1 hr 1 min

Episode 55 - Poetry Brained with A.Z. Louise We Make Books Podcast

    • Books

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, and concerns for us to address in future episodes.
We hope you enjoy We Make Books!
Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap
Instagram: @WMBCast 
Patreon.com/WMBCast
 
Lots of links this episode! 
A.Z.’s website https://www.azlouise.com/
@az_louise https://twitter.com/az_louise
“Chorus of the Captains” by Amanda Gorman (Performed at the NFL Super Bowl) https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/super-bowl-2021-read-the-transcript-of-amanda-gorman-poem-chorus-of-the-captains/
The Hidebehind: https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Hidebehind
The Iliad: http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.1.i.html
Shakespeare: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
Poem “She’s Not A Phoenix” by A.Z. Louise (Strange Horizons): http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/shes-not-a-phoenix/
AASHTO Manual: https://www.scribd.com/document/118295981/AASHTO
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer: https://www.jeffvandermeer.com/book/annihilation/
Twisted Moon: http://www.twistedmoonmag.com/5/louise.html
Submission Grinder: https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/
 
Episode Transcript (by Rekka, blame her for all errors)
Kaelyn (00:00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a show about writing publishing and everything in between. I'm Kaelyn Considine. I'm the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.
Rekka (00:00:07):
I'm Rekka. I write science fiction and fantasy as R J Theodore. And I might start writing some poetry as R J Theodore.
Kaelyn (00:00:15):
Yeah, really? Gonna, you're going to take that dive, that plunge?
Rekka (00:00:19):
Well, look, I've written a lot of poetry in my life. I've just spared everybody.
Kaelyn (00:00:24):
I didn't know that about you actually. I feel, um, not betrayed. Um, what's the word I'm looking for here? Uh, surprised.
Rekka (00:00:33):
Surprised. But not disappointed. I hope.
Kaelyn (00:00:35):
No, no, of course not. I've never disappointed at any of your writing. Uh, so yeah, we, um, We Make Books took a little bit of a turn—but it turns out not too much, if you listen to the episode—um, into the realm of poetry, because you know, it turns out people do actually publish poems and stuff.
Rekka (00:00:52):
Yeah, quite a few of the markets that publish the short stories that we sub out (and sometimes trunk) are also seeking poetry and some exclusively, and some anthologies are all about poetry, and some single author anthologies end up being all about poetry. So if you've got a poetic bone in your finger somewhere, maybe this is the episode you need to hear to, um, try and draw some of that out.
Kaelyn (00:01:16):
Rekka was able to interview poet A.Z. Louise, who, um, was kind enough to take the time to sit down and, you know, talk about like some things I really didn't know about poetry and the publishing industry.
Rekka (00:01:28):
Yeah, it was great to have A.Z.. A.Z. Louise is a lover of birds, a killer of houseplants and a former civil engineer. Their love of speculative fiction has been lifelong, but they became a speculative poet by accident. Their work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fiyah, and The Future Fire.
Kaelyn (00:01:45):
I think poetry is a little intimidating. I don't know why a poem is so much more intimidating than a full length, novel to a lot of people, but it certainly is for me.
Rekka (00:01:55):
I think there's a certain expectation of highbrow, um, of elevated intellect that is required for good poem or to understand a good poem. There, there seems to be some sort of requirement to get in the door to poetry.
Kaelyn (00:02:16):
Yeah. I think everybody's got this notion in their head that like to understand poetry, you need to have gone to school for it, which I don't know why nobody thinks that about writing.
Rekka (00:02:26):
Well, I hope it's not true about writing cause I didn't g

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, and concerns for us to address in future episodes.
We hope you enjoy We Make Books!
Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap
Instagram: @WMBCast 
Patreon.com/WMBCast
 
Lots of links this episode! 
A.Z.’s website https://www.azlouise.com/
@az_louise https://twitter.com/az_louise
“Chorus of the Captains” by Amanda Gorman (Performed at the NFL Super Bowl) https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/super-bowl-2021-read-the-transcript-of-amanda-gorman-poem-chorus-of-the-captains/
The Hidebehind: https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Hidebehind
The Iliad: http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.1.i.html
Shakespeare: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
Poem “She’s Not A Phoenix” by A.Z. Louise (Strange Horizons): http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/shes-not-a-phoenix/
AASHTO Manual: https://www.scribd.com/document/118295981/AASHTO
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer: https://www.jeffvandermeer.com/book/annihilation/
Twisted Moon: http://www.twistedmoonmag.com/5/louise.html
Submission Grinder: https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/
 
Episode Transcript (by Rekka, blame her for all errors)
Kaelyn (00:00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a show about writing publishing and everything in between. I'm Kaelyn Considine. I'm the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.
Rekka (00:00:07):
I'm Rekka. I write science fiction and fantasy as R J Theodore. And I might start writing some poetry as R J Theodore.
Kaelyn (00:00:15):
Yeah, really? Gonna, you're going to take that dive, that plunge?
Rekka (00:00:19):
Well, look, I've written a lot of poetry in my life. I've just spared everybody.
Kaelyn (00:00:24):
I didn't know that about you actually. I feel, um, not betrayed. Um, what's the word I'm looking for here? Uh, surprised.
Rekka (00:00:33):
Surprised. But not disappointed. I hope.
Kaelyn (00:00:35):
No, no, of course not. I've never disappointed at any of your writing. Uh, so yeah, we, um, We Make Books took a little bit of a turn—but it turns out not too much, if you listen to the episode—um, into the realm of poetry, because you know, it turns out people do actually publish poems and stuff.
Rekka (00:00:52):
Yeah, quite a few of the markets that publish the short stories that we sub out (and sometimes trunk) are also seeking poetry and some exclusively, and some anthologies are all about poetry, and some single author anthologies end up being all about poetry. So if you've got a poetic bone in your finger somewhere, maybe this is the episode you need to hear to, um, try and draw some of that out.
Kaelyn (00:01:16):
Rekka was able to interview poet A.Z. Louise, who, um, was kind enough to take the time to sit down and, you know, talk about like some things I really didn't know about poetry and the publishing industry.
Rekka (00:01:28):
Yeah, it was great to have A.Z.. A.Z. Louise is a lover of birds, a killer of houseplants and a former civil engineer. Their love of speculative fiction has been lifelong, but they became a speculative poet by accident. Their work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fiyah, and The Future Fire.
Kaelyn (00:01:45):
I think poetry is a little intimidating. I don't know why a poem is so much more intimidating than a full length, novel to a lot of people, but it certainly is for me.
Rekka (00:01:55):
I think there's a certain expectation of highbrow, um, of elevated intellect that is required for good poem or to understand a good poem. There, there seems to be some sort of requirement to get in the door to poetry.
Kaelyn (00:02:16):
Yeah. I think everybody's got this notion in their head that like to understand poetry, you need to have gone to school for it, which I don't know why nobody thinks that about writing.
Rekka (00:02:26):
Well, I hope it's not true about writing cause I didn't g

1 hr 1 min