Bluets

Authors Talk: Meghan McClure and Michael Schmeltzer

Superstition Review

Meghan McClureToday we are pleased to feature authors Meghan McClure and Michael Schmeltzer as our Authors Talk series contributors. Meghan and Michael were brought together when they both had poems published in Issue 6; more recently, they collaborated on a work of creative nonfiction, A Single Throat Opens, which releases in June.

Michael Schmeltzer

In their podcast, the pair says that the best advice they can give to a writer who wants to improve their writing is to read. Meghan says, “I think that writers and just people in general should read widely until you want to read deeply.” Michael echoes this and adds, “Read what interests you, first and foremost.” Meghan and Michael then delve into book recommendations; not only are these books that they love, but they are books that they believe will help writers better their own craft. For example, they offer recommendations that will teach you how to be observant, how to look at family in a different way, how to read and write through the lens of obsession, how to put together a linked collection, and more!

You can access Meghan’s pieces in Issue 6 and Issue 18 of Superstition Review, and you can access Michael’s pieces in Issue 6 and Issue 10. You can also preorder A Single Throat Opens here.

SR Pod/Vod Series: Writer Maggie Nelson

Leah Newsom

Today we’re proud to feature Maggie Nelson as our tenth Authors Talk series contributor.

This interview with Maggie Nelson was conducted in person at the NonfictionNow conference in Flagstaff, Arizona by Interview Editor Leah Newsom. Of the process she said, “It was such an incredible privilege to interview Maggie Nelson. For days after, pieces of our conversation were swimming around in my mind, resurfacing at unexpected moments. Every time I watched the recording while transcribing, I discovered some new train of thought I hadn’t sat with previously, and I would have to stop and take a note. This was the same reaction I had to reading The Argonauts, so I shouldn’t have expected anything different.” In this interview, Maggie discusses the role of other people in her writing, the need to make space, and what it means to burn out a problem.

You can read Maggie Nelson’s interview in Superstition Review, Issue 16.

 

More About the Author:

Maggie Nelson is an American poet, art critic, lyric essayist and nonfiction author of the books Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions,The Red Parts: A Memoir, The Art of Cruelty, Something Bright, The Argonauts, The Latest Winter, Shiner, and Bluets.

About the Authors Talk series:

For several years, we have featured audio or video of Superstition Review contributors reading their work. We’re now establishing a new series of podcasts called Authors Talk. The podcasts in this series take a broader scope and feature SR contributors discussing their own thoughts on writing, the creative process, and anything else they may want to share with listeners.