We had the good fortune of connecting with Alyse Knorr and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Alyse, can you tell us about an impactful book you’ve read and why you liked it or what impact it had on you?
Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red taught me what a novel in verse can do–how to develop characters over a sustained narrative, how to introduce and then return to certain symbols and motifs, and how to pace a plot in verse.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I write poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and hybrid literature. What animates all of my work is a queer, feminist approach to the love poem and the nature poem, and the intersection of eros and the natural world informs a lot of what I write. Anything I have achieved professionally or artistically has only come about through very hard work, difficult challenges, and deep soul-searching. The biggest lesson I have learned over the years is that failure should never stop you. I have learned more from my failures than my successes, and they have fueled me on in very powerful ways. Failure is a source of learning, inspiration, and motivation, and should never be a source of shame.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
A week-long visit to the Denver area would have to include trips to Red Rocks, Dinosaur Ridge, the Rockies, and possibly a longer tip to the Great Sand Dunes or Taos. I would want to take my friend to do lots of hiking (or skiing if it was the winter), and we would also enjoy all of downtown Denver’s highlights: a show at Ophelia’s or a Rockie’s game or a poetry reading at Bar Max. We would hit up my favorite brewery in town, Goldspot at 50th and Lowell in the Regis neighborhood. We would definitely need to eat at City O City and maybe have brunch at Jelly downtown. And go dancing at Charlie’s!
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a shoutout to all of the teachers who have guided me and mentored me throughout my educational career, and my students who continue to teach me new things all the time. I would also like to shout out my colleagues, who provide such important support in all that I do, and my wife Kate, who is my first and best reader, my source of all kinds of wisdom, my rock.
Website: www.alyseknorr.com
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Twitter: @KnorrAlyse
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