2008 Woodie Awards
An interview with Literature and Writing's Sandra Doller
Elbert Esguerra
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Features
People often misconceive that poets start out as gifted writers. This isn't the case with Sandra Doller, who last month read at the San Diego Museum of Art. As an accomplished author and poet, she is an assistant professor at CSUSM. In April, Professor Doller is reading at Chapman University and hosts a monthly reading series in San Diego. She is the editor of 1913 press and she sits down in an interview to discuss performing, writing, and the next president of the United States.
The Pride: So, the first thing I want to ask is what are you currently reading?
Sandra Doller: Mostly I am spending my time reading student writing from my Advanced Creative Writing graduate class. Last week, we read Joe Wenderoth's Letters to Wendy's, which are actually letters to the fast food chain in the form of prose poems but actually build up to kind of a novel.
Pride: How did you come to work on poetry?
Doller: I didn't do creative writing as an undergrad. I was in theater and did performance art and playwriting which has connections to poetry and I see that now. I did cinema studies for my MFA at the University of Chicago, and that's when I really became interested in connections to early 20th century poetry and other art forms like painting and cinema.
Pride: That's how art just seems to work out, isn't it?
Doller: I think so. I was writing these performance pieces as an undergrad and I was just doing it on the side before I even took a creative writing class. I thought I was writing stories, but then someone told me they were prose poems.
Pride: Do you have a favorite poet right now?
Doller: Fanny Howe. Anytime I can see Fanny read, I will go. I also enjoy Danzy Senna, who is also a really wonder novelist.
Pride: What can you tell people about 1913?
Doller: I founded 1913 while I was a grad student doing my MFA at University of Iowa writers' workshop. I got into my head and thought, hey, wouldn't it be great to have a journal that publishes contemporary poetry, fiction and non-fiction essays, and visual art.
Pride: (flipping through the book) There's a lot of "visual poem" type of art.
Doller: Exactly, and that's something that I'm really interested in. I applied for a grant in Iowa and that's how I was able to do this. And since then, it has been a labor of love that can be a great resource for students and something that I'm interested in sharing with CSUSM students and bring them to get involved with the editing and layout and all the things that go into making a magazine.
Pride: Do students have the opportunity to work with you and 1913 at this time?
Doller: Absolutely. I have a list and I'm constantly collecting names of students who are interested in participating. A couple of students, who I'll call volunteer interns, went with me to San Diego City College in October for a book fair there and we had a table and sold a few copies. The point is to get literature and art out into the world and I'm definitely interested in getting students on that.
Pride: Now, you already have one book out, Oriflamme. I hear you've also got one on the way?
Doller: I do, and it's called Chora. It's a book of poems mostly and nonfiction prose poems and things that cross genres. That should be coming out soon.
Pride: Last month, you read at San Diego Museum of Art. Tell me, what it was like reading not only in front of other artists, but also a number of your students as well?
Doller: (laughing) I liked that part of it actually and felt more comfortable because I see the students more often that I see anybody else! I was really glad that Cal State students got to see the event and got to see Fanny read as well. I thought I'd be more nervous having students there, but it felt really friendly.
Pride: So, as kind of a break from art talk, I have to ask: who's going to win the presidential nomination?
Doller: I'm allowed to say, right?
Pride: You can give your opinion.
Doller: I'm pro-Obama, which does not mean that I'm anti-Hilary and I'm definitely a feminist. However, I feel Obama has the best chance at winning the presidency and I feel really excited by his message.
Pride: What other events do you have coming up soon in the near future?
Doller: I just recently started a contemporary reading series in San Diego co-sponsored by three small presses - 1913 Press, my husband Ben and Iowa-based Kuhl House Press, and James Meetze and Tougher Disguises Press in San Diego. The three of us are curating a contemporary reading series and just had the first event in North Park at the Agitprop Gallery two weeks ago and we'll be having events on the first Saturday of every month. It was really exciting to bring different writers into town and it was really fun.
The Pride: So, the first thing I want to ask is what are you currently reading?
Sandra Doller: Mostly I am spending my time reading student writing from my Advanced Creative Writing graduate class. Last week, we read Joe Wenderoth's Letters to Wendy's, which are actually letters to the fast food chain in the form of prose poems but actually build up to kind of a novel.
Pride: How did you come to work on poetry?
Doller: I didn't do creative writing as an undergrad. I was in theater and did performance art and playwriting which has connections to poetry and I see that now. I did cinema studies for my MFA at the University of Chicago, and that's when I really became interested in connections to early 20th century poetry and other art forms like painting and cinema.
Pride: That's how art just seems to work out, isn't it?
Doller: I think so. I was writing these performance pieces as an undergrad and I was just doing it on the side before I even took a creative writing class. I thought I was writing stories, but then someone told me they were prose poems.
Pride: Do you have a favorite poet right now?
Doller: Fanny Howe. Anytime I can see Fanny read, I will go. I also enjoy Danzy Senna, who is also a really wonder novelist.
Pride: What can you tell people about 1913?
Doller: I founded 1913 while I was a grad student doing my MFA at University of Iowa writers' workshop. I got into my head and thought, hey, wouldn't it be great to have a journal that publishes contemporary poetry, fiction and non-fiction essays, and visual art.
Pride: (flipping through the book) There's a lot of "visual poem" type of art.
Doller: Exactly, and that's something that I'm really interested in. I applied for a grant in Iowa and that's how I was able to do this. And since then, it has been a labor of love that can be a great resource for students and something that I'm interested in sharing with CSUSM students and bring them to get involved with the editing and layout and all the things that go into making a magazine.
Pride: Do students have the opportunity to work with you and 1913 at this time?
Doller: Absolutely. I have a list and I'm constantly collecting names of students who are interested in participating. A couple of students, who I'll call volunteer interns, went with me to San Diego City College in October for a book fair there and we had a table and sold a few copies. The point is to get literature and art out into the world and I'm definitely interested in getting students on that.
Pride: Now, you already have one book out, Oriflamme. I hear you've also got one on the way?
Doller: I do, and it's called Chora. It's a book of poems mostly and nonfiction prose poems and things that cross genres. That should be coming out soon.
Pride: Last month, you read at San Diego Museum of Art. Tell me, what it was like reading not only in front of other artists, but also a number of your students as well?
Doller: (laughing) I liked that part of it actually and felt more comfortable because I see the students more often that I see anybody else! I was really glad that Cal State students got to see the event and got to see Fanny read as well. I thought I'd be more nervous having students there, but it felt really friendly.
Pride: So, as kind of a break from art talk, I have to ask: who's going to win the presidential nomination?
Doller: I'm allowed to say, right?
Pride: You can give your opinion.
Doller: I'm pro-Obama, which does not mean that I'm anti-Hilary and I'm definitely a feminist. However, I feel Obama has the best chance at winning the presidency and I feel really excited by his message.
Pride: What other events do you have coming up soon in the near future?
Doller: I just recently started a contemporary reading series in San Diego co-sponsored by three small presses - 1913 Press, my husband Ben and Iowa-based Kuhl House Press, and James Meetze and Tougher Disguises Press in San Diego. The three of us are curating a contemporary reading series and just had the first event in North Park at the Agitprop Gallery two weeks ago and we'll be having events on the first Saturday of every month. It was really exciting to bring different writers into town and it was really fun.
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