Category: Tightwires

New York Times / Indie / USAToday Bestselling author, Hannah Whitten! (My Season 6 Featured Guest!)

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I had so much fun exploring the Nightshade Crown trilogy last month through its first two installments, The Foxglove King and The Hemlock Queen. I had even more fun talking about them with their author Hannah Whitten, who was kind enough to answer all my questions and is my Season 6 featured guest!

Some topics of discussion: Embarking on alternative paths to success, exploring real-life meaning in engaging fantasy worlds, observing the upcoming eclipse, and curating an immaculate social media aesthetic!

Plus, in a spoilers-only section, Hannah shares her favorite twist and scene in the latest installment!

The Hemlock Queen will be released next Tuesday, April 9, and is available for preorder now!

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!

Poet & Sundog Lit Editor Saba Keramati, my final Season 5 guest!

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I can’t believe it’s already the end of the Season! I had so much fun talking to Chinese-Iranian poet and editor Saba Keramati about her stunning debut collection Self-Mythology, a finalist for the 2024 Miller Williams Poetry Prize from the University of Arkansas Press!

I’ve long been a fan of Saba’s work, and I already can’t wait to revisit this collection.

Some topics of discussion: an unexpectedly early release, a fixation on the self, a behind-the-scenes look into the poetry prize submission process, the significance of mirrors and memory, Anne Carson’s impact, and dealing with loneliness and fear as a writer.

Self-Mythology had a surprise early book release and is already available for purchase!

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!

Poet & Stadler Fellow Sarah Ghazal Ali, my Tightwires Season 5 guest!

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In the midst of a very busy few months— I got married in December! And moved out of my apartment!— I had such a great time talking to Sarah Ghazal Ali, fellow Pakistani poet and long-time internet friend. Sarah and I talked at length ahead of the release of her brilliant debut full-length collection Theophanies—  Editors’ Choice for the 2022 Alice James Award and easily one of my favorite 2023 reads.

Some topics of discussion: finding time to write as a new parent, an intricately involved writing process, a mutual fascination with sticky notes & birds, a fear of mirrors, and what it means to “parable a name”!

Theophanies will be out next Tuesday, January 16 from Alice James Books!

Preorder it here: Alice James Books, Pegasus Books

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!
I am now booking for 2024!

Poet & Software Developer Olatunde Osinaike, my final Season 4 guest!

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I met poet & software developer Olatunde Osinaike back in 2019 during Open Mouth Literary Center’s Third Annual Poetry Festival, and I’ve long admired his work!

I had so much fun speaking to him ahead of the release of his debut full-length collection, Tender Headed— a beautifully and deliberately crafted collection that I deeply enjoyed reading last month and that I’m already so excited to revisit! Camille Rankine, who selected it as a winner of the 2022 National Poetry Series, called it “a two-step on a tightwire,” and I agree. I’m ecstatic to feature Olatunde as my last guest this year on Tightwires, and I learned so much from our conversation!

Tender Headed comes out next Tuesday, December 5 from Akashic Books!

Preorder it now from any of these retailers: Akashic Books, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Target, Barnes & Noble, Walmart.

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!
I am now booking for 2024!

Poet & Editor J. Bailey Hutchinson, one of my Season 4 guests!

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I had a great time talking to J. Bailey Hutchinson, the second of my three Season 4 guests, in a special Halloween episode of Tightwires!

Bailey is a fellow Open Mouth Literary Center and Arkansas MFA alum— she was a fourth year when I was a first year— and I’ve long admired her work. Including her 2022 Miller Williams Poetry Prize-Winning debut collection Gut, which we discussed at length during our conversation and for which she is currently touring.

Other topics of discussion: the post-grad school job hunt, navigating truth in writing, our endless admiration for poet & professor Geffrey Davis, how butchery is like poetry, and the best chicken wings in Fayetteville!

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!
I am now booking for 2024!

Indie Bookstore founder & comparative literature graduate Diana Dominguez, one of my Tightwires Season 4 guests!

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Last month, I spoke to the first of my three Season 4 guests! Diana Dominguez, founder of Más Libritos bookstore in Springdale, Arkansas, had so much to say about the day to day life of a bookstore owner– I learned so much!

View our full conversation below, and check out Más Libritos when you get a chance. It’s an intersectional feminist bookstore of new and used books that center Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and it’s the first and only Latina-owned independent bookstore in Arkansas!

Poet & Ph.D. Taylor Byas, my Tightwires Season 3 guest!

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This week on Tightwires, I’m so excited to feature a recent conversation with poet and Ph.D. Taylor Byas, who shared some incredibly valuable words on poetry and process.

I have long been a Taylor Byas fan and so enjoyed reading her debut full-length collection, I DONE CLICKED MY HEELS THREE TIMES, this summer. It’s the sort of book that rewards repeat reading, a poignant journey full of careful considerations that have come to feel like hallmarks of Taylor’s work. (A tiny example: The first line of the first poem is in conversation with the last line of the last poem.) I already can’t wait to revisit!

I DONE CLICKED MY HEELS THREE TIMES will be released on Tuesday, August 22 from Soft Skull Press. You can preorder it now from a preferred retailer on this page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/731254/i-done-clicked-my-heels-three-times-by-taylor-byas/

And in the meantime, you can view our full conversation below!