Zapruder is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently I Love Hearing Your Dreams, forthcoming from Scribner in September 2024, as well as two books of prose: Story of a Poem, and Why Poetry. He is editor at large at Wave Books, where he edits contemporary poetry, prose, and translations. From 2016-7 he held the annually rotating position of Editor of the Poetry Column for the New York Times Magazine. He teaches in the MFA and English Department at Saint Mary’s College of California.
What are you working/currently trying to work on these days?
Lately I’ve become interested once again in the line as a unit of composition, whether in poems or in songs. I am fascinated by working until I discover where the line feels to me absolutely “correct,” that is, exactly right to me, both sonically and in terms of content.
What’s your workshop style, and what can people expect at Lit Fest?
My workshop style is to continually bring us back to what is on the page, and to focus our attention on what decisions the poet made, unconsciously as well as deliberately. If we honor the words that are there, and get deeply interested in them, and in the structures they make (metaphor, image, sounds, meaning, etc.), we can reflect that interest and curiosity and questioning back to the poet. This collective focus is immensely useful for everyone in the room, and leads to all the most important discussions about poetry, art, and life.
If you could only bring three books with you on a deserted island, which ones would you choose, and why?
What a scary question! Now I am imagining myself alone on a desert island, with only three books. What happened? How did I get there? Where is everyone I love? I am trying to imagine when I would have time to read. Maybe after I spear some fish. Then I would sit down to peruse Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium, The Beatles Recording Reference Manuals (all five volumes) and The Eternal Ones of the Dream, James Tate’s Selected Poems 1990-2010.
What’s one artist or writer more people should know about?
Vic Chesnutt.
At Lit Fest this summer, Matthew Zapruder will be teaching his Advanced Weeklong Poetry Workshop: The Irresistible Beauty of All Things. Interested in working with him? Apply today!
To learn more about Lit Fest, tuition, fellowships, and advanced class admittance, click here.
