blackbird online journal spring 2002 vol.1 no. 1

A joint venture of the Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and New Virginia Review, Inc.

 

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INTERVIEWS

Spencer Reece  
In September of 2005, Spencer Reece, recipient of the Eighth Annual Levis Reading Prize, met with students from the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. Reece talked primarily about his collection The Clerk's Tale and about its twenty-year journey from a handful of rough poems to a prize-winning collection.

Elizabeth McCracken and Ann Patchett  
On November 19, 2005, writers and long-time friends Elizabeth McCracken and Ann Patchett interviewed each other for Blackbird during a visit to Virginia Commonwealth University. They also took questions from students of VCU’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. The conversation ranged from their first meeting at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, to their current relationship as writers, to the different ways in which they approach their writing.

Richard Carlyon 
In December of 2005, Mary Flinn of Blackbird visted with Richard Carlyon to discuss his retrospective show at the Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. They discuss the importance of placement of the paintings and drawings in the gallery space, the relationship of dance and painting, and other issues surrounding Carlyon’s work and process.

Tom De Haven 
In November of 2005, Michaux Dempster of Blackbird met with Tom De Haven, author of the novel It’s Superman! (Chronicle Books, 2005), to talk about the making of It’s Superman! from conception to completion. De Haven is also the author of such works as the Funny Papers trilogy: Funny Papers (Viking, 1985), Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies (Henry Holt, 1996), and Dugan Under Ground (Metropolitan, 2001); Sunburn Lake (Penguin, 1989); and the cult classic Freaks’ Amour (Morrow, 1979).

Allison Joseph 
In April of 2005, poet Allison Joseph met with Jennifer Merrifield of Blackbird at the annual Associated Writing Programs' conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. They talked about Joseph's career as a poet, writer, and teacher, and finished with a discussion of the Young Writers Workshop, which Joseph founded at Southern Illinois University in 1999.


Interviews are added as they become available. Interviews appear in different sections of Blackbird but are organized in this alternative menu to allow easy navigation.

An “Interviews” menu link may be found on every interview-related page. Use it to return to this menu.