Octavie Wolters is the author and illustrator of the illustrated memoir This Will Last Forever. The book was translated from Dutch into English by Michele Hutchison. Wolters's other work includes The Starling's Song. She lives in the Netherlands.
Q: What inspired you to create This Will Last Forever?
A: When I created This Will Last Forever, I was going through a period of grief. A dear family member was very ill and we balanced between hope and fear.
During my daily walks with my dog I discovered that no matter how dark it was, there were always sparks of joy. The beauty of a landscape, of a tree, the singing of a bird. It helped me to carry the weight. I started to depict all the joy I found into lino cuts and in stories. And I thought, If it will help me, it will hopefully help others too.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The title refers to the last story in the book, about a bluethroat. It’s a kind of magical story of the bluethroat that flies to me and sits on my hand. I describe the love I feel for this beautiful creature, so deep and intense, and I feel that this is what happiness is: the love for a bird. And I know then: this kind of love can travel over times and generations and will last forever.
Q: Did you work on the text first or the illustrations first, or both simultaneously?
A: I always start with the lino cuts. That is my core; lino cutting helps me to translate my deepest emotions into an image with which I can communicate with other people. When I’m done lino cutting, I look at all the prints I made and I search for the story that they’re telling me. And then I only have to write it down. ;)
Q: What impact did it have on you to create this book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: It gave me comfort. I always thought that comfort was this thing that wasn’t really helping, that you have to be hopeful. Hoping is something you can do, comfort is passive. But creating this book taught me that when hope flies away the comfort takes over. And comfort is so much bigger than I ever thought.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My new book, You Are My Beginning, will come out at the end of October (will also be published by Pushkin) and its publication will be accompanied by two large solo exhibitions. So at the moment I’m mainly preparing the exhibitions.
But in the back of my head there are developing some new images; if it will work out, it will be totally different than anything I’ve ever created, but we will see.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Two months ago I woke up and I was partially blind. Tests at the hospital showed that I had had an infarction in my optic nerve. Nothing can be done and the injury is permanent.
At this moment I’m still finding my way in this new life. My right eye is 75 percent blind. I never stopped working and although I am sometimes sad and bothered by it, I feel my own strength very strongly. Making art is what I must do, what I am on earth for.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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