Mary Ruefle: Recognising the Knock

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Fri, 04/05/2013 - 09:33
World Wide Poetry Studio with Ryan Van Winkle
Picture of Mary Ruefle

I met Mary Ruefle in her home in Vermont. Over cigarettes and coffee and among a plethora of brilliant ephemera (a tiny deck of playing cards, vintage Christmas decorations) we had an amazing conversation about her life and her body of work as a poet and an artist. One thing which remained with me long after our interview, was Mary's dedication to play. In her own words:

Prairie Schooner Welcomes Interim Blog Editor, James Redd

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 15:59
Picture of James Redd

Prairie Schooner Welcomes Interim Blog Editor, James Redd

We’re pleased to announce that James Redd has been appointed the interim Blog Editor for Prairie Schooner. Redd's Crooked Letter Interview Series began running on the blog in August 2012 and has featured acclaimed Mississippi authors such as Richard Ford and T.R. Hummer. Redd, the former Prairie Schooner Publicity Associate, will temporarily be taking over the blog’s reins.

Excitement and Relief at “Global Ireland” Reading

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Wed, 04/03/2013 - 12:41

Cory Kruse, Prairie Schooner intern, reviews the extraordinary appreciation and appreciation of the extraordinary of all things Ireland during Prairie Schooner's "Global Ireland" poetry reading on March 28th at UNL's Great Plains Art Museum. 

"I just want to be in love with everything."

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 12:37
An Interview with CNF Contest Winner Natlie Vestin

Former Blog Editor Claire Harlan Orsi interviewed CNF Contest Winner Natalie Vestin on her essay, "How To Own a Building" in November 2012.

Natalie Vestin, a writer and health researcher based in St. Paul, won Prairie Schooner's first Creative Nonfiction Contest. We're re-releasing this interview as a preview to her essay, which appears in the Spring 2013 Issue of Prairie Schooner.

 

This essay goes so many different places, literally and metaphorically: Minnesota, Hiroshima, Hamburg, New York City; anecdotes and abstract reflections, past and present meditations. I’m curious about your composition process. Did you know you were going to bring together these disparate elements in the way you did? From where did the form of the essay emerge?

Olympia Vernon: The Gift of Writing

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Mon, 03/25/2013 - 15:38
A Conversation with Author Olympia Vernon
Author Olympia Vernon

Olympia Vernon is author of three critically-acclaimed novels: Eden, Logic, and A Killing in This Town. Vernon’s Eden won the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

So You Wanna Win a Book Prize?

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 12:09
James Crews talks about his rewards and obsessions

This is the third and final entry of our three-part series in which Hali Sofala, our Book Prize Coordinator, speaks with some of our past Book Prize winners to get a sense of how Prairie Schooner's Book Prize has played a role in their careers, and what advice they might have for future Book Prize contestants. Today, we're featuring her interview with James Crews who won the Book Prize in Fiction in 2010.

1. You won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry in 2010 for your collection, The Book of What Stays, what were you doing when you heard the news that you had won? How did you feel?

Nabina Das chats with Naren Bedide, writer, translator and commentator in Telugu Dalit literature.

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Mon, 03/04/2013 - 19:03
"I am the soldier, I am the battlefield, too" Part 2
Naren Bedide

 

What are the sources that the poets are drawing from currently? Is there a conscious rejection of mainstream rendering of texts, especially the traditional epics, etc.? If so, how?

I am reminded of something Dr Ambedkar had said in his book, “Untouchables or The Children of India's Ghetto.” Let me quote:

So You Wanna Win A Book Prize?

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Thu, 02/28/2013 - 08:29
Jesse Lee Kercheval talks about how the places she's been to find home in her writing

This is the second entry of our three-part series in which Hali Sofala, our Book Prize Coordinator, speaks with some of our past Book Prize winners to get a sense of how Prairie Schooner's Book Prize has played a role in their careers, and what advice they might have for future Book Prize contestants. Today, we're featuring her interview with Jesse Lee Kercheval who won the Book Prize in Fiction in 2006.

1. You won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction in 2006 for your collection The Alice Stories, what were you doing when you heard the news that you had won? How did you feel?

So You Wanna Win A Book Prize?

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Fri, 02/22/2013 - 12:22
Mari L'Esperance Talks about finding the "right home" for poetry

This is the first entry of our new three-part series in which Hali Sofala, our Book Prize Coordinator, speaks with some of our past Book Prize winners to get a sense of how Prairie Schooner's Book Prize has played a role in their careers, and what advice they might have for future Book Prize contestants. Today, we're featuring her interview with Mari L'Esperance who won the Book Prize in Poetry in 2007.   

 

Post-modern Superheroes

Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Tue, 02/19/2013 - 18:10
Richard Graham's blog series on comic books

Being an academic who reads comic books, it’s not surprising to me (though a tad tedious) when my colleagues want to talk about “post-modern superheroes.” These discussions tend to involve the usual suspects--Alan Moore’s Watchmen or Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. Whether there’s really anything “post-modern” about them is contentious, but it’s actually quite rare when one finds a true depiction of Nietzchean imperatives. My favorite out of those rare representations of the ubermensch and his attempt to convert humanity is Mark Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme.

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