{"id":4188,"date":"2019-10-18T11:29:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T08:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/?p=4188"},"modified":"2019-10-18T11:29:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T08:29:20","slug":"lithuanias-nature-and-the-particular-colour-of-green-invite-to-come-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/2019\/10\/18\/lithuanias-nature-and-the-particular-colour-of-green-invite-to-come-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania\u2019s Nature and the Particular Colour of Green Invite to Come Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Lithuanian-Australian writer Kristina Dry\u017ea<\/strong> is better known in the world of business and management as one of the most influential futurists, trend forecasters, and business consultants, who worked with companies such as Virgin Group, Microsoft, and British Sky Broadcasting. Kristina says that many still do not know that she is also the author of the novel <\/em>Grace and the Wind released in 2014. I asked Kristina a few questions about writer\u2019s craft, her first book, and future plans.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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– How did you become a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always loved\nto write as a teenager, mainly in my journal, kept from my parents\u2019 prying\neyes. I didn\u2019t really enjoy writing assignments at school or essays at\nuniversity. I didn\u2019t like writing to perform, to prove, to justify \u2013 for\nresults. I had more fun crafting messages in Christmas and birthday cards for my\nfriends, and sharing my overseas travel experiences in postcard form, when\nwriting postcards was de rigueur<\/em> in\nthe pre-internet era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

– Do you identify yourself as an Australian writer,\nLithuanian-Australian writer or just a writer? Or maybe it depends on certain situation?\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s taken me a\nwhile to identify as a writer as I\u2019ve been known as a futurist for so long. Many\npeople don\u2019t even know I\u2019m an author, and most of the interviews I do, the\njournalists only want to ask me questions about my futures work. The future is\nalways a more interesting topic for them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always\nidentified as being Lithuanian as I went to a Lithuanian Saturday school in\nAdelaide, Australia for most of my childhood and teenage years to learn the\nlanguage, the traditional folk songs and dancing, and to participate in the\nscouts and sports groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– You\u2019re a very successful business consultant and\ntrend forecaster. Do these two activities complement each other or, on the\ncontrary, get in each other\u2019s way? How do you accommodate both of them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My work as a\nfuturist gave me the ability to recognise how cultural and mythic narratives operate\nand influence societies and the role storytelling plays in the psyche. Most of\nmy commercial work now focuses on archetypal consulting and decoding patterns, signs,\nsymbols and their meaning and this lends itself well to my life as a writer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a\ncreative path requires a courageous and unshakable connection to intuition,\ninspiration and imagination. I\u2019m lucky that whether I\u2019m teaching, speaking at a\nconference, facilitating a workshop, or writing, I can draw on all three in my\neveryday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– How do your write and when you write, given that you\nlead a very active professional life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like when\nyou meet a chef that doesn\u2019t cook, a singer that doesn\u2019t sing, or a writer that\ndoesn\u2019t write \u2013 they\u2019re miserable. The artist not\npracticing their art is a danger to themselves and the general public. I\nthought to create, to be devoted to a craft, required the perfect set-up of\nconducive conditions, but it\u2019s almost never that way. Actually, it\u2019s never that\nway! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conditions to write are never glamorous,\nideal or suitable, but you still have to write. There comes a point when it\nbecomes more painful not to write, than to write, and I reached that last year and\nso now, no matter how busy or jetlagged or unmotivated I am, I write.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I write because\nI\u2019m possessed by an idea, not because I think I have a good idea. The idea has\nme. It\u2019s almost like I have no choice in the matter. The story needs to be\nexpressed and I\u2019m the vessel to bring that particular idea through into form. A\nfew months ago when working on my current novel, it dawned on me that while I\nthought I was writing a book, the book was actually writing me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– In 2014, your first book Grace and the Wind<\/em> came out. How did you come up with the idea for\nthe book?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I\u2019ve\nalways been fascinated by how the cycles, seasons and rhythms of nature influence\nhumans (I studied indigenous cosmology at university as part of my anthropology\ndegree), it was only when I was living in Tokyo that the importance of seasonal\nliving impressed itself upon me.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seasonal, circadian,\nlunar and tidal patterns don\u2019t just form the background to our lives \u2013 they are\nour lives. We\u2019re comprised of rhythms and exist within the rhythms of nature.\nMost of my clients at that time wanted me to comprehend cycles of business and\nattitudinal change, but really the most important cycles to perceive and experience\nare nature\u2019s. And so I began merging my expertise of global trends with the\nnuances of nature\u2019s rhythms as a framework for perceiving the changing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child I\nalways felt a connection to the Wind. My work with the emerging future means I\nspend a lot of my time with what\u2019s invisible \u2013 the intangible, the unformed,\nthe unmanifest \u2013 and so it felt very natural for me to create this character.\nHigh school is often where we have our most intense experiences, usually as\nthey\u2019re our first encounter and they affect us so deeply, which is why I wanted\nthe character Grace to be a teenager. And the \u2018concept\u2019 of grace has always\nbeen a mystery to me and so the novel was the perfect place to explore this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– How was the book received?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s actually\nmore interest in the book now than when it was first released. My work as a futurist\ntaught me to develop a strong tolerance threshold to the unknown, the uncertain\nand the unfamiliar \u2013 that\u2019s been my default playing field for two decades. But\nevents like Brexit and Trump\u2019s presidential election caused many people to\nquestion what\u2019s actually predictable, what\u2019s certain and the role fate and\ndestiny, free will and predetermination, synchronicity, chance and choice play\nin outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s more\npeople waking up and wanting to view their personal world from a non-linear\nperspective, rather than a linear one, and to consider the global world from a\nspherical and holographic lens, not a one-dimensional viewpoint. That\u2019s perhaps\none reason why Grace and the Wind<\/em> has\nbecome more popular in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Grace and the Wind<\/em><\/strong>\nis a blend of allegorical fiction and self-help literature. Was it something\nyou chose intentionally?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely! I\nfeel we mostly learn through story, as well as allegory, parable, symbols,\ndreams, metaphors, images, myths and poetry. I found (in my own personal\nexperience) that self-help books, which were left brain, analytical, with five\nsteps to this or five rules for that, never added any richness to my life. They\nprovided information, but never left an imprint on my soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purely rational\ntexts don\u2019t touch me in a way that inspire an inner transformation, or to reimagine\nhow I see myself in the world, or where I fit within a changing macro narrative.\nThe words didn\u2019t live on in me and become part of my being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– The genre of self-help books has a lot to do with\nthe educational aspect. Grace, the main heroine of your book, grows up and matures\nas a woman with the help of a mysterious character, Wind. Where does this strive\nfor teaching come from? Why is it important to you to help others to find their\nown Wind and the place in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, in the\nwords of Galileo Galilei, \u201cWe cannot teach people anything; we can only help\nthem discover it within themselves.\u201d Growing up I didn\u2019t have the wise words of\na mentor whispering in my ear, and I felt starved because of this, and so I\nthought there must be others hungry for a resource like the character of the\nWind too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many western people can\u2019t rest in the\nknowledge of their own worth, their own light, their own beauty. They\ncompensate for feelings of low self-worth by pushing themselves excessively and\ndon\u2019t realise they\u2019re worth far more than destroying themselves. Or they compromise\nthemselves to belong and it\u2019s never worth the price. Or they isolate themselves\nwith loneliness. Or chase dreams not meant for them. Or their goals are\nmotivated by shame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve done all of these things many times\nover and so feel a deep empathy and compassion to other people\u2019s pain. But\nthere\u2019s untold grace,\nwisdom and resilience that emerges from the depths of our struggles. It\u2019s why my\ncurrent writing references mythic stories, which are archetypal truths, as I\nfeel that it\u2019s really only in mythology that\nour suffering, our vulnerability and destiny is mirrored back to us in an\nhonest way. We\u2019re exposed to the full spectrum of what it means to be a human\nbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Who are your literary (and other) teachers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The myths are\nreally my teachers. Like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, \u201cHe who cannot draw\non three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.\u201d Life experience has\ntaught me that to truly know ourselves we must know the gods and goddesses, for\nthey are each a style of consciousness and a metaphor for our actions, and are\nstill influencing us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And great works of art teach me too. When you view an artwork where you know the artist went\nthrough a process of aridity and transformation and transcendence, and just by\nyour eyes glancing at the art, that the power of the artist\u2019s realisation is also\nconferred to you. I mean, wow! It\u2019s like a living transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d say though that\nmy biggest teacher is nature. It\u2019s really the essence of Grace and the Wind<\/em> and there\u2019s a line in the book that says: \u201cGrace,\nremember, you cannot break the rhythms of nature, only yourself against them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Would you say that you\u2019ve found a niche for yourself\nas a writer or you\u2019re still on the path of finding one? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m hoping with\nmy new novel to have found a path that brings all my interests together, but\nonly when it\u2019s published will I know if the material strikes a chord with the readers!\nIt\u2019s a modern tale about the descent to the underworld in Greek mythology \u2013\nfocusing on the myth of Hades and Persephone \u2013 and how to journey to the\nunderworld of yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Would you like your books to be translated into\nLithuanian and read by a Lithuanian reader? Would that change what and how you\nwrite?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d love for my\nbooks to be translated in Lithuanian and to be read by a Lithuanian audience.\nIt\u2019d be a dream come true to have my books stocked in the bookstores of my\nhomeland. I\u2019ve already started sketching the outline for my third novel and\nit\u2019s based in the forests of Lithuania and I\u2019m looking forward to returning and\nimmersing myself in the research process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– What is your relationship to Lithuanian literature?\nDo you have favorite Lithuanian writer(s)? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With my love of\nmythology I\u2019ve been heavily influenced by the work of Marija Gimbutas and a\nhighlight for me was visiting her personal library in California.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Do you know any Lithuanian-Australian authors? If\nyou do, do you get together and\/or keep in touch with each other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know there are\na few other authors in different states of Australia but as I travel overseas\nwith my work for most of the year, I\u2019ve not had the chance to personally meet\nthem, but we\u2019re friends on Facebook and I follow their activities with\ninterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– What expectations did you have for the First World\nLithuanian Writers Forum which took place this May in Vilnius? Did the forum\nfulfill those expectations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of\nwriters gathering together is always a good thing as writing is such a solitary\nactivity. I didn\u2019t have any expectations from the forum other than to meet my\nfellow compatriots and to share our creative trials, tribulations, joys and successes,\nand to discuss how we can be of support and assistance to each other, as well\nas how our writing can benefit our homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lithuanian\nMinistry of Education and Science also invited the writers to visit some local\nhigh schools and I really enjoyed spending time with the students discussing creativity,\ninnovation, leadership, entrepreneurship and the discipline of writing. It\u2019s so\nimportant to be able to give back to the community and to encourage young\npeople to pursue their creative passions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel I\u2019m\nalways changed by the people I meet and the experiences I\u2019m exposed to. A\nfragment of me remains with them \u2013 and them me \u2013 and they enrich my character.\nThe time spent in Vilnius with the other writers earlier this year has\ninfluenced my writing in subtle and non-subtle ways, but mostly by inspiring me\nto spend more time in Lithuania.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– More than once you\u2019ve been to Lithuania. What does\ndraw you to come here? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nature.\nThere\u2019s something about the particular colour of green in Lithuania that\u2019s\nincomparable to anywhere else. I especially love the pine forests of\nDruskininkai. It\u2019s the place I feel most myself in the whole wide world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dalia Cidzikait\u0117<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Lithuanian-Australian writer Kristina Dry\u017ea is better known in the world of business and management as one of the most influential futurists, trend forecasters, and business consultants, who worked with companies such as Virgin Group, Microsoft, and British Sky Broadcasting. Kristina says that many still do not know that she is also the author of … Toliau skaityti „Lithuania\u2019s Nature and the Particular Colour of Green Invite to Come Back”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1555],"tags":[953],"class_list":["post-4188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-naujienos","category-news","tag-dalia-cidzikaite-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}