Alan Squire Publishing

A Small Press With Big Ideas

First Indian Poet to Record Poems for The Library of Congress to be interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for "The Poet and the Poem" Abhay K. is set to be the first Indian National to record poems for the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The SAARC award winner is known as the premier literary flag-bearer of contemporary Indian poetry. He has published several collections including the acclaimed work The Seduction of Delhi. We are excited to announce that, during his visit, Abhay K. will be interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for her radio show "The Poet and The Poem." Mr. K. will join the ranks … [Read more...]

The Poet and The Poem is a radio show and poetry program hosted by poet and playwright, Grace Cavalieri. For over 40 years, TPaTP has been broadcast from the library of congress, and since 1977, Grace has interviewed every US Poet Laureate to hold office.  On "The Poet and the Poem" Grace examines just that, the poetry and the poet. Each show is an interview with an important poet, national or international, and each interview a mix of questions pertaining to the poet's life, anything from literary inspirations to childhood romances. Thanks to Grace's disarming personality and acute questions, … [Read more...]

  Elizabeth Hazen reads "Burning Trash" "Elizabeth Hazen’s unflinching first book, Chaos Theories, forms a powerful meditation on female identity and the cultural expectations that daughters, mothers, wives, and sisters resist and embrace." Jane Satterfield Elizabeth Hazen's "Burning Trash" is a narrative of time. Like much of her other work, it focuses on subtle arrangements and a strong sense of theme. There is a loneliness present even when the author consoles, something dirty, like tire smoke caught in hair, a day to day struggle to wash out the grime. When one's memories last … [Read more...]

Grace Cavalieri's Monthly Poetry Review and Round-Up, August 2018 In preparation for September's list, we look back at the great collections reviewed by Grace Cavalieri for her monthly feature in Washington Independent Review of Books. All the collections Grace reviews this month are coming out of indie publishing houses, which, sure, make up the large majority of those who actually publish poetry, but also stand to lose the most, and take the greatest risks on the most singular works. Indie presses are those who publish new writers, those who mentor and evolve with their poets. While the big … [Read more...]

  Richard Peabody reads "The Forgiveness Device" "Richard Peabody has served the literary community here [in DC] in countless ways, often simultaneously—mentor, teacher, editor, cheerleader, co-reader, host, panelist, blurber, book seller, co-conspirator. Peabody is a kind of resident institution here, the bookish equivalent of Ben’s Chili Bowl." Nathan Leslie Last week I spoke briefly of Richard Peabody's beautiful coming-of-age poem "The Forgiveness Device," but used it only to put his talent as a reader of Hellerian disaster-comedy in proper context, so the listener might admire … [Read more...]

  Elizabeth Hazen sits down with Elizabeth Spires to discuss her new Poetry Collection, "A Memory of the Future" Two well-educated poets, clear admirers of one another's work, and denizens of Baltimore sit for what must have been a rigorous yet pacific cup of tea. Hazen, author of Chaos Theories, gives a short review of Elizabeth Spires' new collection and an overview of her career which, among trenchant analyses, glimmers with admiration. Then follows a short Q&A where Spires muses on her home city, politics at play, and the influence of zen in her life and her poetry. Read the … [Read more...]

Rose Solari reads "Last Night I Tried to Walk You out of My Body" Rose's voice is as much a part of the journey as the text. Her understanding of (and love for) the music within language is entrancing-haunting, and delightful. It moves me like love itself. Reuben Jackson Rose Solari is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, The Last Girl, Orpheus in the Park, and DifficultWeather(re-issued by ASP in 2014); the one-act play, Looking for Guenevere; and the novel, A Secret Woman. She has lectured and taught writing workshops at many institutions, including the University of … [Read more...]

James J. Patterson reads "The Nearest Thing to Perfection" "One of the welcome treats from the emergence of James J. Patterson’s fiction is his penchant for setting his stories in the real America, the part of our country that gets too little notice by either the factual or the fictional media stars. He’s a welcome addition to the stories of our times." James Grady James J. Patterson can give you a breakdown of every pitch, every play, every score, every formation, and infuse it with color no matter how slow the windup or mundane the foul ball. This is his job, as a writer: caring so much it … [Read more...]

Elizabeth Hazen reads "Chaos Theory" "She harnesses the atoms and molecules of poetry like a Tesla coil, attuned to the science of our everyday lives, and leaves us sadder, wiser, and the better for it." Richard Peabody "All it takes for things to turn is a blip." The first-page poem from Elizabeth Hazen's debut collection, Chaos Theories, is a rumination on the reductive power of the human mind when facing grief, and the language we have developed in labs and classrooms to facilitate it. Recognizing laws and theories as little webs of possibility, as impossibly complex addenda to what … [Read more...]

  Grace Cavalieri reads "Safety" "The poet Grace Cavalieri is a…truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In her writing and all she does her large-minded generosity shines." Robert Pinsky In the folds and on the back cover of Other Voices, Other Lives, sits a few very special drawings —a rose, the dome of the capital building— by sculptor Kenneth Flynn, Grace's late husband. They were sketches made whenever Ken was waiting for Grace to return, and so he dubbed the series "Waiting for Grace." It makes sense then, since the sketches are rough, not overwrought, but meaningfully simple, … [Read more...]

Richard Peabody reads "Flea Wars"  "Not only is he a good writer, he is very entertaining and funny. And very  sexy, too." Michael Dirda When Richard Peabody came in-studio to record this excerpt from an absurd and frustrating story in The Reader, I was still in disbelief I hadn't read it in The New Yorker or The Atlantic or some other pedigree publication first. But, from the moment he uttered, almost farcical in his expressionlessness, "just dip the cats they say," he had me: I knew it belonged to Richard and to Richard alone. We recorded "Flea Wars" on the heels of recording "The … [Read more...]

Elizabeth Hazen's "Thanatosis" selected for Best American Poetry 2013, an interview and debrief In 2013 "Thanatosis", a poem from Elizabeth Hazen's debut collection Chaos Theories, was selected for publication in Best American Poetry. B. Boyd of The Baltimore Fishbowl sat down with Elizabeth to discuss the honor and to chronicle her evolving relationship with science, poetry, and chaos theory. Read the full interview here A long excerpt and "Thanatosis" reprinted: What was your process like, working and reworking this winning poem? I was reading about the principle of fight or flight … [Read more...]

Rose Solari reads "Achilles on Shore" "No one reads poetry like Rose Solari. She enters the essence of each word with a voice, making meaning become spirit. I think her great gift is the understanding that language can make you feel what the speaker experiences...so she proceeds to make you feel her passion, her wit, and love." Grace Cavalieri Rose Solari's upcoming poetry workshop at Politics & Prose is titled "Revise, Rethink, Reveal." "Rethink" holding, for Rose, an essential place in the poetic process. It makes sense then why she would gravitate toward poems about myth and family. … [Read more...]

James J. Patterson reads "Jesse Lancaster Remembers" from Roughnecks "[Reading James J Patterson] is like sitting down with a very intelligent friend and having the kind of conversation you’d always wanted to have." Myra Sklarew In his readings, James J. Patterson gives every character a voice of their own. Consummate thespian and raconteur, not only is he a great modulator of voice, but sonorous and entrancing even in those moments most quietly intimate: internal dialogue. Listen to how James, filling the rough-hewn Jesse Lancaster, is master of every breath, articulation, and expression, … [Read more...]

"Main Character: Richard Peabody has devoted his life to Washington's writers. At what cost?" In 2011 Lora Engdahl wrote a long feature article on Richard Peabody for the Washington Post, exploring his countless contributions to DC's literary brood. Richard Peabody has not only been patron saint to the arts (what with his magazine, Gargoyle, and his press, Paycock), but also a Socratic figure and mentor to many young writers just finding their sea legs--it is with great satisfaction we might read the names of people, now household, who got their start in Gargoyle. This is all to say that … [Read more...]

Elizabeth Hazen Reads "Maxwell's Demon" Hazen has a way of uncovering universal feelings that resonate, even if we haven’t experienced her particular grief or confusion. Gabriella Souza “By dint of his prodigious intelligence and dexterity, the goblin could cause things to happen that are never seen to occur in nature, things that seemed able to violate the second law of thermodynamics.” — Hans Christian von Baeyer. This is the epigraph which opens Elizabeth Hazen's wonderful poem, Maxwell's Demon. You can read more on the genesis of the poem and on finding poetic inspiration within the … [Read more...]

An Interview with Grace Cavalieri Senior Editor of December Literary Magazine, Ron A. Austin, sat down with Grace Cavalieri for an exciting and rapid fire (if, sadly, slim) look at the author behind Other Voices, Other Lives, the second installment in ASP's Legacy Series. Read the whole interview here An Excerpt: DECEMBER How do your personal experiences manifest in your work? When, if ever, do you feel the need to adjust things in your work (settings, characters, etc.) to protect people in your life? CAVALIERI Great question as it hinges on the moral life of the writer. I … [Read more...]

A Featured Solari Poem on Poets and Artists Rose Solari's poem "Portrait of a Girl Gulf-Side" is featured on Poets and Artists with a small introduction by Grace Cavalieri. Read the full poem and introduction here An Excerpt: PORTRAIT OF A GIRL, GULF-SIDE                    Naples, Florida At first, I thought it was happiness that made her rock her head from left to right, again, again — that girl, maybe twelve, in her pink   skirted two-piece, her dark hair swimming, gorgeous, down her back. She clutched an Ipad in a thick pink rubber case.   Rose Solari is the … [Read more...]

Lessons From a Turtle by Elizabeth Hazen Once at the National Zoo, I watched a pair of giant tortoises copulating, the sound that emanated from their habitat like a sleeper’s distress in the midst of a confusing dream. My son wondered what the matter was. All of the children wondered, the older ones with a slight blush of awareness. The adults chuckled nervously, parents scooting their children along to the next exhibit. Meanwhile I stared with the fascination of a scientist, the brazenness of a paparazzo. How those enormous, armored bodies could fit together—how even turtles could evince … [Read more...]

Grace Cavalieri Reads, "Work is My Secret Lover" The poet Grace Cavalieri is a truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In her writing and all she does her large-minded generosity shines. Robert Pinsky Grace Cavalieri reads poetry just as though she were speaking then with Pinsky, Dove, or Solari, and she speaks just like she were reading you a poem-- with some verses left blank you ought to fill in yourself. In "Work is My Secret Lover" you meet a Grace who is excited to tell you about what she is hiding from you, about how, even now as you talk, she is observing, listening, feeling … [Read more...]