S2-E14 – FROM THE VAULT - Adrian Rice - The Importance of Poetry & Southern Porches -

Literary Latte Podcast with Lynda Bouchard

This is an episode from the vault. My conversation with the award – winning Poet, Adrian Rice is one of my favorites. I went back and listened to it again and I’d forgotten how much fun it was talking with Adrian. He shares some really important points about writing and poetry in particular. Plus, I could listen to his accent all day long. Since this interview Adrian has published a new collection of poems titled – The Strange Estate: New & Selected Poems. It’s also interesting to see what’s changed and what hasn’t changed on this podcast. You’ll notice the music and intro have changed but the underlying principal that writing is hard work and takes commitment is the through-line of every episode.

Adrian Rice, joins Lynda from his front porch in Hickory, N.C. in this episode from Season 1. Adrian shares the back-story of his poetic journey, one that brought him to N.C. from Northern Ireland and he shines a spotlight on the importance of poetry in our world today. In this episode he talks about his collection of poems, titled, Hickory Station, published by Press 53. The collection garnered the praise of Nobel Prize winning writer, Seamus Heaney, among others. Adrian is also an accomplished musician who, along with band mate Alyn Mearns, formed The Belfast Boys. They frequently play gigs in and around Hickory, N.C. and have incorporated Adrian’s poetry into original songs.

From Belfast, Ireland, Adrian’s first poetry sequence, Muck Island, a collaboration with leading Irish artist Ross Wilson, is housed in the Tate Modern in London and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

His first full collection, The Mason’s Tongue, was shortlisted for the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Literary Prize and nominated for the Irish Times Prize for Poetry.

Adrian Rice found the lifeline of poetry in high school, but didn’t start writing until his mid-twenties, his first poems coming out (as one Ulster poet put it) “fully formed”. From the early exploration of the creative constrictions and liberations of the northern Protestant tradition, to his mind-full meditations on his American porch, Rice, in this startlingly rich and emotionally varied collection, fashions and recovers images of place and belonging. The Strange Estate: New & Selected Poems 1986–2017 is a landmark collection on both sides of the Atlantic.

He delivers writing workshops, readings and lectures throughout the UK, Ireland and America. Adrian will be a faculty workshop presenter at the High Road Festival of Poetry & Short Fiction, March 27-29, 2020. http://adrianrice.com

High Road Festival of Poetry & Short Fiction (March 27-28, 2020) Register here: https://www.press53.com/high-road-festival

Follow The Belfast Boys: https://tinyurl.com/thebelfastboys

Buy the Book : https://tinyurl.com/thestrangeestate

Discover more about Lynda and this podcast: http://www.BookingAuthorsInk.com