Q&A with Dylan Weir

  

 

 

 

Dylan Weir is the author of the new poetry collection Public House. He lives in Chicago. 

 

Q: Over how long a period did you write the poems in your new collection?

 

A: Like the collection itself, the answer is a bit circuitous. Most of the poems in Public House were written during the second year of my MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017-2018.

 

At the end of that year, I began submitting the manuscript to first book prizes and it was named a finalist for the A Poulin Jr. Prize. That felt like a sign I was on the right path. Then it took another seven years of near-misses before I got the call from Kris at Trio House. 

 

There's one exception: the first poem in the book was written around 2023, and was later selected by Anders Carlson-Wee for Best New Poets 2024. Once I'd written that poem, the book finally found its shape and, not long after, its home.

 

Q: The writer Quan Barry said of the book, “These poems gracefully yet truthfully chronicle the fight for sobriety as the speaker journeys through darkest dark back up into the light.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I’m grateful for it. And for Quan.

 

One thing I noticed is that all three people who blurbed the book wrote about “truth.” It's a hard thing to do – tell the truth. Particularly about a life spent in the pursuit of oblivion, in the grips of addiction. And particularly in autobiographical poems.

 

I believe Orwell was telling the truth when he said, “Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying.” In writing this book, I tried not to lie.  

 

The beautiful thing about a blurb is that sometimes you learn more about yourself through someone else’s eyes. When Quan said, “Ultimately Weir’s is a poetry of transformation,” I thought, “Damn, she got me.” I never would’ve said it that way, but that’s what I was trying to do in the course of the book – chart the psychic change required to achieve sobriety. Which is no small thing. 

 

The only thing you need to change is everything.

 

Q: How was the collection’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family, where two things were sacred: words and alcohol. So, on one level, the title is exactly what it seems: it’s a book about a drunk with a bar on the cover.

 

But there's another, more personal, meaning, too. A Public House is a symbol of both exposure and enclosure. Being amongst people and apart from them at the same time. That tension, between exhibitionism and isolation, between wanting to share everything and wanting to disappear, lives at the heart of this book.

 

Q: How did you choose the order in which the poems would appear in the collection?

 

A: Intuition. And good help from good readers, most of whom are thanked in the acknowledgements.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have two kids (toddlers) so that accounts for a significant portion of my time. And has fundamentally changed my approach to writing. Frankly, I spent a few years not writing at all. The years of rejection were hard. And I wasn’t sure I’d come out of it.

 

Some days I’m still not sure. Most days I’m too busy picking up toys I’ve just put away or trying to learn how to braid my daughter’s hair and all of the sudden it’s time to go to bed.

 

I've recently begun trying to crawl my way back. Scribbling out poems in the rare moments of spare time I can find. The poems have been about the kids, about work, and about Centralia, Pennsylvania, an abandoned mining town that's been on fire since 1962. 

 

Something about all three subjects feels related, though I'm still figuring it out.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I put my heart and soul into this book. I hope it finds the readers who need it. It will be released in October 2026 and I am available for all the things – reading, interviews, etc., just reach out.

 

You can find me at dylanweir.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Tracy Thomas

  

Photo by Stephen Funk

 

 

Tracy Thomas is the author of the new book The First Woman Judge: The Life and Legacy of Florence Allen. Her other books include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Feminist Foundations of Family Law. Thomas is the director of the Center for Constitutional Law at the University of Akron School of Law. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write a biography of Judge Florence Allen (1884-1966)?

 

A: I literally walked past a photo of Judge Allen in the classroom where I was teaching as a new law professor. One day, my dean pulled me aside and pointed to the photo and said, “You know Florence Allen, right?” I did not.

 

She was a local heroine, emerging from Northeast Ohio to become the first woman judge in the nation many times over—the first woman trial judge in 1920, then state supreme court judge in Ohio, then federal circuit judge, then shortlisted to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Yet only her name was known even among legal historians. It seemed that a deep dive into her legacy of groundbreaking appointments and 40 years on the bench was needed. I found that there were many stories here of women breaking barriers in law, as Allen was among the first 1 percent of women law students, 1 percent of woman lawyers, one of the first woman prosecutors, as well as a first judge many times over.

 

Q: How did you research her life, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: This book required heavy research into the thousands of archival documents Allen donated to Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society and the Library of Congress. She clearly intended to be remembered.

 

Her handwritten diary alone, with illegible cursive and German proofreading marks (learned during years abroad in Berlin) made translation a slow, yet illuminating process. I also had to collect, review, and interpret her more than 800 written decisions on the bench to find patterns and then place them in the context of the developing law in the early 1900s.  

 

What surprised me was Judge Allen’s moderation, her commitment to the rule of law, and careful, balanced opinions. She was an avid women’s rights advocate, serving as a national and Ohio leader for suffrage, litigating cases of constitutional gender equality, and representing women in equal employment cases.

 

Yet, her decisions did not advocate for women, and indeed in several of the key cases of women’s rights that came before her, she deferred to her male colleagues or remained anonymous behind “per curiam” authorship to let the decision speak for itself.

 

Q: How close did Judge Allen come to being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court?

 

A: Very, very close. Allen was considered 12 times by three presidents for a Supreme Court nomination. Presidents of both parties were interested in courting the women’s vote, newly authorized in 1920 by the Nineteenth Amendment, and women demanded one of their own on the highest bench.

 

She came closest to appointment in 1938 when President Franklin Roosevelt advanced her name and invited her to dinner at the White House, and the press endorsed her as an excellent top choice.

 

She lost the nomination at the last minute, perhaps because there was a conflict over a pending case she was presiding over that tested the extent of the president’s powers under the New Deal, and any appointment would look like a blatant bribe. The position went to the unassuming Stanley Reid.

 

Allen came really close to an appointment again with Roosevelt’s fourth nomination, among the final three being considered by the administration. The press proclaimed the time for a woman was now, and the FBI completed its background check.

 

However, supporters of another frontrunner, William O. Douglas, played dirty, and fed false rumors to a nationally syndicated column claiming Allen was a bad judge with a high reversal rate. That was completely false, as she had been overturned only a few times in 15 years, yet the damage was done. As Allen herself said, “they meant to kill me off forever.”

 

A final nomination seemed guaranteed in 1949 when President Truman agreed to appoint Allen. But he first had to ask his friend and poker buddy Chief Justice Fred Vinson if the Justices would accept Allen. They replied firmly, “no.” The men would not welcome a woman into their conference chambers where they kicked off their shoes, feet on the table, and rolled up their shirt sleeves in boisterous argumentation.

 

Truman tried again, proposing a one-year appointment to gain points with women voters but minimize the allegedly disruptive impact. Again, the Justices said no.

 

Q: What do you think she would make of today’s Supreme Court?

 

A: Allen would be thrilled to see that there are four women on the Court of nine justices. She always extended the ladder down to support other women judges of both parties, and she would consider the bipartisan increase in women judges a triumph.

 

However, she would be dismayed at the retraction of equality in the Court’s opinions. And outraged by the disavowal of the rule of law and the visible partisanship of the judges, which she spoke about as highly unethical and corrupt.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on a new book of legal history about the Women’s Law Fund, a public interest law firm in the 1970s litigating cases of women’s rights to develop the new laws of gender equality under the Constitution and statutes like Title VII and Title IX.

 

The law had not yet recognized women’s equality and this start-up organization and its inspiring leaders helped create that law and open up opportunities for women in employment and education. It tells the fascinating stories of many regular women going about their daily lives, and then stepping up to challenge sex discrimination where they found it.

 

The new book picks up where the Judge Allen book left often. Allen died in 1966, just before the civil rights movement and the advent of the women’s liberation movement that ushered in the full equality of women that Allen had envisioned.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Judge Allen’s life and legacy provides an example of how one person can make a difference to the system of justice and that taking action and simply doing the work can make a tremendous impact in the long run.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Terri Farley

  

 

 

Terri Farley is the author of the new book Horse Girl: How Velma Bronn Johnston Became Wild Horse Annie and Outsmarted the Mustang Killers of the West. Her other books include Wild at Heart. She is also an educator, and she lives in Nevada. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Horse Girl, and how did you become interested in Velma Bronn Johnston (1912-1977)? 

 

A: I’ve always loved horses, especially wild horses. Like many young horse-lovers, I read every horse book our local librarian handed me.

 

I lived on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California, so the story of Wild Horse Annie, a young woman who saved America’s mustangs from being slaughtered for dog food, grabbed my admiration.

 

As an adult, I moved to Nevada and actually met her. Afterward, I couldn’t stop thinking, What a champion! What a warrior! Velma was brilliant and sarcastic, but humble about her accomplishments.

 

Not a word of  protection existed for wild horses until she made it happen.

 

She worked full days in the office, did all the duties of a co-rancher and stayed up late into the night writing letters and opinion pieces as she drank black coffee and fought residual pain from polio.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A:  Once the Phantom Stallion series made me a successful fiction writer, an editor took a chance on my nonfiction. We hoped that I could tell the true story of a Western heroine and make it read like irresistible fiction.

 

With the help of Velma’s niece, a physician, and Velma’s best friend’s daughter, I began.  I was allowed access to Velma’s personal papers, shorthand notes and family photos. Part of what I expected -- the story of a 1950s woman’s love for the wild lands and wild creatures of the West – emerged, but I learned more.  

 

Velma’s shyness surprised me, but her diary explanations make total sense. The aftereffects of polio changed her face and twisted her torso. She could still run and ride and walk, but she knew, on first acquaintance, people stared. Velma described herself as “an awkward girl who tried to conceal her zigzag spine by walking defiantly.” 

 

Horse Girl does a lot of myth-busting. Like many young horse-lovers, I read Marguerite Henry’s book Mustang as fact, not fiction. I believed Velma grew up on a ranch. In fact, she lived in a in a Reno, Nevada, neighborhood within walking distance of a university, banks, stores, and restaurants.

 

The ranch myth extends to the cruel lie that “Charlie Johnston married her for the family ranch.” There was no family ranch! The Double Lazy Heart Ranch was a labor of love for Charlie and Velma. Together they saved money and chose land along the Truckee River where Velma first saw free-roaming wild horses. Charlie built the barn and house while Velma worked as a secretary in town to keep funds flowing. 

 

Something that delighted me, especially as a writer for young readers, was Velma’s physical bravery. Her conviction to save captive wild horses sent her and Charlie on night raids to free mustangs from horse killers’ corrals. The couple insisted they weren’t horse thieves since the public lands and the wildlife on it belonged to the American people. Including them.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from Horse Girl? 

 

A: I hope that readers of all ages, absorb some of Velma’s determination to stand up for what they believe. This woman with physical challenges, a full-time job and bullying that didn’t stop in school, ignited a successful worldwide campaign.

 

Velma’s nickname started as a cruel joke. At a crowded hearing in the state capitol, an opponent saw her enter and said, “Well. if it ain’t Wild Horse Annie, and don’t she look just like one.”

 

The slur referred to her face, and of course it hurt, but Velma realized if she embraced the name, everyone would know who she was and what she stood for. She took it, used it and became known internationally by the nickname.

 

When asked how she could keep up her relentless, yearslong campaign on the range, in classrooms and boardrooms, Velma said, “To fight for what matters, you must have an unshakeable faith in the very rightness of what you are doing.”

 

I want readers to know it wasn’t easy for her, but she did it anyway.

 

Q: How would you describe Velma Bronn Johnston’s legacy today?

 

A: Every time a legislator refers to laws dealing with our wild horses, the restrictions of the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act – spearheaded by Velma – must be addressed.

 

Although financial interests of all kinds – primarily mining and agribusiness – have lobbied and succeeded in changing the 1971 Act, Velma gave today’s advocates for public lands and wild horses a platform to brace our feet on. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: The Year of the Horse brought me the opportunity to write picture books. The Phantom Stallion’s Family is a companion series for the youngest readers. These fictional stories about the lives of wild horses contain undercover science.

 

Example: in Feather the Foal, a baby mustang neighs into a cave and thinks there must be lots of horses in there. She learns about echoes. As a recovering middle and high school teacher, I believe people can’t care if they don’t know. If we see something wrong, we had to educate others about it.

 

I’m incredibly fortunate to have wild horse books for all ages. I don’t lobby, photograph or conduct scientific experiments, but I hope my fact-based stories influence readers to stand up for voiceless creatures of the wild.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My books are all beautiful! The covers, interior art, and maps within both The Phantom Stallion series and The Phantom’s Family series are created by real artists – not AI. 

 

Horse Girl’s cover, layout, and perfectly presented old photographs were made possible by a dedicated team at the University of Nevada, Reno.  As a writer who’s had her own work pirated for AI without permission or compensation, I stand up for artists who create with their heads, hands and hearts.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with JaNay Brown-Wood

  

 

JaNay Brown-Wood is the author of the new children's picture book Acacia: A Rapunzel Tale. Her many other books include Mahogany: A Little Red Riding Hood Tale. She is also an educator, and she lives in California.

 

Q: What do you see as the relationship between your new picture book, Acacia, and your book Mahogany?

 

A: Oh, the relationship between Acacia and Mahogany! First, they are both fractured fairytales, taking the core aspects of well-known fairytales and then adding in some twists.

 

As someone who didn’t grow up seeing very many fairytales that featured characters that looked like me, one of the twists you see in both books is the main characters are young Black girls. Not just that, they lean into elements of their Blackness and their talents to help them overcome their obstacles.

 

For instance, Mahogany uses the melanin in her skin among other things to blend into the shadows to outwit the Big Bad Wolf. Then, in Acacia’s story, the girls connect over hair and braiding to devise a plan to get Acacia safely out of the tower.

 

Finally, one of the twists I love about both books is that no prince comes to save them, they work together to save themselves (in Mahogany’s case) and each other (in Acacia’s case).

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between your characters Acacia and Mahogany?

 

A: The best way I would describe Acacia and Mahogany’s relationship is the following: instant sisterhood. Mahogany compliments Acacia’s storytelling talent, the girls love each other’s hair, Acacia learns how to braid because of Mahogany—and Mahogany tells Acacia about the big, wide world out there. These two girls connect and build a friendship that I believe could (and will) last and last.

 

Q: What do you think John Joven’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: John Joven’s illustrations are fantastic! He captures so much whimsy and humor and fun in the books, and he does it in a way that doesn’t feel too scary for children.

 

For instance, a Big Bad Wolf or a witch could easily be scary for a child to see. But John captures the essence of the villains without making it frightening. For instance, I love how he included a vest and a tie on the Big Bad Wolf in Mahogany and purple skin-tone for Ma Gothel in Acacia.

 

One of my favorite spreads in Acacia is when she sticks her head out the window, with her twist-out spanning from her head like a halo. The best! John really captured these characters expertly!

 

Q: What role does Acacia’s hair play in the story?

 

A: We get to see the role hair plays in a few ways. Initially, Acacia’s hair plays the role of the classic Rapunzel tale, the long braid that Ma Gothel uses to climb in and out of the tower.

 

But the twist (pun intended) comes when Mahogany and Acacia change up her do, unbraiding Acacia’s hair and rocking a natural style called a braid/twist-out. It shows the power of her hair: without that long braid, Ma Gothel was unable to reach her as easily.

 

Additionally, hair played the role of being a connector for the girls. They complimented each other’s hair—admiring each other’s different hair texture—and Mahogany helps Acacia unbraid her hair. I also enjoyed including how Mahogany’s skill of sewing and braiding was what helped them get free.

 

So, all in all, this story embraces and celebrates the rituals around Black hair, highlighting the power it can have, as well as how it can serve as a sisterhood connection.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am fortunate that I am always working on new stories.

 

At the moment, I am working on more Love Puppies books with Scholastic, as well as some additional titles I’m excited to share in the coming years including This Voice Leads, a follow up to This Hair Belongs (Astra Publishing); the Where in the Neighborhood series, including Amara Visits the Library and Amara Visits the Beauty Salon (Peachtree Publishing); as well as a Christmas story called Quick! Santa’s Coming Tonight (Bloomsbury).

 

Finally, I’m also working on some longer works as well.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: As a speaker, author, and educator, I love sharing what I know and what I do with the public. I have a free newsletter I send out that includes information about my process and books; educational information for parents, educators, librarians; free giveaways; and more!

 

Further, I travel the country and do author visits to school, programs, libraries, and community events. I also offer professional developments and workshops for authors, educators, community members, and more.

 

If people are interested in learning more about me, they can check out my website www.janaybrownwood.com or they can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with JaNay Brown-Wood. 

Oct. 1

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 1, 1924: Jimmy Carter born.