"You tried to break everything beautiful I ever ever was, but I became more.”
BOOK REVIEW
Eman A.E.’s book Don’t Look Back You Are Braver Than That, is a millennial love story told through poetry.
Split into four chapters, the book is full of tender writing with heartfelt stories with a storyline all the way through that will captivate the readers. It’s a definite must read for all those aching hearts, as the author adventures through the depths of her soul, mind, and heart to overcome emotional trauma from this relationship.
It’s a particularly long poetry book with over 200-pages. Being a relatable read with its experiences that will resonate with many, it’s a masterpiece conquering battles to overcome and re-discover oneself after a relationship. Through the expressful and touching pieces, there’s a lot of vulnerability shown becoming a motivational read for the broken hearted.
The writing is impactful, with a mix of long and short form poems, written over an extended period of time as a way to self-heal, rearranged to take the reader through a journey of love, loss, and learning how to survive it heroically alone.
The movement pace of the book is passionate to see how low one can be in this situation, to see the empowering soul come alive again when realising what has happened and letting go. It’s a heart wrenching read with eye opening content. Don’t Look Back You Are Braver Than That, is a terrific read with strengthful storytelling penned by Eman A.E.
Eman A. E. is an Emirati-British author that lives between Dubai and London. She has a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in international politics. She is an equestrian and fencer. Her debut poetry book, Don’t Look Back You Are Braver Than That, can be found on Amazon and her second book, I Died, And I Don’t Forgive You, will be out in June 2021. You can see more of her writings on her Instagram: @braverthanthat
Words by Danielle Holian
INTERVIEW
Tell us a bit about your writing background.
I always remember reading and writing as a child. I loved books and was brought up reading and I just thought that books were a part of life. I used to read before I slept every night and always loved the worlds the words in books would take me to. I had a great love for the power and strength of words in everything, in music lyrics, lines in movies and in other people’s writings. I was very studious and didn’t write much for myself until I had finished my two degrees. Then one day I felt like I had a lot of feelings that I needed to express and started writing again to be able to do so. It was more for myself than anything else, but I felt like I suddenly had a lot to say and writing gave me that outlet and ultimately led to my first book. It is a funny thing because my mother actually told me when I was very young that I would be an author, but I never thought anything of it and now many years later an author I am.
What, or who, inspired you to start writing?
I guess you could say I was my own inspiration as I started writing solely for myself. I used writing as a way to express an overload of feelings I had within me. I would write when I felt extremely sad or frustrated or felt like I wanted to be understood or heard. I felt like I felt a lot and had a lot of emotions that I did not want to burden anyone else with so I would write them down and I found it very therapeutic.
And what influenced your debut poetry collection ‘Don't Look Back You Are Braver Than That'?
My debut poetry collection ‘Don’t Look Back You Are Braver Than That’ is actually a collection of poems I had written over a number of years that I had never intended to publish. The book itself was a collection of some of the poems that were all previously written then re-arranged in story form to tell a story of true love, true heartbreak, and the process of healing and letting go. The purpose of publishing was to help others that were finding it hard to let go and move on, help them find understanding, strength, love, and most importantly comfort in knowing they are not alone in a time that can make them feel very much so.
How has your life in general influenced your work in general?
I write from my own experiences in life so whatever you have read was not written to be written but actually felt and then written and I do feel like that makes a difference. I do feel like writers that write from their own life experiences are more relatable even more believable in a way.
And how do you find the balance between writing about your own personal experiences and exploring topics that may not necessarily be autobiographical, but still speak to many people?
I believe that writing from your own experiences is always the best way to go and even something autobiographical can be written in a way that does not feel like it and can be found relatable by many. No matter what you write about whether it is autobiographical or not what is important is how you express yourself and your feelings in a way that others can feel they connect to. I believe that personally I will always write about my own experiences and the beauty about poetry is that no matter what topic it is, love, heartbreak, friendship, freedom, beauty or whatever it may be if you write it well people will relate.
What makes a piece of your writing right to post on your Instagram, versus the ones that stay in the book?
When it comes to Instagram the truth is the shorter the pieces are the better. People are just swiping constantly so no-one is going to sit there and read through a long post they prefer shorter ones.
And finally, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Just write. If you want to write then just do that, do not think of anyone or anything else but writing about something that you enjoy writing about. The most successful writers and the happiest writers are the ones that in my opinion write for themselves. If you write what you love and what you are comfortable with it will resonate through your words and will also be enjoyed by others. Never force writing, only write about what you want and at the times you are inspired to do so.