In a New Interview, Rose Solari Opens up about Publishing and Writing in the era of COVID
"At the beginning of ASP we were told 'You'd be lucky if you made it 3-5 years.'" 10 years and a million trials later, poet and ASP co-founder Rose Solari delivers this extremely honest interview to author Kathy Rampsberger
Author Kathy Rampsberger conducts this incredible digital interview as part of her "Story Hour" series.
It's been months now since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic and much has changed in the landscape of publishing and writing. Always attuned to change and always in conversation with the past, writer and poet Rose Solari discusses the art that matters to now and living through the age of COVID. In this interview you will learn about Rose's writing process, whether she outlines or writes spontaneously, her parents, her ear for music, the work and research that went into her first novel, A Secret Woman, keeping the doors open in the time of a nationwide pandemic, and so much more. This is a candid and emotionally vulnerable interview from one of Maryland's finest women of letters. It is not to be missed.
Blurring the boundaries between past and present, between the body and the spirit, between female and male, A Secret Woman is a sexually-charged adventure through time and space, a profound meditation on the mother-daughter connection, and an enlightening exploration of what it means to make love, to make art, and to make a life worth living.
A Secret Woman is not only a pleasure to read, it is sneaky serious in a way I particularly like. Rose Solari explores the eternal literary theme of self — who we are, who are the ones we love, and how we invent and reinvent these people, trying always to paint ourselves into the vast canvas of life and history. A very promising fiction debut. — Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of Perfume River and Severance
A Great Evening at a Great Indie Bookstore (Who are the Wanderland Writers?)
Their latest book Wandering in Cuba; Revolution and Beyond features contributions from several writers detailing their adventures on the Island and the traditional Cuban heroes who have helped make the culture so rich.
Featured Audio: Rose Solari reads “The Beginning, 1939”
In “The Beginning, 1939” Rose Solari’s mastery of recitation is put to the music of her capricious mother and the frantic hopes of her father who wishes to leave “no long, tight pauses for her to fill.” I’ve written before about Rose’s use of swing and rhythmic motifs in her work, elements which are alive in this poem, but what is really mesmerizing to me about “1939” is the musical image toward the end which harbors no pretense of cramming lieder into language, but instead focuses on the very physical act of her mother playing the piano:
Mikaela Lefrak Examines the Life of Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri
The beloved Grace Cavalieri “contains multitudes” according to Mikaela Lefrak in her newest article from WAMU taking a look at the life and career of the 10th Poet Laureate. And Ms. Lefrak treats her subject with the due respect of a life which cannot be covered succinctly in 500 words. She delivers a reverent tourists’ view of Grace Cavalieri’s life, hitting the big things: her poetry and work ethic, the passing of her husband, Kenneth Flynn, her conversion to Buddhism, and finally her new tenure as Poet Laureate.