Commonplace Podcast

Nicole Sealey was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and raised in Apopka, Florida. She received an MFA from New York University and an MLA in Africana studies from the University of South Florida. Sealey is the author of Ordinary Beast (Ecco Press, 2017), which was a finalist for the PEN Open Book and Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards. Her chapbook, The Animal After Whom Other Animals are Named (Northwestern University Press, 2016), was the winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Prize. In 2019, Sealey was named a 2019–20 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. She has received fellowships and awards from CantoMundo, the Cave Canem Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Elizabeth George Foundation, among others.Books by Nicole SealeyThe Ferguson Report: An Erasure (2023)Ordinary Beast (2017)The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named: Poems (Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize) (2016) ContributionsBest New Poets 2011: 50 Poems from Emerging WritersWrote the introduction to Passion by June JordanReel Verse: Poems About the Movies (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series) (2019)Also Referenced in the EpisodeRoss Gay’s A Small Needful FactRobin Coste Lewis’s talk on ErasureMatthew RohrerChase Berggrun’s RED“Between the Lines” by Arianna Boussard-Reifel zong by M NourbeSeTracy K Smith’s poem “Declaration”Chase Berggrun’s RedReginald Bett’s Nicole Sealey’s “Clue” and her CentoThe Mis of My Kin by Janet HolmesJohn MurilloLil Noz XCharity for this episode: Furious Flower

Fred Moten, a renowned poet and scholar, joins interdisciplinary artist Ronaldo V. Wilson for a deep dive into the nuances of identity and artistic expression. They discuss the emotional power of poetry readings and the transformative effects of personal experiences in shaping creativity. The conversation touches on the complexity of nostalgia, family ties, and cultural memory, particularly within the context of black music and its profound emotional landscape. Listeners are invited to reflect on how art navigates the intricate intersections of history and personal identity.

Poet and cultural critic Fred Moten and writer/scholar Ronaldo V. Wilson discuss their live performance readings at the Poetry Project, exploring the electrifying atmosphere and transformative power of poetry performances. They navigate audience expectations, reflect on performance and identity, and discuss the constraints of books in creative processes. The conversation delves into the interconnectedness of readiness, violence, and creativity in interactions.

Books by Eugenia LeighEugenia LeighBianca (Four Way Books, 2023)Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014)Other Relevant LinksMike SakasegawaLikeWise FictionKeep the Channel Open on TwitterKeep the Channel Open on Insta Keep the Channel Open on YouTubeBio:Eugenia Leigh (she/her) is a Korean-American poet and the author of two collections of poetry, Bianca and Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows.Eugenia received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was awarded the Thomas Lux Scholarship for her dedication to teaching, demonstrated through her writing workshops with incarcerated youths and with Brooklyn high school students.The recipient of fellowships and awards from Poets & Writers Magazine, Kundiman, the Asian American Literary Review, and elsewhere, Eugenia currently serves as a Poetry Editor at The Adroit Journal.Information and sign up for new class “Reading with Rachel”Please support Commonplace by becoming a patron here!

Extra ResourcesBooks by Laurel SnyderThe Witch of Woodland (Walden Pond Press, 2023)Endlessly Ever After (Chronicle Books, 2022) Charlie & Mouse: Book 1 (Chronicle Books, 2019)Hungry Jim (Chronicle Books, 2019) My Jasper June (Walden Pond Press, 2019)Orphan Island (Walden Pond Press, 2018) Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova (Chronicle Books, 2015)Camp Wonderful Wild (Two Lions, 2013)Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains (Yearling Books, 2010) Any Which Wall (Yearling Books, 2010) The Myth of the Simple Machines (No Tell Books, 2007)Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes (Soft Skull Press, 2006)Also ReferencedMarvin BellGary Blankenburg (teacher at public high school in maryland)W.D. SnodgrassUTC University of ChattanoogaCatherine (Cathy) WagnerBradley PaulCarl SandburgTheodore RoethkeHamburg Inn No. 2James (Jim) GalvinGreg Brown’s Songs of Innocence and ExperienceTammy WynetteAnnals of OtorhinolaryngologyJane YolenEdward EagerRichard Nash, Softskull editorThisbe NissenIsaac BabelRobert CreeleySCBWI: The Society of Children’s Book Writers and IllustratorsVanderpump RulesEmily Hughes (illustrator for Charlie and Mouse)Jason IsbellBio:Laurel Snyder is the author of eight novels for children, including, most recently The Witch of Woodland, My Jasper June, and Orphan Island as well as many picture books including the Charlie and Mouse books (with Emily Hughes), Endlessly Ever After (with Dan Santat), Bruce Springsteen: A Little Golden Biography (with Jeffrey Ebbeler) and Swan, the Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova (with Julie Morstad).Laurel has written two collections of poems, Daphne & Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse and The Myth of the Simple Machines. She also edited an anthology of nonfiction, Half/Life: Jew-ish tales from Interfaith Homes. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Michener-Engle Fellow, Laurel has published work in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Utne Reader, the Chicago Sun-Times, and elsewhere. She teaches in the MFAC program at Hamline University. A Baltimore native, Laurel lives in Atlanta with her family.Please support Commonplace by becoming a patron here!

Extra ResourcesBooks and Selected Other Work by Charif ShanahanPOETRYTrace Evidence (Tin House, 2023)Into Each Room We Enter Without Knowing (SIU Press, 2017)Books and Selected Other Work by Safia ElhilloPOETRYGirls That Never Die (One World/Random House, 2022)The January Children (University of Nebraska Press, 2017)“Indeterminacy” (Poets.org, 2023)FICTIONHome Is Not a Country (Make Me A World/Random House, 2021)EDITORIAL PROJECTSed. with Fatimah Asghar, The BreakBeat Poets, Vol. 3: Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket Books, 2019)Also ReferencedCave CanemMiznaThe Ineffable Residence: Safia Elhillo Interviews Charif ShanahanMoore Lecture Series at Northwestern UniversityAbdel Halim HafezSudan Cipher Orpheus & EuridiceTercetGhazalSonnet“Indeterminacy” by Charif Shanahan (chosen by Patricia Smith)Wallace Stegner FellowshipFulbright FellowshipEavan BolandMichele Elam, The Souls of Mixed Folk: Race, Politics, and Aesthetics in the New Millennium (Stanford University Press, 2011)Omar ibn SaidBios:Charif Shanahan is the author of Trace Evidence: poems, which was Longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry, and Into Each Room We Enter without Knowing, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry and the Publishing Triangle's Thom Gunn Award. He is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Northwestern University.Safia Elhillo is Sudanese by way of Washington, DC. She is the author of The January Children, Girls That Never Die, and the novel in verse Home Is Not a Country. With Fatimah Asghar, she is co-editor of the anthology Halal If You Hear Me.Isaac Ginsberg Miller is a PhD candidate in Black Studies at Northwestern University, where he is also a member of the Poetry and Poetics Graduate Cluster. His chapbook Stopgap, won The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review Chapbook Contest and was published in 2019.Please support Commonplace by becoming a patron here!Sign up for “Reading with Rachel,” the newest course in The Commonplace School for Embodied Poetics.

Links, Bios, & Support InfoBryant Park Reading SeriesUniversity of MarylandLibrary of CongressWilliam MeredithKim NovakBMCCKGB reading seriesDavid LehmanStar BlackPaul RomeroSonia SanchezAllen Ginsberg’s “Sunflower Sutra”Phllyis Levin Matt YeagerDavid LehmanWill Harris’s Brother PoemJosé Oliverez’s Promises of GoldMartha Graham CrackerJustin Vivian BondPatty LuPoneBridget EverettKGB Bar ReadingRichard McCann Kinokuniya BookstoreWillam Blake’s “Ah! Sun-flower” June Jordan’s “Sunflower Sonnet Number 1"June Jordan’s “Sunflower Sonnet Number 2"Bios, in order of appearance:Jason Schneiderman is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Hold Me Tight (Red Hen, 2020). He is Professor of English at CUNY’s BMCC and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His next collection, Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire, will be published by Red Hen Press in 2024. Cate Marvin's latest book of poems is Event Horizon (Copper Canyon Press, 2022). She teaches at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and resides in Southern Maine. Her poems have recently appeared in The Kenyon Review.R. A. Villanueva is the author of Reliquaria, winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. New work has been featured by the Academy of American Poets, Ploughshares, Poetry, and National Public Radio—and his writing appears widely in international publications such as Poetry London and The Poetry Review. His honors include commendations from the Forward Prizes and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and Kundiman. Born in New Jersey, he lives in Brooklyn.Born in Shanghai, Lynn Xu is the author of And Those Ashen Heaps That Cantilevered Vase of Moonlight (Wave, 2022) and Debts & Lessons (Omnidawn, 2013) and the chapbooks: June (Corollary Press, 2006) and Tournesol (Compline, 2021). She has performed cross-disciplinary works at the MOCA Tucson, Guggenheim Museum, The Renaissance Society, Rising Tide Projects, and 300 S. Kelly Street. She teaches at Columbia University, coedits Canarium Books, and lives with her family in New York City and West Texas. Rachel Zucker is the author of a bunch of books, including, most recently, The Poetics of Wrongness. She is the founder and host of Commonplace and directrix of the Commonplace School of Embodied Poetics. She lives in Washington Heights, NY and Scarborough, ME and is mother to three sons.Please support Commonplace by becoming a patron here!Sign up for “Reading with Rachel,” the newest course in The Commonplace School for Embodied Poetics.

Links, Bios & Support InfoBooks & Selected Projects by Moheb SolimanHOMES (Coffee House Press, 2021)We’re Back! Also ReferencedLorine NiedeckerGabrielle Octavia RuckerCecily Nicholson, Wayside SangDavid ByrneWalt WhitmanEtheridge KnightMoheb Soliman is an interdisciplinary poet from Egypt and the Midwest who's presented work at literary, art, and public spaces in the US, Canada, and abroad with support from the Joyce Foundation, Banff Centre, Minnesota State Arts Board, and diverse other institutions. He has degrees from The New School for Social Research and University of Toronto and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was Program Director for the Arab American lit and film organization Mizna before receiving a multi-year Tulsa Artist Fellowship and this year a Milkweed Editions fellowship. His debut poetry collection HOMES (Coffee House Press, 2021), explores nature, modernity, identity, belonging, and sublimity through the site of the Great Lakes bioregion / borderland. Moheb has been a finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards, Heartland Booksellers Award, and others, and was showcased in Ecotone's annual indie press shortlist and the Poets & Writers annual 10 debut poets feature. See more of his work at www.mohebsoliman.info.In honor of this episode, Commonplace’s partner org will donate $250 to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, chosen by Moheb Soliman. The Alliance for the Great lakes is a nonpartisan nonprofit working across the region to protect our most precious resource: the fresh, clean, and natural waters of the Great Lakes.Please support Commonplace by becoming a patron here!Sign up for “Reading with Rachel” the newest course in The Commonplace School for Embodied Poetics.

Links, Bios & Support InfoHope MohrHope Mohr’s Horizon StanzasAlyssa HaradComing to My Senses: A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bridge by Alyssa HaradThe Descent of Alette by Alice NotleyInanna Queen of Heaven and Earth by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah KramerMOTHERs by Rachel ZuckerAlice Notley reading books 1 and 2 of Descent of AletteAlice Notley reads books 3 and 4 of Descent of AletteSharon Bridgforth Omi Osun Joni L. Jones Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben LernerBridge Live ArtsCherie HillKarla QuinteroShifting Cultural Power by Hope MohrNew Commonplace School Course: “Reading with Rachel”Support Commonplace!Transcript (to come)

Links and resourcesEpisode 143 of Keep the Channel Open: Nana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahNana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahChain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahFriday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahMike SakasegawaLikeWise FictionKeep the Channel Open on TwitterKeep the Channel Open on Insta Keep the Channel Open on YouTubeInformation and sign up for new class “Reading with Rachel”