can you think of anything in particular Lilly?
Lilly: (dreamily) No, not really…
Clare: Ondřej, didn’t you say that you find inspiration from skateboarding?
Ondřej: Well, that was actually my skates. But, extreme sports inspire me.
P: Extreme sports, really? How?
Ondřej: Yeah, like I get inspired by the craziness they’re doing, like when this one guy did a triple back flip, that helped inspire “The Big Bug.”
Clare: Didn’t you guys also say that you get inspired by cookies and milk?
All: (enthusiastically, and a bit dreamily) Oh, yeah! All the time.
P: For those of you whose native language is not English, do you write in your native tongue?
Rachel: Lately, I’ve been getting ideas in Czech and then trying to write them down in English.
P: Do you ever try to write them down in Czech?
Rachel: Sometimes, but I want to share them in group so I have to put them in English.
Lilly: I think of English as my home language because I’ve been speaking it ever since I can remember. English feels more comfortable to me.
Ondřej: I only write in Czech if I have to.
P: Has writing changed the way you look at the world?
(an enthusiastic “yes!” from the entire group)
Rachel: I guess sometimes my stories are really real, but like, when I think of something bad I don’t want to write about it. Making something up is more creative and free and it can be more interesting.
Lilly: My viewpoint on life totally changed. Like, before I would never just sit and think and now I can take up hours just thinking and being contemplative. Or, like when my friends say something funny, I really think about what they’re saying and why it’s funny. But, everyone knows that I don’t normally write funny stories.
Rachel: Yeah, I can’t write funny stories. It’s embarrassing for me.
Grace: My outlook on life has definitely changed. I’ve been writing a story about two brothers and their age difference is the same as between me and my brother, but their relationship is really, really, really bad and I can imagine that it could happen, but I don’t know what I’d do if my relationship with Simon was like that. I don’t know. It’s weird how it makes you think about things. Like, and I know this sounds totally cheesy, but I don’t care!! I think that life can be more full of magic than we think and that really influences why and how I write. Writing is part of my whole life.
P: Guys, what about you?
Daniel: No, it hasn’t changed the way I look at life.
Ondřej: Partly. When someone says something that’s really funny I try to put it into a poem. I try to make it rhyme.
P: What or who do you think of when you write? Are you writing for an audience or for yourself?
Lilly: (emphatically) Myself. Completely. I don’t enter in competitions because I just don’t know how you can judge and say that this poem is better than that one.
Grace: There were only two times when I tried writing for someone else. Once was for the class, but that turned out horribly. The other was for my boyfriend, but that time it actually turned out nice.
Lilly: Like, I’ll get inspired by someone but that doesn’t mean that I’m writing for him. One time I was inspired by another one of the geeks, who isn’t here right now, and I wrote about him and showed it to him and now he always talks about it whenever I see him.
Rachel: I don’t think about if it will be popular or people will like it. If I thought of the audience I would never write anything because I would be too nervous.
P: Okay, I just have one more serious question and then an easy one, and then you’re free to go on with workshop. Do you think poets and writers have a responsibility to the world? Do you think they should write about issues happening in the time that they are writing?
Rachel: I don’t really understand. What do you mean issues?
P: Like if there is a war, or certain problems affecting us today such as the environment.
Grace: Maybe, I don’t really know. It’s hard. I think it depends on the situation and what you’re writing.
Lilly: No! Definitely not. Poets are people with a gift and they’re not supposed to write for others. It’s not their responsibility.
Rachel: I’ve never thought of that, really, but I don’t think people should write for money.
Jerry: They can if they want to but they don’t have to. It’s not their responsibility. It should be up to the writer and they shouldn’t be expected to take care of issues.
Rachel: Yeah. That’s what the politicians are supposed to do.
P: Okay, so the last question is: who wants to be a writer when they grow up?
Lilly and Grace: (in unison, emphatically, standing up from their chairs) Me!!
Daniel: Only second.
P: What would be your first choice?
Daniel: Something secret.
Jerry: I would second after sports.
Ondřej: Yeah, sports is first for me too.
Daniel: Sports for me too.
Rachel: I’d like to be a fashion designer or an interior designer

The Ancient Geek will perform at this years Fringe Festival on June 2 and June 3 at 16.30 at Divadlo Na Prádle. Tickets are 150kc and can be bought at the venue one hour before, or in advance at all Ticketstream outlets. For more information about the Prague Fringe please visit www.fringe.cz.

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