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from the issue of November 30, 2006
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Bauer publishes prose trifecta
BY SARA PIPHER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Publishing a book of poems is pretty much the literary equivalent of winning the Kentucky Derby. Many - if not most - writers toil in relative obscurity for years before holding a copy of their own published and bound book in their hands.
| | BUSY YEAR – Grace Bauer, professor of English, has published three poetry books in 2006. She has also started a fourth project, a novel set in New Orleans. Courtesy photo.
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UNL English professor Grace Bauer has just won the Triple Crown.
This year, she will have three books published: "Beholding Eye," a book of poems about visual art; "Retreats and Recognitions," a collection of poems that won the Idaho Poetry Prize; and "Umpteen Ways of Looking at a Possum: Critical and Creative Responses to Everette Maddox," which she co-edited with Julie Kane, a professor at Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
"One way of looking at it is, three books in one year. Another way of looking at it is that after many years of work it's all just coming together at one time," Bauer said. "I have told several of my graduate students that when I lecture them on digging in and doing their work and being patient, they have to listen to me now because 'I have street cred!'"
"Beholding Eye" was released in July by Custom Words. A reading of one of the poems from the book, "Room in New York" - which is based on an Edward Hopper painting of the same name - is featured on the Sheldon Art Gallery's Web site.
"Umpteen Ways of Looking at a Possum" is a collection of poems, essays, short stories and song lyrics about late New Orleans poet Everette Maddox. Bauer and Kane assembled the anthology with support from the UNL Research Council. Bauer received one of the final author permission forms she needed to complete the project three days before Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. The book was supposed to be released in October 2005, but Xavier University Press closed in the wake of the storm. Once the press was up and running, publication went forward.
Bauer recently attended the Louisiana Book Festival, which featured readings by many contributors of the anthology.
"It was a celebration," she said. "The writers and artists in New Orleans are so resilient. I'm very happy to be part of that; I think of New Orleans as my poetry home, because I lived there in my early 20s and that's where I started writing seriously."
News of the publication of "Retreats and Recognitions" came as a surprise to Bauer.
"I was already on cloud nine, having two books in the works, and when I got the call, I was speechless for a couple days," she said.
Her manuscript was chosen for the Idaho prize from more than 700 entries. Its poems grew out of her own experiences, whereas the poems in "Beholding Eye" were written in response to works of art. Bauer worked on the books simultaneously, and in fact some of the poems in "Retreats and Recognitions" are 20 years old.
She is pleased that all of the books will be released, as they showcase very different styles of her writing. And while she is enjoying her time in the spotlight, she hasn't traded her computer in for a life of leisure just yet.
"I hope three's the charm for this year, but I'm always eager to get on to the next project," she said. "I hope to get onto a project of more art poems; I am fascinated with this whole idea. Also, I have started a novel that is set in New Orleans...I hope to get to working on that."
GO TO: ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 30
ARTS HEADLINES FOR NOVEMBER 30
Bauer publishes prose trifecta
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Open studio night is Dec. 8
Orchestra presents annual Holiday Pops Concert Dec. 10
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732645S36501X
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