Life As An Emerging Poet

June 4, 2012, by

As summer begins, a pool of recent grads, especially those with liberal arts or creative writing graduate degrees, will begin to ponder the timeless question—What do I do with this degree?

At Inprint, we are lucky because we interact with graduate students in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston all the time. We are proud to be able to give fellowships, prizes, and other support to these students because we know how important they are to the literary life of this city; we know how much they give back to the community; and we know how important they are to the creative world in general. We can’t help but feel pride as they graduate and go forth into the universe and fulfill their artistic destinies. It isn’t easy for them–the publishing world and the academic creative writing job market is a competitive one, and for poets it is often tougher.

This week, however, we get to highlight two UH Creative Writing Program alums who are making their mark in the world of poetry. Lauren Berry and Glenn Shaheen, authors, respectively, of the poetry collections, The Lifting Dress and Predatory, will read from their work on Thursday, June 7, 7 pm at Brazos Bookstore.  For more information, visit  www.brazosbookstore.com.

We had a chance to talk to Glenn over the weekend.

Inprint:  Glenn, can you tell us a little bit more about your and Lauren’s Texas book tour? What will you be reading from?  You have old friends and professors in Houston, does reading in front of them have more meaning for you or does it make you more nervous?

Glenn: We’re just hitting up a few places in east/north Texas, starting with Houston, then moving on to Austin, Dallas, and Denton. We’ll both be reading from our new (and only) books, Predatory (me) and The Lifting Dress (Lauren). Probably some new stuff, too, though that’s always nerve wracking, but maybe in a good way. Continue reading