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Interview with Eric D. Goodman, Author of Tracks

Tracks by Eric D. Goodman (my review) is one of the best novel in stories I’ve read in a long time, and it will likely end up on my best of the year list. It not only reads like separate short stories, if you just want to read something satisfying in a short slot of time, but also is a connected story by the train, the conductor, and the mystery/action storyline.  In many ways, I’ve thought about how it reminds me of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, but the reader is the detective.  However, there also are deeper themes at work of feeling stuck and unable to move on or wanting to change, but unable to accomplish that goal because of an inability to take a risk or the inability to let go of the past.  I digress, just go read the review, you’ll see what I mean.

I’ve got a great treat for my readers today, as Eric agreed to an interview about his book and his writing experiences. Please give him a warm welcome.

1. Since Tracks takes place on a train traveling between Baltimore
and Chicago, it is clear that trains are important to you. When did
you first realize that you loved trains and what do they mean to you?

As a child, I think I had a love of trains that many children share:
toy train sets, a need to watch trains as they passed by, an urge to
place coins along the tracks to be warped and smashed by the
locomotives. And there was always a spirit of adventure involved with
coming across a line of tracks and walking along it.

I was probably about six when I took my first trip on Amtrak. It was
exciting, an adventure, and much more fun than the usual cross-country
driving trips my family took. But then there was a long period of no
trains. Unfortunately, trains seem to be underfunded in our country
and, therefore, are sometimes more expensive than planes and certainly
cars and busses.

It was when I was a college student traveling in Russia that I
rekindled my interest in trains. Trains were a popular and
inexpensive way to get around. I took sleeper cars on overnight trips
often while in Russia. Sometimes, that was the most fun part of a
trip.

2. Baltimore is almost like its own character in the book, looming
ominously over some of the characters while anchoring others to a
sense of home. Was it hard to show both the darker and lighter sides
of Baltimore given its reputation as a high-crime city? And how do
you view Baltimore, as a resident and a writer?

Baltimore is a wonderful place to live if you’re a writer or an
artist. The literary community is tight knit and most of the writers
I know are very supportive of their fellow authors. As far as the
crime goes, I think Baltimore is a lot like any other large city:
there are areas with high crime, areas with virtually no crime, and
much of the violent crime exists in its own little sub-culture. I’ve
lived in Ohio, California, Rhode Island and lots of places in between.
I won’t pretend they’re the same, but I will say that I’ve personally
encountered no more crime here than in the other places I’ve lived. In
other words, it exists, but it’s easy to avoid.

Baltimore has a lot of character; it was easy to set certain scenes
from Tracks in rich locations with exciting backdrops.

3. When writing Tracks did you find that one scene or character
surprised you? If so, which one and how so?

My writing tends to be inspired by an idea or theme or some nugget of
conversation that I found interesting. It doesn’t begin with plot;
the idea comes first, then the character, then the plot. So my
characters surprise me often. I know what I want the theme or idea to
be, when I begin writing, but not always exactly what they’re going to
do.

The Conductor, Franklin, sort of surprised me. His two stories were
actually the last two I wrote. In the original manuscript, he didn’t
even have his own stories. He appears in everyone else’s story and
always seems like such a nice, chipper, friendly guy. And he is. But
when I began to dig deeper and write about him in his own stories, I
discovered that he had another side.

4. The conductor and the Amtrak train tie the stories together, but
the stories also could stand on their own. Was there any point in the
process where you thought that 
Tracks should just be a short story
collection and not be a novel in stories? What convinced you to stay
with the novel in stories format?

I had written three stories individually before I decided that I
should make this a collection. Then, as I continued to weave the
stories closer together, I thought it would be nice to create a sort
of hybrid—to write a novel and a set of stories at once. Part of it
was with the goal of both working on a novel and having stories to
submit to journals at the same time. But part of it was just out of
curiosity—could I pull off a “novel in stories?”

Coincidentally, by the time this went to print, there seemed to be a
revival in the format: A Visit from the Goon Squad, Olive Kitteridge,
Later at the Bar, The Civilized World. But I wasn’t riding a wave; I
was doing my first draft before it started!

5. From first draft to publication, how long did it take to complete
Tracksand find it a home on bookstore shelves? Have you had any
champions behind the book that spurred you to get it published and who
have helped hand-sell (I use this term lightly — noting that social
media and the Internet could help spread the word) copies?

It’s been a long line of track. I think it was back in 2006 when I
wrote the first draft. I tend to write a manuscript, then put it away
for a year or longer, then rewrite it. So although I didn’t spend
time each year working on the manuscript, about five years passed from
first draft to bookshelf. During that time I wrote a couple other
book drafts (one of which is with my agent now) and did a lot of
tinkering and polishing. I had it ready to submit to agents in 2009,
got an agent in 2010, and secured a publisher later that same year.
Then it was released in 2011.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the kind reception Tracks has received from
other writers. Some of the biggest include Madison Smartt Bell,
Thomas Steinbeck, Bathsheba Monk, Jessica Anya Blau, Rebecca Barry,
and Victoria Patterson. I even got notes of congratulations (but not
official blurbs) from Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, T.C. Boyle, and
Junot Diaz! It’s felt good to be noticed, even if sometimes only as
an insect.

Thanks, Eric for answering my questions. If you are in the Washington, D.C., area and interested in reading Goodman’s book, he’ll be reading at the Open Door Series at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md., on Feb. 12 at 2 p.m. Register for the event.

 

Additionally, this is a stop on The Literary Road Trip since Eric is a local author in Baltimore, Md.

Interview with Allison Markin Powell, Translator of Schoolgirl by Dazai Osamu

I recently read and reviewed Schoolgirl by Dazai Osamu, which was translated by Allison Markin Powell from the Japanese this month and enjoyed its look at a teenage girl in post-WWII Japan.  Check out my review here.

One of my personal goals this year is to read more works that are translated from their original language into English, and as part of that, I hope to learn and share with you what I learn about the translation process and what translators find so attractive about their work.  To that end, I’m happy to share with you my recent interview with the translator of Schoolgirl, Allison Markin Powell.

Please give Allison a warm welcome.

1. Schoolgirl was originally written in Japanese by Osamu Dazai; Is Japanese your first language? If not, what prompted you to learn the language and start translating Japanese books into English? Also, I’ve noticed the use of “obsequious” several times in the book, does this have a literal translation into the Japanese?

English is my first language; I didn’t start studying Japanese until I got to college. I had studied French since middle school, and liked learning a new language, so I wanted to try one that was quite different. Japanese was a rather arbitrary choice, and little did I know how challenging it would be. But I was fascinated–in particular with the beauty of the written language–and eventually learned enough to start practicing with translation.

The word ‘obsequious’ in the text is a translation of hikutsu (卑屈) in Japanese.

2. Do you translate books from other languages? If so, which of those books would you recommend to my readers?

I only translate books from Japanese. Next month a novel that I translated, The Briefcase by Hiromi Kawakami, will be published by Counterpoint Press. Kawakami is immensely popular in Japan, and The Briefcase was a huge bestseller. It’s a wonderful book.

3. Could you describe a little bit about the translation process and what surprised you most about translating Dazai’s work?

I imagine every translator has their own idiosyncratic process. I try to read the work at least a couple of times before I start translating it, and hope that I begin to hear the author’s voice in English develop in my mind. I think it’s very important for the translator to feel comfortable with the author’s style. There have certainly been writers with whose style I’ve been incompatible.

Dazai is one of Japan’s most beloved writers and his work is extremely challenging to translate, although I can’t say that was surprising. He expresses himself so clearly in Japanese, yet his syntax is incredibly complex when you break down his sentences, as a translator must do. Last year I also had the opportunity to translate a modern adaptation in manga form of Dazai’s most famous novel, No Longer Human. That book is supposedly somewhat autobiographical (and terribly dark) and it presents an interesting contrast to Schoolgirl.

If I had to name something surprising about this book, though, I suppose it’s the tender quality of the vein of sadness that permeates the girl’s story. The scene she recalls in her sister’s kitchen makes me catch my breath every time.

4. How did you get into the business of translating? Did you just pick up a book and start translating it into English and shop your translation around or was it through other means?

Many translators would probably laugh at the phrase, ‘the business of translating.’ I’ve been interested in literary translation ever since reading The Little Prince in French class, and so I worked in the publishing industry for years, in order to understand how it works and who makes decisions about what gets translated and published. I had translated some fiction when I was in graduate school (as yet unpublished), but my first paid translation project was a manga series, which is a great gig for a freelancer because it’s steady work. Now I translate all kinds of books from Japanese–fiction, of course, but I’ve also translated biography, art & architecture books, craft books, and so on–and I edit Japanese translations as well.

5. Have you ever thought of writing your own novel in English or another language? Why or why not?

I have no interest in writing my own novel. I find that the art of translation suits my creative impulses quite aptly.

6. Please tell us a little bit about your work with Words Without Borders?

Words Without Borders is such a vital organization. These days there are more and more people and publications paying attention to and promoting international literature and works in translation–especially online–but that wasn’t the case when WWB started. I went to college with Samantha Schnee, one of the founding editors, and I was immediately interested when I heard about their mission. I jumped at the chance to guest edit an issue focused on new writing from Japan, which came out in May 2009. Translating can be such solitary work, and that was an incredible opportunity to reach out to other translators–to solicit ideas, to hear what they were working on, and to see what their process was like. I still submit translations to WWB whenever I can, and I’m tremendously grateful to be a part of the community they support.

7. Are there specific steps that you could suggest for someone interested in translating works into English or particular degrees/career paths that they should consider as a stepping stone?

I wouldn’t say there are specific steps along this career path, although in literary translation, it seems the vast majority of translators are in academia, a setting that provides ample opportunity to read and learn about writing in other languages. However, since I am not in that world, I can’t really speak to whether or not that facilitates one’s career as a translator.

My best advice is to do everything possible to hone one’s translation skills, which not only involves practicing translation but also reading widely–both in English and the language to be translated. Research who publishes the kind of work you wish to translate, both in print and online, and reach out to them. A (savvy) idea might be to start reviewing books in translation for any of the sites that promote international literature.

Thanks, Allison, for sharing your work with us and for providing us some insight into the translation process.

Guest Interview: Rock Band Glossary’s Joey Knieser Gets Literary by Vicki Keire

While I often talk a lot about books, poetry, writing, and author and publishing events, I rarely talk about music here, even though it is one of my passions.  I could go on and on about the reasons I love certain bands and certain genres of music, and why I dislike other bands and other genres of music.  However, rather than listen to me ramble on about my tastes and thoughts, I thought I’d share with you an interview from Vicki Keire with Glossary‘s Joey Knieser and his thoughts on books.  (Click on the band name for a few YouTube videos of their songs)

Without further ado, please welcome Vicki and Joey.

The summer before I met Joey Knieser of the rock band Glossary, I was hundreds of miles from home writing the novel that would eventually become The Chronicles of Nowhere (volume one released today through Curiosity Quills Press.) I spent the weeks preceding our meeting wandering beaches bleached white as bone, watching as BP oil-choked kelp rolled in and strangled the shoreline.

Armed only with a battered laptop, I propped it open and listened to my modest music library while watching the waves, waiting for them to carry away the personal disaster that had driven me here. That’s when Glossary started to haunt me. One album in particular became a favorite, on almost constant repeat: their album Feral Fire, with the aptly named “Your Heart to Haunt” in heavy rotation. If the band hadn’t planned a stop in my hometown that summer, I’m not sure I would have come home. But come they did, and I had the genuine pleasure of both hosting them in my home and seeing them play one of the songs most influential to my writing. Naturally, Glossary is at the top of my list when I think about writing and music, and how, for me, the two often intersect.

I caught up with guitarist/ singer-songwriter Joey Knieser to find out if books had a reciprocal power with musicians. Joey, along with most of the band, lives in Murfreesboro, TN, just outside of Nashville. He graciously agreed to answer questions on everything from his favorites books to the impact of the digital revolution on books and music:

Q: What books are you reading now or want to read?

A: I am currently in the middle of reading Tom Franklin’s novel, Hell at the Breech. I’d like to read the rest of Tom Franklin’s stuff. There are a couple Walker Percy books that I haven’t read, and I hope that I will be able to some day.

Q: What are some of your all time favorite books?

A: My all-time favorite books are Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.  Just like the music I seem to go back and listen to over and over again, these classic books just seem to have in them something that appeals to me. You could pick up these two books at any time and read a couple sentences, and before you know it, you’re back into reading it for the millionth time. Being a Southerner, these books have become really important to me.

Q: Do you prefer eReaders or “regular” books, and why?

A: I prefer eReaders because I’m legally blind, and before the eReader, I was limited in what I could read. I had to read only what I could find in large print. But now, with an eReader, I can read any book by just increasing the size of the font.

Q: Do you think the digital revolution will have similar effects on the book industry as it has had on the music industry?

A: Absolutely. It will have the same effect in that content is delivered directly to the customer, which, as a result, changes the current business model that both those industries have had up to this point. In the music industry, there seems to be less and less of an importance to have major labels. In the same way, in the book publishing industry, it seems that the major publishing companies have less and less importance. The digital revolution has put the power in the hands of the artist. The way an artist can connect with an audience is simple and direct. The only problem the artist will have now is to find their audience.

Q: Your album Feral Fire got its name from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. What about the novel appealed to you?

A: The quote from the novel had little to do with the novel itself. I liked the novel, but they were two words that poked out to me. I thought the alliteration had a real sense of longing. I could never really get that title out of my head while I was writing the songs for the album. It seemed like “feral fire” had a sense of longing and desperation, and basically I felt the songs on the record reflected those emotions.

Q: Are any of your songs influenced by books, and if so, which ones?

A: There are several. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to a church and they sing a hymn that talks of heaven being, “the sweet forever.” I thought that was a great way to describe eternity. I used that phrase to actually title one of my songs in Feral Fire. I did write “Adalina” after I read The Sun Also Rises, because the song deals with a man that can’t have the woman that he wants much like the narrator in The Sun Also Rises can’t have Lady Brett. I actually used a line in “Adalina” that is straight from the book: “of all the ways to be wounded.” I just used it in the same way that Hemingway does, that there are a million ways to be wounded in this world, but that one person you love so much doesn’t love you the same way, and that’s the deepest sort of pain you’ll ever experience.

Q: What particular genres interest you?

A: Being a Southerner, I’m always drawn to Southern writers. Southern goth, too. Anything that deals with the issues of Southern culture and identity, books that deal with the Southern culture and way of life.

About the Band:

Glossary just released its seventh album, Long Live All of Us, available from This Is American Music and Last Chance Records. Glossary has been featured on NPR’s World Café, mentioned in USA Today, Paste magazine, and numerous other acclaimed music publications while being routinely featured on too many “Best of” lists to count. The band consists of bassist Bingham Barnes, singer/percussionist Kelly Knieser, pedal steel/guitarist Todd Beene, drummer Eric Giles, and frontman/ guitarist Joey Knieser.

 

Vicki Keire

About the Interviewer:

Vicki Keire grew up in a 19th Century haunted house in the Deep South full of books, abandoned coal chutes, and plenty of places to get into trouble with her siblings. She has taught writing and literature at a large, football-obsessed university while slipping paranormal fiction in between the pages of her textbooks. She is the author of the bestselling Angel’s Edge series, which includes Gifts of the Blood and its sequel, Darkness in the Blood. She is included in the Dark Tomorrows anthology with J.L. Bryan and Amanda Hocking and now writes full time. You can find her online.

 

This post is part of the Curiosity Quills Blog Tour 2012.

Curiosity Quills is a gaggle of literary marauders with a bone to grind and not enough time for revisions – a collective, creating together, supporting each other, and putting out the best darn tootin’ words this side of Google.

Curiosity Quills also runs Curiosity Quills Press, an independent publisher committed to bringing top-quality fiction to the wider world. They publish in ebook, print, as well as serialising select works of their published authors for free on the press’s website.

Interview with Victoria Connelly, Author of Dreaming of Mr. Darcy

I recently read and reviewed and loved Dreaming of Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly, which is the second book in her trilogy for Jane Austen addicts — just like me.  If you’re looking for drama on and off the movie set in Lyme Regis as an adaptation of Persuasion is filmed, this book fits the bill and even offers more Austen fun.  Characters resemble Emma, Darcy, and the other characters we know and love, but the story is modern and fast-paced as Connelly’s cast makes their way in the world and take ahold of their passions.

Connelly was kind enough to answer some interview questions about her writing and the book, so please give her a warm welcome and feel free to join in the conversation.

1. Tell us about your writing space. Do you have a specific place that you prefer to do your writing? 

We have just moved to a little cottage in rural Suffolk and I now have my very own study which I love!  From my window, I can see fields full of horses.  It’s lovely and peaceful and I’m surrounded by books and photos for inspiration.  My desk is a big old Victorian pine table, cluttered with pen pots, photo frames and mugs.  I love my desk and I’m very happy working there but I’m equally happy working with my laptop when we go away.  I can work in most places as long as it’s quiet and there aren’t too many distractions.

2. What does a normal writing day look like? 

I like to get a bit of writing in first thing in the morning before walking our dog and taking care of our hens.  Then I work until lunchtime, walk the dog again and then write until the middle of the evening.  I try to write about 1,000 words a day and – if it’s not going well – I can still be writing late into the evening.  The joy of working from home is that you can set your own timetable and make your own rules so, if it’s a lovely sunny day, you can down tools and have a day out or work right through the weekend if you want to.

3. What sorts of things inspire you?  

Well, for the last few years, Jane Austen has been my big inspiration.  I’ve been rereading her books, watching the glorious adaptations and visiting the Austen locations of Hampshire, Lyme Regis and Bath which all helped inspire my trilogy about Austen addicts.  Other things that have inspired past novels have been junk mail (which inspired Molly’s Millions), Venetian masks (inspired Unmasking Elena Montella) and my husband being sent to a war zone inspired my novel Flights of Angels!  Inspiration comes from all around me: people, places, other books and films – I’m never short of ideas which is really exciting.

4. Do you have any quirks when it comes to your writing process? 

When I start a new novel, I like to get a new coloured A4 file and I put all sorts of things inside it like photographs, maps, leaflets etc.  But the very first thing that goes inside it is a spider diagram with all my characters’  names on it.  I can’t begin a new novel until that is in place!

5. Anything else you’d like to share! 

Last year, I released some books on Kindle including three magical romantic comedies that were all published in Germany.  One – Flights of Angels – was even made into a film but this is the first time the novels have been available in the English language and they’re all doing really well as ebooks.  I also plan to write a novella sequel to my Austen addicts trilogy where the main characters from each of the books return to Purley Hall in Hampshire for a special Christmas Austen conference.  It should be available in time for next Christmas so watch out for that!  I think Kindle is a really exciting way forward for books.

Thanks, Victoria Connelly, for answering my questions.

Interview With Jeryl Brunner, Author of My City, My New York

My City, My New York by Jeryl Brunner should appeal to those looking to visit New York City, and that includes those looking to attend Book Expo America in 2012.  Not only will the city be humming with authors and new books, as well as parties and networking events, but there are landmarks, statues, museums, and more.  Brunner’s book offers a unique perspective on the city, highlighting some of the best places enjoyed by those who live there, and it reads like a regular who’s who list of celebrities, including Woody Allen and Will Shortz’s favorite spots in the city.

Brunner kindly agreed to an interview and the opportunity to tell you a little more about herself and her book.  Please give her a warm welcome.

1. What inspired you to create your book, My City, My New York, about favorite places of celebrities from New York City?

I love New York City! Ever since I was a little girl, living in Yonkers, New York about 45 minutes away, I dreamed of living in the Big Apple. (And from the time I was 15, I visited every weekend to take drama and dance classes here. New York City held so much promise and opportunities. It seemed to be a place where I could ignite a dream. So when it came time to go to college, I knew that I had to attend New York University and live in Manhattan. I’ve more or less lived here ever since.

So with this book, I wanted to share my passion for New York City – but as seen through the eyes of others. And also, whenever I’m in a new locale, I love to ask people who live there, what would be your idea of a perfect day – if you could do anything what would you do, eat, experience, etc. And the answers are not only informative; they also speak volumes about the person sharing the information. It’s really telling. So I love learning about someone based on what they tell me about how they spend their free time. You learn so much!

2. Did you know all the contributors through your job as a journalist or did you seek their contributions through other means?

I knew some of the people featured in the book because I had interviewed them so many times while working as a journalist. But others, I connected with through friends or friends of friends. It took a lot of time and commitment to reach all those people.

3. What are your personal connections to New York and how did you decide and become a celebrity journalist?

I had always wanted to become an actress. I was a drama major at New York University and many of my friends are actors. So I love talking to actors about their craft. I love that actors have the freedom to step out of themselves and become someone else. I got cold feet about acting, but I always loved the idea of talking to actors about what they do, how they approach a role, knowing what makes them human. So I became a celebrity journalist when I began working at In Style magazine. It was the mid-1990s and the magazine was brand new then and my boss was seeking a reporter. (I explained my deep personal connection to New York in question 1 but can elaborate here if you wish.)

4. Name 3-5 of your favorite places in New York City that you recommend to anyone.

I adore Central Park. I can visit nearly everyday and it’s not enough. I’m in love with water so the reservoir is particularly special. But I love so many features of it – the soft dirt so it’s not as jarring to walk on, the gorgeousness of the water with the buildings as a backdrop is so dramatic and interesting. Every time I visit, it’s different, the light is different and it’s so beautiful to me.

I just visited the Garden of St. Lukes in the Field for the first time and was blown away by the serenity and peacefulness of the place. Bill Pullman and John Cameron Mitchell love the tucked away lush little treasure. When he was rehearsing the show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell used to study his lines there from a bench under a tree. Bill Pullman will picnic there. It’s such a special place! But who knew!

I love the bike and walking path along the Hudson River called Hudson River Park. Each little section feels like its own state or country. And the further North you go, the more bucolic the landscape on the other side, across the river when you’re looking out into New Jersey. I stop at the big Fairway market right on the river around 135th Street, stock up on picnic items and have a picnic along the water’s edge. It really feels other worldly and beautiful. It’s like you’re going on vacation without having to go very far.

While the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is beautiful and has its own allure, I adore the Christmas tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The ornaments are breathtakingly beautiful works of art. Some are very baroque. The tree is placed in a beautiful courtyard at the Met and always stops me in my tracks. I love it!

5. When writing poetry, prose, essays, and other works do you listen to music, do you have a particular playlist for each genre you work in or does the playlist stay the same? If you don’t listen to music while writing, do you have any other routines, obsessions, or habits?

I love listening to music, but for some reason, I usually need silence when I write. Every once in a while though, I listen to a beautiful song from Stephen Sondheim. He writes so beautifully, he always inspires me! I write from my laptop computer and my favorite place to work is outside. Weather permitting, I always try to work in Central Park. (Thank goodness for my wi-fi modem!)

6. If you read poetry, do you have any favorite poets or contemporary poetry collections others should read?  Favorite fiction/nonfiction books?

I like E. E. Cummings. And I’m not sure if you want to call him a poet, but one of my favorite poets/wordsmith is William Shakespeare. He strings words together like no other. And although he wrote hundreds of years ago, his themes are still so relevant. And he strings words together so beautifully.

Anything by David Sedaris, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sarah Vowell, David Mamet, Tennessee Williams and Douglas Carter Beane. (I love to read plays!)

Thanks, Jeryl, for answering my questions. I can’t wait to see what you write next, and I just love David Mamet!

About the Author:

For author and journalist, Jeryl Brunner, a good interview is like a tango – complex, soulful, fiery, exciting and illuminating. And she’s been dancing for years, contributing to a variety of publications including O, the Oprah Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Delta Sky, Elle.com, ForbesTraveler.com, Four Seasons, People, Us Weekly, Brides, Parade, AOL and Huffington Post.

Author Jeryl Brunner

Jeryl joined In Style magazine in its infancy in 1994, and remained on staff for nine years. As a correspondent at the magazine, she wrote items for nearly every section. One of her regular columns was “On the Phone,” where she gave a celebrity a cell phone and called the star at random during the week. She also wrote “Lookback,” the magazine’s final page. Since beginning her freelance career, she has covered celebrities, travel, trends, food, fashion and entertainment.

“Freelancing offers such a delicious variety of experiences,” says Jeryl. Her work has taken her to the Lord of the Rings premiere in New Zealand; to a luxurious spa in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and to the hospital in St. Remy, France where Vincent Van Gogh painted The Starry Night. “I adore the reporting process,” she says. “It’s like peeling the layers of an onion until you get to the freshest and most pungent part. Always curious, I cannot think of a time when I was afraid to ask questions. As a child, I used to come up with subjects that interested me, but knew little about, and spent hours in the library investigating (that was long before computers and the internet! I miss the card catalog.) There was something so exciting about the quest. Now I get to and ask questions for a living. And with writing, there’s something liberating about having a blank screen and painting with words.”

Jeryl lives in New York City. She cherishes walking along the reservoir in Central Park, is absolutely mad for The Musée Rodin in Paris (especially the Camille Claudel room), will never walk out of a play (no matter how bad it is), wonders if you can say you’ve read a book if you only listen to it, gets a buzz from one sip of pink champagne, always leaves hotel rooms very neat, is gaga for her super cool nephews and has downloaded an embarrassing amount of show tunes on her iPod.

Interview With Beth Kephart

Earlier today, I posted my review of You Are My Only by Beth Kephart, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and later on in the interview, I’ll let you know how you can win a copy of your own.

I’ve read Beth’s work for the last few years, and I’ve enjoyed her books very much, and I’ve come to understand her writing process through her blog posts and her email conversations.  I just adore her spirit and she’s very motivating even if she doesn’t realize she’s being so.  I was so happy when she agreed to be interviewed about her stellar novel about child abduction, a tough topic for adult and young adult readers alike.

Many of you may have read enough reviews of this book, and some of you may be avoiding the book for one reason or another.  I hope that this interview will help those on the fence about the book to jump off and give Kephart’s work a try.  Without further ado, please welcome Beth.

1. You Are My Only is a haunting title with an equally haunting cover. Was it your intention to create a story that would haunt its readers and get them thinking more in depth about child abduction?

Thank you, Serena, for asking such a great first question. First, the cover credit belongs entirely to Neil Swaab, whose work is exquisite. He reads the books he illustrates and that makes all the difference. Second, this book was evolved over such a long period of time that I cannot say that I set out, from the start, to get people thinking more about child abduction. I was thinking about heartbreak—the loss of a child—and how one manages to survive it. I was thinking about the compassion we must have for people whose hearts have been broken.

2. Some readers have said that Sophie’s voice is stronger and the most engaging in the novel. Do you see one voice as stronger than the other? Why or why not?

I am delighted that readers are distinguishing between the voices, for that, I think, is one of the hardest things to do—to make certain the characters sound just precisely like themselves. Sophie is 14 and while she lives an unusual life, she has not been crushed; she is also gaining an education, however unorthodox. Emmy is not nearly as educated, but she has her own poetic intelligence, and she is heartbroken. I love the characters equally. I typically hear a greater preference for Emmy from adult readers and a greater preference for Sophie from teen readers. It never occurred to me that readers would choose one voice over the other; the two voices are necessary to complete the story.

3. Of the scenes that your wrote in the novel, the soaked feet of Emmy swimming like fish in the pond of her Keds has stayed with me longest, in effect symbolizing the disembodiment of her from the life she knew before her child was abducted. Is there a particular scene that woke you from sleep or came to surprise you as you were writing?

Thank you, Serena. This entire book kept me awake for a very long time. The truth is that, while You Are My Only is a novel, some women do live the terribly bereft life of a lost child, and some children are growing up inside airless homes. I felt a great desire to get this right, a great urgency to keep reworking the stories until they honored the emotions (if not the precise storylines) of what real people have endured. I hardly ever sleep when I am working, which is to say: I sport some pretty dark circles under my eyes.

4. Your work often has a poetic feel and I know that you’ve written poetry before. Did/do you have plans for a poetry collection in the future? If not, have you read any great poetry collections that you’d recommend?

I do not have a poetry collection pending, though years ago I thought (for a brief moment) about trying to package a book of poetry and art. It still sits on my computer. I love Neruda, Stern, Gilbert, Ondaatje, Kunitz.

5. Poetry is often considered elitist or inaccessible by mainstream readers. Do poets have an obligation to dispel that myth with their writing styles? Or what other solutions do you see to get more mainstream readers interested in poetry?

Oh, my goodness. This is a great question, but I am not sure I have a good answer for it. Poets have an obligation to be rigorous with language, to imagine deeply, to feel deeply, to know. The rest of us are impoverished souls if we can not find our way to the work of these poets. (And please know that I am not counting myself among these poets; real poets do more than I can do or have done.)

6. Finally, your blog often covers writing struggles, shares photography, and some of your recent reading. How do you find time to balance the blog, writing, and your job teaching? Are there particular habits, routines, or obsessions that help you accomplish that balance?

Oh, Serena, I have no balance. I am grabbing at time, getting up very early, despairing that I will never finish or sell another book. The only thing I know for sure right now is that I cannot work on the computer when I am writing a novel. I have to go to another room and find a slice of sun and some silence. The vast majority of my time is spent running a business—a boutique marketing communications firm called Fusion. The next big chunk of time is spent making sure the house is in order—the bills paid, the floors swept, the meals on the table, and (when my beautiful son is home from college, I try to spend as much time as I can with him, of course). During spring semesters at the University of Pennsylvania, I spend about twenty-five hours each week teaching, preparing for class, working with new students and former students. Finally, to relieve the pressure of things, I dance. And so I write far more slowly than anyone realizes. Weeks will go by without a novelistic or memoiristic word. The blog is my outreach, my way of writing at least some one thing each day.

Thanks, Beth, for answering my questions; it has been a pleasure conversing with you in last year or so. As a bonus to my readers, Beth agreed to share a picture of her writing space; isn’t it gorgeous!

Beth Kephart's Office

To Enter to win 1 of 2 copies of You Are My Only by Beth Kephart, leave a comment on this post.

For a second entry, let me know that you commented on my review.

For up to 3 more entries, share this giveaway with people on Facebook, Twitter, and/or your blog and leave a link.

Deadline Nov. 18, 2011, at 11:59 PM EST. Perfect holiday gift.

Interview With Emma Eden Ramos

I recently had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Emma Eden Ramos‘ first chapbook, Three Women:  A Poetic Triptych and Selected Poems at the beginning of November.  Her collection creates three unique female voices who are connected.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Emma via email to learn a little more about her as a poet and her collection.

Without further ado, please welcome her.

1.  How would you introduce yourself to a crowded room eager to hang on your every word?  Are you just a poet, what else should people know about you?

I’m pretty shy and self-conscious in front of large groups of people, so I would probably begin with a short anecdote as a way to personally connect with the crowd. From there, I would go into my background.

I am a twenty-four-year-old student from New York City. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was about seven-years-old. That year I wrote my first short story, a fable, which ended up in a collection of children’s stories called Witches Brew.

I became interested in poetry later when my mother gave me a collection of Emily Dickinson‘s poems in my freshman year of high school. That was a rough year and I remember finding a great deal of solace in Dickinson’s words. I wrote my first poem that year, a poem about the main character from Edith Wharton‘s novel Summer. My English teacher was very supportive and encouraged me to continue writing. I did, on and off, until 2009 when I decided to take my writing more seriously. I wrote a novelette entitled Where The Children Play that was published in the Spring of 2010. I’ve been writing continuously ever since.

2.  How did you create the three women in your chapbook, Three Women:  A Poetic Triptych and Selected Poems?  Were they based upon people you know or yourself?

After I agreed to write a poetry chapbook, I grew nervous. though I have a deep love for poetry, I see myself as more of a fiction writer. Creating and developing characters is essential to my writing process. I need them as guides. With Three Women I was lucky because, though the editor of Heavy Hands Ink had never published a chapbook with a storyline and characters before, he was supportive of the idea.

When developing the three characters, I attached each woman to a certain female archetype from Greek Mythology. I saw Annette as a manifestation of Aphrodite. She is outwardly beautiful and has relied on her beauty throughout her life. However, after her son’s suicide, Annette’s physical “perfection” has become more of a handicap. The beauty she once treasured now fully masks Annette’s internal torment.

I saw Julia as Persephone. She is the daughter trapped in the Underworld, which in her case, is adolescence. However, Julia is also very much based on myself.

Milena is a warrior. I have met many women like her and am always floored by their resilience. As an archetype, I saw her as Athena. Milena possesses courage, intelligence, wisdom, and strength. She may be under Annette’s “professional” care, but she is not the one who is lacking in emotional resources.

3.  Do you see spoken word, performance, or written poetry as more powerful or powerful in different ways and why? Also, do you believe that writing can be an equalizer to help humanity become more tolerant or collaborative? Why or why not?

I love spoken word and performance poetry and am a fan of artists such as Ursula Rucker and Anne Waldman. There is a power, an electricity, that comes from experiencing a poem  performed. Initially, I think performance poetry is probably more powerful than written poetry because it is synesthetic. There is a hidden quality to the written word, however, that I think makes it more durable. When I read a poem, the words are locked in my consciousness in a very different way than when I hear a poem performed.

I do believe that writing can be an equalizer, a tool through which human beings can find a common ground. Writing is a form of communication. Thoughts and perhaps, more importantly, feelings are channeled and conveyed through writing. While individuals are different, as a collective we share feelings that are fundamental to the human condition. Writing–poetry, fiction, non-fiction–can and has been a medium through which those universal feelings are expressed.

4.  Poetry is often considered elitist or inaccessible by mainstream readers.  Do poets have an obligation to dispel that myth and how do you think it could be accomplished?

When I hear people say that they struggle with this or that poem, find it impenetrable, I often agree. I cannot count the number of occasions that I have finished reading a poem and thought, “Wow. Beautiful language. Beautiful imagery. If only I knew what the writer was talking about.” I don’t know why this is. I have heard poets argue that poetry is personal. It comes from an unconscious place and therefor can only be understood by the poet. I respect this answer and the artist’s desire for self-expression. However, as I said earlier, writing, poetry included, has the potential to be a tool for communication.

5.  Please share some of your favorite contemporary and classic poets and a favorite collection or two from those poets and why you enjoy their work.

One of my favorite contemporary poets is a woman named Brooke Axtell. I discovered Brooke when I came across her first poetry collection, Daughter of the Burning. This collection, as well as Axtell’s other work, is a perfect example of the power poetry has to communicate strong emotions and inspiration.

Other poets I love are Adrienne Rich, Patricia Smith, Linda Gregg, Sarah Hannah, Sharon Olds, and the list could go on.

Thanks so much Emma for answering my questions.  I wish you great success in your poetry.

Interview With Seth Steinzor

After reading To Join the Lost by Seth Steinzor (my review), I got to thinking about why anyone would “dare” take on Dante and modernize it.  Given the daunting task ahead of Seth when he undertook  the project, its no wonder that there was a very organic germination of ideas as he wrote.

Although some of the epic poem worked better for me as a reader than other places (which is pretty typical with larger poetry works to begin with), it is a solid first book with a great deal to say about our modern world.  Whether you agree is another issue altogether.

Seth was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book and writing in general, so without further ado, please give him a warm welcome.

1. To take on Dante must have been a daunting task, so what prompted you to modernize the tale? Do you have plans to modernize the entire Divine Comedy?

It didn’t start out as a project of modernization, although it certainly was daunting at first. For a while, until I relaxed into it, I felt as if I were building a scale model of the Eiffel Tower out of toothpicks. The idea that got me going is a good example of the convoluted way my mind works. I had loved Dante’s work for decades, but, being neither a scholar nor a critic, I always found myself at something of a loss when I tried to explain to people what I saw in it.

At last I realized that, as a poet, I could speak most comprehensively, vividly and precisely through poetry, and I also realized that the best way to describe what I saw in the Commedia was to place myself in the middle of it. “Modernization” was a consequence of that, but not a goal in itself.

2. Your training as an attorney must have been informed by your younger years as a poet, learning how to use an economy of words and to play with meaning in an effort to reap a desired result. What first drew you to poetry and later to the law? And have the two facets of your life ever conflicted on the page or elsewhere?

Law shares with poetry an extreme sensitivity to the meanings of words and punctuation, and a strong concern with matters of form. Of course, “meaning” in law and “meaning” in poetry are two different concepts. As long as I can remember, I’ve written poems. What drew me to law is a longish story, but basically, after I graduated from college, law presented itself as an interesting and congenial way for me to use my natural abilities and proclivities in the cause of justice. I spent about a year and a half working as an investigator for a Public Defender in Vermont, and then went to law school.

Law school itself turned me off, and although I graduated and passed the bar exam, I didn’t practice law for another eleven years, until I was given an opportunity to do an appellate argument and had great fun with it. I started working as a lawyer not long after that. My experiences working as an investigator and as a lawyer have fed my life as a poet, most conspicuously in the “thieves” and “fraudsters” sections of To Join the Lost. The only conflict, really, is that I have to work to make a living, and that takes time and energy away from my writing.

3. How much of your day job was modified and adapted to fit into To Join the Lost?

A lot. Several sections of the book were drawn from my legal experiences and knowledge. Also, as a lawyer, I have evolved a habit of thinking syllogistically, which in turn has made it easier to relate to Dante, whose primary mode of discursive thought was through aristotelian logic.

4. What kinds of obsessions, habits, or requirements do you have when you write? (i.e. love of chocolate, total silence, raging metal music in the background, etc.)

I need it to be quiet and still. In my house, my computer is in a small room lined with bookcases. The windows are too high to see out of. There’s an oriental rug on the floor and too much clutter on the horizontal surfaces, but it is a still and calming place. When I’m away from home, I use a spiral notebook and a pen and I can jot thoughts down just about anywhere, but for sustained effort I need the isolation and quiet.

On the other hand, once I have settled into the right space – physical and psychological, and the work is flowing, my cat is welcome to come and sit on my lap. I type and she purrs, until she gets bored and goes away. I usually write in the evenings after dinner, or on weekend mornings. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep until I have jotted down whatever lines had popped into my head. About half the time, that “inspired” stuff turns out to be worth keeping,and half the time, it’s junk.

5. What one piece of advice did you receive early on as a writer that propelled you to keep going and who said it?

This is a tough one! The temptation is to recall some bit of ego gratification I received, like when a beloved teacher told me,”You’re a poet.” But honestly, writing is just something I would have done anyway. I wasted a lot of years, time and energy going nowhere with it, however, due to substance abuse and other issues. The best piece of writing advice I ever got, the only one that has really made a difference, was so simple: write every day. I don’t remember where I first encountered it, or who said it in a way that finally sank home, and I don’t actually achieve it, but I actively aspire to it. Even if all I get is one line or phrase, even if I end up crossing that line or phrase out later, the discipline and constant attention to the work make all the difference. It took me years to understand this.

Thanks, Seth, for answering my questions. I wish you much success with your poetry.

Interview With Laura Harrington, Author of Alice Bliss

Earlier this month I not only reviewed Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington, but I also participated in her experiment Where’s Alice Bliss?  While my copy of her book has been picked up from where I left it, it has not resurfaced on Book Crossing yet.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

In the meantime, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Laura via email, and I can’t wait to share with you just how small the world is.  You may or may not know I’m a graduate of Suffolk University, but Laura has a special connection to my alma mater that I didn’t know about.

Without further ado, please welcome Laura.

I see that you are a writer of plays and musicals. How different is it to write a novel?

Each form has its limitations as well as things about it which are expansive. Writing novels has been a time of expanding my imagination and learning all kinds of new things about writing and myself as a writer. I find that I love pushing the boundaries, whether that’s from a play to a radio play or from music theatre to opera or from theatre to books.

What changes in discipline are necessary? How are writing them the same?

The actual writing process, the day-to-day activity of writing is the same no matter what the form. You have to show up and give yourself to it. I found I had to make my life very, very quiet in order to create the mental space for a book.

Alice Bliss is adapted from a musical you worked on, Alice Unwrapped, but did the war experiences of your father (WWII) and your brothers (Were they in Vietnam?) and your time at home inspire part of the story as well? How so?

My own family was blown apart by war and it’s something we rarely, if ever, talk about. My father returned from WWII and suffered from what was then called battle fatigue. My mother said, “The fellow I married didn’t come home.” In 1966, both of my brothers enlisted in the Air Force, one out of high school, one out of college. One went to Viet Nam, the other worked with NORAD. My parents were both grieving during those 4 years, as was much of the nation. Those were dark times. And nothing was ever the same again. Our family, as I knew it, was gone; my brothers were both changed by their experiences, and in a chain reaction, all of our relationships were interrupted, and some damaged beyond repair.

Those experiences and the silences that surround them in my family have inspired much of my writing throughout my career.

I write about what obsesses me, the things I can’t stop thinking about. I’m also drawn to the voiceless and the displaced. And I’m deeply disturbed about war and wish that I could do something to make a difference.

You and I have talked about your time at Suffolk University, working on plays for the theater department, how did that relationship begin and how would you characterize that experience in comparison to your other play writing projects?

Marilyn Plotkins and the theatre department at Suffolk have played a key role in my development as an artist. When I was given a fellowship year at the Bunting Institute (now the Radcliffe Institute) to write the musical JOAN OF ARC, Marilyn Plotkins committed to giving us a workshop production at Suffolk before I had even put pen to paper. That kind of support and belief is a remarkable gift. The result was an extraordinary night in the theatre with a great cast and crew. The composer for that show is Mel Marvin.

In a very nice twist of fate, we are now working on JOAN OF ARC again as a one-woman show with Nautilus Music Theatre in St Paul, MN. It opens on October 28th, starring Jennifer Baldwin Peden, one of the most gifted performers I have ever worked with. Hearing her sing my words is a peak lifetime experience.

Ten years later I returned to Suffolk University at Marilyn Plotkins’ invitation to create a musical that we would workshop with her current students. The composer was Jenny Giering (with whom I wrote ALICE UNWRAPPED) and that musical, CROSSING BROOKLYN, went on to a wonderful Off-Broadway production in NY with the Transport Group. We had a great time working with the students at Suffolk, many of whom traveled to NY to see the show.

When writing poetry, prose, essays, and other works do you listen to music, do you have a particular playlist for each genre you work in or does the playlist stay the same?

I don’t listen to music while I write because I feel that language is music. I can’t hear that internal music if there’s other music playing in the room.

If you don’t listen to music while writing, do you have any other routines, obsessions, or habits?

I start my day with a cup of tea, my journal, reading a verse of the Tao, and then swimming. In cold weather I swim at our local Y, in summer I swim in an incredibly beautiful quarry. Before writing, I sit quietly for ten minutes, doing nothing. Which is incredibly hard for me to do. And listening. I’m listening for my characters’ voices, or waiting to see an image, either of which can be the beginning of a scene. Something as simple as: «Matt Bliss is someone who knows how to be happy,» will set me on my way to creating a character or writing a chapter. Something as disturbing as seeing/imagining a helicopter crash can become a pivotal plot point.

When I’m beginning a project I walk everyday. Walking clears my head and lets me sort through some aspect of the story, or helps me focus on an important question to ask, or simply gives me a tiny detail to help me flesh out a character.

Books are critical during the writing process. I find I read even more voraciously than usual.

If you read poetry, do you have any favorite poets or contemporary poetry collections others should read?

I do read poetry. The compression and musicality of poetry is closer to playwriting and libretto writing than it is to the novel.

I love Stanley Kunitz and have recently re-read The Wild Braid. I am drawn to his astonishing simplicity. I love Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver, much of Sharon Olds. And I’m a huge W.B. Yeats fan. And Kenneth Patchen and and and …

What current projects are you working on and would you like to share some details with the readers?

I’m working on a new version of Joan of Arc, as I mentioned. I’m about to begin work on a commission from Playwrights Horizons in NY to write Alice Bliss, the musical, with the composer Jenny Giering and lyricist Adam Gwon.

And I’m deep into my second book. My next novel begins with water, as Alice Bliss does. There’s a large Irish Catholic family with six kids. It’s 1966 and the Viet Nam war changes everything.

Thanks, Laura, for answering my questions.  It was great getting to know you, your family, and your work.  Keep us posted on your new projects and novels.

Interview With Alma Katsu

If you are anything like me, then when you really love a book you want everyone to check it out.  You might be on Taker overload, but I’m going to hit you one more time this week.

What I loved most about The Taker is the darkness that is explored, how easy it is to be led astray when you think your life has changed inexorably, and what it means to love.  Love is a tricky emotion, particularly when you are obsessed with the object of that love.

What’s even better than loving the book, is adoring the author behind the book.  Alma Katsu is adorable, fun, and so intelligent, it hurts.  I was lucky enough to get her to answer a few interview questions via email, and I’m here to share them with you.  Of course, if you are looking for yet another entry to my ARC giveaway, please leave a comment below.

Without further ado, please welcome Alma.

The Taker is about love and immortals, but not vampires or werewolves. You may have been asked this question before, but why not vampires since they seem to be so popular right now?

When I started writing The Taker over ten years ago, the horror genre was languishing. Nobody wanted anything new that was ‘horror’, whether it was a vampire or a werewolf or something completely different. You’ve probably heard The Taker being compared to early Anne Rice; well, I remember at the very first agent consultation I had for The Taker, a well-known agent told me that no one wanted a vampire story, and there was room for only one Anne Rice in the business, so I should hang it up.

To be fair to the agent, my writing was pretty bad then, and maybe he thought he was doing a favor to the industry by trying to discourage me so very thoroughly. It just goes to show, though, that no one really knows what’s going to be popular in publishing (and again, to be fair to publishers, they admit this themselves.)

The atmosphere in your novel is rather ominous throughout, was it hard to ensure that condition endured through the entire book? Were there moments that were edited out that would have lightened the mood? If so, why did you eliminate them?

No, if anything, previous versions were darker! I think during my formative years as a reader, fiction tended to be darker and, in general, different from what modern readers have come to expect. And I have a fairly dark outlook on life, so the story it didn’t seem unusual to me.

(I would have loved to read the darker versions!)

You mentioned during the Novel Places event for The Taker that you admire Shirley Jackson and particularly, The Lottery. Did you have other influences as a reader and writer, and what about their style influenced you and can you see those influences in your work (i.e. feel free to provide an example of style from another writer in The Taker if you like)?

Speaking of writers of melancholy stories—Thomas Hardy was an influence (Hardy and not Dickens, that should give you some idea.) Patricia Highsmith, the crime and mystery writer. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Also, novels such as Fanny Hill or Moll Flanders—or their modern counterparts, Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue or Fanny by Erica Jong—that told the story of a woman trying to survive and making her way in the world during inopportune times.

I noticed a bit of a nod to Edgar Allan Poe in The Taker. Was that intentional? Have you read Poe? Which of his works would be a favorite?

I read a lot of Poe when I was very young. I admire his ability to create such original, yet deeply macabre, stories. He was not afraid to dwell on the dark thoughts that most of us occasionally have, and investigate them fully in order to find the story in them. Many writers toy at darkness and mimic what they’re read elsewhere, but Poe was willing to really understand darkness.

As a writer do you have any obsession and/or habits while writing, or music or how-to writing manual preferences? And can you offer advice as to whether an MFA is necessary for an amateur writer to get their book published or if the degree is worthwhile?

I went to a graduate writing program—Johns Hopkins—and while I got a lot out of that experience, I don’t think it’s necessary for everyone. It’s definitely a personal decision. Most programs won’t necessarily open doors to the publishing industry—only certain schools are well-connected enough to merit special treatment from a few agents or publishers. The only way to get the interest of an agent and publisher is to have written a darned good book or have an irresistible platform (for instance, you’re a big television star.)

I don’t think I have any obsessions but I try to have good habits: I work at writing every day, try to grow as a writer and produce better material today than I did yesterday.

Thanks, Alma, for sharing your thoughts on writing and writers.  If you are up in New England over the next week or so, Alma will be out and about signing books.  Pop by to see her, and please tell her I sent you.

Oct. 23 at Concord, Mass., Festival of Authors on the New Literary Voices panel at 3 p.m.

Oct. 27 at Longfellow Books in Portland, ME (This works well with her recent mention in Down East magazine and a short story in Portland magazine)

Oct. 28 at Jabberwocky Books in Newburyport, Mass. at 7 p.m.

This is a stop on The Literary Road Trip since Katsu has worked in Washington, D.C., and now resides in Virginia.

Interview With Poet Jessica Piazza

Poet Jessica Piazza

Last week an interview with Poet Jessica Piazza posted on 32 Poems.

Please check out a part of the interview below, and give her a warm welcome.

How would you introduce yourself to a crowded room eager to hang on your every word? Are you just a poet, what else should people know about you?

Usually I just tell people that I’m a word-nerd and that I’m generally ridiculous. I like getting that out there early. I also probably pipe in that I’m from Brooklyn, New York pretty early on, because I’m really proud of where I come from. Brooklyn has definitely become the trendy place to be for artists and hipsters of all ilk, but growing up deep in South (read: uncool) Brooklyn is a completely different story, and a very particular story at that. Other than that, I’m more likely to talk about my dog than myself. His name is Special and he’s seriously….special.

Do you have any obsessions that you would like to share?

Ha! Obsessions are my obsession. A quick Googling of me reveals that my entire writing life for the past few years focused almost primarily on ruminations about clinical phobias and clinical philias. I wrote poem after poem inspired by these weird obsessive fears and obsessive loves, and my entire manuscript is anchored by them. For me, that was subject was a natural one, since I get addicted to ideas or projects themselves and have to play them out until I’ve killed them in some emotional way. I mean, I *only* write poems in projects, and that’s beginning to bite me in the ass as I try to create a second manuscript. For example, how do you fit together a dozen strange ekphrastic poems with erasure poems made from news articles and tiny, technical poems about bridges? It ain’t easy, kids. That’s all I’m saying..

Most writers will read inspirational/how-to manuals, take workshops, or belong to writing groups. Did you subscribe to any of these aids and if so which did you find most helpful? Please feel free to name any “writing” books you enjoyed most (i.e. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott).

I’m not much a reader of books on writing, but one did move me, years ago. It’s not specifically writing focused, even! It’s called “Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It contains this astonishing tidbit: “If ninety-eight percent of our medical students were no longer practicing medicine five year after graduation, there would be a Senate investigation, yet that proportion of art majors are routinely consigned to an early professional death. Not many people continue making art when – abruptly – their work is no longer seen, no longer exhibited, no longer commented upon, no longer encouraged. Could you?”

Reading that only articulated my already steadfast determination to provide artistic communities: spaces for the sharing and appreciation of poetry, in person and on the page. A year interning with Robert Pinsky (and Maggie Dietz!) at “The Favorite Poem Project” in Boston—an endeavor that set out to prove poetry touched ordinary Americans—was the perfect groundwork for me. As hundreds and hundreds of love letters to poetry poured in that first year, I realized that the power of great literature is not esoteric—it’s visceral, vibrant and necessary. It was right there…proof that poetry could have power as a pop-cultural force, not just an academic byproduct. I wanted to find a way to work with this idea, both expanding poetry’s place (and scope) in education, and simultaneously ensuring its recognition as a viable source of popular entertainment and inspiration.

To that end, over the years I helped to found a popular reading series (Speakeasy Poetry Series in NYC), a successful national literary journal (Bat City Review) and a small university press (Gold Line Press). Funny, though…it’s ironic that, at first, I never thought of teaching as a way to advocate poetry in the community. But when I started as a Teaching Assistant in 2003, I saw the impression that well-made literature could make on generally unimpressed students, and I’m proud to say that I’ve helped create many new poetry lovers over the last eight years of teaching at a college level. No wonder teaching became a passion—it doesn’t get much more inspiring than that.

Thanks, Jessica, for answering my questions. For the rest of the interview, visit 32 Poems.

About the Poet:

Jessica Piazza was born in Brooklyn, has a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University, an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California. She is a co-founder of Bat City Review, an editor at Gold Line Press, a contributing editor at The Offending Adam and has blogged for The Best American Poetry and Barrelhouse. Among other places, her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in 32 Poems, The National Poetry Review, The Missouri Review, Agni, Indiana Review, Mid-American Review, Rattle, 42 Opus and Forklift, Ohio. Her dissertation focuses on the intersection between literary analysis and neuroscience, which means she reads a lot of science articles, which also means she’s constantly tempted to shuffle around like a zombie screaming “BRAINS!!!!” at random poets and writers.

Check out a sample poem:

Eisoptrophilia
           Love of mirrors
                               Impression pressed upon the glass perfects
                               even the grossest forgeries.  Reject
                               the sea.  Reject the turning tide.
                               Just below clear water, I reside
                               as duplication of the lake.  Take me
                               away, another underneath again.
                               What mirrors cannot ditto isn’t sin.

Eisoptrophobia
        Fear of mirrors
                                What mirrors cannot ditto isn’t sin
                                simply performed behind the glass.  Within
                                the frame of windowpane, negated dark.
                                Those fleeting squares reveal our darkness back.
                                Aloof, the rain plays taps.  Above, the trees
                                are inimitable.  Distinct, thus blessed.
                                Reflected, I am never at my best.

--Originally published in Mid-American Review, Volume XXX, Numbers 1 & 2 Fall 2009/Spring 2010

BBAW Interview Swap: Gautami of Everything Distils Into Reading

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that one of my favorite activities is interviewing other bloggers. For this year’s interview swap as part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gautami of Everything Distils Into Reading.

She and I share a love of writing and reading poetry, and I love to check out her poems from time to time, which she posts online for her readers.  She’s very prolific, and wouldn’t it be grand if another blogger were to publish a poetry book, like Sandra of Fresh Ink Books?

Without further ado, here’s my in-depth interview with Gautami:

1. Everything Distils into Reading is not your first book blog, but why did you decide to keep going and how did you come up with the name for the new incarnation?

I lost my blog, My Own Little Reading Room, to malware in April 2009. It was a very big loss. I kind of felt as if something was cut of from my body. I decided the only option was to keep going. My life revolves around books. I am a teacher, so my work too is reading related. That is how the name of my blog came up.

2. How do you determine which blogs to read on a regular basis and how often do you read them?

I have stuck to the old bloggers. I like to read Crime Fiction, Literary Fiction and poetry. So I kind of only read those blogs and a few others which are mix of all. I read via Google Reader!

3. I know you recently went through a reading slump (and may still be), but could you provide readers and bloggers alike with some tips on how to overcome that slump?

My reading slump persists. I am unable to read novels. But I am reading a lot. Scientific papers. Poetry. Global news. Non-fiction. Short pieces hold my interest. I say, do what works best for you!

4. As a writer of poetry, do you keep writing for yourself? Do you submit to magazines (online or print)? And what keeps you inspired?

I write poetry only for myself. I do have a blog, rooted. I write from writing prompts. Never submitted my poetry any where.

5. If you had to choose one book (of poetry or otherwise) from the 2011 publication year to nominate for the Indie Lit Awards in September, what would it be?

I can’t answer that. Mainly because I have not explored. Being an Indian, all those awards don’t have much meaning for me!

Thanks, Gautami, for sharing a bit of yourself and your blog with us.  Feel free to leave a question for Gautami or myself or leave a link to your BBAW interview swap.

Want to check out Gautami’s interview with me, head on over to her blog.

Today’s giveaway is for Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles. You must be a blogger to enter and you must leave your blog address. Open internationally; deadline ends Sept. 16, 2011, at 11:59PM EST.