The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Eddie Tay

By Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Why do you write?

Like most people (I suppose), my mind jumps insanely from one thing to another, moving from distraction to distraction. Therefore I write so as to distract myself from distractions, to be able to think. Writing is sanity. Everything else is madness.

Tell us about your most recent book or writing project. What were you trying to say or achieve with it?

It’s a book featuring street photography and poetry – I am trying to make the two artistic forms talk to each other. There’s a natural interaction between poetry and street photography in that they both work through images. In the case of street photography, the scenes are found rather than staged, so I’m learning to be more serendipitous with my writing as well.