Maggie Nelson reads two long poems, “The Mute Story of November” and “The Halo Over the Hospital,” from her book Something Bright, Then Holes (Soft Skull Press, 2007). In a brief introduction, Nelson gives credit for the title of her book to Annie Dillard, whose essay “Seeing” refers to Marius van Senden’s 1932 Space and Sight, about previously blind persons returned to sight.
As KWLS Board Member Bob Richardson says in his introduction, Maggie Nelson is “intimately acquainted with the night”. Nelson reads from and discusses her books “Jane: A Murder” and “The Red Parts: A Memoir”.
Edmund White, Maggie Nelson, Bich Minh Nguyen, and Patrick Ryan discuss ‘newness’ in authorial voice, using Harold Bloom’s idea of ‘the anxiety of influence’ as a starting point. Nguyen’s theory of ‘the Asian once-over,’ Ryan’s ‘Impostor Syndrome’ and Nelson’s notion of “intoxicating” influence are discussed.