Hazen Discusses the Comforts of Poetry in Uncertain Times
In a guest post on The Bookworm, Elizabeth Hazen, author of "Girls Like Us," discusses the power of reading and writing poetry in uncertain times.
In a guest post for the small book review blog, The Bookworm, Elizabeth Hazen discusses the role poetry occupies in her life during uncertain times as with the 2016 inauguration and #MeToo movement, and now the COVID 19 epidemic. She also explains her relationship to her new collection Girls Like Us.
While in her first collection, Chaos Theories, she used "a filter through which to explore my subjects allow[ing her] the distance to be objective," in Girls Like Us Hazen "[didn't' allow [herself] quite as much distance from the subject," adding that:
"After the public discourse about sexual assault and misogyny blew up with Trump’s inauguration and with the onset of #MeToo, many old hurts resurfaced for me, as they did for so many women I know. I had to write through all of this and realized that many poems I had been working on were really about what it is to be a woman in world that expects us to be so many contradictory things. The process of writing these poems, though painful at times, was incredibly empowering, and it is my hope that readers will share in that sense of empowerment."
Read the full blog post HERE
And don't forget, EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. in the ASP catalog is half-price through the month of may!
PANK Publishes Early Review of “Scattered Clouds” by Reuben Jackson
Poet Risa Denenberg’s glowing review of Scattered Clouds is up on the PANK Magazine website. Her review details the jazz and political influences in Reuben’s work as well as the specters of “racism, suicide, and brutality,” which give some of his poetry a more menacing aspect.
ASP Travel Writers Celebrate Anthony Bourdain
ASP writers celebrate the life of Anthony Bourdain on the inaugural “Anthony Bourdain Day.”
Author, Branka Cubrilo, Talks New Novel, “Dethroned” with James J. Patterson
James J. Patterson sits down with Croatian-born novelist, Branka Cubrilo to talk about her recent geopolitical thriller novel, “Dethroned.” In the course of conversation they touch on feminism in Eastern Europe, the lives of young women, translation, and the merits of different languages for carrying prose.