Friday, August 13, 2010

 

Martín Espada interview

Poet Martín Espada is interviewed by Wendy Vardaman in the website of Verse Wisconsin: Espada talks about his experiences as a student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; the jobs he has had; his ideas about working-class poetry and politically explicit poetry; the importance of bringing poetry into the larger world, and of writing poetry that communicates, that says something useful; among much else. A great interview.

The interview is here. It also includes YouTube videos of Espada reading a couple of his poems.

The main page of Verse Wisconsin is here.

I've written about Martín Espada's book of poems The Republic of Poetry previously in this blog, here.

Martin Espada's website is here.

Comments:
Thanks for this, Lyle!
It was a pleasure to meet Martin at Split this Rock earlier this year. I've translated into Hindi several of his poems and he has been a great help every time.
 
A terrific interview. Espada has a rich background of experience. He's a wonderful reader.
 
Thank you both for your comments. I've pleased you found the interview of value.
 
Thanks so much for posting the link, Lyle, about my interview with Martín. He is an inspiration, both in terms of his poetry and his activism.
 
Thanks for the post, Lyle. I like everything about Espada, but he gave me the cold shoulder at Split This Rock, for no apparent reason. I introduced myself and thanked him for allowing me to reprint a poem for an anthology, and I believe he may have grunted, leaned back, and went silent. Weird.
 
Hi Lyle-- amen to other comments-- wonder how you're doing and how it goes in the Twins-- love, J
 
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