Episode Forty-one

In this episode, I spoke with féi hernandez about Hood Criatura, their poetry collection released in 2020. We also spoke about their incredible skills as an illustrator, and féi recommends some fantastic books and music.

féi hernandez (b.1993 Chihuahua, Mexico) is a trans, Inglewood- raised, formerly undocumented immigrant artist, writer, healer. They have been published in POETRY, Pank Magazine, Oxford Review of Books, Frontier Poetry, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, amongst others. They are a Define American Fellow for 2021 and are currently the Board President of Gender Justice Los Angeles. féi is the author of the full-length poetry collection Hood Criatura (Sundress Publications 2020) which was on NPR’s Best Books of 2020. féi collects Pokémon plushies.

féi’s website

féi’s instagram

Purchase Hood Criatura

An example of one of féi’s illustrations:

“The Woman Inside” by féi hernandez. You can see more of their illustrations here.

Poets, books, etc. mentioned in this episode:

• Gloomy the Naughty Grizzly, anime series

• Sailor Moon, anime series

• Natalie Diaz’s My Brother Was an Aztec

• Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem

• Ambar Lucid and her song “Story to Tell”

• Hood Criatura on Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon. Go leave a review :)

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

The Sound of Waves Breaking is “Project - 3_30_21, 6.55 PM.wav” by bradygalp123

Episode Thirty-six

In this episode I spoke with noor ibn najam about her recent work and writing process. they also discussed showing work to friends and skill-sharing. Sorry that the intro and outro audio is a little wonky this time around, but the bulk of the interview itself is still good.

noor is a poet who teases, challenges, breaks, and creates language. she's received fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole and is a recent resident of the Vermont Studio Center. her poems have been published and anthologized with DIAGRAM, ANMLY, The Academy of American Poets, the Rumpus, Bettering American Poetry, and others. her chapbook, PRAISE TO LESSER GODS OF LOVE, was published by Glass Poetry Press in 2019.

noor’s website

purchase Praise to Lesser Gods of Love

noor’s Patreon

Writers, poems, books, events mentioned in this episode:

• The Arab Apocalypse, by Etel Adnan

• noor's poem "questions arabic asked in english (colonial fit)”

• an interview of Douglas Kearney where he discusses compositional hierarchy

• “I am an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit,” a lyric from Erykah Badu ‘s “Tyrone.”

• Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip

• “The Secret Name,” by W.S. Graham

• وسوس Arabic for "whispers of the devil in your ear"

• khaleel, artist and noor’s partner

• Qil, Astro-Black Metalbender behind the jewlery line BLACKMARZIAN

• Keziah Harrell, painter

• Jamal Jones on Twitter

• kiki nicole

  • here’s an interview kiki and I recorded last year

• noor’s Skill Swaps

The Sound of Waves Breaking is “Walking on Snow,” recorded by rivernile7.

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Five

In this episode, I had the lovely opportunity to talk to Zoe Tuck in a coffee shop in Oakland. We discuss speculative fiction and poetry, the second wave feminism she navigated during her coming-of-age years, spirituality, trans/ gender variant identities and collective memory, and more. 

Zoe's website is here

and you can order Terror Matrix from TIL here

Other writers and thinkers brought up in this show: 

David Antin

Interview that Tom Léger was part of that I mentioned

"What is Bay Area Poetry" Podcast

Zoe’s review of Archipelago

Connie Willis

Ursula K. Le Guinn

Laura Moriarty

Alice Notley

Zach Ozma

bell hooks on arts education and visual politics

The sound of waves breaking was a bunch of turkeys, as per my partner's request.

Theme music is by Bahati Kiro, and the transition music is by Chris Zorn.

Transcripts by Amir Rabiyah: https://www.scribd.com/document/378479204/Zoe-Tuck-Interview

Email me at: wavesbreakingshow@gmail.com or find me on Twitter @MxAvren