Musings of the Artist: (Honest) Conversations with Montse Andrée

Amina Cain is Los Angeles based writer. She is the author of the novel Indelicacy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020), and two collections of short stories, Creature (Dorothy, 2013) and I Go To Some Hollow (Les Figues Press, 2009). Her latest book is A Horse at Night: On Writing (Dorothy, 2022).

In this conversation we discuss friendship, writing, class, ambivalence around motherhood (an article she wrote on this can be found here), embracing the different versions of ourselves and more. A Horse at Night was one of my favorite books that I read this past year. It was a treat to have Amina on the podcast!

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward. 

Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of eight works of nonfiction and poetry and  her most recent book is Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul. This conversation, just like her book, is centered around writing personal narratives. We discuss putting our most vulnerable selves on the page, the fluidity of memory, writing about other people and much more. If you are a writer of memoir and personal essay– or hope to be, then this is the episode for you!

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward. 

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. In addition to his poetry, Ross has released three collections of essays—The Book of Delights (a New York Times bestseller), Inciting Joy, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights.

This conversation, much like Ross’s work, is about joy, curiosity, belonging and caring for one another. It was, truly, one of my favorite conversations I’ve had in this space, and I’m thrilled to be able to share it.

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Gregory Orr is a poet who is known to be a master of the short, personal lyric. About Gregory, Mary Oliver wrote “He speaks now, in these many short poems, which in their entirety are really one long poem, of mysteries, of those things –emotions, situations, mind and heart states–which are beyond the definitive.” 

Gregory is the author of more than 10 collections of poetry. He has also published a beautiful book about lyric poetry called Poetry as Survival along with a stunning memoir, The Blessing. His latest book of poetry is Selected Books of the Beloved.

In this conversation we talked about lyric poetry, anxiety, surviving trauma and the power of art to save a life.

In 2018 Gregory performed a poem-and-poems-set-to-music using his “beloved” poems, featuring the Parkington Sisters. We didn't get to discuss this during our conversation but you can check it out here: The Beloved Poetry & Music | Video
 

You can read more about Gregory on his website http://gregoryorr.net/. His wife, painter Tricia Orr's art can be found on her website, http://www.trishaorr.com/. 

Finally, you can listen to Gregory's conversation with Krista Tippett for the On Being podcast here.

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Philip Metres is a poet, translator and director of the Peace, Justice and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He is the author of ten books, including Shrapnel Maps, The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance, Pictures at an Exhibition, and Sand Opera.

Tomás Q. Morin is a poet, translator, and editor. His books include the collection of poems Machete and the memoir Let Me Count the Ways, as well as the poetry collections Patient Zero and A Larger Country. 

Both Philip and Tomás have received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other honors. 

I met Tomás and Philip through my MFA program and knowing they are friends I thought it would be fun to be in conversation with them together! We talked all about vulnerability and art, literature as a home and companion, form enacting subject in writing and the discovery that happens in the creative process.

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward. 

Laura Warrell is a writer based in Los Angeles. "Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm" is her first novel. The story follows a 40-year-old jazz musician and womanizer Circus Palmer–but this book centers the women in his life. It is a telling of their stories, not only his.

Laura and I talk about her wonderful debut and her path to publication which is an inspiring tale of persistence. And, from a bit of a different angle, we muse on that perennial question: can we separate the art from the artist?

You can find Laura's work here: https://www.laurawarrell.com/

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Theme music is by Madisen Ward.

Ama Codjoe is a poet based in New York City. She is the author of Bluest Nude and Blood of the Air. Her poems and essays have been published in many outlets and her work has twice appeared in The Best American Poetry. Her poems often engage with visual art—especially art by Black women artists. 

This conversation is much about the body. On how we relate to nudity and nakedness, on being in the body as an artist and on living a fully sensual life. Ama shares about her writing process and ekphrastic poetry, and we also talk about the many ways we love outside of the mainstream definition of that word “love.”

As we are moving into a new year I’m thinking about how Ama’s book Bluest Nude and this conversation I had with her has been a great gift to my life this past year. I hope that if you don't already know her work that discovering it now might bring about this same opening in you. 

To find out more about the Hear Me Now exhibit at The Met that Ama mentioned, she kindly passed along this link: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/edgefield

You can find Ama’s work here: 

https://www.amacodjoe.com/

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Theme music is by Madisen Ward.

Diana Khoi Nguyen is a poet and multimedia artist. She is the author of the poetry collection, Ghost Of (Omnidawn Publishing, 2018) which was a finalist for the National Book Award and L.A. Times Book Prize. In this episode we talk about grief, complex emotions, silence, and breaking that silence through art. 

Note: There is a bit of static in the beginning on my end that I wasn’t aware of while recording - but it gets better!

This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Ingrid Rojas Contreras is a writer who was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia and now lives in San Francisco, California. Her first book was the novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree and her most recent book is a family memoir called The Man Who Could Move Clouds.

In this episode we chat all about language. On writing between two languages and cultures, and the evolution of language. We also talk about anxiety, dreams (what they can tell us about ourselves!) and much more.

This episode was audio produced by Aaron Moring. Music is by Madisen Ward.