As a part of our #HereForStories campaign, Chapter Two: Our Noble Heroes introduces the people who make the work Express Media and Voiceworks do possible; our lovely team!

We sat down with Voiceworks Poetry Edcommer Danny Silva Soberano to ask them about their work and why they see value in what we do.

1. Why did you join the Voiceworks team?

It was a long time ago, so I’m rusty on the details! I applied for Voiceworks around August in 2019 after a friend suggested it. I joined because I wanted poetry and community to be the centre of my life. I thought being a poetry editor would be a way into this. It was!

2. What do you like most about your work with Voiceworks?

a) I always point to joining the edcomm team as one of my beginnings; I would not at all be where I am, career-wise, person-wise, community-wise, without Voiceworks. b) I have really truly loved the other editors I’ve grown close to since joining edcomm. c) The writing! I have loved being able to read what emerging, young poets are thinking about, feeling about.

3. What do you see as the most valuable aspect of your work with Voiceworks?

There are so many things—but if I had to land on just one, it would be this: being able to read writers at their beginnings. I’ve edited for a couple different places now and Voiceworks is truly unique for the fact that it often draws writers at their most honest, with very little jadedness or cruel ambition.

4. Outside of your work with Voiceworks, what do you do and what do you like to do?

The professional answer is that I am a poet, editor, and essayist. The real answer is that work is a very little part of my life and that loving is a very big part of it. What do I do? I love—and I am surprised by everything.

5. How has your involvement with Voiceworks benefited you or your community?

I cannot emphasise enough that being an editor at Voiceworks and the thorough work expected of me with each piece has led me to develop strong and integral ethics as an editor. I believe in the importance of openness as an editor, of being questioning and curious about a work rather than ‘reparative’. My editing process is not, ‘this is what’s wrong and this is how you fix it’. Instead, I ask, ‘What are your intentions? How can we move towards your intentions?’ The team has really created the space for me to grow in this because they hold themselves to the same values.

 

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