Interview with Poet Lindsay Turner on Her Upcoming Book "The Upstate"

Turner grew up in northeast Tennessee, in the Appalachian foothills, where her father was employed at a chemical company. She discovered poetry as a college freshman after attending a creative writing workshop led by Jorie Graham. The impactful experience, especially through Graham's analysis of an Osip Mandelstam poem, set her on a path where poetry became central to her life. During her college years, she formed friendships with fellow poets and spent her nights at a literary magazine house, engaging in discussions about poetry.

Turner highlights how poetry has the ability to reconnect her with the world: reading difficult poems challenges her to engage with her surroundings and the social issues they reflect. In a recent seminar on the lyric poem, she taught Gwendolyn Brooks’s “The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till,” exploring its thematic depth and emotional resonance. She emphasizes how poetry enhances her ability to appreciate life’s complexities and provoke strong feelings.

Turner describes her new book as stemming from a place of anger, influenced by events since the fall of 2016, particularly during the Trump presidency. The collection reflects her personal experiences—including the birth of her dog Sadie and her father's cancer diagnosis, alongside broader social issues like racism in her community. Thus, the poems emerge from a moment filled with personal turmoil and social reckoning, highlighting feelings of isolation and a desire to embrace the beauty of her Southern identity despite its challenges.

She expresses enthusiasm for the current poetry landscape, particularly the work created by her peers. She finds excitement in sharing personal experiences through poetry and believes in the importance of a community to foster creative expression. Turner appreciates how contemporaneous poets are bold and original, asserting that poetry should resist market pressures, allowing for authentic expression.

Lindsay Turner is also the author of the poetry collection "Songs & Ballads" and a translator for contemporary Francophone poetry and philosophy. She currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio, where she serves as an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Case Western Reserve University. "The Upstate" is available for purchase on the publisher's website or through various booksellers.