—T'apropes a la llengua d'una manera diferent quan ho fas a partir del joc i no de manera acadèmica?
—No. Cal tenir en compte que el meu camp acadèmic no és la llengua és la literatura, sobretot dels segles XVI, XVII, XVIII. Quan vaig fer Cloc! l'únic que vaig fer va ser divertir-me escrivint. Després vaig saber que alguns professors i alguns mestres feien servir el llibre per a les seves classes. Era útil, per exemple, un poema fet amb pronoms febles, o històries fetes amb onomatopeies. I ho feien servir tot i que jo no ho havia pensat per un públic juvenil, no m'havia reprimit i hi ha paraules molt poc usuals, difícils i fins i tot antigues. Però els mestres ho fan servir i funciona. L'any passat vaig fer visites per instituts i escoles de Mallorca, vaig veure com treballaven els poemes i és impressionant. A Beabà tampoc hi havia intenció de fer-ho, beabà és sinònim d'abecedari però menys utilitzat, per això ho vaig agafar. Tot plegat forma part d'una trilogia, i la tercera part ja està escrita, és un llibre que es diu Llengoteries, que és una paraula que m'he inventat i que no existeix al diccionari. [...]

—Com a estudiós de la literatura, la ludolingüística pot ajudar a fer progressar una llengua?
—Home, jo crec que sí. Hi ha la formació de paraules i derivats, l'enginy dels jocs lingüístics… En aquest sentit, des de Verbàlia feu una labor extraordinària, és molt útil perquè és important que l'estudiant no vegi la llengua com una cosa pesada i avorrida, al contrari; és divertida i és important aprendre-la bé per poder-la fer servir i fins i tot per forçar-la i dur-la a l'extrem, que és una possibilitat que també resulta divertida. Recordo que al llibre anterior a Cloc! llegia alguns poemes als meus estudiants de la Universitat de Liverpool. I quan insisteixes sempre amb un so en un determinat poema sona estrany, i els estudiants em preguntaven si allò també era català, i em deien que sonava diferent del català de la classe. I era perquè portava la llengua a l'extrem. Però clar, per fer-ho cal conèixer la llengua.

(Oriol Soler: "August Bover: 'Tenim la responsabilitat de mostrar al públic les possibilitats de la llengua'", Núvol, 14 d'abril de 2015)

* * *

—How do you know when a poem is complete?
—Oh, this is a good question, a question that every poet must answer with every verse, with every poem, and it is not easy... You know that Paul Valery said that a poem is never finished, only abandoned. You need to work on every word, on every line, until you think it is not possible to improve it, then you should put the poem away in a file, to leave_it there for some time, and work on it again a little later. But, in spite of my precautions, I'm not always sure if a poem is totally completed. [...]

—Much of your work has been translated into Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Japanese. Do you think your poetry loses anything in translation?
—Literary translation is always very challenging. To translate poetry is, no doubt, the most thorny of all literary translation because the translator must also be a poet, even if s/he doesn't realize it. Of course, every poem loses something in translation. But good translators of poetry are able to make compromises that result in a type of gain for the poem. A translation is no longer only the original author's work; a translation always give us two authors' work: the original author's and that of the translator. I've been very lucky because I've had very good translators. [...]

—Let's talk about your relationship with poetry.
—Probably the first poet I read was our great 19th-century romantic poet: Jacint Verdaguer. It was very unsual for my generation to read any literature written in Catalan, because under Franco's dictatorship Catalan language and literature were completely forbidden at school. But fortunately, during the Spanish Civil War, my grandparents were able to save some copies of the editions of Verdaguer's works and I was able to read those at home. My grandmother could recite by heart some of his poems and I still remember the reverance with which she spoke about this poet. A little later, and of course, always at home, I discovered another linguistic wizard: Josep Carner. [...] I started writing poetry during my last years at university when I was also writing songs - music and lyrics - influenced by the first singers of the Nova Cançó movement, which reinstated the use of the Catalan language. I stopped singing but continued writing, without considering publishing my compositions since I was so completely absorbed in writing my doctoral thesis and in my university work. I didn't publish until much later [...], the positive critical reception my works have received, encouraged me to focus more on creative writing, along with my academic production.

(Kristine Doll: "An interview with Dr. August Bover, Catalan Poet", The Seventh Quarry. Swansea Poetry Magazine, núm. 12, estiu 2010, p. 55-62)