Advertise on podcast: Musings of the Artist: (Honest) Conversations with Montse Andrée

Ada Limón is the author of seven books of poetry, including Startlement: New & Selected Poems; The Hurting Kind, which was a finalist for the Griffin Prize; The Carrying, which won the National Books Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; and Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award. Limón is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was named a 2024 Time Magazine Woman of the Year. She is the author of two picture books, In Praise of Mystery as well as And, Too, The Fox, and was the editor of the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World. She served as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. Our conversation was much about nature, poetry, having empathy for the younger versions of ourselves, and the freedom of choosing your own path outside of societal expectations.  This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Madeleine Morlet is an Australian-born British-American artist. She is particularly interested in the concept of the female gaze, especially as it relates to motherhood and sexuality. Working primarily in medium format and 35mm film, she often combines portraits, landscapes, and close crops to explore character and place. Her photographic practice is grounded in research and, more recently, paired with creative nonfiction. We talked about her project and upcoming book The Body Is Not a Thing. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Darius Atefat-Peckham is an Iranian American poet and essayist. He is the author of Book of Kin, which won the 2023 Autumn House Poetry Prize, and the chapbook How Many Love Poems (Seven Kitchens Press, 2021). He is also the editor of his mother Susan Atefat-Peckham’s posthumous poetry collection Deep Are These Distances Between Us (CavanKerry Press, 2023).  We talked about and kindness, poetry, dogs, language, crying on planes… and a lot more! This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Odette England is an artist, photographer and writer. She has published five award-winning books and has two books coming out in 2025 including her first novella Isn’t X Beautiful. Odette received her Ph.D. in 2018 and was a 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. She teaches at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, and is working on her second novella, Once I Was A Photograph. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward. Odette’s Website Odette’s Instagram

Gabrielle Bates is a poet, visual artist, and co-hosts the podcast The Poet Salon. She is the author of the poetry collection, Judas Goat (Tin House, 2023). Patrycja Humienik is a Polish-American writer, editor, and performance artist. Her poetry collection, We Contain Landscapes (Tin House, 2025) is out now. This was such a deep, nourishing conversation on art, language and friendship. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Anne Eder is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Much of her work is experimental and research based, combining historic processes, science, and contemporary conceptual thinking. She is well known for her sustainable photographic practice, and for innovative discoveries regarding both photographic chemistry and integrating media. Throughout her career she has been an advocate for increased access to the arts, and the creation of public art is a dedicated part of her practice. She lives in New England and currently teaches at Princeton University, Harvard University, the Penumbra Foundation NYC, and the Griffin Museum of Photography among other places. We talked about ephemerality, arts education, fairy tales, and how, as Anne says, imagination is a muscle. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Kaveh Akbar is a poet, novelist and editor. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, along with the chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic. He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine. His novel Martyr!, is a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. In this episode, we talked about identity, obsession in art making, fan mail, memory of language, writing dream sequences, and why animals are the best. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Matthew Zapruder is a poet, editor, and teacher. He is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently I Love Hearing Your Dreams (Scribner 2024), as well as two books of prose: Why Poetry (Ecco, 2017) and Story of a Poem (Unnamed, 2023). He is editor at large at Wave Books, and from 2016-7 he held the annually rotating position of Editor of the Poetry Column for the New York Times Magazine, and was the Editor of Best American Poetry 2022.  I was so happy to have the chance to talk to Matthew about his poetry and prose. We discussed revision, literary friendships, dreams and more. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Amina Cain is Los Angeles based writer. She is the author of the novel Indelicacy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020), and two collections of short stories, Creature (Dorothy, 2013) and I Go To Some Hollow (Les Figues Press, 2009). Her latest book is A Horse at Night: On Writing (Dorothy, 2022). In this conversation we discuss friendship, writing, class, ambivalence around motherhood (an article she wrote on this can be found here), embracing the different versions of ourselves and more. A Horse at Night was one of my favorite books that I read this past year. It was a treat to have Amina on the podcast! This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of eight works of nonfiction and poetry and  her most recent book is Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul. This conversation, just like her book, is centered around writing personal narratives. We discuss putting our most vulnerable selves on the page, the fluidity of memory, writing about other people and much more. If you are a writer of memoir and personal essay– or hope to be, then this is the episode for you! This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. In addition to his poetry, Ross has released three collections of essays—The Book of Delights (a New York Times bestseller), Inciting Joy, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights. This conversation, much like Ross’s work, is about joy, curiosity, belonging and caring for one another. It was, truly, one of my favorite conversations I’ve had in this space, and I’m thrilled to be able to share it. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Gregory Orr is a poet who is known to be a master of the short, personal lyric. About Gregory, Mary Oliver wrote “He speaks now, in these many short poems, which in their entirety are really one long poem, of mysteries, of those things –emotions, situations, mind and heart states–which are beyond the definitive.”  Gregory is the author of more than 10 collections of poetry. He has also published a beautiful book about lyric poetry called Poetry as Survival along with a stunning memoir, The Blessing. His latest book of poetry is Selected Books of the Beloved. In this conversation we talked about lyric poetry, anxiety, surviving trauma and the power of art to save a life. In 2018 Gregory performed a poem-and-poems-set-to-music using his “beloved” poems, featuring the Parkington Sisters. We didn't get to discuss this during our conversation but you can check it out here: The Beloved Poetry & Music | Video   You can read more about Gregory on his website http://gregoryorr.net/. His wife, painter Tricia Orr's art can be found on her website, http://www.trishaorr.com/.  Finally, you can listen to Gregory's conversation with Krista Tippett for the On Being podcast here. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Philip Metres is a poet, translator and director of the Peace, Justice and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He is the author of ten books, including Shrapnel Maps, The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance, Pictures at an Exhibition, and Sand Opera. Tomás Q. Morin is a poet, translator, and editor. His books include the collection of poems Machete and the memoir Let Me Count the Ways, as well as the poetry collections Patient Zero and A Larger Country.  Both Philip and Tomás have received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other honors.  I met Tomás and Philip through my MFA program and knowing they are friends I thought it would be fun to be in conversation with them together! We talked all about vulnerability and art, literature as a home and companion, form enacting subject in writing and the discovery that happens in the creative process. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

Laura Warrell is a writer based in Los Angeles. "Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm" is her first novel. The story follows a 40-year-old jazz musician and womanizer Circus Palmer–but this book centers the women in his life. It is a telling of their stories, not only his. Laura and I talk about her wonderful debut and her path to publication which is an inspiring tale of persistence. And, from a bit of a different angle, we muse on that perennial question: can we separate the art from the artist? You can find Laura's work here: https://www.laurawarrell.com/ This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Theme music is by Madisen Ward.

Ama Codjoe is a poet based in New York City. She is the author of Bluest Nude and Blood of the Air. Her poems and essays have been published in many outlets and her work has twice appeared in The Best American Poetry. Her poems often engage with visual art—especially art by Black women artists.  This conversation is much about the body. On how we relate to nudity and nakedness, on being in the body as an artist and on living a fully sensual life. Ama shares about her writing process and ekphrastic poetry, and we also talk about the many ways we love outside of the mainstream definition of that word “love.” As we are moving into a new year I’m thinking about how Ama’s book Bluest Nude and this conversation I had with her has been a great gift to my life this past year. I hope that if you don't already know her work that discovering it now might bring about this same opening in you.  To find out more about the Hear Me Now exhibit at The Met that Ama mentioned, she kindly passed along this link: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/edgefield You can find Ama’s work here:  https://www.amacodjoe.com/ This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Theme music is by Madisen Ward.