Rose Solari Describes Her Favorite Erotic Literary Scene in WIRoB Article
"In Possession, the repressions of time and circumstance explode with a dazzling erotic force."
E.A Aymar's latest article in the Washington Independent Review of Books asks popular authors to review their favorite erotic scenes in novels. As Aymar puts it, "I want something more than 'romantic.'" Fortunately, ASP's own Rose Solari was around to answer the call. her selection: a scene in A.S. Byatt's Possession. Below is an excerpt, but you can read the entire article on the WIRoB site here
“We’re in England in the 1860s. Cristabel LaMotte is a poet of modest reputation and hermit-like tendencies, living with a female companion who is secretly her lover. Randolph Ash is a renowned poet stuck in a sexless marriage with a loving but frigid wife. What begins as a chance meeting develops into an increasingly passionate epistolary relationship. By the time they consummate their love — on a stolen seaside trip — their hunger for each other is at its peak boiling point, fierce and frightening for them and for the reader. A.S. Byatt might not be the first writer to come to mind for hot sex scenes, but in Possession, the repressions of time and circumstance explode with a dazzling erotic force.”
– Rose Solari, author of A Secret Woman
Reuben Jackson Narrating Graphic Novel “March” for MLK inspired Concert
In-house ASP wordsmith and noted Jazz Scholar, Reuben Jackson, will be narrating March: Book One, written in part by sitting Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, for the Vermont Youth Orchestra’s celebratory performance of Duke Ellington’s Three Black Kings (which includes an ode to MLK) and Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony (which takes inspiration from African American spirituals).
Featured Poetry: “Winter Funeral” by Elizabeth Hazen
Fully embracing what the lyric mode does best, Hazen provides the readers with brief, intense poems that preserve a suspended moment in time, attempting to record the thought processes and emotions of the speaker much like tree rings reveal drought, heat, and age. With astonishing clarity and concision, Hazen explores the mysteries of our realities—which are ultimately beholden to entropy.
Grace Cavalieri on the Kojo Nnamdi Show Jan 23rd
Recently Governor Larry Hogan announced that Grace Cavlieri, poet, playwright, and long time host of NPR’s The Poet and The Poem, would become Maryland’s next Poet Laureate, succeeding the great Stanley Plumly. Now that she has been inaugurated, one of her first stops is The Kojo Nnamdi show. Kojo Nnamdi has been hosting his show on WAMU for 20 years, so he and Grace are kindred spirits in that regard–Grace has hosted The Poet and The Poem for over 40 years.