In Part 2 of Sam and Stacy's conversation with Michael McGriff, he talks about his choice to be unguarded instead of hiding behind his own pyrotechnics in Eternal Sentences, how his writing process has changed since becoming a parent, and why it's important to keep reading all the books that give you the most meaning when the world is saying "no" to your work. Mike serves as Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho, where he was both Sam and Stacy's mentor in the MFA program.

This is Part 2 of Sam and Stacy's conversation with Mike.

You can learn more about Mike at his website, https://michaelmcgriff.com/. He is the author of the poetry collections Early Hour, Black Postcards, and Dismantling the Hills in additon to translating Tomas Traströmer's The Sorrow Gondola. Mike is also the editor of a volume of David Wevill's essential writing, To Build My Shadow a Fire and alongside J.M. Tyree, the co-author of their linked short story collection, Our Secret Life in the Movies, which was selected as one of NPR's Best Books of 2014.

Mike has two poetry collections forthcoming, Angel Sharpening Its Beak from Carnegie Mellon University Poetry Press Series and Inquest, winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize.

You can order Eternal Sentences directly from the University of Arkansas Press: https://www.uapress.com/product/eternal-sentences/

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