Marilynne Robinson: 02-23-1989

In an interview conducted on February 23, 1989, Marilynne Robinson reads from her novel Housekeeping and discusses her characters Ruth, Lucille, and Sylvie. She recalls writing the novel while teaching in France, and her youth in the wilderness of Idaho. Other topics include metaphor, consciousness, language in fiction, and the Bill Forsyth film adaptation of her novel.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1044/thumbnail.jp

Rita Dove: 03-06-1985

Dove discusses her fascination with the unseen and insignificant details of historical events and individual lives. This interest in the less celebrated moments of experience shaped Museum and Thomas and Beulah. Her careful attention to language, form, structure, and organization in her work is revealed throughout the interview. She talks about the crafting of Parsley as well as the organization of the Museum. Dove says she doesn\u27t want the reader to know what is coming in a book. She says the worst thing that can happen to a poet is to be self-conscious because it interferes with the creative process. She tries not to clutter her head with too much literary critique and theory, particularly when she is composing. Work(s) Discussed: The Yellow House on the Corner Museum Thomas and Beulah Work(s) Read: Parsley Delft Anti-Father Dusting Variation on Painhttps://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1040/thumbnail.jp

Erica Jong : 04-04-1974

In an interview recorded April 4, 1974, Erica Jong reads two poems, Becoming a Nun and Man on the Moon ; discusses her training as a writer, and women\u27s sexual repression and struggle for equal rights; and reads from her novel Fear of Flying.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1047/thumbnail.jp

Lucille Clifton: 11-12-1987

Lucille Clifton was one of America\u27s leading poets.She was the author of six collections of poetry as well as more than a dozen books of fiction and poetry for children. She is interviewed by Stan Rubin and Anthony Piccione.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1045/thumbnail.jp

\u27Loosening the Emotional Knot \u27: A Conversation with Carolyn Forche

Poets Harriet Susskind and Stan Sanvel Rubin, speak with poet Carolyn Forche during a Writers Forum interview at the State University of New York College at Brockport on November 3, 1982. This interview was edited by Earl Ingersoll and Stan Sanvel Rubin

Hidden Sequel

College at Brockport emeritus Stan Rubin\u27s third book of poetry is rich with wisdom, language, candor, and metaphor. It is truly a whole, something to be read all the way through, as each poem builds in resonance with those that have preceeded it. Rubin is a master of insight and a keen observer of those fleeting but essential moments we often miss in our day to day lives. Who, Rubin asks, having answered/a doorbell and found no one,/ does not wonder about destiny? This is a book everyone needs.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/bookshelf/1070/thumbnail.jp

Lola Haskins: 10-25-1995

Lola Haskins discusses her love of poetry and her sense of what she is good at and what she is not good at. Haskins reads her poem “Forty-Four Ambitions for the Piano.”https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1056/thumbnail.jp

Cornelius Eady: 02-04-1987

Cornelius Eady, a Rochester native, discusses his love for dance and how it became a unifying theme for his second book, Victims of the Latest Dance Craze. Other topics include the influence of his work in radio on his first book, Kartunes, his poems\u27 stubborn optimism, and his audience. He reads “Miss Johnson Dances for the First Time,” “Radio,” and “Jazz Dancer.”https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1049/thumbnail.jp

David Huddle: 11-09-1983

In an interview recorded November 9, 1983, David Huddle reads an excerpt of his short story Playing and discusses his writing process and the ways sexuality and music are incorporated into his work.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1054/thumbnail.jp

Molly Haskell: 03-10-1977

Molly Haskell, film critic for the Village Voice and author of From Reverence to Rape discusses the ways women are portrayed in both film and television. Haskell describes how culture and male influence shape that portrayal and her hopes for the future of women on screen.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/writers_videos/1057/thumbnail.jp