Blackbird publishes new issues twice a year. The notion of “issue” is both a nod to the print journal and a way for us to call attention to the new work of a limited number of writers. However, publishing online allows us keep all issues available for reading, listening, and viewing. On this page, we wish to point you toward some of the content you may have missed but which still lives in our Archives.
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Norman Dubie Blackbird first published a portion of Norman Dubie’s book-length futurist poem, The Spirit Tablets at Goa Lake, as “Book of the Jewel Worm” in v1n2. The other two sections, “Book of the Jaspers” and “The Book of Crying Kanglings,” appeared in v2n1 and v2n2, respectively. Numerous other works by Dubie have followed: five poems in v7n1, seven poems in v10n1, four poems in v11n2, three poems in v12n2, and one poem each in v13n2, v14n2, and v15n1. |
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Tomas Tranströmer Nobel Prize–winning author Tomas Tranströmer’s 1996 book Sorgegond olen (Sorrow Gondola), in a new translation by Patty Crane and accompanied by the original Swedish, was published in Blackbird in v10n1. In the same issue, Jean Valentine published a letter to the Nobel laureate, and in v12n2, David Wojahn provided a compelling meditation on literary friendship and correspondence in “Unlikely Magic, on Airmail: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Tranströmer.” |
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Richard Carylon This issue of Blackbird includes images of work and catalog text from the exhibit A Network of Possibilities, which was on view in Richmond’s Reynolds Gallery in 2018. “Flight Song,” Carylon’s video homage to John Cage, appeared in v1n1; selected work was featured in v4n2; his collected Postcards to Aix appeared in v9n2; and a conversation with the artist was published in v13n2. Carlyon was a professor of art at Virginia Commonwealth University for over forty years. |
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Kate Daniels Three poems by Kate Daniels appear in this issue of Blackbird. Daniels’s poem “The Pedicure” was published in v9n2, and she was the organizer of the AWP tribute to Dave Smith published in v17n1. She is the author of four collections of poetry. In addition to fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, Harvard University’s Bunting Institute, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, she has won a Hanes Award for Poetry, a Pushcart Prize, and the James Dickey Prize. |
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George Garrett Henry Taylor remembers George Garrett with an essay in this issue. In v7n1, Blackbird published arrett’s story “Thanksgiving” alongside an in memoriam featuring his poem “Annual Surrender” and an essay on his achievements. His story “Empty Bed Blues” appeared in v1n1, a play and an additional story in v4n2 and v3n1, respectively. The author of thirty-eight books, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and served as Poet Laureate of Virginia. |
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Jacqueline Goldfinger Goldfinger's play The Arsonists appears in this issue of Blackbird. An earlier play titled Slip/Shot appeared in v14n2 and received the 2012 Independence Foundation Award for Outstanding New Play at the Barrymore Awards and the Brown Martin Award. She has written in residence at The Lark, PlayPenn, Azuka Theatre, La MaMa Umbria, Kenyon Playwrights Conference, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. |
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Brian Henry This issue of Blackbird features an essay on translation by poet Brian Henry. A panel discussion with Henry appeared in v13n2; two of his nonfiction pieces were published in v12n1, two translations appeared in v11n1, and one in v9n2. Several of his translations of Slovenian poet Tomaž Šalamun’s poetry appeared in v7n1, and translations of work by Aleš Šteger appeared in v11n1. Henry has authored nine books of poetry and translated Šalamun’s Woods and Chalices. |
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T.R. Hummer In this issue of Blackbird, T.R. Hummer’s review-essay “Body Swayed to Music: Levine among the Musicians” contemplates the subtle musicality at the heart of Philip Levine’s poetry. Hummer’s poetry has been published in various issues of Blackbird: eleven poems and an interview in v2n2, two poems and audio commentary in v9n1, seven poems in v11n2, and an audio recording of Hummer reading from Eon, Skandalon, and Ephemeron in v14n1. |
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Adam Latham This issue features an audio recording of Adam Latham, recipient of Blackbird’s 2017 Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Short Fiction Prize for his short story “The Lizard Man,” from his prize reading. “The Lizard Man” was originally published by Blackbird in v15n2. His story “Night Vision” was published as a fiction finalist in the 2016 summer issue of Mississippi Review. Latham is the associate director of marketing and admission for the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. |
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Philip Levine This issue of Blackbird features an essay by T.R. Hummer about Philip Levine and Benjamin Boone’s 2018 album The Poetry of Jazz. A reading by Levine appeared in v9n2, two of his poems in v8n1, a conversation and reading in v3n2, and a poem in v1n1. Levine authored sixteen books of poetry and received a Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Awards. He served as US Poet Laureate for 2011–2012 and was elected chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2000. |
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Larry I. Palmer “Call Me By My Name,” an essay by Palmer concerning the misidentification of black men—and specifically of himself—appears in this issue. In v15n1, Blackbird published “Urshel: The Beautiful Lost Sheep.” In the same issue, Palmer was featured in the Introductions Reading Loop, while a description of his writing process, entitled “Dream Walker,” appeared in Tracking the Muse. Palmer is an emeritus professor of law at Cornell University. |
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Lisa Russ Spaar Four poems by Lisa Russ Spaar appear in this issue. A review of her 2017 poetry collection Orexia appeared in v16n2, three of her poems in v14n2, a reading celebrating the Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry in v13n2, two poems in v10n2, and three poems in v2n2. She is the author of five books of poetry and a collection of essays. She received a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship and was shortlisted for the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing in 2015. |
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Henry Taylor Henry Taylor’s remembrance of George Garrett appears in this issue of Blackbird. Taylor’s poem “In Memory of Brother Dave Gardner” was published in v1n1. In the same issue, Blackbird published an interview between Henry Taylor and Mathias Svalina. He also wrote the introduction to William Jay Smith’s play The Straw Market in v5n1. He received the Witter Bynner Prize for poetry in 1984, and his book The Flying Change won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986. |
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Ellen Bryant Voigt In this issue, Blackbird presents work from, and about, Voigt's Kyrie in our 1918 Suite. Voigt’s participation in a memorial reading for the poet Claudia Emerson was published in v15n1. v13n1 featured a reading and a review of her collection Headwaters. Blackbird published the poem “Lost Boy” in v12n1; a review of her collection Messenger in v6n2; a conversation in v6n1; and a poem, “The Feeder,” as well as a lecture and interview, in v3n2. | |