Nature can help soothe many wounds. Sharon Foley’s poems have received honors and awards from Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Wisconsin Writers Association and The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Common Ground Review, White Pelican Review, Bellowing Ark and The Aurorean . Her first collection of poetry, What is Endured, was published by Finishing Line Press 2017. She lives in Milwaukee....
Mar 16, 2020•5 min•Ep. 105
Music and song can be found everywhere. Ralph Stevens lives and writes on Little Cranberry Island on the coast of Maine, in the small community of Islesford, a beautiful and congenial place for the reading and writing of poetry. He is retired after a long career as an English professor, most recently on the faculty of Coppin State University in Baltimore. His two poetry collections are At Bunker Cove from Moon Pie Press and Things Haven’t Been the Same from Finishing Line Press. He is a Pushcart...
Mar 13, 2020•5 min•Ep. 104
Brilliant Amaryllis-red can help brighten the gray landscape of winter. Connie Wanek is the author of four books of poetry and one book of short prose. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Quarterly West, Poetry East, Prairie Schooner , and Missouri Review . She co-edited, with Joyce Sutphen and Thom Tammaro a comprehensive historical anthology of Minnesota women poets, called To Sing Along the Way (New Rivers Press, 2006) Her many awards include ...
Mar 12, 2020•5 min•Ep. 103
The simplest of things can become quite complicated! Kim Dower , City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood (October 2016 – October 2018), has published four collections of poetry, all with Red Hen Press: Air Kissing on Mars, described by the Los Angeles Times as, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache,” Slice of Moon , called “unexpected and sublime,” by “O” magazine, Last Train to the Missing Planet, “poems that speak about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness...
Mar 11, 2020•6 min•Ep. 102
Our mothers will always be with us. Kim Dower , City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood (October 2016 – October 2018), has published four collections of poetry, all with Red Hen Press: Air Kissing on Mars, described by the Los Angeles Times as, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache,” Slice of Moon , called “unexpected and sublime,” by “O” magazine, Last Train to the Missing Planet, “poems that speak about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness, memory and loss...
Mar 10, 2020•6 min•Ep. 101
Stories can survive years beyond the people who record them. Connie Wanek is the author of four books of poetry and one book of short prose. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Quarterly West, Poetry East, Prairie Schooner , and Missouri Review . She co-edited, with Joyce Sutphen and Thom Tammaro a comprehensive historical anthology of Minnesota women poets, called To Sing Along the Way (New Rivers Press, 2006) Her many awards include the Willow ...
Mar 09, 2020•7 min•Ep. 100
Life is a series of conversations covering the important and mundane. A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Joseph Mills holds holds the Susan Burress Wall Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities and was honored with a 2017 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has degrees in literature from the University of Chicago (B.A.), the University of New Mexico (M.A.), and the University of California-Davis (Ph.D). His work includes poetry, ...
Mar 06, 2020•6 min•Ep. 99
Don't be afraid of the wide world! Matthew Zapruder (1967) is an American poet, editor, translator, and professor. He is the author of four collections of poetry, his first book, American Linden (Tupelo Press, 2002) won the Tupelo Press Editor’s Prize and his second collection, The Pajamaist (Copper Canyon Press, 2006), won the 2007 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and was chosen by Library Journal as one of the top ten poetry volumes of 2006. His work has appear...
Mar 05, 2020•7 min•Ep. 98
Music can be heard everywhere if we would simply listen. Ralph Stevens lives and writes on Little Cranberry Island on the coast of Maine, in the small community of Islesford, a beautiful and congenial place for the reading and writing of poetry. He is retired after a long career as an English professor, most recently on the faculty of Coppin State University in Baltimore. His two poetry collections are At Bunker Cove from Moon Pie Press and Things Haven’t Been the same from Finishing Line Press....
Mar 04, 2020•6 min•Ep. 96
As children grow up and move away, the change can be painful. Maria Mazziotti Gillan is winner of the 2014 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature from AWP, the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers, and the 2008 American Book Award for her book, All That Lies Between Us. She is the Founder/Executive Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, editor of the Paterson Literary Review, and director of the creat...
Mar 03, 2020•7 min•Ep. 96
Knowing if what you feel is love or not is complicated. A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Joseph Mills holds the Susan Burress Wall Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities and was honored with a 2017 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has degrees in literature from the University of Chicago (BA), the University of New Mexico (MA), and the University of California-Davis (PhD). His work includes poetry, fiction, drama, and criti...
Mar 02, 2020•6 min•Ep. 95
The faces of our past are reflected in the next generation. Greg Kosmicki is a poet and retired social worker and is the author of four books and eight chapbooks of poetry and his poems have appeared in numerous prestigious magazines and journals. His most recent collection of selected poems, Leaving Things Unfinished: Forty-some Years of Poems is forthcoming in 2020 from MWPH in Fairwater, WI, Tom Montag editor. He received artist’s fellowships from the Nebraska Arts council in 2000 and 2006 an...
Feb 28, 2020•4 min•Ep. 94
Memories with lifelong friends repopulates the old town. Larry Smith graduated from Muskingum College in Ohio and earned an MA and PhD at Kent State University He taught at Firelands College-Bowling Green State University and in 1980 he was a Fulbright lecturer in American Literature in Sicily. He is the author of eight books of poetry, two books of memoirs, six books of fiction, two literary biographies of authors Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kenneth Patchen, and two books of translations from the...
Feb 27, 2020•5 min•Ep. 93
Enjoy time on the Midway since life is unpredictable. Maria Mazziotti Gillan is winner of the 2014 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature from AWP, the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers, and the 2008 American Book Award for her book, All That Lies Between Us. She is the Founder/Executive Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, editor of the Paterson Literary Review, and director of the creative writ...
Feb 26, 2020•8 min•Ep. 92
Connections are not always easy to find. Matt Mason is the Nebraska State Poet and Executive Director of the Nebraska Writers Collective. He runs poetry programming for the State Department, working in Nepal, Romania, Botswana and Belarus. Mason is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for his poem “Notes For My Daughter Against Chasing Storms” and his work can be found in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry . The author of Things We Don’t Know We Don’t...
Feb 25, 2020•5 min•Ep. 91
We must trust and accept vulnerability to fully breathe. Larry Smith graduated from Muskingum College and earned an MA and PhD at Kent State University He taught at Firelands College-Bowling Green State University and In 1980 was a Fulbright lecturer in American Literature in Sicily. He is the author of eight books of poetry, two books of memoirs, six books of fiction, two literary biographies of authors Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kenneth Patchen, and two books of translations from the Chinese wi...
Feb 24, 2020•8 min•Ep. 90
Flowers in his wife's long hair is mesmerizing. Steve Kronen's collections are Homage to Mistress Oppenheimer (Eyewear), Splendor (BOA), and Empirical Evidence (University of Georgia Press). His work has appeared widely in the US and the UK. His many awards include an NEA, three Florida Individual Artist fellowships, the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the James Boatwright Poetry Prize from Shenandoah magazine, and fellowships from Bread Loaf, and the Sewanee Writ...
Feb 21, 2020•4 min•Ep. 89
Each life is precious no matter how small. Twyla M. Hansen served a five-year term as Nebraska State Poet from 2013 to 2018, is a co-director of the website Poetry from the Plains: A Nebraska Perspective , and has conducted readings and creative writing workshops through Humanities Nebraska since 1993. Her newest book of poetry, Rock • Tree • Bird (The Backwaters Press 2017), won both the 2018 WILLA Literary Award for Poetry from Women Writing the West and the 2018 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry...
Feb 20, 2020•5 min•Ep. 88
A mother never wants to hear an explosion inside the house. Debra Marquart is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University and Iowa’s Poet Laureate. Marquart is the author of six books including an environmental memoir of place, The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere a collection of poems, Small Buried Things: Poem, and a short story collection, The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories . Marquart’s work has been featured on NPR and the B...
Feb 19, 2020•9 min•Ep. 87
A speeding car can bring a greater death any day. Debra Marquart is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University and Iowa’s Poet Laureate. A memoirist, poet, and performing musician, Marquart is the author of six books including an environmental memoir of place, The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere and a collection of poems, Small Buried Things: Poems. Marquart’s short story collection, The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories drew on ...
Feb 18, 2020•7 min•Ep. 86
Give praise to our land and our ancestors. Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 23 books, including Miriam's Well , a novel; Everyday Magic: A Field Guide to the Mundane and Miraculous, and Following the Curve, poetry. Her previous work includes The Divorce Girl, a novel; Needle in the Bone, a non-fiction book on the Holocaust; The Sky Begins At Your Feet, a bioregional memoir on cancer and community; and six poetry collections, including the award-win...
Feb 17, 2020•6 min•Ep. 85
What do children lose when they acquire language? Diane Thiel is the author of ten books of poetry and nonfiction, including Echolocations , Resistance Fantasies, and Winding Roads , among others. Thiel's work has appeared in many journals, including Poetry , The Hudson Review , and the Sewanee Review and is re-printed in over sixty major anthologies. Her awards include a PEN award, an NEA International Literature Award, the Robinson Jeffers Award, the Robert Frost Award, the Nicholas Roerich Aw...
Feb 14, 2020•7 min•Ep. 83
John Nash was a genius who pushed mathematics to its outer limits as described in this poem awarded first prize in the BBC International Poetry Contest. Pamela Spiro Wagner (now known as Phoebe Sparrow Wagner) is an author and poet who suffers from schizophrenia, complicated by narcolepsy and CNS Lyme disease. She has completed two collections of poetry Learning to See in Three Dimensions , Green Writers Press, and We Mad Climb Shaky Ladders , Cavankerry Press 2009 the later which was a finalist...
Feb 13, 2020•6 min•Ep. 83
The wonders of math can be found in daily life. Robin Chapman is the author of ten books of poetry, most recently The Only Home we Know (Tebot Bach, 2019) Her many awards include; a Wisconsin Arts Board Literary Arts Fellowship, 2007, Posner Poetry Award From Council for Wisconsin Writers, 2000, 2006; Honorable mention, 2012; Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award from the Wisconsin Library Association 2008, 2017; Helen Howe Poetry Prize, Appalachia , 2010. She is professor emeritus of Communic...
Feb 12, 2020•5 min•Ep. 82
Sibling relationships are funny, amazing, and complicated Floyd Skloot's poetry and prose have won three Pushcart Prizes, the PEN USA Literary Award, and been included in Best American Essays , Best American Science Writing , Best Spiritual Writing , and Best Food Writing. Poets & Writers named him "One of 50 of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World." His books include the memoirs In the Shadow of Memory and The Wink of the Zenith: The Shaping of a Writer's Life (University of Nebraska Pre...
Feb 11, 2020•7 min•Ep. 81
How will chaos theorists respond to a changed lecture schedule? Robin Chapman is the author of ten books of poetry, most recently The Only Home We Know (Tebot Bach, 2019) Her many awards include; a Wisconsin Arts Board Literary Arts Fellowship, 2007, Posner Poetry Award from Council for Wisconsin Writers, 2000, 2006; Honorable Mention, 2012; Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award from the Wisconsin Library Association 2008, 2017; Helen Howe Poetry Prize, Appalachia , 2010. She is Professor Emer...
Feb 10, 2020•6 min•Ep. 80
A moving tribute to Flannery O'Connor. Floyd Skloot's poetry and prose have won three Pushcart Prizes, the PEN USA Literary Award, and been included in Best American Essays , Best American Science Writing , Best Spiritual Writing , and Best Food Writing. Poets & Writers named him "One of 50 of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World." His books include the memoirs In the Shadow of Memory and The Wink of the Zenith: The Shaping of a Writer's Life (University of Nebraska Press); the poetry col...
Feb 07, 2020•8 min•Ep. 79
Many times it's the small annoyances that bother us the most. Jay Hopler was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1970, and he has earned degrees from New York University, The Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and The Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the author of two books of poetry and two anthologies and has published in numerous journals. His other awards include a Whiting Writers' Award and a Rome Prize in Literature from the America Academy in Rome. He is a professor of English at the Un...
Feb 06, 2020•5 min•Ep. 78
Many of us spent a lot of time in our mother's van. Faith Shearin is the author of five books of poetry: The Owl Question , The Empty House , Moving the Piano , Telling the Bees, and Orpheus Turning . Her work has appeared in numerous journals including the Alaska Quarterly Review and Poetry East , and has been read aloud by Garrison Keillor on The Writer's Almanac . She is the recipient of the May Swenson award and has received awards from The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, The Barbara ...
Feb 05, 2020•6 min•Ep. 77
Some jobs just aren't for everyone. Dorianne Laux’s fifth collection, The Book of Men , was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake ; What We Carry , a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke ; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women . She is the co-author of the celebrated text The Poet's Companion: A Guide ...
Feb 04, 2020•6 min•Ep. 76
