Alex Chang, the story of the first Peruvian poet diagnosed with autism

A couple of years ago, Alex Chang Llerena fulfilled another of his dreams: he published his first collection of poems called “Entropy”. And, despite the fact that since childhood he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and fibromyalgia, nothing has been able to stop the Peruvian writer. He has also been a fellow of the program Scholarship 18, studies Veterinary Medicine and recited in a Lima International Book Fair. He has achieved everything thanks to his effort and that of his family.

Now, Alex was invited to participate in the Lima Poetry Festival which will take place on November 26 and 27 at the Manuela Sáenz Cultural House and the Place of Memory (LUM). His name is found among figures he admires such as Marco Martos, James Quiroz, Jhonny Barbieri and Emilio Paz, editor of the magazine “Kametsa”, where he is a columnist.

– You were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, which does not seem to have been an obstacle, for all that you have achieved.

There have been difficulties from a very young age, but I have been making progress until now. I have taken my psychiatric and psychological treatments from a very young age and I follow them to the letter. Today I am well with myself and I have progressed well, I can talk, understand many things that happen. Perhaps there are some situations that stress me or that I cannot accept from this world that we live in so fast, so competitive and so selfish as the world is today. But in general, I have been able to develop in various areas, both academic, cultural, family, social. Even some friends and colleagues I have obtained thanks to literature.

– How did your interest in literature and poetry arise?

I think he was born from a very young age, with the creativity and fantasy that he was already drawing in my mind. The imagination that many say. Children have a lot of imaginations and I was an example of this. From a very young age I have created universes with the furniture in my house, they turned them into airplanes, into ships. The chairs and the wardrobes, he turned them into dragons. This is how I remember it and over time I matured and I was transforming that fantasy into readings, into fairy tales. Then the books of poetry arrived, and so I continued feeding on readings that somehow caused me to write something of my own and I ended up writing my first book of poems “Entropy”. Later, I have been writing and publishing individual texts, stories, short stories, articles, columns, among others.

– You launched a collection of poems in 2019. What does it mean that you have named it “Entropia”?

I should highlight that the collection of poems has a cover of a painting by the Peruvian painter Misterio Mercado. In the first place, I gave it that name because my editor Ítalo Aparicio, whom I thank, suggested the title to me. At first it was going to be called, and this I did not say to anyone, “Singing to poetry.”

As poems also have something to do with music, lyrics, ballads, I first thought of that name, but Ítalo told me “why not call it Entropy? ” So I already knew what the word entropy was about. What does it mean? It is a measure of disorder in a given system. And he just told me that this title was good for the collection of poems because it encompasses all of it. I thought about it and I thought about it, and I said yes, it sounds better. The title falls well. I agreed with my editor and so I put it.

– What is your poem that you would highlight the most?

. It encompasses both the personal sadness of the author, as well as the sadness I feel for what I see around me, the world. So much misfortune, so much crime, corruption, poverty and not understanding this world, somehow poetry helps me to try to understand it a little more and that poem is reflected as a charged sadness. And there we can also see a bit of Vallejo’s footprint that has remained on me. The first time I wrote it, I was stunned. I felt like I was releasing a weight from my shoulders: a block of bricks and bricks fell on my back when I wrote this poem, “Tears of the soul.”

– Of the poets of whom you have read their works, which ones do you stand out the most?

A poet who caught my attention for the first time since I started reading was Vallejo, from a very young age. Later, the poet Blanca Varela, also impresses with her concise poems that say a lot: the language, the metaphor, the figures and the images so subtle that Blanca Varela suggests make her a teacher, a layer of poetry -not only Peruvian- but , Latin American. Another poet who has astonished not only me but many generations is the great Javier Heraud, considered by many critics the Peruvian Rimbaud, and I am surprised that at his young age he developed a very mature poetry, far ahead of his generation, I would say , very solid. He was an atypical case in Peruvian poetry and especially at his age, with his books he practically consolidated himself within the history of Peruvian poetry.

– What do you think of the current situation of poetry in our country?

We have a very rich tradition of poetry. Much more than the storytelling and novelistic tradition in Peru, for which we are proud. Worldwide we have recognized poets, even one is universal like César Vallejo. I don’t know if current poetry is declining or growing, but new relevant values ​​are appearing. Perhaps some poets are not so relevant in my opinion.

In general, all Peruvian literature is becoming a commercial product, empty, without content, merely entertainment. And this is also affirmed and said by the teacher Mario Vargas Llosa in his book of essays. It is no longer becoming a cultural product that goes beyond entertainment. That is what I can say not only about current Peruvian poetry but also about Peruvian literature today.

– What’s next for the future? Do you have new projects in mind?

I cannot advance the titles, but they are related to the pandemic that we have experienced, so I am letting them mature, and they are also related to the community with autism.

Also, I am thinking of writing a novel. I have it almost ready. It is a draft almost ready for publication. Well, I can only detail that it is a Peruvian heroine that can be any of the women who have fought for the country. It can be María Elena Moyano for example, a great social fighter. It can be Micaela Bastidas, it can represent any heroine you have seen in Peruvian and universal history. It is a detective novel, a thriller, where this heroine is going to face this hostile, corrupt and violent world in which neither the best fantasy nor the best fairy tale, not even God can solve this problem that is Peru and Latin America. That’s how dramatic my upcoming novel is.

– What message could you give, now that you are in the literary environment?

First of all, mention that I have changed my stage name, it no longer comes out as Alex Chang, now it is Alex J. Chang hereafter in my posts. Second, I would like the work to be valued as it is, not the person or the author, that is the most important thing. I want to highlight that. Especially me and other authors, value their books and not what they are or what they do in their private lives, which may or may not be controversial. It is their personal matter, what matters is to read the work, the book of each author, see if it is good or not, period.

Also say that yes you can get ahead, it is true, you can get ahead. With a lot of drive and a lot of grit, a lot of work, a lot of perseverance. Beyond the fact that pessimism and negativity reign in the environment, especially in the cultural environment, and they say ‘you can’t’, I tell them you can, with work, sweat, everything can be done.