Interview with Susan Rich – Travel, Poetry, Food
Today’s interview is with Susan Rich, whose latest book, The Alchemist’s Kitchen, I reviewed for Rattle here.
Susan Rich is the author of three collections of poems including The Alchemist’s Kitchen which was short listed for the Forward Poetry Book of the Year Award, Cures Include Travel, and The Cartographer’s Tongue /Poems of the World which won the PEN West Award for Poetry. She is winner of the Times Literary Supplement Award, an Artists Trust Fellowship, and a Grant for Artist Project (GAP) award.
Web site – http://www.susanrich.net
Blog – http://thealchemistskitchen.blogspot.com/
Susan’s books –
Jeannine Hall Gailey: Susan, all of your books of poetry have a connection to your history of travel (for the Peace Corps, correct?) and I was wondering how travel inspires you and what you would recommend to other poets to help them turn their travels into poems?
Susan Rich: When I was in my twenties and thirties I lived and worked in several different countries: Bosnia, Republic of Niger, and South Africa — to name a few. Travel was my drug of choice. I worked in the field of international development and human rights for Oxfam America, the Peace Corps and later, for Amnesty International. In South Africa I was teaching at the University of Cape Town on a Fulbright Fellowship. In none of these positions was I actually focused on my own writing. Perhaps that’s important to mention: writing happens (for me) when I am busy doing other things. My desire was to help others, not to navel gaze (as my friends in international development would call any creative writing.)
As far as turning my travels into poems, I don’t. Again, my writing doesn’t work that way. I can write about actual people I meet that intrigue me or about an experience I had that is beyond my understanding. Tourist poems don’t interest me; poems of intense experience are what I care about and they are not held by landscape or continent. My only advice for other poets would be to live authentically. Don’t enter a new place thinking that you have the right to write about it. Enter with an open heart and an awareness of how much you don’t know.
JHG: If your poetry does not come directly out of your travels, how are the two connected?
SR: That’s both a tough question and a simple one. I don’t think that Elizabeth Bishop set out to write “Brazil” poems, but since she lived in Brazil for more than a decade, Brazil found its way into her poems. I think Lorca’s A Poet in New York was a way for him to make sense of what he was experiencing in a foreign country. More recently, Naomi Shihab Nye writes about Palestine, Columbia, and the local grocery store. One of the things I love about poetry is that it transcends national boundaries and moves us beyond our own history. Writing from our travels is just one more imaginative leap that poetry grants us.
JHG: What international writer have you discovered along the way that has impacted your own poetry?
SR: The poet that I went to South Africa to study is Ingrid deKok whose work is finally available in the United States. Seasonal Fires is a selection of her work and I highly recommend it. I was first introduced to Ingrid de Kok via her poems. At the time, I was an MFA student at the University Oregon searching for a subject which I could use to apply for a Fulbright Fellowship. Amazed by her poems, I tracked down via inter-library loan, a copy of Familiar Ground, published in South Africa. The book arrived stamped with the name of a community college in Michigan. It had yellow glue peeking from its spine, its pages felt tissue-paper thin. That hobo of a book changed my life and led me to Cape Town, South Africa.
It is a testament to Ingrid de Kok’s work that the poems spoke to me across countries and continents. Poems such as “Small Passing” and “To Drink Its Water”. I arrived in Cape Town at the same time that Snailpress released Transfer and I had the privilege of reviewing it for The Cape Times and later, for Poets & Writers.
Ingrid de Kok is a poet that as Marianne Moore said of Elizabeth Bishop, “she is spectacular in being unspectacular.” Indeed, Bishop is certainly one of de Kok’s influences. However, as with Bishop, the poems are hardly modest or polite. Her work deals with the struggles of Apartheid South Africa as well as the complexities of South Africa today. There are poems of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but there also poems of the natural beauty of the African veldt.
I should mention that Ingrid has since become a good friend. She has come out to Seattle to give readings and I anticipate her books with great pleasure.
JHG: What are you working on currently?
SR: Now that summer is here, I can finally spend concentrated time on my own poems. It’s always a difficult shift for me after the intensity of the academic year. At the moment, I have two projects going — somehow two different approaches allow me to feel less pressure on any one poem. I’ve just ordered a few books on the life of photographer Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) who lived and worked in Seattle and San Francisco. She was still photographing well into her nineties. I’m drawn to her work — why I can’t tell you except to say that it seems utterly compelling to me, beyond what is seen. A strange thing to say about a photograph perhaps, but there it is. The other project is to go back through my notes and drafts of poems from my time re-visiting Bosnia in 2008. I always do better with a fair bit of distance from my travels. Maybe I need to forget what I saw in order to invent what I know.
JHG: Besides writing moving poems about your travels, you have a wonderful knack for food poetry. Will you share a food-poetry-related exercise here?
SR: “There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” George Bernard Shaw
I first created this exercise when confronted with sixty people who had shown up for what I thought would be a small afternoon workshop at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington. I was floored by the over-stuffed classroom and needed a fun way for people to introduce themselves to the group. Since we would be looking at the interconnections between poetry and food, I had people introduce themselves with one sentence that began with their name and then mentioned a food they either loved or loathed. Going around the very large circle provided a diversity of foods and expressions. I was amazed at how passionately and confidently people seemed when they spoke of their own personal preferences. It was a simple step from those first lines to poems that expanded on the students’ original sentences.
My hope is that this allows students to develop confidence in their writing, coupled with a sense of play (go wild; make chocolate your reason to live; would you die rather than eat chopped liver again?) so that they can create energetic and entertaining pieces.
My Name is Stan and I Loathe Lobster: A Poem of Exaggeration
Ask students to introduce themselves by giving their name and a food that they love or loathe. Once everyone has done this and you’ve perhaps asked a few questions—“Jeannine, why do you love sauerkraut?” or “Barry, what is there to loathe about chocolate ice cream”? —everyone should proceed to the activity below.
Write a poem in which you take your like or dislike to the level of the absurd. One woman in my workshop started with “I’m Karen and I love wild salmon.” In her poem of exaggeration the wild salmon became a very sexy boyfriend waiting for her when she came home from work with a freshly prepared dinner. Of course, once the poem gets going the first line that we began with often becomes obsolete. Although you may also choose to keep a first line like this one, again from my workshop: “There should be a law against a cheese smarter than me.”
The more fun you have writing this, the better.
Interview with Collin Kelley: Poets Using Social Media
Today I’m interviewing social media expert, poet, and fiction author Collin Kelly. Collin Kelley is the author of the novel Conquering Venus and the forthcoming Remain in Light. His poetry collections include Better To Travel, Slow To Burn and After the Poison. I discovered Collin’s poetry first, when he wrote some charming persona poems in the voices of some of my most beloved characters. (I believe we share a love of such pop icons as Wonder Woman, Buffy, and Twin Peaks, among others…)
Links: collinkelley.com; facebook.com/collinkelley; twitter.com/collinkelley
Q&A
Jeannine Hall Gailey: Thanks for doing this Collin! I’ve been an admirer of your work for some time (it doesn’t hurt that we watch the same television shows and both write persona poetry!) and really admire the way you were an early adopter of mediums (tools?) like Twitter and Facebook to promote your own work. Could you talk a little bit about how you got started?
Collin Kelley: I started blogging back in 2003 just as blogs were becoming all the rage. This was before MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. I had a static website before that, but once I started blogging all the traffic started going there, so I dumped the site and made my Modern Confessional blog my main “hub” on the Internet. I was an early adopter of MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, and they all felt like a natural progression from blogging. The blog is still there and updated regularly but Facebook and Twitter are really where I interact the most these days. It doesn’t hurt that I’m a big computer nerd and Internet addict either.
JHG: What has been the most effective way, do you think, for your own books (poetry and fiction) to get the word out? Do you notice a sales bump from online reviews, blog tours, twitters?
CK: I think a good recent example is when I posted the sample chapters from my forthcoming novel, Remain in Light. I posted the pages at Scribd. (another great site for writers to share their work) and then linked it around to Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and my blog. In 24 hours, more than 100 people had read the chapters and since then hundreds more have read them. Social media drove readers to the chapters and will, hopefully, make for good sales when the book is out later this year. Since I’m poor, most of my promotion for the previous novel and poetry collection was online. Without social media, there wouldn’t have been nearly as many readers or sales.
JHG: What advice would you give a nervous poet new to new media about getting on-board with Twitter, blogs and Facebook?
CK: Don’t be frightened of it and start slowly. I guest lecture and lead classes now on social media for writers and the most asked question is “What do I do once I’m on Twitter and Facebook?” I highly recommend setting up a Facebook page for your book, so that you can be more direct in your promotion and sales, but you don’t want to “hard sell” your book. The goal is to build community, so help other writers promote their books, find topics that relate to your books and interests, post funny YouTube clips – you’re selling yourself as much as the book and readers want to get to know authors, so let them into your world a bit. If you go on Facebook and just say over and over again, “Buy My Book,” it’s going to turn people off. The same applies to Twitter. If you want more followers on Twitter, become a source for good links and information, re-tweet links and information from your followers, and let your interests and personality shine through. Cultivating and building community on social media sites takes time, so work on it daily, but don’t go crazy. Time management is the key. Spend a half hour each day updating your social media then get on with the actual writing.
JHG: Just out of curiousity: poetry blogs – over or not over, and why you think so.
CK: I don’t think poetry blogs are through just yet, but you’ll notice more and more that poets are setting up their blog posts to link on Facebook and Twitter. That helps drive more traffic. I’ve seen a big drop in traffic at my blog over the last year, while the number of people following me and engaging at Facebook and Twitter continues to soar. There are some great poetry bloggers out there – C. Dale Young, Nic Sebastian, Kelli Russell Agodon, January O’Neil, Charles Jensen, Jessie Carty, Barbara Jane Reyes and a certain Jeannine Hall Gailey all come to mind. There is always going to be a place on the web for more in depth writing and niche interests, so blogs will survive because of that. But faster and quicker ways to communicate, like Facebook, Twitter and whatever is being dreamed up by some teenager in his dorm room right now, are where the action is now.
JHG: You and Deb Ager have been running the “Poet Party” on Sundays on Twitter. How did that come together, and what do you think it’s accomplishing? I really love to see the connections between poets that might not have met otherwise, and getting advice on things (Like Facebook pages for a new book!) in 140 characters or less is kind of fun!
CK: Deb created the #poetparty (just follow the hashtag, as they say in Twitter-speak) last fall and it took off quickly. She asked me to co-host early on and we’ve built a solid following on Sunday nights. Introducing poets to each other, sharing links for submissions, contests and poetry online is the real success of the #poetparty. While the event only lasts an hour (9 to 10 p.m. ET), we’ve noticed that poets continue to comment and share info throughout the week using the hashtag. It’s taken on a life of its own. It’s a very supportive group of poets who show up every Sunday night and we welcome poets of all stripes to join us. I also think the #poetparty is proof-positive that you can have active discussion, debate and community building on Twitter in real-time.
JHG: Any other new media advice or news we poets should know?
CK: If you aren’t on Goodreads, get there. The site continues to grow and grow and it’s such a great way to interact with authors and readers. It’s like Facebook in a way, but totally devoted to writing and literature, and not quite as intensive. There are great groups to join where you can discuss favorite books, post reviews and promote your own book when it’s released. I find myself spending more and more time there.
Interview with poet (and radio expert) Elizabeth Austen
Today I’m starting a new summer feature of interviews with poets on the blog! Today’s featured poet is Elizabeth Austen, who is not only a fine writer herself, but is a literary producer for Seattle’s local NPR network affiliate, KUOW. Here she talks about her new book AND gives tips on how poets can be better on the radio!
Elizabeth Austen is the author of the poetry collection Every Dress a Decision (Blue Begonia Press, 2010) and the chapbooks The Girl Who Goes Alone (Floating Bridge Press, 2010) and Where Currents Meet (one of four winners of the 2010 Toadlily Press chapbook award and part of the quartet Sightline). She produces poetry-related programming for KUOW 94.9 and makes her living as a communications specialist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she also offers retreats and journaling workshops for the staff.
Jeannine Hall Gailey: Elizabeth, you’re a professional interviewer for our local Seattle NPR station, KUOW, correct? What advice do you have for poets preparing for a radio interview?
Elizabeth Austen: Though I’m called a “literary producer,” I have the luxury of focusing exclusively on poetry for KUOW. I produce a weekly poetry segment, introducing a Pacific NW poet and his or her poem. I also do occasional interviews, and have had the pleasure of talking with poets including W.S. Merwin, Jane Hirshfield, Mark Doty, Eavan Boland and Chris Abani.
When preparing for a radio interview, I recommend listening to an example or two of your interviewer’s program, so that you’ll have a sense of what to expect in terms of tone and approach. Does this interviewer tend to ask more about craft and process, or about the backstory of the book or individual poems? Is the interviewer looking for anecdotes and stories? Does it seem like the interviewer has actually read the book?
I recommend that you spend some time thinking about what YOU want to say about your work. Very often, the person interviewing you will not have had time to read your book, and may or may not feel confident discussing poetry. What do you want to tell listeners about how you developed the collection, your personal connection to the subject matter, why and how you write, etc? Which poems will be a good introduction to the book, especially for someone who may not usually (or ever) read poetry? You’re essentially interviewer-proofing yourself. Hopefully you’ll get an interviewer who is genuinely interested in you and your book, but you can’t depend on that.
I’m a great believer in preparing for anything, and then letting go of the preparation during the interview so you can respond to what’s actually happening in the conversation. The preparation will be there for you—you can trust that and relax and enjoy talking about your work.
JHG: Any tips for reading poems on the air? Any differences you’d want poets to note between our usual “live” readings and one for radio or recording?
EA: Yes—keep it short. I was interviewed by Radio New Zealand in 2006, and despite my experience doing radio myself, I made the mistake of bringing long (more than one page) poems to the interview. The result was that they had to excerpt them—not ideal!
Make sure the poems you read are reasonably accessible, too–remember that radio listeners are almost surely multi-tasking.
Think about how you’ll introduce the poem—you might want to give a little more information than you would at a reading, where you (hopefully!) have your listeners’ undivided attention.
JHG: Your new book, Every Dress a Decision, just came out. How are you using audio to promote your book?
EA: I had the good fortune to be interviewed by Steve Scher on KUOW’s Weekday just as the book was launching (along with Billy Collins, which was fun and kind of surreal), so I have a link to that on my blog and I shared it on Facebook. Now that I’m through the first, intense round of readings, I can start thinking about ways to use audio to promote book—check back with me in six months!
JHG: How would you recommend that a local poet approach a local radio station for a feature (from your own experience…)
EA: Start with your local NPR-affiliate and community radio stations. The most important thing to do is to scour the station’s website to find out which (if any, let’s be frank) programs and producers cover poetry. Then listen to some examples of their poetry-related programming. (If you don’t do this homework first, you’re likely wasting your time and review copies.) Start with an email, introducing yourself as a local writer and describing your book. Include the press release and local reading dates, and inquire if you can send a review copy.
If you’re touring with your book, check the sites of the NPR affiliates in the cities where you’re reading. If they feature poetry, send an email with the dates that you’re in town and where you’ll be reading, your book’s press release, and an offer to send a review copy. If you’ve got any audio of yourself being interviewed or reading online, include a link.
The important thing is to remember that producers are looking for content that fits their programming needs. If you do a little work up front, you can write your email in such a way that you show how you are a good fit with their program. Make it easy for them by keeping your correspondence brief and professional—you know, the same way you’d approach the editor of a journal.
I’ve featured lots of poets on KUOW who approached me first via email, whose work I didn’t yet know. Now it’s time for me to take my own advice and write some queries! Good luck putting your work out there—radio is a terrific medium for connecting with new readers!
