Poet Gail Peck Brings the Dust Bowl Photographs of Dorothea Lange to Life in “An Instant Out of Time”
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:18:38 — 72.2MB)
In this episode 144, we visit with the 2020 winner of the Irene Blair Honeycutt Lifetime Achievement Award in Literary Arts and the author of of An Instant Out of Time, Within Two Rooms, and other poetry collections.
Joseph Bathanti, former North Carolina Poet Laureate says this about Gail’s new book: “I’ve admired Gail Peck’s poems for thirty years—their precision and sensibility, gorgeous imagery, and taut, chiseled language that echoes long after the final syllable. All these hallmarks are exponentially evident in Pecks’ extraordinary new volume, An Instant Out of Time. These new poems beautifully contemplate and amplify the Dust Bowl photographs of legendary photographer Dorothea Lange. While An Instant Out of Time is a primer on how to write breathtaking ekphrastic poems, it is also a celebration of two artists—Lange and Peck—in a seamless collaboration of their respective arts that is heartbreakingly unforgettable.”
Gail’s first reading is Tractored Out, Childress County, Texas from her poetry book An Instant Out of Time.
Artist’s Statement
Poetry for me is a way of life, as I have been writing it for over 30 years. While I don’t have a set time to write, the writing gets done, and feeds me as surely as food. Autobiography has been a huge subject, but I’ve branched out to other topics.
I am highly indebted to all the people who’ve helped me along the way. I see poetry as a spiritual endeavor that reaches for a higher element than is usually available to the human consciousness.
When in the throes of writing all time disappears: I am tethered to words, yet floating away into something bigger than myself. After the polishing is done, I am ready to give this to the world, and hope it will be received as a gift.
Find An Instant Out of Time Here
Connect With the Author
Promo Code Deals For Our Listeners:
Use the promo code: Charlottereader (all one word) for the following deals available to Charlotte Readers Podcast listeners.
Deal for Audiobooks:
Libro.fm makes it easy to buy audiobooks and support independent book stores at the same time. Listeners can use the above promo code to get two audiobooks for the price of one upon joining Libro.fm at the $14.99 monthly membership level.
When we use that code and join Libro.fm, we can choose from more than 150,000 audiobooks, including New York Times best sellers and recommendations from booksellers around the country. With Libro.fm you’ll get the same audiobooks, at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name), but we’ll be part of a much different story, one that supports community, because we can designate our favorite independent book store when we sign up and the store benefits from every monthly membership charge and every purchase. Kudos to Libro.fm for making it easy for audiobook listeners to support independent book stores. If you’d like to give it a try and feel good about supporting local when you do, plug in the promo code when you sign up at Libro.fm and let us know how you like the service.
Deal for authors who work with SPARK Publications:
SPARK Publications is an award-winning independent publishing firm that helps authors bring their work to life. It has a process of working with authors that uses a strategy session to help the authors meet their goals.
Listeners can use the above promo code to get $100 off of a private Strategy Session with SPARK Publications if used from August through December, 2020.
Deal for new members who join Charlotte Center for Literary Arts:
Charlotte Center for Literary Arts Charlotte Lit is nonprofit arts center whose mission is to celebrate the literary arts by educating and engaging writers and readers through classes, conversations, and community.
Listeners who become new members of Charlotte Lit can use the above promo code to get a discount on their new membership ($25 off for General and Family levels, $50 off for Supporting, and $100 off for McCullers Society), if used from August through December, 2020.
Connect with Charlotte Readers Podcast
One Stop Link Here to listen and connect with the podcast.
Get Free E-Book Here by host Landis Wade when you sign up for the Newsletter
This free e-book is the first book in the Christmas Courtroom trilogy, books that combine the humor of My Cousin Vinnywith the hope of Miracle on 34th Street. The third book in the trilogy won the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Award in the Holiday Category. Learn more about the books Here.
Explore Our Patreon Page Here and if you help us help authors give voice to their written words on Patreon, we provide exclusive and extra free content with an exclusive podcast feed.
About the Author
Gail Peck is the 2020 winner of the Irene Blair Honeycutt Lifetime Achievement Award in Literary Arts.
She holds an M.F.A. from The Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and is the author of eight books of poetry. Her first full-length book, Drop Zone, won the Texas Review Breakthrough Contest; The Braided Light won the 2014 Lena Shull Book Contest.
Her poems and essays have appeared in Southern Review, Nimrod, Greensboro Review, Brevity, Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Comstock Review, and elsewhere. Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart and for Best of the Net. Her essay, “Child, Waiting,” was cited as notable by Best American Essays.
Gail has been writing most of her life. She started writing poems for her mother on special occasions. It was when she lived just outside of New Orleans, that she began her formal education of poetry by studying at the University of New Orleans and joining a writers’ group. Her readings began there and, New Orleans being New Orleans, she read in the French Quarter, on the dock because the ferry never showed up, at Mardi Gras and a well-known place called The Maple Street Bar where the locals came in to do laundry in the back.
Please Visit and Support Our Lead Sponsors:
Park Road Books is the oldest and only independent book store in Charlotte, conveniently located in Park Road Shopping Center.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is a connector of readers, leaders and learners, with 20 locations and a 24 hour online presence.
Please Visit and Support Our Season 7 Episode Sponsors:
SPARK Publications is an award-winning independent publishing firm that helps authors bring their work to life. They work strategically with their authors to help them complete their manuscripts, design their covers and books for marketability, register their ISBNs and Library of Congress numbers, proofread, manage the print options, market and much more!
For 98 years, the Charlotte Writers’ Club has continued to offer a supportive writing environment in the greater Charlotte community. Members benefit from monthly newsletters, monthly meetings with speakers (remotely as appropriate), critique groups, open mics and discounts on writing workshops and writing contest fees.
Charlotte Lit is a nonprofit arts center whose mission is to celebrate the literary arts by educating and engaging writers and readers through classes, conversations, and community. Charlotte Lit is a valued and vital part of the Charlotte arts community and has become a premier creative writing center for the region.
The North Carolina Writers’ Network offers six annual competitions, three annual conferences, online classes, and critiquing and editing services to members. It serves over 1400 members in NC and beyond, in all genres, of all levels of experience. Join them for the Writingest State Online Conference, November 10-14, entirely online with NC poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green as the keynote speaker.
Meet Our Networks:
Queen City Podcast Network is a carefully selected collection of more than two dozen podcasts produced in and centering around Charlotte, North Carolina focused on news, non-profits, entertainment, literature, sports, food, culture, health and wellness, and comedy.
Authors on the Air Global Radio Network is an international digital media corporation comprised of more than two dozen radio talk shows, podcasts, & book reviewers interested in speaking to writers in all genres and other creative people.
Meet Our Team:
Learn About Our Social Media Team – Social Grit Marketing
Learn About Our Publicity Manager – Spellbound Public Relations
Visit Our Recording Studios:
Learn About Our In-Person Recording Studio – Advent Coworking
Learn About Our Remote Recording Studio – Squadcast
Thank you for listening!