"Words: They give and give and give." Cintia Santana joins the Hive to read from her Northern California Book Award-winning poetry debut, The Disordered Alphabet. Hear several poems and a conversation with Farnaz Fatemi about Cintia's views on words as magic, the paying attention, ekphrasis and more. Cintia Santana teaches literary translation and poetry workshops in Spanish and English at Stanford University. Santana's poems have appeared in Best New Poets 2016 and 2020, 2023 Best of the Net Anthology, Poets.org, Poetry Daily, among many others! Her de ..read more

Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes chat with Dion O'Reilly about KUMI: New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set THE LIMITED-EDITION BOX SET is a project started in 2014 to ensure the publication of up to a dozen chapbooks every year by African poets through Akashic Books. The series seeks to identify the best poetry written by African poets working today, and it is especially interested in featuring poets who have not yet published their first full-length book of poetry. The nine poets included in this box set are: Nurain Oládèjì, Sarpong Osei Asamoah, Claudia Owusu, Nome Emeka Patrick ..read more

Burmese American poet Maw Shein Win's new book, Percussing the Thinking Jar, is a liminal elegy to health issues, relationships, and more while navigating the isolation of the pandemic. Hear Maw read poems from the book that's been called by author John Yau, "diaphanous comfort" while we are at "the chaos party." You can find Maw's book at University of Chicago Press. For more on the poet visit http://www.mawsheinwin.com ..read more

Luke and Dion read some Larry Levis and then take a deep dive into Luke's latest book. Luke Johnson is the author of Quiver (Texas Review Press), a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize, the Vassar Miller Award, The Levis Prize and the Bittingham. It was recently named a finalist for the California Book Award, winner announced in May. His second full length Distributary is forthcoming Fall 2025 from Texas Review Press. You can find more of his work at Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Narrative Magazine, Poetry Northwest and elsewhere.  ..read more

In Part 2 of our interview, Marc Vincenz—author of over 40 books of poetry—talks about his book of poetry, The Pearl Diver of Irunmani (White Pine Press, 2023). We dive into the deep waters of a consciousness preparing for death. During a health crisis, Vincenz came into a new language informed by this encounter, finding footing in "the heart of a word" and his own fearless observations. "See the island in your mind/or you will always be lost." From within a language he invents as if to breathe in this unfamiliar element, Vincenz takes us through then beyond "the theater of fear"..."when the a ..read more

Jan Beatty’s eighth book, Dragstripping, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, September, 2024. Her memoir, American Bastard, won the Red Hen Nonfiction Award. Recent books include The Body Wars and a chapbook, Skydog (Lefty Blondie Press, 2022). Other work includes Jackknife: New and Selected Poems (University of Pittsburgh, 2018 Paterson Prize) named by Sandra Cisneros on LitHub as her favorite book of 2019. Beatty worked as a waitress, abortion counselor, and in maximum security prisons. She is Profess ..read more

Luke and Dion read some Larry Levis and then take a deep dive into Luke's latest book. Luke Johnson is the author of Quiver (Texas Review Press), a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize, the Vassar Miller Award, The Levis Prize and the Bittingham. It was recently named a finalist for the California Book Award, winner announced in May. His second full length Distributary is forthcoming Fall 2025 from Texas Review Press. You can find more of his work at Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Narrative Magazine, Poetry Northwest and elsewhere.  ..read more

Ellen Bass joins the Hive in anticipation of her appearance at UCSC for the Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Reading on November 7. Full details about the event can be found here. Poems by Ellen which she reads in this episode: Laundry, Because, Black Coffee, Any Common Desolation, and Bringing Flowers to Salinas Valley State Prison About Our Guest: Ellen Bass is a Chancellor Emerita of the Academy of American Poets. Her most recent book, Indigo, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2020. Other poetry collections include Like a Beggar (Copper Canyon Press, 2014)—which was a fina ..read more

Rick Barot weaves keen observations of the world with reflections and sustenance of human connections across space and time. Please join host Julie Murphy in a conversation with Rick that begins with a discussion of Naomi Shihab Nye's poem Lights from Other Windows and journeys through poems from Rick's new book Moving the Bones. Rick's exquisitely crafted poems examine the human experience deeply and intimately. In our troubled times, his voice is an invitation to find beauty and hope amidst the chaos ..read more

Marc Vincenz has been called the David Bowie of poetry, reinventing himself and exploring new poetic chops in each of his 40 books. Roxi Power talks with Vincenz about his newest book of surreal poems inThe King of Prussia is Drunk on Stars (Lavender Ink Press, 2024). From the imperialism of Prussia to the purity of Iceland, Vincenz juxtaposes the monstrous with the meditative in his quiet lyrics of epic scope. Matthew Cooperman writes that "Vincenz conjures a centaur poetics where anything may be attached to anything else." What connects humans with woodworms? How do eels emerge "from the car ..read more