Fall for the book

Date: September 23, 2011
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Research 1, Room 163
Authors: Brian Baker, Sarah Perrier, Rebecca Dunham, Cynthia Marie Hoffman and Nadine Sabra Meyer

      I wanted to go to one of the events which could better connect with what we are doing in class. Therefore, I decided to go to 'Breakthrough Poets Panel' which was not necessarily about their books. Instead, they gave their views upon the trends of poetry and the publishing experiences each one on the panel had. Because this was a panel discussion, my response will be a little long. Therefore, the first author who spoke was Rebecca Dunham who wrote the book The Flight Cage.She began to talk about how she went to the book prize contests in order to get her book published. She told the audience that the contests are really expensive. Furthermore, she decided to do PHD which was not a process for getting her book published. Thus, she gave an advise to not to be disheartened if the book doesn't publish soon. Also, she told to trust in your work when putting in manuscript. Next, Nadine Sabra Meyer who wrote the book The Anatomy Theater also talked about her first year of PHD program to publish her first book. Once 12 of her poems were published, she gained more confidence. This confidence gave her strength to polish manuscript of her second book. Finally, she adviced that the poems need to grip the readers' and the judges' attention in order to showcase your skill. Also, themes should be marked if any.
      Next, Brian Baker who wrote the book The Black Ocean began to talk about his career from the very beginning. He talks about his junior in college and once he got out, he applied for PHD for a chance to teach. He got very lucky in his journey of publishing a book according to him, compared to other people on the panel. He began to advice on knowing the presses when sending out the manuscripts and look at the quality of books published by the presses. Furthermore, he began looking at the structure of the poetry books. When publishing your book, he advised to divide them into sections. He also said that grouping prohibits poems to relate to each other thus it can be too predictable. Therefore, in order to keep a sense of surprise, grouping can be avoided to some extent. Also, he brought up the current trends of poetry which are the cohesion and unification of poems as a collection. He also said that poets must be free as a poet and must be aware of the ongoing trends because there must be a reason why the structures are common.
     Next, parallel to Brian Baker's mindset was Cynthia Marie Hoffman who wrote the book Sightseer which was published in February of 2011. For her, getting her book published was almost a life changing experience and it changed the stature. She said it takes almost 9 years on an average to get a book published. The number of times she sent her manuscript is astonishing. She sent it 232 times over 7 years and spent a total of $5,500. Once it was published, she was awarded $1,000 which was not worth the money she spent but the 'wall' had been broken down. She advices to feel free to write and not think about what the readers want. According to her, it is an investment in yourself and the poetry career. Next and the last author was Sarah Perrier who wrote the book Nothing Fatal. She says that having options helped her in life since writing the book was never her only option. She also took the route of PHD and while for 7 years, she sent her manuscripts, she told the audience to have something that you love doing. Also, she adviced to find someone who is very critical of your writing in order to get good feedback. She adds as she says to not sacrifice the quality of the poems and trust yourself.
        Going into this discusison, I really expected them to talk about the current structures and ways of witing poetry. However, I was disappointed in that regard as they only talked about the collections of poems and not individual poems. However, their experiences and the passion for having their book published were immensely insipirational. Each one of them had to go through several steps before getting to where they are and up the stairs of their careers. From the discussion, I learned a more general idea of trusting in your own work and to be patient. Based on their experiences, I more general ideas about life that there are obstacles in life but being patient and just constant effort result in your favor. Thus, it was a great experience to actually meet the authors of the books and to hear their experience from when they were where I am right now.