Booksology “City of Poetry”: Iowa City, Iowa
A rather interesting urban profile in Iowa City – I will give away without protest as the most literary city in the United States on a per capita basis (1,000 writers out of 75,000 citizens; Park Slope can never do). Also, in the middle of Iowa is the Smack Dub, which, like the rest of the Midwest, has become red (and red) over the past decades. I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, where I live at the University of Kansas. At the University of Kansas, we enjoy a similar status as an oasis of national oddity. Iowa City is iconic, but dozens of university towns offer valuable incubation and rest for people who think differently and exist. We are lucky to have them and we should not take them for (land).
Marie Heline Batino and Marie Heline Batino’s books
Last week I had the great privilege of talking to Marie Helene Batino about her fully published work. We spoke chronologically through all five of her books. What they meant at the time, how they would connect with each other, and what she is thinking now. This was the publication of her new, excellent short-story collection, Exit Zero. This is sometimes a good gig.
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