Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Ravenswood.
Hi Linda, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a poet and performance artist from Los Angeles. I do traditional poetry and literature events at galleries, museums, bookstores, libraries, and academic venues, and I do hybrid performance events with visual, audio, and burlesque ‘overtones’ shall we say !? I also work with a local publishing house The Los Angeles Press (est. 2018), focusing on local California artists and writers. We make in-print books and live and online events. thelosangelespress.com
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Well, literature is always sort of a niche market, which is nuts because we need poetry and art. However, delivering it in traditional contexts is difficult because many folks are nervous about going to public events, don’t have money to burn on expensive media when YouTube is free, and sadly don’t prioritize art. People who do cherish and value the arts are always loved and respected but seen as bonkers because often it is a lot of work for not much of a payoff in regards to audience size or dollars, which makes this venue Voyage LA so nice! I really appreciate the shout-out and hope that people will be interested in checking out some books and/or live events.
A really fun thing we do is a hybrid lit/visual art live show The Poetry Brothel, with poets who do private and/or group readings often in costume portraying exciting characters and pretty much going bananas at a local nightclub in Los Feliz, El Cid. It’s a historic building where Hollywood nuts have gathered for over a century to perform, drink, dance, and carouse, and we maintain that tradition. During the pandemic, we moved the show online and joined with our international lit brothels to continue working, sharing, performing, and meeting. If you haven’t seen the show it’s really worth coming out … visit El Cid’s website as we have a residency there since 2017 and usually do a show every other month. The next one is coming up on August 28th. Visit thepoetrysocietyofnewyork, our parent company for even more details!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m really happy to present a couple of works to you!
Out now is a book from Eyewear London/The Black Spring Press Group — it’s called Cantadora — Letters from California, and it’s getting some really nice reviews
Here is one — https://culturaldaily.com/in-cantadora-ravenswood-channels-a-new-mestiza-ghostchild/
And I’m very excited to introduce a new book for pre-order — a poem is a house — from Madville Press out of Texas. It’s a prize winner, and our Poet Laureate of The US Juan Felipe Herrera says about one of the poems in the collection —
A magnificent poem, a poem of address. It speaks to a complex figure dwelling in the inscape and outscape of the text. It acknowledges its imagination. The speaker and, perhaps, the writer and/or the reader are actively involved. And, there is a “glacial child.” So, we must ask: What is a “glacial child”? Is it a floating, dissolving, distant, threatening, life-making, jagged-deep destroying subject? Does it have life? It must be transparent; it transforms as it melts–into what? These are some of the existential questions and conditions that the poem carries, itself a glacier of text, broken into bodies of different shapes, densities, colors, rhythms, destinations, and desires. The glacier-text-child itself moves to the right of its universe–the page, the blank space–in italics. Abruptly, it raises its last turn–its last call or face or body or breath–and is told to (and/or tells us) “turn yourself into ice.” This is the key and code to the poem: Transcend, become, dissolve into the flow of life. Harden, apple-girl.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Being slow and staying at home teaches us so much. Like when we were little and wandering the house, so many things to discover, old books, photographs, listening to our elders, and making gifts for people. It’s a real gift in many ways to be able to be at home. As much as public-facing workers like me long to do events and programmes, being able to work quietly, assemble, dream, and write takes the opportunity and focus. If you were able to work during the pandemic, to save your home and business, to keep up with your goals, that is really a blessing, maybe the best blessing to just BE.
Pricing:
- XLA Poets $14.95
- Cantadora — Letters from California $19.95
- The Stan Poems $21.95
- Tlacuilx $14.95
- Pre-order — a poem is a house $19.95
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thelosangelespress.com/about-the-team/
- Instagram: @thelosangelespress @bespokepoets
- Facebook: linda ravenswood
