Maja Urukalo Franov is a Croatian writer and poet based in Trento, Italy. She graduated in languages and literature to keep alive her passion for books and the literary world, and then pursued an MA in International Cooperation. Her work has been published across various literary magazines, like ARTEMISpoetry, SHIFT, Wishbone Words, and MINImag, among others. Her debut collection of poems, Ink & Blood & Nicotine, was published through the Australian In Case of Emergency Press. She’s a disability rights advocate and writes a Substack newsletter called A Crip Punk about all disability topics and adjacent, like living life with a chronic illness, chronic pain, accessibility, and such.
Maja is also a punk-rock enthusiast, self-proclaimed fashion icon, and prefers to walk up and down a big city with a cigarette and cocktail in hand rather than hiking in nature. In the future, she aims to publish long-form manuscripts, like fiction and non-fiction, and one or two screenplays. She will direct a short film based on her own script, “Voicemail,” that placed as finalist in Stowe Story Lab Short Film Grant.
Ink & Blood & Nicotine is a deeply personal and affecting collection which turns an unflinching eye on the issues of modern society, finding refuge in the words and songs which offer understanding and comfort. Urukalo Franov examines her world with a confronting directness, but leavens her poetry with humor and sympathy. At times chaotic and with the wild energy of creative thought, these poems will introduce you to a bold, new poetic voice, but will leave you to answer its questions as best you can.
You can purchase Ink & Blood & Nicotine through In Case of Emergency Press or through Amazon.
We at Hey! Young Writer had the privilege of asking Maja a few questions about Ink & Blood & Nicotine, as well as getting a glimpse inside the book itself.
Hey! Young Writer: Describe your book in two sentences.
Maja Urukalo Franov: Bojack Horseman meets Avril Lavigne. Ink & Blood & Nicotine is a collection of poems spit from the guts of an alternative/goth/punk romantic, overdramatic, bubble-gum gremlin.
HYW: What inspired you to write this book?
MUF: Music & overthinking.
HYW: What themes or ideas does your book explore?
MUF: There are several themes in this book: love, both romantic and obsessive; the relationship with my mother; childhood trauma; my struggles with mental health and the idea of suicide; death as a general concept; criticism towards society; the dread of an uncertain future that appears to be at the edge of its doom every year that goes by…. I think that these poems explore all the things that the Millennial Generation (my generation) thinks of on a daily basis.
HYW: What did your writing process look like?
MUF: I wrote all of these poems while sitting on the balcony of my ex’s house during the Summer of 2023, listening to the saddest rock songs and smoking cigarettes. I didn’t plan to write a collection actually. At first these were just some poems that I wrote in my notes app as they came out of my head, looking more like scattered thoughts than something coherent. But at some point the poems started to beg me to put them together and in a way it made sense. There was a common thread, not so much in a theme or idea, but in their brevity and the setting they came from and the fact that they put on the page, in black and white, all the things I am too scared and ashamed to say out loud.
HYW: What surprised you in the process of writing this book?
MUF: The existence of opposing feelings in me. I’ve always thought I could be a rational and coherent person, even in my emotions, but apparently I am too a mere victim of human complexities.
HYW: Is this your first book? Do you have any plans for future writing projects?
MUF: This is my first poetry collection. I am what you can call a versatile writer; I write in a lot of different genres: short stories, personal essays, creative non-fiction, screenplays, novels. I wish in the future to publish long-form manuscripts and maybe a couple of movies would be fun. Unfortunately (or maybe even fortunately), I’m not able to focus on one thing at a time. I need to multitask or I’ll combust.
HYW: What advice would you give to young writers?
MUF: Don’t be a writer. But if you really must, make sure to find other creative hobbies, some that you don’t need to monetise. And please, don’t use AI. Just don’t. It’s lame and disrespectful.
Here is an excerpt from Ink & Blood & Nicotine, featuring the poems “My Momma,” “New Paradise,” “Life is Messy,” “Lonely Nights,” “Suburban Kids,” and “Frankenstein’s Monster.”
MY MOMMA
My momma used to say
Never fall in love with men
Who don’t know how to give
Maybe she knew a shit or two
But I only listened to sad emo songs
And read nihilists
Who preached about doom and
That nothing matters
So here I thought I knew it all
Put on make-up and my
Best don’t-give-a-fuck face
Then I met a man who made me laugh
But never gave
And met another one
Who gave me too much
And I didn’t know how to take
My momma knew a shit or two
Now I’m grown up
And she’s five feet under the dirt
Now I have soft rock songs
That speak about people like me
And about hope at the end of the day
I still know shit
Why do we trace this Earth
Where do we end
My make-up is different
And maybe I give a fuck a bit
NEW PARADISE
This guy at the pub
Walks to me and goes
“Are you that Bobby’s friend?”
Here’s another guy hitting on me
I’m like fuck this, I’ll leave the tip
“I know no Bobby”
And then he says
“Weren’t you the chick who danced
With stars in her hair at New Paradise?”
So I go “Paradise is no place for me”
My friend Rebecca came over
She whispers in my ear
“This guy sells the best dreams in town”
I didn’t know about these dreams of his
But we gave him two bucks
And rent a motel room
Rebecca and I laid down on the mattress
I found my Paradise
In screaming colors and hazy lights
I left the tip
Found Rebecca drowned in her foam
LIFE IS MESSY
I met Roxy in Dublin
She’s dancing the pubs
Smiling in the cameras
Surrounded by friends
Simon called me the other day
He’s still in the same old town
He’s got a kid
Her name’s bright like the blue sky
Albert’s doing well up in Norway
Doing some cool job he says
Boosted his bank account
They’d asked me what I’ve been up to
Oh nothing really
I’m still that girl who dreamt of
Sunset Boulevard
And true love
I ran around in circles
Ending at the same street number
I tried my best
But did I?
Dated boys and girls
Took up jobs
Left before it got scary
I don’t know, man
I don’t know
Life is messy
We’ve all got bills to pay
Life is messy
LONELY NIGHTS
The lights are on in the house
It’s four am
I’m thinking of you
Chain smoking my lungs
Drinking brandy
And staring outside
I heard a noise
Did you pull up the garage door?
Feeling like a failed poet
I don’t kill my darlings
The night is young
But I wasted my best years
Talking to a ghost
And you are not coming back
SUBURBAN KIDS
Meet me in front of the church
With a six pack
And some cigarettes
That you stole from your dad
We used to be the suburban kids
Dressed in baggy clothes
Even in the scorching sun
Never came home on time
Wasting time on the steps of the local church
And Friday afternoons
Roaming the mall
‘T was the only place for us to be
After they shut the lan room
And the BK never fixed their
Milkshake machine
We are the generation that saw
The last video store
But I still have one movie I never returned
Collecting dust with the tapes
And the film of our lives unwinding
Where did all those years go?
Where did you go?
Bring me the six pack
And the cigarettes
FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER
Outer body
Outer mind
I was never the one
In control
They ripped my skin
Bent my bones
Closed me with a zipper
Like the latest pricy Gucci dress
But I always felt like
The cheapest pair of jeans on sale
In a small vintage store nobody knows
And the doctors watching me
As if I was the XXI century Frankenstein’s
Monster
Touching me with their dead-cold hands
Finding all the wrongs
In my crippled limbs
My body was trash to them
Abnormal
Weird
How could it be loved?
How could it be cherished?
You can purchase Ink & Blood & Nicotine through In Case of Emergency Press or through Amazon.
