Meet Deborah: a 17-year-old poet from Brazil who's been selected to be our next young writer spotlight on Write the World! She recently published her second book, A Tradução da Minha Alma (The Translation of My Soul), and we had the unique opportunity to interview her about her work, writing process, and personal advice to other teen writers.
Tell us a little more about your poetry book, The Translation of My Soul. What is it about?
The Translation of My Soul, or the original name A Tradução da Minha Alma, is a collection of poems I wrote from age nine to sixteen. It’s a journey through the darkest stages of my life until I finally find hope again. The name was chosen based on how I felt about it, like it was depicting every part of me to the reader. I can summarize by saying it’s about how I survived, and more than that, how I learned to live.
What inspired you to write this book? Does it follow a certain theme/did you write it in response to a certain time in your life?
I wrote The Translation of My Soul through the years. Like I said, it’s a collection of poems from nine to sixteen years old. I never intended to publish all of them, but my grandpa (God bless him) read one of them and asked me to send him literally all the poems I had written until then. So that’s what I did. And he probably liked it, because the next thing I know I had a prototype of the book in my hands.
The inspiration for most of the poems in that book were my feelings. I went through a serious depression that started when I was twelve and writing saved me. Poetry was my way to confess the feelings I kept inside. And when I started to see the Sun, hope infiltrated into it. So yes, we definitely can say it was a response to a certain time in my life.
You mentioned that The Translation of My Soul is your second book. What is your first poetry book called? Where can readers find it?
My first book is a novella titled Um Recomeço para o Amor, which means "A New Beginning for Love." You can find it on Amazon, where you can read it as an ebook. Unfortunately, both of my books are available only in Portuguese.
Do you market your poetry? How do you get yourself out there to readers?
I have an Instagram account where I share poems, mental health insights, and my opinions on books. I think that’s the biggest part of my marketing, alongside word of mouth. Recently, I was published on Instagram by Beyond Horizons Magazine in a series called Open Letters with my poem What My Intuition Said. If you want to read more of my works in English, I have a Substack newsletter Letters Made of Silk where I write personal essays and literary pieces.