Author interview: An interview with Anya Lipska who brings to life a rich and genuine picture of life and crime in London's Polish community
R: The Crime Warp’s latest interview is with Anya
Lipska. Anya was one of the New Blood
authors at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in 2013 and has
recently published the second novel in her Kiszka and Kershaw series, Death
Can’t Take a Joke. I first met Anya in
Harrogate - welcome Anya, it’s great to have you
as a guest on The Crime Warp.
AL: Hi, it’s good to be here too!
R: I’ve got lots of
questions about your books and characters, but I’d like to start with you. As well as being a novelist you’ve worked as
a TV producer and scriptwriter on serious programmes like Panorama as well as
popular shows like Scrapheap Challenge.
Why did you move into crime writing?
AL: Well, I suppose
that I always hoped to write and get published, and of course I always loved
crime. There’s something satisfying
about crime novels having a beginning, a middle, and an end, which appeals to
my journalistic background. What I never
suspected when I first thought about writing is that my books would be set
among the East End’s Polish community, but then having a Polish husband proved
to be useful inspiration…
R: You started as a
self published author with your first novel Where
the Devil Can’t Go. Why did you
decide to self-publish rather than go for the more conventional publishing
route?
AL: I got a conventional book deal with Random House in
Germany, which fell into place pretty quickly, but the UK turned out to be a
really tough market. Publishers here
just weren’t convinced that that UK readers would be interested in a novel
about “immigrants”. After eight or nine
months, I decided that I wasn’t prepared for my characters never to see the
light of day in the UK, where the book’s set, so I published an ebook myself.
Sales starting to creep up, I got some very positive reviews and a lot of
interest in the Polish angle from readers so it just took off. That led to a UK
deal with The Friday Project, an imprint of Harper Collins, which is working
really well.
R: Did you expect the
degree of success that you’ve had with the books? I’m wondering whether your first novel was
originally a one off or was it always intended to be a series?
AL: I thought the book had potential, but didn’t think
beyond the first novel, although my agent probably did! Writing a series has
pros and cons. You don’t have to start completely from scratch with every book,
it’s horribly easy to start repeating things – descriptions, turns of phrase
and so on. I have to keep checking back with the previous books. It’s a
difficult balance between keeping it fresh and not reinventing the wheel.
R: For me, one of the
big strengths of the novels is the authenticity of the Polish characters. Kiszka interests me – he’s someone that has
real depth – a really genuine person, whose past has influenced him
greatly. How did you create Kiszka? Was he modelled on anyone in particular?
AL: One of the biggest influences on Kiszka’s character is
probably his upbringing in Communist Poland. Totalitarianism casts a long
shadow I think, leaving scars on people in many different ways that they will
often never shake off. Kiszka isn’t modelled on a single individual, he’s a
kaleidoscope of different people I’ve met who lived through that era. It was
really important to me when writing the first book to be rigorous about the
historical accuracy of events, which stems in part from my journalistic
background. There’s a murder by the secret police, for instance, which is based
on a real event in the Eighties.
R: Oskar is
completely different though and I know some readers might see him as a
stereotype, but I think he’s a really accurate representation of many East
Europeans in everything from the way he talks to that kind of devil may care
attitude.
AL: Yes. I think many Poles can come across and quiet
and reserved and even a touch formal sometimes, but Oskar’s kind of off the
leash and letting his hair down, so you see a different side of the Polish
character in him.
R: How have your Polish friends reacted to the novels? Do they see the characters as authentic?
AL: When Where the Devil Can’t Go was published in the UK, I got a call from the Polish Cultural institute asking me to come in to discuss it. It felt like walking into the lion’s den, but thankfully, the Head of Literature there said I’d got the Poles down to a T, from their obsession with food to a deeper thoughtfulness. I was chuffed, of course, especially as it had been really important to me not to make my characters stereotypes, but to show the richness and diversity of Poles in the UK, to share their sense of fun and reveal their family and cultural traditions.
R: Looking at Kershaw, I thought that even though she and
Kiszka are very different people, they seem to have a great deal in common –
they’re both driven, deep thinkers and have a strong sense of right and wrong.
Is that the way you intended them to develop and come across?
AL: Kiszka came first – the idea of a Polish detective in
London, but I soon realised that a British character was needed, so I created
DC Natalie Kershaw. The middle aged traditional Pole and the young Londoner
mean the reader could view the world through their very different prisms. To
start with, they focus on the differences between them - youth versus age, the
suspicious cop vs the big foreign bloke who must be up to something dodgy - but
as the novel develops, they start to unpick each other’s prejudices and reach a
better understanding of each other, discovering that there are many traits that
they share.
R: I wasn’t sure about “Streaky” at first. The nickname felt a bit obvious. Why did you choose the name and did it mean
you had to work harder to develop his character in depth?
AL: It sounds crazy but it never came to mind at all! DS Alvin Bacon was a completely random choice
of name, and the nickname “Streaky” followed.
I only realised the connotation recently and I’m so relieved that it
didn’t offend my police friends.
R: Turning to plots, both have a strong mix of past and
present. In your first novel, Kiszka
uncovers the secret policeman’s past but there’s also a nice juxtaposition with
Kiszka’s hidden past too. How did you
develop the plotline for this novel?
AL: The first book took about two and a half years to write
and as part of creating the character of Kiszka, it was important to me to
understand deeper historical events. I conducted a lot of research, read a lot
of books, travelling to Poland twice, and spoke to many ex-Solidarity people. I
think it’s easy to look at the era in black and white, heroes and villains, but
the reality is of course, much more complex.
R: In book 2, Death
Can’t Take a Joke, there’s again that link between past and present in both
of the plots in the novel. I’ll try not
to give too much away, but I think that the Kiszka part of the plot is really
up to date and resonates with so many things in the news today.
R: The titles of your
books sound like they’re not quite English.
Are they translations from Polish?
AL: I didn’t want the books to have the standard crime fiction titles because I thought they should reflect the different nature and values of the Polish community. I find Polish sayings incredibly evocative, so the first book’s title is from a Polish proverb “Where the Devil can’t go, he sends a woman”, which neatly sums up Kiszka’s old school attitudes as well as his conflict-filled relationship with Kershaw. When it came to the second book I didn’t want to trot out another Polish saying – that might get a bit too Banacek! Instead, I drew on a famous Polish poem, “On Death, Without Exaggeration” by Wisława Szymborska. It lists the things that death, for all its finality, is unable do – ‘It can't take a joke, find a star, make a bridge’. The poem is saying that in the end, death doesn’t really have dominion over us and all we’ve achieved in our lives.
R: Are you working on
a third Kiszka and Kershaw novel or any other crime fiction projects?
AL: Yes. I’m on book 3 in the series in which Janusz
Kiszka’s long term girlfriend goes missing just as they are about to move in
together. Meanwhile, Kershaw has shot and killed a man in one of her first
operations as a firearms officer…
R: Final question – we’ve been asking people that we met
at Harrogate about what they’re currently reading. Which book are you reading at the moment and
would you recommend it to others?
R: Yes, I read that
one a little while ago, and like yourself, I found both the central story and
the historical background both fascinating and simply gripping (here's a link to a review on The Crime Warp: http://thecrimewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/book-review-twelfth-department-by.html ). Anya, thank you again for coming on the Crime
Warp. I really hope to see your new book soon.
AL: Djiekuje bardzo –
it’s been a blast.
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