Episode 129: Reading Eugenia Leigh’s Bianca

a “Reading with Rachel”/ Commonplace School creation

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Eugenia Leigh joins the Reading with Rachel live-virtual salon to discuss her newest book, Bianca. Leigh tells the story of writing Bianca and talks about the role of therapy in the writing process, why she enjoys revision and prefers it to writing, strategies for avoiding burnout, complex PTSD, Bipolar II Disorder, Christianity, trying to write without re-traumatizing the self or the reader, de-romanticizing the relationship between mental illness and art making, what she likes about couplets, regrets about the final form of the book, time travel and much more.

Content Notice: This episode contains discussions of suicidal feelings, SA, childhood abuse, and other challenging topics.

Books by Eugenia Leigh:

• Bianca (Four Way Books, 2023)

• Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books 2014)

Also referenced:

• Hey It’s Me podcast (with Mike Sakasagawa and Rachel Zucker)

• Eugenia Leigh’s lecture on the Zuihitsu

• Black Lives Matter

• Alan Shapiro

• Hybrida by Tina Chang

• The Undertaker’s Daughter by Toi Derricotte  

• The Zuihitsu Form 

• Franny Choi 

• Confessional Poetry 

• Bri Gonzalez

• Jessica Nirvana Ram

• Odes to Lithium by Shira Erlichman

• Lorca’s Duende 

• 2024 AWP Panel on Mental Illness: Danez Smith, Leila Chatti, Stevie Edwards, Marlin M. Jenkins 

• John Murillo’s “Upon Reading That Eric Dolphy Transcribed Even the Calls of Certain Species of Birds,”

• Carrie Fountain’s “The Jungle”

• Rachel Zucker’s SoundMachine

• Keith S Wilson

• Vanessa Angélica Villarreal

• Eduardo Corral’s Slow Lightning

• Mai Der Vang & her book, Yellow Rain

• Visual Poem by Keith S. Wilson

• Time Travel by James Gleick

• Carlo Rovelli’s The Order of Time

• Brian Greene

• Hafizah Geter’s The Black Period

• Nicole Sealey’s The Ferguson Report

• Hey It’s Me

• Reading with Rachel

• Charity for this episode: Brooklyn Poets

Bio

Eugenia Leigh is a Korean American poet and the author of Bianca (Four Way Books, 2023) and Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014). Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including TIME, The Nation, Poetry, Ploughshares, Waxwing, and the Best of the Net anthology. Eugenia serves as a Poetry Editor at The Adroit Journal and as Valentines Editor at Honey Literary.

In honor of this episode, our charitable partner will donate $250 to Brooklyn Poets , chosen by Eugenia Leigh

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