Denise Low Interviews Kenneth Irby: Podcast

Photo by Denise Low, 2011

Here is a link to my March, 2015 interview with Kenneth Irby, winner of the Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America. Although he was never at Black Mountain, he is closely associated with BM experimental poets and numbered several among his friends. William J. Harris writes about Irby for Jacket2, "Ken Irby should be ranked with such contemporary figures as Amiri Baraka, Robert Creeley, Lyn Hejinian, Ed Dorn, Robert Duncan, and Rae Armantrout." See  Jacket2 for a collection of poems, letters, essays about his work, and miscellany.  This is one of the few online podcasts of Irby, and it will only be available for two weeks. After that, purchase it through the newletters.org website. Many thanks to Angela Elam for editing the 1 1/2 hour interview into a program. http://www.newletters.org/on-the-air/irby-2015

Stanley Banks New Letters on the Air Interview Available Until Aug. 15

I've been an admirer of Stan Banks since we published together in a volume Mid American Trio, a collection of 3 chapbooks by Stan, Greg Field, and myself. Dan Jaffee edited this for BookMark Press. Stan continues to be a leading figure in the KC area and beyond. New Letters on the Air has an excellent interview with him. Angela Elam brings out the best in her subjects. She also does her background research.

I have learned how to listen to these online podcasts and also download them, and what a luxury it is to hear the author and have the opportunity to acquire this interview free until Aug. 15. Treat yourself to this conversation between Stan Banks and Angela Elam. Here is the New Letters description and link:

"Stanley E. Banks’ poetry explores the segregated Kansas City of his youth and some of the difficulties of growing up in his black neighborhood. In this program, he discusses how he overcame racial prejudice to find success in the unlikely arena of poetry. A literary child of the earlier Missouri poet, Langston Hughes, Banks reads from Blue Beat Syncopation, the collection that captures the first 25 years of his career."

http://www.newletters.org/onTheAir.asp