Poets & Writers Theater

“The work of most poets whom I admire requires an apprenticeship to the language of that particular poet.” Jorie Graham speaks about reading habits, influence, and accessibility to a wider audience as a poet in this 1999 interview with Michael Silverblatt, host of the long-running KCRW series Bookworm, produced by the Lannan Foundation.

“The freedom an oak tree knows. / That is built at night by stars.” In this video, Linda Gregg reads “The Weight” and “Alone With the Goddess” from her poetry collection All of It Singing (Graywolf Press, 2008) at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival. Gregg died at the age of seventy-six on March 20, 2019.

Sharp Objects (Shaye Areheart Books, 2006), Gillian Flynn’s debut novel about a reporter who returns to her hometown to investigate a series of murders, has been adapted into an HBO television miniseries. Created by Marti Noxon and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, the series stars Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Matt Craven, Chris Messina, and Elizabeth Perkins.

Poet and actress Amber Tamblyn makes her directorial debut with the film adaptation of Janet Fitch’s novel Paint It Black (Little, Brown, 2006), which stars Janet McTeer, Alfred Molina, and Alia Shawkat. The film is set in the 1980s Los Angeles punk scene and follows a young woman dealing with the aftermath of her boyfriend’s death, and her conflicted relationship with his grieving mother.

“The enigma is some other thing—no gods live here / Just men and the sea, immovable inheritance.” In this clip filmed in São Tomé, Santomean poet Conceição Lima reads her short two-line poem “Archipelago,” translated from the Portuguese by David Shook, from her second collection, A Dolorosa Raiz do Micondó (Editorial Caminho, 2006).

“At that moment when I started it, it was an act of complete desperation—I didn't know I was writing a book!” In this clip from an interview with filmmaker Martin Rumsby, Chris Kraus talks about the origins and inspiration for her first novel, I Love Dick (Semiotext(e), 1997), which has been adapted for an upcoming television series directed by Jill Soloway, and starring Kevin Bacon and Kathryn Hahn.

Motionpoems.com brings Madelon Sprengnether's poem "The Angel of Duluth #2," from her 2006 collection, The Angel of Duluth (White Pine Press), to life.

The best-selling author of eleven books, including A Writer's Life (Knopf, 2006), a former reporter for the New York Times, and the father of The New Journalism, Gay Talese is also one of the best-dressed writers around. Check out this video of the elegent author by Jake Davis, and while you're at it, watch the latest episode of the web series Put This On, which features an interview with Talese.

This brief interview with Amy Hempel, which includes excerpts from her short story "The Harvest," was produced by United States Artists. The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel was published by Scribner in 2006.

Winter's Bone, based on the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell, is nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture.