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'' It's been amazing, reading poems to people in the streets, in Ubers, on planes and trains,'' says the founder of Freedom Reads, which lobbies for libraries in prisons. A pandemic puppy inspired his new '' Doggerel.''
.- In a campus appearance, you asked a student when he last had a poem read out loud to him. Why was that an important question?
I like random acts of poetry, moments when we bring poems into the air and into each other's orbits. I find it interesting that many of us, as students of poetry, weren't call on to do this more.
Then, I remember that it's only with this book that I have done that consistently. And having done it, I will say it's been an amazing experience, reading poems to people in the streets, in Ubers, on planes and trains.
.- What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
Reading '' The World's Fastest Man,'' Michael Kranish's biography of Major Taylor, I learned that the bicycle was the center of the Industrial Revolution. Learned that after antebellum slavery, Taylor was an international star.
Learned, too, that Taylor died tragically trying to escape poverty by telling the story of his remarkable life.
.- What's the last great book you read?
'' A Gentleman in Moscow,'' by Amor Towles.
.- Your favorite book no one else has heard of?
'' Figures of Speech,'' by Arthur Quinn.
.- Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?
I sometimes gotta go back to the romance novel. I mean, who among us hasn't wanted to have minutes and hours or days living in that moment of love Zora Neale Hurston captures when we learn who Tea Cake is?
And for me, these days Jasmine Guillory is a guilty pleasure.
.- What book would you recommend for understanding this political moment?
Ralph Ellison's '' Invisible Man. '' It's a book about what happens when the society is so chaotic that it leaves no room for the individual to change or grow.
Ellison's unnamed character is the star of a picaresque, lost in a world that shapes shifts so rapidly and absurdly that he cannot create an identity for himself.
Imagine being unwilling to utter your own name.
.- Do you listen to music while writing? What kind?
Been leaning into music without words. Listening to a lot of Frank London, especially '' Spirit Stronger Than Blood,'' paying attention to the different rhythms and blends I can discover to bring my voice.
The Best Author Best Publishing, continues. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.
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