“Nothing vast” Sophocles tells us, “enters mortal life without a curse.”
2020 and 2021 have also proved the opposite to be true — no curse enters mortal life with an attendant blessing (however small).
The pandemic made it necessary to adapt our social and educational norms; new technology made it possible to bring together distant friends and colleagues.
Given these needs and possibilities, the Etruscan Press Outreach Program has gone virtual. With the YSU Poetry Center, we conducted nearly sixty interviews with an array of national and international figures in the literary community: writers, publishers, editors, scholars, literary agents, filmmakers, and program directors on a wide range of topics in the world of the arts and the publishing industry.
In these pages, you’ll find these interviews cataloged and tagged for easy browsing, along with brief descriptions, bios, and study guides. Also available are curricula and materials for courses in Creative Writing, Literature, and Publishing, where these interviews have been embedded.
Now we’d like to facilitate the next step: bringing these literary professionals to your group or class. Let us know who you’d like to invite and we’ll set up a virtual meeting at a convenient time, at no cost to you.
Contact us here and we’ll make the arrangements.
Given our global crisis, this may be a small blessing. But it speaks to our need to sustain the art we cherish and the books and lives we love. Please join us in sharing in this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to enrich our experience of the arts.
Sincerely,
Philip Brady
Director, Youngstown State University Poetry Center
Executive Director, Etruscan Press
Etruscan Press is grateful for support and funding from the following organizations:
Special thanks to the following individuals:
Etruscan Associate Editor Jason Miller, who curated the online Outreach Program, edited the interview descriptions, created the interview catalogue and the study guides.
Etruscan Webmaster Douglas Martin, who designed the Outreach Program website.
Etruscan interns Heather Jenkins and Andrew Wilczak, who copyedited the text.
And finally, to all the literary professionals interviewed here, whose time, passion, and expertise have made the YSU Poetry Center and Etruscan Press Virtual Outreach Program possible.
