Rebecca Brown, an inspiring contributor in our upcoming issue of Bombay Gin, is also an open and authentically down-to-earth writer. From interactions with students at Naropa’s SWP 2012, it is also apparent that she cares. A lot. She cares about religion, about human rights, and about her students.
I caught up with Rebecca recently. Here’s a bit of what she’s up to:
June Lucarotti: What books have you recently been excited about?
Rebecca Brown: I am excited by the new book (a first book) by Suzanne Scanlon, PROMISING YOUNG WOMEN, published by the Dorothy Project. It’s smart and brutal and funny and really speaks to a lot of stuff of interest to me – the female mind, the experience of quasi real or misunderstood ‘madness’, religious longing and its perversions. The prose is really excellent too. I am also reading Gary Wills’ work about Augustine and thinking about that stuff. I also love Bombay Gin and Anne Waldman and all you guys and gals.
JL: What is your current contemplative practice?
RB: I still try to work with my Sacred Silence group every week and wish I did so more.
JL: What inspires you lately?
RB: I am listening to Sunny Day Real Estate’s old music and right now have Bruno Mars on my CD player. I am awaiting a visit from CA Conrad, whom I have never met but whose work I TREMENDOUSLY admire. I have invited CA to visit my class where I teach at UW Botell in the new MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics program. He will read tonight too, and I hope he wears a tiara.
Look for Rebecca’s insightful reflection on “Transgressive Meditation” in Bombay Gin’s upcoming issue!
Rebecca Brown is currently writing essays, parables, and more. She is creating cut and paste altered books. She currently has an installation and an altered book exhibit up at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. Her most recent book is AMERICAN ROMANCES (City Lights, 2009), and she has recent work in PAGEBOY, the Frye Museum blog, and elsewhere. Her writing also often appears online in THE STRANGER. Rebecca presently teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics program at UW Bothell and the low-residency MFA at Goddard College.
-June
