Scottish Poetry Library Podcast

Matthew Siegel, a poet and essay writer from New York living in San Francisco, chats with Ryan Van Winkle. They discuss how his poetry is informed by the body and how, for him, "real life is poems". He discusses how drawing from his own life informs his work and reads a number of poems from a forthcoming collection. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Photo: Karl Orvik. Visit Matthew's website: http://www.matthewsiegel.us/

Martin Figura's Whistle, which centres on his mother’s death at the hands of his father when he was nine years old, is a remarkable fusion of theatre and spoken word. We caught up with Martin at the StAnza 2012 festival in St Andrews. He reads some of his poems and discusses his approach to the show with Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: [email protected]

Ryan talks with Robyn Creswell, poetry editor of The Paris Review. They discuss his interest in modernism in Arabic poetry, his thoughts on editing and how rap songs were his nursery rhymes. Robyn also reads some poems from recent issues of The Paris Review. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: [email protected]

CD Wright - recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award - talks with Ryan about her award winning One With Others, which explores the civil rights movement in the US. As well as reading excerpts from One With Others and other work, Ryan chats with CD about poetry and politics, her method of working and the influence of her Arkansas upbringing. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Photograph: David Shankbone http://blog.shankbone.org/about/

Adam Zagajewski - recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature - talks to Ryan at the 2011 Edinburgh International Book Festival about poetry and success, including how long you can feel pleased about prizes and reviews. According to Adam, it is a surprisingly short period of time. We also get the chance to hear a few of his poems and his thoughts on creative writing, melancholy and craft. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: [email protected] Photo from Wikimedia user Slawek's http://www.flickr.com/photos/znani/

Ryan seeks out the peace and quiet of Cecilia Woloch's pick-up truck in LA. They discuss how travel affects her work and how her attitude to insects changed after living in the Carpathian mountains with the author of The Worm Eater's Handbook: A Guide to the Edible Insects of Poland. As well as reading a number of her poems, Cecilia also talks about the novel which inspired her to become a poet, her community work and the writers which have inspired her. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: [email protected]

Jane Hirshfield reads some of her poems and chats with Ryan at her home in California, where she has often been influenced by whatever is at hand. In a wide ranging discussion, Jane discusses what inspires her to write, her thoughts on occupy writers, politics, solitude, spirituality, strangeness in poetry and translation, among other things. Jane will appear at the Scottish Poetry Library on 13th April. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Find our more about Jane on the SPL website http://bit.ly/I4OTdo Photo: Nick Rosza

Gabrielle Calvocoressi reads from and discusses poems from her first collection The Last Time I saw Amelia Earhart which includes a series of persona poems, as well as her response to a rejection letter which formed the impetus for excluding pronouns from her second collection Apocalyptic Swing. She also talks about, among other things, her interest in small towns and how poems can function like small communities and how this this affects the ethics and politics of poetry. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean.

We talk with San Francisco based writer Joseph Lease who reads and talks about a number of his poems. He chats to Ryan about elegy, his rediscovery of the Beat poets in his 30s, his interest in Renaissance poetry and how one of his poems was written with the aid of a tape recorder. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: [email protected]

In the second of our podcasts from poets who took part in the Creer translation workshop, we chat with Isle of Lewis born poet Ian Stephen about the sea, translation, narrative and the challenge of working in different mediums. We also get to hear a few of Ian's poems. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: [email protected]