August 9, 2007, Blackbird editor Mary Flinn spoke to Janet Peery about her book What the Thunder Said, a series of linked stories and a novella. The book’s prologue first appeared in Blackbird v4n2, fall 2005, as “How Beautiful Thy Feet With Shoes.” With Flinn, Peery discusses her process, the concept of interconnected stories vs. a “traditional novel structure,” influences of other writers, and more. Peery ends by reading a passage from the novella section of the book.

Streaming audio of poems in Blackbird's v5n2 archive, recorded by our editors and staff at the 2007 Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Atlanta, now appear in the Blackbird archives. These seven recordings include a poem each by Ann Fisher-Wirth (pictured right), Robert Lopez, and Valerie Nieman, as well as two poems each by Rachel Richardson and Laura Van Prooyen.

Welcome to Blackbird’s sixth Levis Remembered, a visit with the poetry and voice of Larry Levis and an introduction to the tenth annual Levis Reading Prize winner, Joshua Weiner.

Join us in discovering Joshua Weiner’s remarkable poems and in remembering Larry’s matchless witness to the last decades of the twentieth century.