Episode 58: Cate Marvin

Rachel Zucker speaks with poet and professor Cate Marvin, author of Oracle, A Fragment of the Queen’s Head, and the World’s Tallest Disaster, co-editor of Legitimate Dangers and co-founder and former president of VIDA “a non-profit feminist organization committed to creating transparency around the lack of gender parity in the literary landscape.” Marvin talks about moving from Staten Island, NY to Scarborough, ME, teaching at different types of educational institutions, writing about childhood, therapy, Charlotte Mew, writing longer pieces, writing prose, being a single mom, her summer schedule, working at the public library, gardening, why her poems are getting messier, alcohol, her first kiss, smoking, being married, her decision to have a child on her own, narcissism, literary citizenship, her Tillie Olsen feminist awakening, starting VIDA, stepping away from VIDA, money, power, re-thinking social media, why she’s a poet, why writing poetry matters, knowing when it’s time to revise, and her flower tattoo.