The Next Big Thing:
Here's a bit of something on my latest book, Arco Iris. Thanks to Joy Katz, author of the forthcoming All You Do Is Perceive, for tagging me.
What is the title of your book?
Arco Iris
What genre does the book fall under?
Poetry
Where did the idea come from for the book?
The book came out of several years of thinking about, trying to process, writing about, and writing again about the months that my partner and I spent traveling through several countries in South America.... That, plus trying to negotiate my own understandings of something of the processes, insidious and otherwise, that go into making "my" culture of America. What is, as Levinas might say, an ethical contact. Those questions, plus all the old subjectivity questions. Plus longing and exhaustion. Plus intimacy on a global level, and intimacy on a personal level. Plus trying to find coffee in South America, which you wouldn't think would be so difficult.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie adaptation?
In this fantasy, narrator played by myself and "The Lover" is played by Sean Connery.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Well, the travel that this is based on, in South America, began the book. And then many subsequent trips increased the intensity of the questions that arose from the South America trip. We took a couple of longish, I'll say pilgrimages, to Cambodia and Vietnam, and these with our very young children. On these trips, the ghostliness of selves (which pervades the travelers in Arco Iris) seemed to disappear-- with the children by our sides or strapped to us, we were so warmly greeted, were touched, were spoken to, we felt completely different-- material, present.... And this despite our direct lineage of violent culpability in Vietnam and Cambodia. (My partner is the son of a Vietnam vet, and we all traveled there together at one point.) To answer the question-- a layering of travels, different kinds and different places, amplified and nuanced certain of the questions and sensations of Arco Iris, and book-- the most difficult one I've written-- eventually came.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It was named a Library Journal Best Book of 2012. It is filled with ambiguous sex and ghosts.
When will your book be out?
Arco Iris was released in November of 2012 with Saturnalia Books.
Tagged writers: Check out The Next Big Thing from Diana Arterian and TaraShea Nesbit. Links soon.
What is the title of your book?
Arco Iris
What genre does the book fall under?
Poetry
Where did the idea come from for the book?
The book came out of several years of thinking about, trying to process, writing about, and writing again about the months that my partner and I spent traveling through several countries in South America.... That, plus trying to negotiate my own understandings of something of the processes, insidious and otherwise, that go into making "my" culture of America. What is, as Levinas might say, an ethical contact. Those questions, plus all the old subjectivity questions. Plus longing and exhaustion. Plus intimacy on a global level, and intimacy on a personal level. Plus trying to find coffee in South America, which you wouldn't think would be so difficult.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie adaptation?
In this fantasy, narrator played by myself and "The Lover" is played by Sean Connery.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Well, the travel that this is based on, in South America, began the book. And then many subsequent trips increased the intensity of the questions that arose from the South America trip. We took a couple of longish, I'll say pilgrimages, to Cambodia and Vietnam, and these with our very young children. On these trips, the ghostliness of selves (which pervades the travelers in Arco Iris) seemed to disappear-- with the children by our sides or strapped to us, we were so warmly greeted, were touched, were spoken to, we felt completely different-- material, present.... And this despite our direct lineage of violent culpability in Vietnam and Cambodia. (My partner is the son of a Vietnam vet, and we all traveled there together at one point.) To answer the question-- a layering of travels, different kinds and different places, amplified and nuanced certain of the questions and sensations of Arco Iris, and book-- the most difficult one I've written-- eventually came.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It was named a Library Journal Best Book of 2012. It is filled with ambiguous sex and ghosts.
When will your book be out?
Arco Iris was released in November of 2012 with Saturnalia Books.
Tagged writers: Check out The Next Big Thing from Diana Arterian and TaraShea Nesbit. Links soon.
