A Reading and Conversation with Adrian Matejka: Somebody Else Stole the World

Adrian Matejka, poet laureate of the state of Indiana (2018-19), is the author of five poetry collections, including Map to the Stars; The Big Smoke, a finalist for the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; Mixology, a selection of the National Poetry Series; and The Devil’s Garden. His latest collection, Somebody Else Sold the World (Penguin Books), is a meditation on the ways we exist in an uncontrollable world: in love and its aftermath, in families that divide themselves, in protest-filled streets, and in isolation as routines become obsolete because of lockdowns and curfews. Somebody Else uses past and future touchstones like pop songs, love notes, and imaginary gossip to illuminate those moments of splendor that persist even in exhaustion. The New York Times said that “Matejka’s up-to-the-minute collection, his fifth, turns to poetry as a way to process the sometimes surreal disruptions of the pandemic when people wore “Different / kinds of masks for being & breathing.”

Nicole Tallman serves as the director of legislative affairs and poetry ambassador to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. She joined the county as Mayor Carlos A. Giménez’s chief speechwriter in October 2015, and was promoted to director of policy and legislative affairs in April 2017. Prior to serving the county, she served as the head of internal communications and community engagement in the president's office at Miami Dade College and as an adjunct English professor. She has also held managerial-level communications positions at German multinational conglomerate Siemens, and served as the primary spokesperson at the global headquarters of Michigan-based Haworth Inc. An avid supporter of the arts and higher education, Tallman is also actively involved with Miami Book Fair, and she has taught and mentored low-income students who need additional support in attaining a college degree. Tallman is also a published writer and poet, an associate editor of South Florida Poetry Journal, senior interviews editor for The Blue Mountain Review, and serves as the mayor’s appointee to The Underline Conservancy Board. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public relations and French from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Central Florida.