Q&A

Our thanks go out to Ian Duhig for taking the time to talk with us about his work. You can read three of his poems in our Spring 2014 issue. Ian Duhig is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Pandorama (Picador 2010). He has won the Forward Best Poem Prize, the National Poetry Competition twice,…

You can read three of Ada Limón’s poems (“We Are Surprised,” “The Noisiness of Sleep,” and “Torn”) in our Fall 2013 issue. COMPOSE: Your poems “We Are Surprised” and “The Noisiness of Sleep” feel intimate and tender. How autobiographical are they? ADA LIMÓN: My confession: most of my poems are autobiographical. The strange, twisty narrative of the…

Today we welcome poets Laura Madeline Wiseman (we published three of her poems in our Fall 2013 issue) and Grace Bauer. Grace Bauer’s newest book of poems is Nowhere All At Once, just out from Stephen F. Austin State University Press (February 2014). Her previous books include Retreats & Recognitions, Beholding Eye, and The Women at the…

Please welcome one of our assistant editors, Lauren Ruiz. Originally from the tropical island of Dominican Republic, Lauren is a New Hampshire-based editor and writer. A member of the American Copy Editors Society and various other groups, she founded her professional editing service, Pure Text, in 2010, where she’s worked with countless established and upcoming contemporary fiction…

Randall Mann is the author of two books of poetry, Breakfast with Thom Gunn and Complaint in the Garden. A new collection, Straight Razor, is forthcoming from Persea Books in October, 2013. Compose: Your third book will be coming out shortly. Could you tell us a little about it? Randall Mann: Hmm. Straight Razor delves into…

Please welcome Christi Craig—one of our assistant editors. Christi lives and writes in Wisconsin. She facilitates a creative writing class at Harwood Place Retirement Community, leads a roundtable at RedBird-RedOak Writing, and is a regular contributor at Write It Sideways. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in print and online.  What is your writing…

We recently exchanged a series of emails with Rebecca Hazelton—one of the featured poets in our Spring issue—regarding her work, her views on poetry, and much else besides. She is the author of Fair Copy and Vow, and is currently working on a series of ekphrastic poems based on the work of Terri Frame, Julie…

Please welcome Jennie Nash, our features editor. Jennie Nash is the author of four novels, including Perfect Red, The Threadbare Heart, The Only True Genius in the Family and The Last Beach Bungalow. She is the author of three memoirs, including The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer. Jennie has worked in a wide…

Tiffany Turpin Johnson is a young adult novelist represented by Annie Bomke Literary Agency, Senior Editor of the Blush imprint at Entranced Publishing, and the founder of TJ Writeography, a freelance writing and photography service. She regularly contributes to such sites as Bookalicious and Writer’s Fun Zone, and maintains the all-things-fiction blog Fictiffous. Tiffany holds a Master’s degree and now spends her days writing kidlit and chasing her three small children.…