This week, Lauren speaks with poet Kaveh Akbar, whose sophomore poetry collection, Pilgrim Bell, empties the self of the self — of one’s nation, or nations, of one’s family, of one’s knowledge — leaving only one’s hollowed, and hallowed, body. An early review of Pilgrim Bell states, “The poetry of Kaveh Akbar reminds you that the body is a temple and that the most astounding shit happens in temples.” Yes. Pilgrim Bell is astounding.

In this lively conversation, Lauren and Missoula-based poet, ceramicist, and musician Kelly Schirmann talk about about her newest book of poetry, The New World, and about her creative practices. A hybrid collection of poetry and prose, The New World follows Schirmann’s attempts, failures, and re-attempts at understanding and articulating an era of immense social upheaval, political corruption, and environmental consequence, as well as her place, as an artist, within it.

With Home Waters, John N. Maclean, son of Norman Maclean, offers a companion or parallel narrative to his father’s beloved classic, A River Runs Through It.

Michael Punke’s Ridgeline is, broadly, about what is now known - though rarely talked about - as the Fetterman Massacre, which took place in 1866 in…

The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by…

Clocking in at 600 pages, Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle is the epic story of the fictional Marian Graves, a Missoula, Montana-born pilot, whose…

This week on The Write Question, Lauren chats with Missoula-based writer Deirdre “Dee” McNamer about Aviary, a novel based in an unnamed mountain town a…

This week on The Write Question, Lauren chats with J. Robert Lennon about peculiarity—in his new novel, Subdivision, his new collection of short stories,…

This week on The Write Question, Lauren speaks with Canadian poet, editor, and community organizer Rebecca Salazar, author of sulphurtongue. The two…

What does ‘autobiography’ mean to poet Allison Cobb? What action(s) should readers consider after reading Plastic: An Autobiography? What do desire, joy,…