Graywolf Press is a leading independent publisher of contemporary American and international literature. In this episode we talk with Executive Editor Jeff Shotts to learn how they discover and work with leading writers such as Eula Biss and Claudia Rankine. We also learn how their non-profit status allows them freedom to work at the leading edge of the art and what he means when he suggests writers "Sound Like Yourself".

Podcast Notes:

Partnership with Favorite Poem Project:

Favorite Poem Project: http://www.favoritepoem.org/

Robert Pinsky: http://robertpinskypoet.com/

AWP 2015 Conference: https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/

Hayan Charara, Honors Faculty, University of Houston: http://www.uh.edu/honors/about/faculty-staff/hayan-charara.php

Out, Out- by Robert Frost: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/238122

Robert Frost: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-frost

Interview with Jeff Shotts, Graywolf Press:

Graywolf Press: https://www.graywolfpress.org/

Eula Biss: http://www.eulabiss.net/

Leslie Jamison: http://www.lesliejamison.com/

Claudia Rankine: http://claudiarankine.com/

On Immunity, Eula Biss: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/immunity

Notes from No Man's Land: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/notes-no-mans-land

Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/citizen

Don't Let me be Lonely, Claudia Rankine: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/dont-let-me-be-lonely

If the Tabloids are True, What are You?, Matthea Harvey : https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/if-tabloids-are-true-what-are-you

Pray Song for a Day, Elizabeth Alexander: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182812

Emily Dickinson: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/emily-dickinson

Langston Hughes: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/langston-hughes

William Blake: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/william-blake

Gerard Manley Hopkins: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/gerard-manley-hopkins

Segment Break, 3-Sentence Review:

3-Sentence Reviews: http://tatestreet.org/category/reviews/three-sentence-reviews/

Sun Bear 3-Sentence Review: http://tatestreet.org/2014/11/25/what-can-poetry-do-sun-bear-by-matthew-zapruder/

Matthew Zapruder: https://matthewzapruder.wordpress.com/

Producers: Ray Crampton and Abigail Browning

Produced by: tatestreet.org: http://tatestreet.org

Music Provided by: Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five featuring Hilary Alexander: http://www.campusfive.com

Podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatestreetorg

Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/tatestreetorg

Podcast Email: mailto:writeus@tatestreet.org

Managing Editor, Crystal Simone Smith has “a small press with a big vision.”  Smith describes her transition from graphic designer to press editor and the importance of publishers who support ethnic minority writers.

Podcast Notes:

Crystal Simone Smith was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland and educated in North Carolina at Bennett College, UNC-Greensboro, and Queens University of Charlotte. She is Managing Editor for Backbone Press and currently lives in Durham, NC, where she teaches Composition and Creative Writing. http://crystalsimonesmith.com

Backbone Press

• http://backbonepress.orgbackbonepress.org

Backbone Press Annual Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize

• The Lucille Clifton Annual Poetry Contest, held each spring, honors the prolific work of poet great Lucille Clifton. Widely celebrated for her unpretentious and unapologetic poems, Clifton’s unique free verse was free of punctuation, taut, and always recognizably her. When submitting think: humanness, struggle, adversity, resilience.
• “Her life, her way of seeing and walking in the world were the backbone of her work. I am her daughter. Her backbone is mine. And yours.” ~Sidney Clifton
• For further guidelines: http://www.backbonepress.org/contests

Journals Mentioned

• African American Review: http://aar.slu.edu
• Callaloo: http://callaloo.tamu.edu

Terms

• Chapbook
• “History of the Chapbook” by Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina: http://library.sc.edu/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook1.html
• Poetic Forms
  • Sonnet
  • Villanelle
  • Free Verse
  • Lyrical Poetry

Books Mentioned

• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/citizen
• http://claudiarankine.com

Queens University Masters in the Fine Arts (Charlotte, NC)

• http://www.queens.edu

Upcoming Poetry Readings with Crystal Simone Smith

• May 4, 2015:  Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC 

Produced by: Tate Street http://tatestreet.org

Producers: Ray Crampton and Abigail Browning

Music provided by: Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five featuring Hilary Alexander http://www.campusfive.com

Podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatestreetorg

Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/tatestreetorg

Podcast Email: mailto:writeus@tatestreet.org