Senior Editor, Public Seminar

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 7: William Archila on the Flicker of Thought

“Northern Triangle Dissected” and the psychological journeys of Central American minors seeking asylum

December 14, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 7 of Multi-Verse, poet William Archila reads and discusses his poem “Northern Triangle Dissected” with host Evangeline Graham, in a conversation about the migration of unaccompanied minors in the wake of the Central American Crisis, and the use of metaphor to convey psychology....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 6: CM Burroughs on Not Being Gentle

In three “Dear Liver” poems, a grieving sister demands response

October 31, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 6 of Multi-Verse, poet CM Burroughs reads her trio of “Dear Liver” poems and discusses themes of grief, agency, and healing with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 5: Amanda Gunn’s Forensic Imagination

Poetic rememberance

October 5, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 5 of Multi-Verse, poet Amanda Gunn reads her poem “What You Meant” and discusses its themes of love, grief, and memory with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Learn more about Amanda Gunn and her forthcoming debut collection, Things I Didn't Do with This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023). Multi-Verse is a ...

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 4: Gregory Kan and the Mysterious Human Brain

Withholding and world-building in poetry

September 7, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 4 of Multi-Verse, poet Gregory Kan reads poetry from his collection Under Glass and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about writing trauma, challenging received wisdom, and the art of poetic restraint....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 3. Mikko Harvey: “Let the World Have You”

On cats and bear traps. We hope the animals are not offended.

July 13, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 3 of Multi-Verse, poet Mikko Harvey reads and discusses his poem “Let the World Have You” with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. ...

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 2. Wendy Xu: “A Sound Not Unlike a Bell”

“The poem is an agitated bouquet of ideas”

June 22, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 2 of Multi-Verse, poet Wendy Xu reads her poem “A Sound Not Unlike a Bell” and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 1. Erika Meitner: “Thumbs-Up for the Mothership”

Sea level rise and migration in Episode 1 of new poetry podcast Multi-Verse

May 25, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 1 of Multi-Verse, poet Erika Meitner reads and discusses her poem “Thumbs-Up for the Mothership” in conversation with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, touching on themes of climate change, migration, and Whitman vs Dickinson....

Interviews

A Hotbed of Anarchism and Clam Pasta

Labor organizing and espionage in Joseph Matthews’s new novel, The Blast

May 18, 2022 • by Joseph Matthews and Evangeline Riddiford Graham

There was a great variety of tremendously active Left formations in San Francisco in 1916, and I wanted to explore that variety within the context of the novel....

Literature

Poetry to Vote By

Reading Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic on the eve of the election

November 3, 2020 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

How many of us are brave enough for art? At the bakery down the block, polling shows Trump surging ahead. Each purchase of an election-themed cookie—Biden or Trump, with red, white, and blue sprinkles—is tallied by the bakers as a vote in favor for the relevant candidate. “Our forecast is never ...

Interviews

“Many Gay Men of My Generation Weren’t Planning to Die of Old Age”

Lambda Literary Award–winning poet Mark Bibbins on his new collection, 13th Balloon

June 20, 2020 • by Mark Bibbins and Evangeline Riddiford Graham

“Authoritarian political ideologies have a vested interest in promoting fear,” Susan Sontag wrote in 1989. “Real diseases are useful material.” In AIDS and Its Metaphors, Sontag argued that the virus had been stigmatized as a plague, “a disease to be regarded both as something incurred by vulnerable ‘others’ and as (potentially) ...

“Many Gay Men of My Generation Weren’t Planning to Die of Old Age”

Interviews

This Body Is a Gift: Natalie Diaz

The award-winning poet on her new book, Postcolonial Love Poem

April 6, 2020 • by Natalie Diaz and Evangeline Riddiford Graham

To celebrate this achievement, we're reprinting this interview with the author, originally posted in April 2020. Native Americans account for just 0.8 percent of the population of the United States. Yet according to four decades’ worth of data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 2 percent of ...

Feature

Feelings-Positive and Glamour-Obsessed: An Interview with Ben Fama

The New School poet’s forthcoming collection, Deathwish, examines the alienation of post-Internet life.

May 9, 2019 • by Ben Fama and Evangeline Riddiford Graham

Death interviews me about my apparel, asks who I’m wearing, who I’m looking forward to seeing tonight. Not having had voice lessons or PR coaching, my answers fall flat. —Ben Fama, “The Function of Fantasy in the Lacanian Real” Welcome to Ben Fama’s Deathwish, a poetry collection that catalogues a world where “evil ...