A Conversation with Writer KENNETH MAITLAND

In third grade I got a cassette tape of highlights from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' and rapturously analyzed the photo inserts: Russian ballrooms at midnight, with parquet floors, velvet draperies, and crystal chandeliers, and I wondered how much marvels could possibly exist. It was like looking at photos taken on a distant planet.

A Conversation with Writer MANTHIPE MOILA

Then, I transcribe and begin manipulating the poem on my laptop until it takes proper shape. This could take a day, a few days or weeks. Finally, I give that draft some space and return to it as a later time, as I am better able to see the poem if I approach things in this manner.

A Conversation with Writer TIAN SANCHEZ-BALLADO

Poetry became the only language where I could stop translating; where queerness, cultural specificity, faith, and illness could coexist without needing permission.
I write from that intersection: between gratitude and interrogation, inheritance and refusal.

A Conversation with Writer CONNOR WATKINS-XU

With many poems centering on the complicated relationship I’ve had with my mom, part of the process has been sharing poems with her. At first it was quite painful and she naturally didn’t enjoy reliving some of the stories, or getting a fuller picture of my perspective on them, or seeing my pain on the page.

A Conversation with Writer MARIA L MECHAM

I grapple with duality, grief and joy. How the world can be burning, but I can find my heartbeat in the Alaskan forest. I believe we must hold all truths. The working title is “Searching for Sky” from a line I wrote “Everywhere I go, I search for the sky.”

A Conversation with Writer GRACE TALUSAN

Sometimes I write something and realize I need to research in order to develop and deepen the writing and sometimes a piece will come from the serendipity of doing research. It’s always engaging and interesting to me to have a project to think about and research, no matter what happens to the piece in the end.

A Conversation with Writer RACHAEL HOLLIDAY

While I read my Bible and tried to behave, I found it impossible to stop searching for answers to questions I had that dogma couldn’t answer. Reading illuminated my world by giving me the opportunity to encounter different ideas and people in spite of my parents efforts to keep me sequestered.