In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Jennifer Huang
“Shoreline” is a beautiful poem that opens V25 and speaks to generational longing. What was the impetus behind this poem? I love how you put it—"generational longing"—because that feels so accurate. At first, this poem was a part of a longer series I was trying to...
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In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Esteban Rodriguez
1. Tell us about your poem in Volume 20. How did it come to be? I first wrote the poem “Ventriloquist” when I was living in the Rio Grande Valley. It’s by no means uncommon to hear English and Spanish (or a combination of both) spoken throughout the region. However,...
Poetry Matters, By Jason Ryou
Language and communication are essential to life and culture, but where is poetry’s place in a world where the emphasis is on speed and efficiency? If one can get past the notion that poetry is only for intellectuals and scholars, that it is...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Tyler McAndrew
1. Tell us about your short story in Volume 20. How did it come to be? A pretty huge percentage of the stories that I write begin as things that I just think are funny, just little jokes that I'm telling to myself. Initially, the only thing I knew about “How I Came to...
Early Bird Writes the Book: An Interview with Author and Hamline Grad, Lucie Amundsen, on the Benefits of Early Morning Writing, By Jessica Lind Peterson
I wish I was a morning person. I really, really do. I wish I rose early enough to witness the morning sun kissing the horizon on its way up, to hear the birds early morning chatter. But I am not a morning person. Not even a little bit. I’ve...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Chelsea Dingman
1. Tell us about your poem in Volume 20. How did it come to be? My poem, “Aftermath,” was written the night of the election in 2016. I was in the process of writing a poetry collection about women who have suffered infertility and I had read some very negative...
In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Marjorie Hakala
1. Tell us about your essay in Volume 20. How did it come to be? My essay, “Verdure,” is about the color green in different places I’ve been. It has a very mundane origin story: It was my turn to send some work to my writing group, and I didn’t have anything new to...
In the Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Will Johnston
1. Tell us about your poem in Volume 20. How did it come to be? The heart of "The Wild Plum" came from an actual experience I had, probably at age five or so, of coming across a wild plum tree while out walking, and my dad picking plums for my sister and I. It may be...
Beyond Toni Morrison: Top Twin Cities Bookstores For Buying Books By People of Color, By Chavonn Williams Shen
(Photo: Boneshaker Books table display) Not to knock Toni Morrison, but she’s not the only person of color to have ever written a book. In a lot of local bookstores I’ve frequented I’ve had to go to the designated cultural section to find books...