The Fearless Reader

Vivek Selvaraj, a poet, father, and diplomat, shares works from his series "Is This Water." In our conversation, he discusses fatherhood, memory, and his decision to switch from Tamil to English language poetry.

Zilka Joseph is a writer and educator who has published six volumes of poetry. In this episode she shares writing that explores the intersection of history, culture, religion, and cuisine of the Bene Israel community, an ancient Jewish community of India.

Jennifer Fossenbell shares and discusses excerpts from her manuscript “Commuter.” There is often a Matryoshka doll-like view of the world in these poems, where one structure of our reality is revealed to be buried within another. My favorite part of the conversation was hitting on a brilliant interpretation of one of her poems that turns out to be totally wrong (yet I still stand by it!)Foreignness, pregnancy, revising poems, and terrible election results are among the other topics we touch on.More examples of the Jennifer Fossenbell’s work can be found online at the Colorado Poet’s Center.

This special episode was recorded on location at the Asia Pacific Writers and Translators "Heart Water Conference" in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I asked 12 different writers about their writing habits. Responses included are from: Tony Waters, Carole Favre, Indyana Horobin, Joe Milan Jr., Kaya Ortiz, Lizzie Packer, Renee Pettitt Schipp, Kadek Sonia Piscayanti, Kian Ronay, Menka Shivdasani, Renee Thorpe, and Sara F Costa.

Award-winning Portuguese poet Sara Costa shares her debut novel "Ash City," which was recently translated into English. We discuss world building, the city as protagonist, and her literary influences, including Fernando Pessoa, Can Xue, and Gabriel García Márquez.

In our second episode, David Horton shares excerpts from his manuscript Songs in Ordinary Time. We chat about costumed donkeys, his use of imagery (influenced by early Soviet film theory), as well as his poetry zine SAGINAW. Links to Horton's projects and publications (including the chapbooks Model Answers and Maze Poems, discussed in this episode) can be found at ⁠davidharrisonhorton.com⁠

The first episode features a live reading by the poet Abigail Weathers at Camera Stylo. Afterward, we discuss her approach to language, the strange way parent-child relationships change over time, and the Spittoon Poetry Workshop. The following poems by Abigail Weathers are shared in this episode: "Sometimes, Clear and Fleeting," published in Sky Island Journal "Origami," published in Trouvaille Review "Mothers/Daughters," published in Roi Fainéant Thanks to Macondo for the music, Vasilisa Lukashevich for the recording, and Ana Padilla Fornieles for the cover art.