It was a pleasure to be invited back to Elliot KB’s This Is Not a Poem for a second discussion on my translation experiments with Hélène Bessette’s Garance Rose. In this talk, we dive deeper into the world of what she calls her “administrative novel.” You can hear our conversation here.
"Robe bleue," for Hélène Bessette, on YouTube
"Robe bleue” is an essay I wrote for Hélène Bessette in June 2023. A recording of the text is now live on YouTube. Piano accompaniment by Baptiste de Chabaneix. The original text can be read at Spiritual Material: Musings from My Second-Hand, Parisian Wardrobe.
Interview on Translating Hélène Bessette on This Is Not a Poem
I was delighted to discuss my personal translation of Hélène Bessette’s Garance Rose on Elliott KB’s This Is Not a Poem, a podcast dedicated to translation and hosted by Worldradio.fr. Thank you for having me, Elliott. You can hear my talk here. And I hope you’ll give all of Elliott’s episodes a listen - they’re doing beautiful work for this still undersung art form!
"Ogresse" Published in Quarterly West, 111
I have an ekphrastic, persona prose poem in the newest Quarterly West. I first drafted it last summer at the Musée de la Vie romantique while staring at Françoise Pétrovitch’s "L’Ogresse," a statue installed in the courtyard during her show « Aimer. Rompre ». At that time, I was in the inspired company of my Oxbridge creative writing students— Ellie, Tyler, Claire, Julia, Kate, Logan, Mahika, Charlie, Lucinda, and Ava. Thank you to them for their intention and care of our collective writing space. And thank you, of course, to Francoise Pétrovitch, for your oeuvre, which continues to intrigue and play in my mind. I am grateful to Brandon Young, Erin O’Luanaigh, Jasmine Khaliq, and the entire QW editorial team for including and being so attentive to my work.
“L’Ogresse” by Françoise Pétrovitch
"Lipsticks" on YouTube
“Lipsticks,” the sestina I wrote and published in Spiritual Material: Musings from My Second-Hand, Parisian Wardrobe, is now online on my YouTube station.
Featured Artist at Paris Lit Up Open Mic, March 21st
I’m looking forward to joining Paris Lit Up on March 21st to share some Spiritual Material poems. Hope to see you there. Open Mic sign-up starts at 20h and performances will begin around 20h45.
SPECIAL GUEST AT SPOKENWORD PARIS—MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26th
I’m looking forward to being the special guest at Spoken Word Paris on Monday, February 26th. I’ll be reading some brand-new work. Hope to see you at La Cave Café.
The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume X: Alabama
I’m honored to have two poems in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume X: Alabama (TRP: The University Press of SHSU 2023). To be among so many I admire — Gabrielle Bates, Emma Bolden, Tina Mozelle Braziel, Joel Brouwer, H.M. Cotton, Juliana Gray, Carolyn Hembree, Raye Hendrix, Elizabeth Hughey, Ashley M. Jones, Rodney Jones, Kwoya Fagin Maples, Jason Mccall, Lauren Goodwin Slaughter, Patti White, Jake Adam York — and so many I have yet to discover is a dream come true. I would have done anything to find a collection of voices like this when I was living in Alabama and stretching into the idea that I could make a real go of this. Thank you forever to J Bruce Fuller, Taylor Byas, Adam Vines, and William Wright for including me. I love what Byas says in her introduction: "The poems in this anthology walk alongside one another in a procession, bump into one another, converse, join hands." Yes, I hope so, and we do.
Chaussures à boucles (The Shoe Sonnets) on YouTube
I spent some time over the last few weeks recording my shoe sonnets and making "step tracks" to accompany them. The whole crown, all seven sonnets, is up now on my YouTube channel. I hope you’ll have a listen! After nine years of Paris walking, it meant a lot to make a little something out of all the dreamy kilometers.
Video Interview with Paris Heretics
Thank you to the marvelous Paris Heretics for giving me the opportunity (with amazing backdrop) to speak about my poetics and artistic journey.
Guest on City of Muses from Paris Underground Radio
I was delighted to appear on City of Muses with Jennifer Geraghty on Paris Underground Radio. In this episode, we discussed translation, my poetics and obsession with alliteration, confronting the classism of conversations on artistic influence, and the beginnings of Loving Tallulah Bankhead. You can listen to the whole thing here.
Loving Tallulah Bankhead Reviewed at Alabama Writers' Forum
Loving Tallulah Bankhead was reviewed by Bee Baldwin for Alabama Writers’ Forum! That this book continues to touch readers in my home state is a dream come true.
“In this book, the relationship between poet and muse is tangible and intimate. Tallulah is a physical presence in the poems as she stands at the side of the speaker as they wear only pearls in the Alabama night (‘Tallulah Sits Beside Me on the Banks of the Cahaba River’), ride wild down Alabama highways and cartwheel like ‘nymphs’ in ‘Tallulah and I Drive the Hoop Skirt,’ and share a bath together in ‘Lifeboat.’ Tallulah Bankhead is ‘a haunted house.’ She acts as another voice in the poems, showing off her quick-as-a-whip wit and humor in many of the pieces: ‘Well, certainly Alabama isn’t all mud puddle! / Just look at me! Oh, Darling! Whatever chigger bit me, I bit back!’ Tallulah Bankhead is alive once again in Chappell’s poetry, untamed and boisterous as ever.”
You can read the entire review here.
Interview on Translation in Four Way Review
Thank you to Four Way Review and Translations Editor Marissa Davis for giving Amanda Murphy and me the opportunity to share so much about our personal and shared path in translation. Marissa asked us tough but illuminating questions! You can read the full interview here and find three poems from our translation of Sandra Moussempès’ Cassandre à bout portant in their newest issue.
Spiritual Material: My New Substack
Friends, I have been toying with the idea of starting a Substack for over a year now. The problem was always with what angle to take, with how to initiate a real-time writing project to which I could bring real-time passion. And have you real-time reading me. But I think I've found something.
Spiritual Material is my brainstormed result. I hope you'll come along.
You can sign-up below:
Loving Tallulah Bankhead in Screen Door Review: Literary Voices of the Queer South
When I read this review by Rachel Nix, I believe I felt an inner quiver. To be seen, in the self I bring to my work and that I brought to this text in particular, by this poet and editor is such an immense gift. Thank you, Rachel and Screen Door Review: Literary Voices of the Queer South, for embracing my collection. Love the beautiful shoutouts to Paris Herectis and Lauren Patterson within.
Paris Heretics Artists Traveling to The Netherlands
I’m delighted to be taking a bus to Rotterdam with my fellow Paris Heretics artists—Alison Grace Koehler, Lesteria, and Jason Stoneking—to join Uitgeverij Opwenteling and Yes The Void for the VoidVoices Poetry Festival in Rotterdam. We’ll be performing on March 18th with Dutch poets Edwin Fagel, Josse Kok, Joris Miedema, Arnoud Rigter, and Anouk Smies.
Then, on March 19th, we’ll be sharing poems in Utrecht at ACU.
Loving Tallulah Bankhead in the Southern Review of Books
“Loving Tallulah Bankhead is the perfect book not just for nonconforming Southerners, but for all who want to learn more about the darkness behind the South’s beauty: ‘We call upon our haunted / Sisters who have had to leave / To save their minds.’ It’s not just for ‘spooky, ruined women’ but for all rebels. Despite their similarities and their intimacy, Chappell’s Tallulah remains elusive as the scent of perfume, vague but still intoxicating. Her mystique is most potent when ultimately left unexplained and when instead her nemesis, the ugliness of patriarchy, is illumined with blinding light.”
I am touched to read this beautiful review of Loving Tallulah Bankhead written by Katharine Armbrester for the Southern Review of Books. That a fellow Alabama native found this work worth her time and attention is an absolute honor.
Loving Tallulah Bankhead Featured in the Daily Mountain Eagle of Jasper, Alabama
I am really grateful to Nicole Smith of Daily Mountain Eagle for this feature on Loving Tallulah Bankhead and the event at Tallulah Brewing Company tomorrow. Here are a few excerpts from the article and the link to read more!
Loving Tallulah Bankhead Featured on Yes the Void
I am very happy to share one of the poem-illustration pairings from Loving Tallulah Bankhead as featured on Edwin Fagel’s Yes the Void. It was a pleasure to meet him in person in Den Haag in November when Lauren Patterson and I were discussing the project at Colette Antiquariaat.
Guest on La Vie Créative Podcast
Thank you, Krystal Kenney of La Vie Creative Podcast, for having me on your show to talk about my Paris beginnings, poetry, and some of the process behind Loving Tallulah Bankhead! You can listen here.