I was pleased to receive and read a copy of Marque, a book of poems by Iain Morrison (of Edinburgh, Scotland). A note that came with the book informed me, gratifyingly, of Iain’s interest in episodes of PoemTalk. I am mentioned in several of his poems. “Phlox,” the book’s final...
I am often asked to recommend my five favorite episodes of PoemTalk. I mean, there have been 158 of them since 2007, so naming five is a tall order. I’ve loved many of them. Found dozens of them so powerful—such a moving experience, even in the middle of my scrambling...
We are adding a filmed discussion of Stephen Ratcliffe’s Sound of Wave in Channel, his 1,000-page poem which, in part, describes a view of the Pacific Ocean from a spot along the road in Bolinas, California—describes it every day for those 1,000 days. Earlier we released a PoemTalk episode filmed...
In a few days we will release PoemTalk episode 128—in which Sawako Nakayasu, Gabriel Ojeda-Sague & Donato Mancini talk with me about Sueyuen Juliette Lee’s “Perfect Villagers.” Below, from left to right: Sawako, Gabe, Donato. Below that, of course, is Juliette.
Here in Cambridge, MA, to host a KWH “salon” evening and to record an episode of PoemTalk at the Woodberry Poetry Room. I went for a beat-the-heat early run this morning—3 miles all the way through and around Harvard’s campus. Here are a few views I found interesting and, as...
Today in KWH’s Wexler Studio I had the great pleasure of convening & moderating a new episode of PoemTalk. Amber Rose Johnson, Tracie Morris, Alexandria Johnson & I discussed six sections of NourbeSe Philip’s “Zong!” (It will be a few months before this episode will be available.)
The great poet Joanne Kyger passed yesterday. I had the honor of hosting an on-location episode of PoemTalk a few months ago not far from her home in Bolinas, California. You can hear that conversation here. That afternoon was brilliant: a late summer day, clear skies, the mesa field behind...
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Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. His new book is 1960: When Art & Literature Confronted the Memory of World War II & Remade the Modern (Columbia University Press, 2021). He is currently writing a book about online pedagogy. He has taught a massive open online course, "ModPo," to 265,000 participants in 192 countries since 2012.
Founder/Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House—intro video ][ events calendar
Convener/teacher, “ModPo.” an open online course on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry—overview of the course ][ intro video
Publisher of Jacket2 magazine—my Jacket2 commentary series ][ "First Readings"
Producer/host, PoemTalk podcast series—co-sponsored by Kelly Writers House & the Poetry Foundation
Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing—Creative Writing ][ RealArts internships ]
Co-founder & co-director of PennSound—50,000 files ][ 15 million downloads annually
Teacher & host, "Kelly Writers House Fellows"—since 1999 ][ Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, Jamaica Kincaid, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Rich, Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman & more
Teacher, "Representations of the Holocaust"—a course on survivor testimony ][ my holocaust site
Click on the image for information about the book.