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Roanoke Review

Volume XLIV

Interviews

Roanoke Review

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INTERVIEWS


Featured
Dec 27, 2018
Lyn Lifshin: Reflections on a Life of Poetry
Dec 27, 2018

In the past, when asked for a poem, I’d write fifty. That is how I wrote books on Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Blue Tattoo, and refugees.

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Dec 27, 2018
Sep 1, 2018
Rebecca Pyle: Muses & Musings
Sep 1, 2018

These are certain people even from early childhood who clearly, or murkily—eventually somehow expressed to you they had vision fairly independent of others. Often they have all the thoughts and fine-tune of the artist or the writer, but not the inclination, or time. You became sure of their imaginative and understanding powers; your awareness grew over time. It was even in their gaze.

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Sep 1, 2018
Jul 15, 2018
Travis Byram: Starting Out and Setting Forth
Jul 15, 2018

Keep, keep, keep editing and toying with your work, knowing you are comfortable and believe in what’s on the page. You’re not a poet because it pays six figures starting out—you’re a poet because you feel like you need to be.

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Jul 15, 2018
Apr 15, 2018
Cameron MacKenzie: Historical Fiction and Mythic Revolution
Apr 15, 2018

"The book tries to understand revolution, but what drives the novel is a filtering of revolutionary actions through the context of myth and the role played by storytelling in the creation of those myths. I became fascinated by the myriad depictions of Villa in the historical record, how he was and remains a remarkably contested figure, and how the outlines of that figure have been determined by stories that seem to channel the desires of a culture and a society through a singular man. Pancho Villa is a mythic character, and I try in the book to convey the manner by which that boy became that myth. "

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Apr 15, 2018
Jan 15, 2018
Sarah Bigham: Creation as Catharsis
Jan 15, 2018

“While much of my work has a serious tone, I employ humor in my daily life as a way to cope with many things, including stress and illness. If you cannot laugh about your situation, even in some small way, then things are very dark indeed.”

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Jan 15, 2018
Dec 15, 2017
Poetry and Politics with Yun Wei
Dec 15, 2017

"Poetry has the ability to enact the change that politics promise, sometimes even more powerfully because it disrupts your biases, charges up your emotions, and integrates into the chemistry of your thoughts."

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Dec 15, 2017
Dec 1, 2017
John Buckley and Martin Ott: Poetic Volleyball
Dec 1, 2017

" I cannot always tell which lines are mine in the poems that appear in our books (after some time has passed). I think this shows we have built a collective voice that is different than either one of ours separately."

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Dec 1, 2017
Nov 1, 2017
Ava C. Cipri: The Container and the Contents
Nov 1, 2017

"The content dictates the form; I do not have a preference. I am simply providing it with the best container; both are mutually mysterious and satisfying."

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Nov 1, 2017
Oct 15, 2017
E. Kristin Anderson: Finding the Words
Oct 15, 2017

“You have to work with the words in front of you to create a new narrative in your voice. That’s thrilling. An erasure is like a choose your own adventure with words, a cento or a remix is like putting together a puzzle. But you have to tell your own story, just like any traditionally written poem.”

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Oct 15, 2017
Sep 15, 2017
Nick Roth: The Wending Way to Seeking Stories
Sep 15, 2017

"Some days are shit. Some days are good. I make notes for stories but only once they’re fairly well formed in my head, and half the time I end up ignoring the notes. None of this matters. People find different ways to work. Inspiration happens but if you have to rely on it you’re probably screwed."

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Sep 15, 2017
Aug 15, 2017
Paul Vega: The Writing, The Editing, and The Chaos Between
Aug 15, 2017

"I wouldn’t say being an editor has had a huge effect on my writing, at least stylistically. It does make you a more empathetic reader because you understand how incredibly hard and ludicrous this whole racket is. Plus, for me, It’s always fun to keep a finger on the pulse of the community. To feel like you’re a part of things no matter what’s going on in your writer life. To see what’s out there, what’s happening on the frontlines. And there’s no better feeling than finding a well-crafted, complete story in your queue written by someone you’ve never heard of."

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Aug 15, 2017
Aug 1, 2017
R.T. Castleberry: No Boundaries, No Rules
Aug 1, 2017

"Like every writer, I’m nosy. And so I spend my time watching. Watching how people interact with their corner of the street, how they walk or stumble down it, how they dress for it. When I do that long enough or closely enough, a line or phrase will come to me, or a situation will emerge that I can latch onto and use."

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Aug 1, 2017
May 15, 2017
Going Fierce: A Podcast Interview with Hillary Adler
May 15, 2017

"I think usually I am writing in the immediacy trying to process the fragments of my life, trying to process what goes on around me. I am wary of saying that I go to the page for therapy because I don't find writing to be in any way therapeutic, but it does help me understand my place or position in the place I find myself in."

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May 15, 2017
May 1, 2017
Jessica Abughattas: Songs of Ancestry and Writing the Past
May 1, 2017

"Then I arrive at the ultimate question when considering diaspora, do my actions honor or erase my ancestry? What is my identity?"

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May 1, 2017
Apr 1, 2017
Jozelle Dyer: Writing through Confusion
Apr 1, 2017

"I have also found that the more emotional you are about a subject matter, the more time it takes to see it clearly, to get the right words in the right order down on paper."

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Apr 1, 2017
Mar 15, 2017
Jesse Graves: The Irresistible Unwritten
Mar 15, 2017

I really love that idea, that we can share a bond with those who came before us (and those who come after, too, I suppose), and that we can read their stories, and also tell our versions of the stories they may not have been able to tell for themselves.  

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Mar 15, 2017
Feb 15, 2017
Linda Harris Dolan: Vulnerability, Urgency, and Contemplation
Feb 15, 2017

I like to write in spaces where I can either tuck my body into my surroundings or somehow make the place itself disappear. So: big leather chairs. Cups of tea. Balconies. The library. Pubs in the afternoon.  

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Feb 15, 2017
Jan 1, 2017
Ernest Williamson: Dynamic Inspiration
Jan 1, 2017

“Most of my poems simply come out of me; they flow from a constant stream of ideas formulating in the unconscious mind and finding way to the conscious mind.”

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Jan 1, 2017
Nov 15, 2016
Finding Authenticity with Lucy Jane Bledsoe
Nov 15, 2016

“Today I keep deciding to be a writer because I think the stories we tell ourselves, as a culture, are hugely important. It’s how we understand who we are, as a society and as a species. I want to be a part of that conversation.”

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Nov 15, 2016
Nov 1, 2016
Life & Language with Linda M. Fischer
Nov 1, 2016

“Sometimes I can make the ending more forceful by stressing internal rhyme, but it really depends on the content of the poem. There is no magic formula, and it can take hours of head-banging. Afterwards, if I’m pleased with the result, I go through a period of elation. But it doesn’t last—the letdown is not knowing where the next poem is coming from.” 

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Nov 1, 2016
Framing Tragedy with Lones Seiber
Oct 15, 2016
Framing Tragedy with Lones Seiber
Oct 15, 2016

“I think that whatever works for you is the best way to write. There is no formula. You are you, and you are a good writer. I have to keep telling myself that."

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Oct 15, 2016
Oct 1, 2016
A.D. Nauman & the Mansion of Surprise
Oct 1, 2016

“I enjoyed pouring my feelings and thoughts directly into 'you,' erasing the line between reader and author. But perhaps the truer reason why I wrote the story in second person is so I wouldn’t have to write it in first. By convention, this would be a first-person narrative, and originally that’s what it was; but then it read like a personal narrative, oozing narcissism. I, I, I. There’s enough narcissism in the world without me adding to it.” 

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Oct 1, 2016
Jul 29, 2016
Hip Hop Poetry with Adam Day
Jul 29, 2016

“I think it’s hardest to write when one is too close to things. More often than not it seems that the mental, creative context for writing is created by being able to step back from life. I often feel, as I’ve heard others say too, that the plain old every day is just right in your face, all the time.”

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Jul 29, 2016
Apr 30, 2016
Writing From Memory with Annie Woodford
Apr 30, 2016

“She told me, in effect, to write like I was from Henry County, where we are both from, and that the best part of the poems I was sharing with her had a colloquial resonance to which I should try to stay true.” 

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Apr 30, 2016
Unforeseen Evolutions with Michael Collins
Feb 15, 2016
Unforeseen Evolutions with Michael Collins
Feb 15, 2016

“If there are inherent parts of our characters or sensibilities, writing poems is just one of the important aspects of mine. It’s just part of who I am.”

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Feb 15, 2016
Writer's Ed with W. Scott Thomason
Nov 30, 2015
Writer's Ed with W. Scott Thomason
Nov 30, 2015

“A brain scan can tell you what your brain looks like when you are in love, but it can’t tell you why that love matters to you. Maybe you can chemically explain the sensation, but that doesn’t satisfy you when you’re going to the ends of the earth for that love. A story can do that.”

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Nov 30, 2015
Lighting the Fire: Nadeem Zaman
Nov 15, 2015
Lighting the Fire: Nadeem Zaman
Nov 15, 2015

If you’re getting ready to run a marathon, you’re going to have to train your body, muscles, and mind to keep them in peak shape. Same with writing

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Nov 15, 2015
Sustaining Creativity with Justin Runge
Oct 30, 2015
Sustaining Creativity with Justin Runge
Oct 30, 2015

"Chiefly, creativity takes initiative and endurance, so it’s best to choose one passion and focus for a while. A juggler may never drop a ball, but fatigue is inevitable."

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Oct 30, 2015
Ashley Warren's Tender Painbirds
Oct 14, 2015
Ashley Warren's Tender Painbirds
Oct 14, 2015

"It was one of those nights when I wanted to write, but nothing seemed to come. That night I grabbed Ginsberg’s Kaddish from my poetry shelf, and it was the poem for his mother Naomi that enlightened me to start writing about my own."

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Oct 14, 2015
Where the Water Runs Deep: Fiction with Ian Pisarcik
Oct 1, 2015
Where the Water Runs Deep: Fiction with Ian Pisarcik
Oct 1, 2015

"I spend the majority of my free time in a dimly lit room making up stories about ornery men and heartbroken women and not-quite-empty woods while my Labrador retriever keeps my feet warm and worries that I don’t get out enough."

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Oct 1, 2015
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