S. Tremaine Nelson | The Common

The Drama of the Will: an Interview with Elizabeth A. I. Powell

November 13, 2016 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews ELIZABETH A. I. POWELL

Born in New York City, Elizabeth A. I. Powell is a Vermont-based poet and editor in chief of the Green Mountains Review. She is the author of two poetry collections: The Republic of Self and, most recently, Willy Loman’s Reckless Daughter: Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances. Her work has appeared in the Pushcart Prize Anthology 2013, Alaska Quarterly Review, Harvard Review, Missouri Review, Mississippi Review, Ploughshares, and many other eminent publications.

Angela Palm on Riverine and Bending Genres

June 5, 2016 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews ANGELA PALM

Angela Palm is a Vermont-based author, editor, and writing instructor. Her first book, Riverine: A Memoir from Anywhere but Here, will be published by Graywolf Press in August 2016. S. Tremaine Nelson met with Palm outdoors at a cafe less than a hundred yards from the shores of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, on the first warm day of spring this year. They spoke about Palm’s influences, class in Indiana, and the pervasive brokenness of the American criminal justice system.

On Translation, Proust, and Advice for Young Poets: an Interview with Gregory Rabassa

January 10, 2016 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews GREGORY RABASSA

Gregory Rabassa is a genius you might pass on the streets of New York City without even knowing it. Born in 1922, he lived the early years of his life in Yonkers, New York before moving to a farm near Hanover, New Hampshire, four miles from Dartmouth College, where he studied as an undergraduate. In 1967, in his very first attempt at translation, Gregory Rabassa won the National Book Award for his translation of Julio Cortázar’s novel Rayuela (Hopscotch in English). Rabassa’s translation schedule filled up, and, in his own words, he was “too busy” with other projects when Gabriel García Márquez approached him about translating Cien Años de Soledad. At Cortázar’s urging, García Márquez agreed to wait three years until Rabassa’s schedule cleared. Upon the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude in 1970, García Márquez famously declared that Rabassa’s English version of his book was better than the Spanish original.

Write Like a Shark: an Interview with Lauren Groff

September 6, 2015 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews LAUREN GROFF

Lauren Groff is the New York Times bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia, as well as the enviably acclaimed short story collection Delicate Edible Birds. Her forthcoming novel Fates and Furies will be published by in September by Riverhead. Lauren and S. Tremaine Nelson connected over Skype for a few minutes, inexplicably without sound, communicating with primitive hand gestures and unrecognizable symbols, until they agreed to give up on that futuristic technology and connect the old-fashioned way, over the phone. They spoke for about an hour, covering a variety of topics like tailgating, running, reading, and, of course, writing.

Putting the War in Plain Sight: An Interview with Sara Nović

July 7, 2015 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews SARA NOVIĆ

Sara Nović’s first book, Girl at War, was published by Random House earlier this year and was immediately well received: described by critics as “outstanding,” “intimate and immense,” The New York Times concluded it is “a brutal novel, but a beautiful one.” American-Croatian Nović recently graduated from the MFA program at Columbia University, where she studied fiction and literary translation. She is the fiction editor at Blunderbuss Magazine and the founder of ReDeafined, as well as an advocate for the Deaf community. S. Tremaine Nelson spoke with Nović in June while she was on a book tour in London.

On Redeeming Beauty from the Insatiable Destruction of Man: An Interview with Brian Sholis

March 3, 2015 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews BRIAN SHOLIS

Brian Sholis is Associate Curator of Photography at the Cincinnati Art Museum. He writes about photography, landscapes, and American history, all of which topics are combined in his essay “Our Poor Perishable World,” appearing in Issue 08 of The Common. In this chat with Oregonian S. Tremaine Nelson, Sholis touches on the American West, beauty and destruction, and the similarities between fiction and photography.

Better Posture, a Longer Life, and Great Sex: An Interview with Diane Cook

January 6, 2015 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews DIANE COOK

Diane Cook

Diane Cook’s debut short-story collection Man V. Nature was recently published by HarperCollins. The New York Times called it a book of “great beauty and strangeness.” Cook is a former producer on NPR’s “This American Life” and a graduate of the Graduate Writing Program at Columbia University. She currently lives in Oakland, California where she is at work on a novel. S. Tremaine Nelson talked with Cook about writing “unnerving” stories, her least favorite author, and the many perks of novel writing.

David Lehman on Literary New York, the KGB Bar, and His New and Selected Poems

November 5, 2014 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews DAVID LEHMAN

David Lehman headshot

David Lehman, born and raised in New York City, is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection New and Selected Poems, published by Scribner. He is Series Editor of The Best American Poetry anthology and co-founder of the KGB bar poetry reading series. His poems “Mother Died Today,” “Remember the Typewriter,” and “The Bronze Décor”appeared in Issue No. 05 of The Common.

Arm-Wrestling Alexander Pope: An Interview with Murray Farish

August 5, 2014 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews MURRAY FARISH

Murray Farish

Murray Farish’s short stories have appeared in The Missouri Review, Epoch, Roanoke Review, and Black Warrior Review, among other publications. He lives with his wife and two sons in St. Louis, Missouri, where he teaches writing and literature at Webster University. Inappropriate Behavior is his debut short story collection. Murray answered the following questions via email.

On the Emergence of Native American Literature: An Interview with Ron Welburn

May 6, 2014 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews RON WELBURN

Ron Welburn

Ron Welburn is a Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he teaches American Literature, Native American Literature, and American Studies. His ancestors include Gingaskin and Assateague from the Delmarva Peninsula, Cherokee, Lenape, and African American. Professor Welburn received a B.A. in both Psychology and English from Lincoln University, an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University.His research and teaching interests include ethnohistory of eastern Native America, cultural studies, and jazz studies. S. Tremaine Nelson spoke with Ron over the phone about poetry, New York City, and two authors whom they both very much admire, Ralph Ellison and Leslie Marmon Silko. Ron’s poems “Seeing in the Dark” and “When You Know a Hard Sky” appear in Issue 06 of The Common.

All posts tagged: S. Tremaine Nelson

The Drama of the Will: an Interview with Elizabeth A. I. Powell

Angela Palm on Riverine and Bending Genres

On Translation, Proust, and Advice for Young Poets: an Interview with Gregory Rabassa

Write Like a Shark: an Interview with Lauren Groff

Putting the War in Plain Sight: An Interview with Sara Nović

On Redeeming Beauty from the Insatiable Destruction of Man: An Interview with Brian Sholis

Better Posture, a Longer Life, and Great Sex: An Interview with Diane Cook

David Lehman on Literary New York, the KGB Bar, and His New and Selected Poems

Arm-Wrestling Alexander Pope: An Interview with Murray Farish

On the Emergence of Native American Literature: An Interview with Ron Welburn

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