Interview with Annette Spaulding-Convy

This will be the last of my summer interviews, I think, with the very exciting editor and poet Annette Spaulding-Convy…and tomorrow I’ll talk about art!

Annette Spaulding-Convy’s full length collection, In Broken Latin, will be published by the University of Arkansas Press (Fall 2012) as a finalist for the Miller Williams Poetry Prize and her chapbook, In The Convent We Become Clouds, won the 2006 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is co-editor of the literary journal, Crab Creek Review, and is co-founder of Two Sylvias Press.

http://www.crabcreekreview.org/

http://www.twosylviaspress.com/

Jeannine: Annette, I know you and Kelli Agodon are working on an e-book anthology of women’s poetry. Can you talk a little about that project? Why e-books? Why now?

Annette: Last year both Kelli and I purchased eReaders (a Nook and an iPad) and immediately noticed that there weren’t many contemporary collections of poetry available on electronic platforms, so we decided to utilize our skills as editors of a print journal and undertake an eBook poetry project. We invited our favorite women poets to submit and we were thrilled with the positive response, even from poets who had previously felt trepidation at the thought of their poems being distributed in an electronic format. This anthology, Fire On Her Tongue, will be available for purchase/download in the late autumn and it will be amazing—featuring over seventy contemporary women poets, ranging in age from thirteen to ninety-one, beginning and established poets, as well as women from a variety of careers and backgrounds.

Another aspect of the anthology that we are excited about is that the entire process from our first call for submissions to the sale and distribution has been “green” with a zero carbon-footprint. One of our goals for the project was for it to be entirely paperless and, so far, we’ve been successful, even having our poets sign electronic contracts.

I’m not sure why many of us feel an initial resistance to electronic reading platforms, perhaps because as writers and readers we love the tactile, visual nature of printed books and we fear they might be endangered by this new technology. I believe both can co-exist peacefully. It is my hope that Fire On Her Tongue will inspire poets to ask their publishers to make their collections available in eBook format in addition to the traditionally printed book. And, for some poets, electronic books are an economical way to self-publish. Lastly, I am excited that the production of this anthology has prompted Kelli and me to start our own independent press, Two Sylvias Press, which will primarily publish books written by women.

JHG: And your book has been selected for publication by University of Arkansas Press, due out in Fall of 2012. Tell us a little about what that book is about and how it came together.

ASC: I received a surprise phone call this past Valentine’s Day morning—Enid Shomer, judge of the Miller Williams Poetry Prize, calling to tell me that my manuscript, In Broken Latin, had been chosen as one of three finalists and would be published in 2012. Just the week before, I had decided that the ten year process of writing this collection and sending it out to contests had cost me enough money, time, and disappointment—the manuscript would be retired to a hidden folder. I guess the writing process is about both perseverance and letting go.

In Broken Latin is inspired by the five years I spent as a Roman Catholic nun in the San Francisco Bay Area. The collection took me nearly eight years to write as I often found it challenging to articulate how I simultaneously loved and disliked my time in the convent, how the contemplative life gave birth to a non-traditional view of divinity, how the line between what is sacred and what is profane is sometimes extremely thin. The poems are critical of the Catholic Church as a patriarchal institution and attempt to show the human, generous, and compassionate lives of the women who have devoted themselves to an ideal in a religious tradition that disregards the feminine (in my opinion). That sounds so heavy and didactic—but, really, there is also nun naughtiness and humor!

I think I began writing these convent poems as a catharsis. I soon had a small collection, which I submitted to the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Contest here in Seattle. They chose my chapbook, In the Convent We Become Clouds, as the 2006 winner, and this encouraged me to create a full-length book based on my experience. I’m finished writing about nuns for awhile and now I’ve moved on to cowgirls.

JHG: You’re also one of the editors-in-chief of Northwest literary magazine Crab Creek Review. What has that been like? What’s your favorite part of being an editor? Your least favorite?

ASC: I came aboard Crab Creek Review with some editing experience, but not a lot. I learned very quickly that the production of a literary journal takes hours and hours, and is basically, a labor of love. I co-edit CCR with Kelli Russell Agodon and we are part of a strong production team. The two of us are in charge of the journal’s finances, fund raising, PR, website/blog, release readings, proofing, distribution, and giving the final ok to the poems, fiction, and creative non-fiction chosen by the genre editors to appear in a given issue. I think my favorite part of editing (aside from cracking open a new copy of the journal just off the press) is having the opportunity to read through the poems and stories that our wonderful editors (Lana Hechtman Ayers, Jen Betterley, Nancy Canyon, and Star Rockers) have found to be the strongest in the bags and bags of submissions that they read through. There is nothing more exciting than finding a new, unpublished poet or receiving a submission from a huge literary name. The least favorite aspect of editing for me is the behind-the-scenes-housekeeping details that need constant attention and the large subscriber mailing—the local post office clerks grimace when they see me. There are two CCR staff members who help us tremendously with all of our editorial tasks: Carol Levin and Ronda Broatch, CCR’s editorial assistants. Crab Creek Review is a fantastic literary journal—everyone should subscribe!

JHG: What advice would you give a new poet just starting out?

ASC: I would say these things to a poet who is just beginning to write and submit:

• Read as many other contemporary poets as you can. Read collections that are just coming out and find the poets who inspire you and study their work. Also, read literary journals and find out what poetry editors seem to be choosing in terms of style and content. And, pick up a dead poet once in awhile, too: Shakespeare, Dickinson, Eliot, Sexton.
• Write about your experiences and/or the aspects of life that fascinate you. Be free with your poems and write them in any voice you want. Poetry is not non-fiction. You can write a poem with conviction about your aunt’s house burning down, even though you have no aunt and the event didn’t happen.
• Find a writing group made up of people with whom you “click”. A writing group gives you an opportunity to receive valuable critique and teaches you to read with a critical eye so that you can offer insightful feedback. You will be amazed at how much you will grow as a poet by simply being in the company of poets.
• Put your writing first. This is difficult, especially if you are busy, but sometimes it is better for you (and for your world) if you shut yourself away and write a poem rather than do the dishes. Find a writing routine that allows for a slice of quiet time: early morning or after everyone has gone to sleep or escape to a favorite coffee house.
• Submit your work constantly. Begin with local publications and branch outward (there are great lists on the Internet of journals and what styles they publish—Poets & Writers online has a terrific database). Continue to submit even if you only receive rejections. Talk to other poets about their submission experiences and exchange ideas for places to submit. Occasionally send your work to big name journals that seem out of reach—you might be surprised!
• Go to local poetry readings, listen to famous poets read their work (the Internet is a great resource for both audio and video of poets reading), and read your own work aloud to yourself. Write a few lines and read them aloud—your ear will catch a bump that your eye may not.
• Submit your poems to Crab Creek Review. We love emerging poets!