INTERVIEWS

Jon Pineda  
On June 17, 2004, Craig Beaven of Blackbird met with fiction writer and poet Jon Pineda at Virginia Commonwealth University. Pineda is the author of the short story "Animal Control," which appears in this issue of Blackbird, and of the poetry collection Birthmark. They talked about influences and about the relationship between fiction and poetry, and they discussed how Birthmark moved from unconnected poems to a Master of Fine Arts thesis to an award-winning poetry collection (Crab Orchard Award Series 2004).

Craig Beaven, a Kentucky native, holds a Master's in English from VCU and a BA in English from the University of Kentucky. His poems and reviews have appeared in ACE Magazine, Limestone, and the Lexington Herald-Leader. His interviews and book reviews have appeared in several issues of Blackbird.

Peter Schjeldahl 
Peter Schjeldahl visited Richmond, Virginia, in January 2004 in conjunction with the opening of the show, "Critical Mass," of which he was the juror. "Critical Mass: A Mid Atlantic Juried Exhibition" was a program of 1708 Gallery and was sponsored by 1708 in partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Painting & Printmaking and New Virginia Review, Inc. The exhibition opened on January 23 and ran through February 25. 1708 Gallery is a non-profit space for art located at 319 West Broad Street in Richmond.

The interview was conducted in the Blackbird editorial offices by Susan Glasser, director of the Boyden Gallery of Art at St. Mary's College of Maryland, Howard Risatti, professor of art history and chair of the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Crafts, and Mary Flinn, Blackbird senior editor.

Interviews are added as they become available. Interviews appear in different sections of Blackbird but are organized in this alternative menu to allow easy navigation.

An "Interviews" menu link may be found on every interview-related page. Use it to return to this menu.