What will Kentucky Book Festival visitors find on your table?
A mix of poetry and nonfiction. Books about the natural world, family, religion and a little radical politics.
Whom do you invite to stop by? Who will benefit from reading your book?
People who might be struggling with addiction or know someone who is. People who like poetry in the vein of Richard Hugo, John Berryman, Mary Karr, Mary Oliver, Li Po.
Could you please tell us something curious about you and/or your book?
I wrote most of these poems between midnight and 2 in the morning. For the first time in three decades, I was sober during those hours, and felt inspired to write.
Is this your first time participating in Kentucky Book Festival? If yes – what are you looking forward to the most? If you’ve participated before – what was your favorite experience at the Festival?
I don’t know if this is a favorite experience, but the last time I was at the Book Festival, I was seated between Wendell Berry and Senator Barney Frank. So I spent the day staring down a long tunnel of people lined up to buy their books. Finally, a guy in Frank’s line said, “Hey Senator, you should read Erik’s book UTOPIA DRIVE. It’s really good.” The senator looked over at me and grunted, then went back to signing books.
