The book is a combination of riddle poems and colorful, charming illustrations, challenging the reader to guess the mysterious animal on the next page. The animals are an eclectic bunch, from the well-known—bison, giraffe—to the more exotic such as the axolotl. The poems sneak in bits of “teacher” information and dashes of puns and humor. (To wit, regarding the axolotl, “You now know a ‘lotl’ about us….”)
Category: Author interviews
An Interview with Dr. Dipak Giri on Poetics of Creation
In this wide ranging interview, Dr. Jernail Singh Anand talks at length about poetry, the role of poets, aspirations, inspirations, speaking truth, and lots more.
Six questions to Ruth Oskolkoff, Author of Voyage to the Sun
The author of Voyage to the Sun: The Tao te Ching For Children talks about her own childhood, her minimalist style of writing, the Tao and how it fits our present world, on preparing children for the real world, her family support, and more.
An interview with Anne Elezabeth Pluto
I recently had a zoom interview with poet Anne Elezabeth Pluto to discuss her most recent book, How Many Miles to Babylon. The author sipped tea while holding her adorable adopted French Bulldog named Celine on her lap. Pluto is the editor of Nixes Mate Review and teaches at Lesley University. This is her second book.
I am secretly trying to light a wick: A Conversation between Matt Mauch and Tiffany Troy about their new books
I tell my students to fall in love with the process—the process of writing, of doing it every day, of making it a habit, a job that doesn’t pay you but matters more than the jobs that do—and that the product will come. I try to teach them to take the long view. Saying “the product will come” is my assent to our economic system, to capitalism, to ego.
Mary Pacifico Curtis and Sybil Baker In Conversation
The authors of Understanding Moonseed and Apparitions chat about their books, inspirations, their settings and the importance of place, process, spirituality, ghosts, magic realism, the impact of covid, and much more.
An Interview with Angélica Lopes
The author of The Curse of the Flores Women talks about her new book and its inspiration, its Brazilian setting of rural Pernambuco, lacemaking, historical fiction, feminism, the differences between writing scripts for movies and TVs and writing novels, research, writing YA and lots more.
An Interview with Jolene Gutierrez
Now fifty—looks 30—Gutiérrez feels like she’s just hitting her stride as an author. I had the chance to sit down in her inviting library, surrounded by books and stained glass, to talk about writing, kids, libraries, and the power and joy of books.
But I Knew: A Conversation with Charles Rammelkamp about See What I Mean?
See What I Mean? is a collection of persona poems and flash pieces that traverse American history, politics, and society through a matter-of-fact diction characteristic of the poetry of witness by Charles Reznikoff. Like Reznikoff’s poetry, Rammelkamp’s poems look at and document the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of race, gender, and class.
An Interview with Author David Dvorkin
“I’m more invigorated artistically now than I have been for decades,” says author David Dvorkin in his soft, lilting English accent. We’re sitting in a quaint coffee shop discussing his new novel, Cage of Bone. The novel, he explains, is a crime thriller with telepathy, psychological components and a science fiction twist.