Chipmunka Author Interview: Jarrad Dickson

Chipmunky's delighted to see out it's first month with this exculsive interview with Chipmunka author Jarrad Dickson. Jarrad's book Roseum Thornycum is available now:

Roseum Thornycum by Jarrad Dickson

Chipmunky:
Why did you want to write a book?

Jarrad:
I wrote the writing in this book without thinking it would be a book, for example I wrote Cain and Abel, my play, to develop my skills in meter and play writing; and I wrote the poetry to express my sadness at unrequited love as an escape. I ended up writing more once I had found out about Chipmunka, the two short stories The Holy Products of Pandora and Chinalalbino, which have more of a mental health focus than my earier writing. But I am writing "books" now, and I write them to develop something in society.


Why Chipmunka and how did you find out about the publisher?

I found out about Chipmunka on the internet, when I was searching for mental health publishers; that was intended to be my newest genre, and I needed a mental health publisher like The Cairn or Chipmunka to publish Roseum Thornycum and my forthcoming autobiography and novels.


What do you feel is the biggest hurdle for people with mental health problems to overcome today?

The biggest hurdle is the idea of treatment. We are taught that we have an "illness," but rather it is a condition. And the final treatment is not a leucotomy, but a suicide. Suicide is the final treatment for mental "illness." And we have this because we are taught that we have an illness. Hua Nian, who I wrote about, committed suicide as a final treatment for her pure obsessional disorder, and it was a mistake. She had a condition, though she was not ill. She wanted to be a writer, but couldn't write "properly," since academia in universities teaches us writing is not in one sense from a mental condition, but from sanity, and rather, it is the opposite. If we had Homer here I'm sure he would side with me. We can write from our conditions, we don't have to push them away. Psychosis and schizophrenia provides valuable sources for plots, characters and storylines and manic depression is one of the themes of the greatest poetry in human history, the psalms.


How did you feel about being published?

Being published is amazing. It is thrilling, and empowering.


Overall how has the reaction to your book been?

I'm not sure. I have always written disturbing literature, for I started writing when I started listening to Marilyn Manson. Writing about Lily Cole, an albino God, a chinese who killed herself because of China and God commiting suicide is disturbing. But I love disturbing themes in literature, it brings down taboos. And the taboo I want to bring down is the taboo of suicide in New Zealand society.


What do you do to relax/ what’s good for your mental health?

Exercise, getting up early in the morning, eating properly. We can institutionalise ourselves and not live in hospital. And it's that which gives us our sanity to achieve well in life.


How do you feel about the ‘cannabis causes mental health’ debate?

Cannabis was the reason I had a psychotic relapse. Or was it? Who knows. I think there is a relationship between memory and psychosis, often it is memories which are the voices that we hear and I think psychotic drugs act as memory come-back hallucinogens. I think there has to be a bridge between mental health sciences and neuroscience, if there's not already.


How do you feel about some peoples view, that people who have mental health problems and are claiming welfare are ‘scroungers‘?

If they didn't want us to recieve treatment, then they can first as a people stop making it compulsory, then taxes wouldn't be spent on mental health wards. That's the truth of the argument.


What are you currently working on?

I'm currently working on an autobiography, Thank You For This Beautiful Experience and two novels, The Dilworthian and The Grave of the Chinalbino Hua Nian. The Dilworthian is science fiction with the main character's beauty shaped around the beauty of the supermodel Lily Cole. And my school is in it with a cannibalistic Harry Potter spin. And the chinalbino novel is about Hua Nian, based on a true story, where a Chinese girl falls for a white male but kills herself because she is Chinese.


Any advice for aspiring authors?

Yes, don't solely aim to be published in your own country, often that is the way to go, but there's other paths out there.


If you could change one thing about the mental health service, what would it be?

They shouldn't be allowed to commit anyone. It's a crime against humanity.


Thank you very much for being interviewed by Chipmunky Jarrad.

Jarrad's new book is available in e-book format at Chipmunka's shop now

Jarrad's interview is the very first in a line of Chipmunka author interviews that will be exclusive to Chipmunky post. Please come back regularly to make sure you don't miss out!