Q&A with Michael Hogan

 

 

 

Michael Hogan is the author of the new book The Michael Hogan Reader. His many other books include Abraham Lincoln and Mexico. He lives in Guadalajara, Mexico. 

 

Q: How did you choose the selections that appear in The Michael Hogan Reader?

 

A: I received suggestions from several people. I first got the idea from Noam Chomsky (who wrote a blurb for my book Savage Capitalism), and from Annie Dillard, both of whom produced their own “Readers” containing selections of their work.

 

My editor, Mikel Miller, thought that selections should be based on previous publication, award-winning pieces, and reader popularity. So, for example, “Kissed by Allen Ginsberg” won the new Millennium Award for Nonfiction; “Spring” received the Pushcart Price and was anthologized in several textbooks, and the “Soldiers of St. Patrick” was from a book that was the basis for an MGM movie and two documentaries and sold more than 70,000 copies which is astounding for a niche book on Irish/Mexican history.

 

Q: Do you think your writing style has changed at all over the years?

 

A: Well, I hope I have grown as a writer. Certainly, I have broadened the scope of my writing. My earlier work was mostly poetry and flash fiction. Midlife, it was mostly histories and essays; now it is the memoir and occasional poem.

 

Q: As someone who writes in a variety of genres, do you have a preference?

 

A: Poetry is my first love and I continue to write daily, filling notebooks with drafts and observations. I also read a great deal of poetry, including some of my favorite contemporaries, Willam Stafford, Naomi Shihab Nye, W.S. Merwin, Seamus Heaney, Marge Piercy, and a dozen others.

 

I also teach a local poetry seminar, and present seminars for secondary teachers at the College Board’s National Conference and at  regional teacher in-services.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from this collection?

 

A: For new readers, I hope it will be an exciting introduction to my work and that they will find selections that resonate with them and go one to read one of the books from which the works are selected. I have written thirty books and worked with every conceivable genre: poetry, flash fiction, short story, novel, drama, essay, and memoir.

 

I also hope that the book may find its way to AP Literature classes, as well as Freshman Composition classes and MFA seminars at universities as recommended reading. And finally, for those fans of my work, I hope they might be excited to look at my author page on Amazon and discover more treats from my many years of writing and publishing.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My latest project is entitled Walking Each Other Home: Intimate Conversations on Writing and Life by Notable Poets of the 20th Century. It is currently in the editing stages at Trinity University Press in San Antonio, and we expect publication by spring of 2025.

 

It includes conversations and memories of poets such as Joseph Brodsky, Tess Gallagher, Czeslaw Milosz, Galway Kinnell, Allen Ginsberg, Sam Hamill, W.S. Merwin and many others. Most of these writers visited my home when they came to read at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson back in the ‘70s.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have taught for more than 40 years at high schools, colleges, and in graduate programs. I am often appalled at how few students are aware of the rich varieties of literature, whether classic, modern, or contemporary. Those who do read tend mostly to peruse online articles and an occasional novel. In writing classes, I have found a similar paucity of variation.

 

This book is a way of introducing them and their teachers to the richness of genres available to them, not only as readers but also as writers. With that mind, I look forward to seeing it adopted by schools as a text or at least as supplemental reading.

 

I am pleased to note that I already have received comments from teachers in New England, Canada, Arizona, and even Ireland saying that they expect to use it this school year. I also noted reviews on Goodreads by AP students who previewed the book and felt it was an eye-opening experience. That is very encouraging!

 

Finally, I would like to thank you for taking time from your own writing and publishing to help support writers like me. It is very generous-spirited. I have written over 80 reviews on Amazon and Goodreads of books I recommend, and I believe it is a part of paying it forward that we all might do. I hope to see more of it and am grateful for your leadership and example.

 

I also would like you to know that my granddaughter in Colorado enjoyed your young people’s histories (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington) immensely!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Michael Hogan.