AWP2017: Using Poetry to Bridge the Civil-Military Gap

Panelists and poets, from left to right: Eric "Shmo" Chandler; Randy "Sherpa" Brown; Frances Richey; Tessa Poppe; Susanne Aspley. Photo by Joy Riggs

(Blog editor's note: Updated February 14 to include photo of panelists and MP3 audio file link.)

Today is Thurs., Feb. 9, 2017. I'm pleased to be moderating the following session at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs convention in Washington, D.C. As previously noted on the Red Bull Rising blog, this is one of many AWP2017 sessions related to war-writing.

AWP 2017 Session R144:
"Citizen-Soldier-Poet: Using Poetry to Bridge the Civil-Military Gap"
Supreme Court, Marriott Marquis, Meeting Level Four
Thurs., Feb. 9, 2017, 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

With a boot on each side of the civil-military divide, America's citizen-soldiers and their families are uniquely positioned to bridge the gaps between our armed forces and the society they serve. Five civilian and military-veteran writers of poetry, memoir, and fiction read from their works and discuss how they have specifically used poetry in published, practical ways to promote peace, respect, understanding, and empathy.

A downloadable PDF listing of panelists, including full biographies and contact information, is here.

(Posted February 14: A downloadable MP3 audio file of the session, good enough for note-taking, is here. Smaller file here.)

Panelists include:

RANDY BROWN

• "Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poems from Inside the Wire" (poetry collection)
• "Reporting for Duty: Citizen-Soldier Journalism from the Afghan Surge, 2010-2011" (editor; non-fiction collection)

*****

SUSANNE ASPLEY

• "Granola, MN: Love and War in a Nutty Little Town" (novel)
• "Ladyboy and the Volunteer" (novel)
• "I Know How To ..." series (children's foreign-language immersion books in verse)

*****

ERIC CHANDLER

• "Down In It" (e-book; military fiction)
• "Outside Duluth" (e-book; non-fiction)

*****

TESSA POPPE

• "A Bird," (2017 short fiction winner, "Proud To Be: Writing from American Warriors," Vol. 5, Southeast Missouri State University Press)
• 34th Parallel Magazine: "I woke up this morning thinking about Afghanistan" (poem)
• Veterans Writing Project's O-Dark-Thirty journal: "The Grass" (poem)

*****

FRANCES RICHEY

• "The Warrior: A Mother's Story of a Son at War" (poetry collection)
• "Voices of the Guard" (chapbook)