“Four Way Books & Friends Present Coordinates: A Podcast for Writers and Readers”: Nathan McClain, Ryan Murphy & Matthew Olzmann

Hannah Matheson received her MFA in poetry at New York University, where she served as poetry editor of Washington Square Review. Previously awarded scholarships to attend The Frost Place Conference on Poetry, Matheson has poems published in Four Way Review, The Adroit Journal, Pigeon Pages, Solar, Image, Honey Literary, Best New Poets, Hobart, and elsewhere. She currently works as publicist and editor at Four Way Books.

Matthew Olzmann is the author of three collections of poems: Mezzanines, which was selected for the Kundiman Prize, Contradictions in the Design, and, most recently, Constellation Route (Alice James Books). His writing has appeared in Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Brevity, and elsewhere. He’s been awarded fellowships from the Kresge Arts Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the MacDowell Colony. In Constellation Route, Olzmann uses the letter form to explore issues related to contemporary American society: the environment, race, love, grief, friendship, violence, and spirituality. The book is, essentially, a metaphysical tribute to both the Post Office and the act of letter writing as a way to understand and create meaningful connections with the world at large.

Nathan McClain is the author of Scale. A Cave Canem fellow, his work has recently appeared in Poetry Northwest, Green Mountains Review, Guesthouse, The Common, and The Critical Flame, among others. He is an assistant professor of creative writing and African American literary arts at Hampshire College, and serves as poetry editor of The Massachusetts Review. In the collection Previously Owned (Four Way Books), McClain interrogates his speaker’s American heritage, history, and responsibility. While investigating myth, popular culture, governance, and more, Previously Owned connects a villanelle cataloging Sisyphus’ work and a poem critiquing police brutality. It joins complex pastorals and a recount of the author’s experience serving on jury duty. McClain’s muscular lyric explores a wide range of topics, but the intensity of his attention and the profundity of his care remain constant. While interested in the natural world and beauty, this collection scrutinizes one’s guilt and responsibility in this country in the hope of reimagining inheritance, of leaving our children a different song.

Ryan Murphy is the director of Four Way Books. He is the author of three collections of poetry: Millbrook, The Redcoats, and Down with the Ship. He has received grants and awards from the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Chelsea Magazine, the Fund for Poetry, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.