"BIG THING" Blog Entry for Denise Low Is Literary Essays Book

MariJo Moore invited me to join a blog chain 2013 & THE NEXT BIG THING - a series of interviews with authors about what they’ve been working on. I understand it has been going since October! Here is the link to her blog: http://marijomoore.blogspot.com/   Here is my own latest book, not yet a year old: Natural Theologies: Essays about Literature of the New Middle West (ISBN 978-1-935218-22-7. 185 pages, $20.00)  http://www.thebackwaterspress.org/our-authors/denise-low/    I hope to promote it in 2013.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Middle West and Great Plains writers continue a “frontier” legacy with topics of nature, weather, the relationships among Native and European settler writers, urban-rural dialectic, and community life.
What genre does your book fall under?
Non-Fiction, critical essays.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
This is like some studies of ethnic literatures, but this is the first book that considers literature of this region.
Who is the publisher?
The Backwaters Press in Omaha, published by Greg Kozmicki. He has done so much as an independent literary publisher.  He is an unsung hero, and a fine poet himself. Working with Kozmicki and his copy editor were a gorocess.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I realized other regions of the country celebrate their literature, but in the plains and prairies, writers do not have the same recognition.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
I have been grateful for some wonderful reviews from the Kansas City Star, the Manhattan Mercury, and others. A reviewer for  American Indian Library wrote: “This is the first book of critical essays about contemporary Midwestern writers. Denise Low, of Delaware and Cherokee heritage, foregrounds Native writers, including Louise Erdrich, Heid Erdrich, Diane Glancy, Joseph Marshall III, and Adrian C. Louis. The four sections of Natural Theologies are about history, settlements in the Plains, Midwestern people and their character, and nature. The author considers not only the legacy of “frontier,” but also the enduring narratives of settler/Native interactions.”
Where did the idea come from for the book?
As a young writer, I learned that writing is a dialogue with books. I began reviewing books after my M.A. in literature as a way to expand my writing practice. This book includes expanded essays on books that have influenced me.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I really don’t think this book will be made into a movie, but I really think N. Scott Momaday is very cinematic. I’d like to see a movie about his writings. He has influenced many Native and Southwest/plains writers, especially because of his insistence that the oral tradition as a valid literary genre.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I had some ideas and a few drafts, but I spent one summer drafting this, working intensively every day, and then another year editing it.
And to keep 2013 THE NEXT BIG THING going, here is another wonderful writer, Lisa Hase,  and her next big thing: http://zingarapoet.net/author/zingarapoet/ 

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Guest Blog: Review of MariJo Moore's A BOOK OF CEREMONIES

By Suzanne Zahrt Murphy.
Review  of A Book of Ceremonies and Spiritual Energies Thereof by MariJo Moore (rENEGADE pLANETS pUBLISHING, 2012). by Suzanne Zahrt Murphy
In a land that cherishes “big,” we could be fooled to think that the slenderness of this book, written by a woman who is Cherokee, Dutch, and Irish, about personal spiritual ceremonies, is of minor significance.
In fact, it is quite significant. MariJo has identified a need, and, with much concern and wisdom and energy, she has brought forth this little book with the blessing of the late Vine Deloria Jr., and others who have followed her work. She tells us why we need ceremony:
Ceremony is a necessary act to obtain or regain balance with the Spiritual Energies of the universe. The purpose of ceremony is to integrate: to merge one with all of humankind as well as the realm of the ancestors, to blend one with all of creation.”
MariJo Moore's work has always had a spiritual source. Her first books, centered upon nature, gave us small yet powerful inspiration found from her visits to the desert, her kinship with crows, her relationship to trees. In these books, her Native American ancestry and knowledge of the circle of life reminds us to accept all creatures, and that we are only a part of the totality of life.
Our relationship to our spirituality is an always present theme in all of her work, including: Red Woman with Backward Eyes – a book of short stories; The Diamond Doorknob, in which a mixed blood woman discovers her need to develop and love herself before she can accept the love of others . . . .   See the rest of this review at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Ceremonies-Spiritual-Energies-Thereof-Cards/product-reviews/0976758172
Suzanne Zahrt Murphy is a writer, artist, and nurse educator. She is of Cherokee, German, Swedish and Scottish heritage and resides in Albuquerque, NM. Her forthcoming book is titled As We Tumble on Your Plain.