Dialogue Diary > Press People

Since completing Sixty Morning Talks in 2013 (and seeing contemporary poetry increasingly shaped by political activism, social-media exchanges, performative affiliations of various sorts), I have sensed my reading practice shift away from an emphasis on individual texts and authors, towards an emphasis on collaborative literary communities. By focusing on Nightboat Books (respected for its heterodox output, both of new and reissued work, by a highly diversified array of authors), my recent literary interviews have examined the ongoing evolution of one progressive small press seeking to promote poetic plurality. Using Nightboat’s first 10 years as framing device for a comprehensive oral-history project, this “Press People” series has greatly expanded my sense of what might constitute a well-timed interview. Why should interviewers feel bound to discuss “new” (and presumably, for this reason, more exciting) books, especially within the noncommercial realm of poetry? Who actually picks what they want to read next that way? By Andy Fitch.