Charla Cultural

We’re LOOKING BACK at Jazz Poetry.

Jazz Poetry has celebrated the fusion of music and language for over 18 years.  Musicians and poets are brought together by City of Asylum to experiment, collaborate, connect and to express themselves freely, yielding performances greater than their parts . Over the years, Jazz Poetry has featured hundreds of artists from hundreds of countries.

This episode is really special, an opportunity t...

We’re eating fire with Jose Hernandez Diaz

Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and Antioch University Los Angeles. His work appears in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Green Mountains Review, Huizache, New Orleans Review, North American Review, The Progressive, Witness, among others. He has served as an editor for Floricanto Press and Lunch Ticket. His...

We're turning tables with Patrick Rosal. 

Patrick Rosal is the award winning author of four books of poetry: Boneshepherds, My American Kundiman, Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive, and Brooklyn Antediluvian. He is a Guggenheim fellow and lives in New Jersey.

We'll be talking white space in poetry, our sister cultures, and scatological poetics. We'll also talk about my upcoming appearance on Jeopardy!, some pointers fo...

BRIAN BROOME’s debut memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, is New York Times Editor’s Pick and the winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Poets and Writers, Medium, and more.

We're talking structure, fires, and what to tell your mother when you write about how much you hate her. 

We’ll start with a clip of Brian answering a question during his performance at City of Asyl...

It's the SEASON TWO premier and we're naming ghosts with Chiwan Choi.

Chiwan Choi is a poet and the author of The Flood, Abductions, and The Yellow House. Choi is currently working on a fourth book titled my name is wolf.

Choi is also the host of the new paranormal/literary podcast, Are You There, Ghost? It's Me, Chiwan.

We’ll start with the trailer for Are You There Ghost? It’s Me, Chiwan and then we will ...

For our season finale, we’re celebrating more Cave Canem poets to honor their 25th anniversary!! With performances by the poets Lyrae Van Clief-Stefan, Evie Shockley, Kevin Young, and Dawn Lundy Martin.

Founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape, Cave Canem Foundation is a home for the many voices of African American poetr...

We're breaking It Down with S. Brook Corfman. S. Brook Corfman is the author of My Daily Actions, or The Meteorites, one of The New York Times’ Best Poetry Books of 2020, a finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s Trans & Gender-Variant Lit Award, and the winner of the Fordham University Press POL poetry prize judged by Cathy Park Hong. They are also the author of the collection Luxury, Blue Lace, chosen by Richard Siken for the ...

We’re chatting with Paisley Rekdal!! We’re featuring Rekdal's performance of West: A Translation at City of Asylum back in September 2019, as well as a recent interview with Rekdal in support of her newest book Appropriate: A Provocation. We're also talking The Ferrante Project, when it's okay to wear a sombrero, and how not to be a jerk about appropriation.

Paisley Rekdal is an American poet who is currentl...

We’re checking out Cave Canem in celebration of its 25th anniversary!! With performances by Nikki Giovanni, Colleen McElroy, Amiri Baraka, Angela Jackson, Toi Derricotte, and Tim Seibles. 

Founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape, Cave Canem Foundation is a home for the many voices of African American poet...

We’re talking translation with Rosa Alcalá!! Rosa Alcalá has published three books of poetry, most recently MyOTHER TONGUE (Futurepoem, 2017). The longtime translator of poet Cecilia Vicuña, Alcalá has been the recipient of an NEA Translation Fellowship and runner-up for a PEN Translation Award. She teaches in the Department of Creative Writing and Bilingual MFA Program at the University of Texas-El Paso.​​

We're fea...

OUR INAUGURAL EPISODE!!! Welcome to the very first episode of Charla Cultural! It’s All Things Franny Choi. Franny Choi performed at City of Asylum with Jazz Poetry back in September 2019. We’ll feature her performance, an interview, and a lengthy discussion about her most recent book, Soft Science (Alice James Books).

We’ll also get into what we’re reading and some thoughts for the road. This is Charla Cultural, hosted by Karla La...