F***ing Shakespeare

About F***ing Shakespeare

The high-art low-brow minds behind Bloomsday Literary bring you interviews with the creatives you should know, but don’t. Poets, novelists, memoirists, & short story writers join co-hosts Kate and Jessica as they take a respectful approach to investigating the writer’s art and an irreverent approach to getting the nitty-gritty on the hustle for publication and exposure. Most of us writers making a living by the pen occupy somewhere between the ubiquitous bestsellers and the people who want to write but bemoan the lack of time to do it. So let Terry Gross interview the top 1%. We’ll set to work making community with everyone else.

Publisher

Bloomsday Literary

Category

arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

2 Jan 2018

Latest episode

2 Apr 2024

Latest episodes

74 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Apr 2024

   ire'ne lara silva—Texas Poet Laureate

   Phuc and Kate speak with the acclaimed and straight-up luminous Texas Poet Laureate, ire’ne lara silva, at the 2023 Writer’s Family Reunion sponsored by Writespace. We had the opportunity to chat about her process, the bold and unapologetic treatment of grief in her writing, and how she finds cracks of light in the depths. silva, who is an inductee in the Texas Institute of Letters and an inaugural CantoMundo fellow, runs a workshop called “Forget Discipline,” where she and fellow writers practice the art of creating without constraints. Though she has authored books of poetry, short stories, and a forthcoming comic book, silva hardly considers herself prolific. “I’ve spent hours debating a comma,” she quipped in response to this characterization of her work, “I don’t let anything go until I’m ready.” Perhaps these principles are what drive her acclaimed work, which has been described as “candid and fearless.” True to this portrayal, silva’s work is unafraid of approaching heavier themes, and she recognizes this authenticity and honesty as critical to creating a space where readers can see themselves in her stories. This approach lends itself well to silva’s exploration of grief in many of her works, which she artfully conceives of as a transformative process that signifies the importance of those close to us in our lives. Concluding with an elegant summation of her creative process, silva muses, “what’s the point of transforming all these things if it’s not to live a joyous life, if it’s not to find love and friends and work worth doing and to appreciate our creativity?” We couldn’t have asked for a more fitting conclusion for season 6 of the podcast. Stay tuned for more from the desks of Bloomsday Literary. If you’ve heard all the podcast episodes, and still want more, we have short interviews with publishing insiders in our Instagram Live archive series called “Dear Sirs.” Check it out @bloomsdayliterary on IG. Honorable mentions: Writer’s Workshop, Macondo Workshop (https://macondowriters.com) (next workshop begins July 23, 2024!) the eaters of flowers (https://saddleroadpress.com/the-eaters-of-flowers.html), Saddle Road Press silva’s books and reviews (https://irenelarasilva.wordpress.com/books/) for Uvalde (https://texashighways.com/the-magazine/a-poem-for-uvalde/) by ire’ne lara silva Photo credit Jana Birchum

2. 

   1 Mar 2024

   AWP23—Enzo Silon Surin

   Enzo Silon Surin writes, composes, and publishes artifacts on the “witness continuum”—art that he says “pays homage to the culture in which it was formed” and the necessity of generational change. Surin’s work spans librettos commissioned by the Boston Opera Collaborative, four poetry collections, and a musical-in-the-making. He also founded Central Square Press, an independent publisher of works that “reflect a commitment to social justice in regards to African-American, Caribbean, and Caribbean-American communities.” We had the pleasure of chatting with Surin about how he came to writing as means of documentation—from intuitively producing plays and operas about his childhood in Queens to developing his 10-minute play, “Last Train” (which has a forthcoming operatic adaptation). We discussed the juxtaposition of violence and tenderness in his collection, When My Body Was A Clinched Fist, winner of the 21st Annual Massachusetts Book Awards. Between witnessing the coup that forced Surin from Haiti and the “social violence” he saw in New York, he says he grew up in “state of violence.” It was by becoming a “clinched fist” that Surin says he protected his innate compassion and resilience. Finally, Surin celebrates how writing “saved [his] life” and speaks from the corner of publishing he’s forged, where he’s found that real-life audiences hungry for quality work “already exist." Honorable mentions When My Body Was A Clinched Fist (https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/when-my-body-was-a-clinched-fist/) (recorded reading (https://youtu.be/zBici9YmVCk)) American Scapegoat (https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/american-scapegoat/) Central Square Press (http://www.centralsquarepress.com/about.html) Cheesy love songs in the style of Barry White Bloomsday Literary in partnership with Official 2023 AWP Conference and Bookfair

3. 

   27 Feb 2024

   AWP23—Alyson Sinclair

   Does Alyson Sinclair sleep? We had to keep asking ourselves as we chatted it up with Alyson from the floor of AWP (Association of Writing and Writing Program)’s Conference and Bookfair. She’s done it all when it comes to the writing world—bouncing between the bureaucracy of big-four publishers—um, she sent faxes to Seamus Heaney?—to the hustle and bustle world (emphasis on the hustle) of independent presses. Currently, Alyson is the Owner/Publisher at The Rumpus and founder of Nectar Literary, a boutique publicity and communications firm for authors, independent presses, and literary organizations of all ilk. Making literary community might just be the crux of our conversation. After learning that hunker-down-and-drink-tea-all-day-with-page-turny-manuscripts editorial roles are not the default at an eye-opening internship, she turned to publicity. Connecting authors to the broader writing ecosystem thrilled her. Publicity and pitching media, in Alyson’s eyes, is a fascinating form of problem solving. Her insight comes from a wide range of experiences in all corners of our ecosystem, spanning from soliciting advertising at a magazine, to setting off individually in the convoluted publishing universe, to coexisting with other literary collectives that share the same mission. Let’s just say—both before and after soaking in this conversation—Bloomsday is a certified Alyson Sinclair fangirl. Honorable Mentions: Independent Press, Alice James Books (https://www.alicejamesbooks.org/) Independent Press, City Lights (https://citylights.com/publishing/) Literary Network, Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (https://www.clmp.org/) (CLMP) Literary Magazine, Crazyhorse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazyhorse_(magazine)) Nonprofit Publisher, Graywolf Press (https://www.graywolfpress.org/) Director of Coffee House Press (http://coffeehousepress.org/), Mark Haber Nonprofit Publisher, McSweeney’s (https://www.mcsweeneys.net/) Seamus Heaney Yusef Komunyakaa Audio by Bloomsday Literary in partnership with the official 2023 AWP Conference & Bookfair

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

15 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.