Dear Listener,

Last week, the Commonplace team traveled to the Association of Writing Programs Conference, in Seattle this year. Rachel and I had not attended AWP since before Covid and it was V’s first time attending the conference and visiting Seattle!

The last time I attended AWP was before the COVID-19 lockdown, and one of the last “big” social trips I remember taking. Right before the outbreak caused the full shut down of schools, museums, and more, I had been in Paris, and remember reading the news about COVID, and remember thinking, it’ll be in the US any day now. And indeed it was.

After two years of lockdown, and a half year of living in a confusing covid-grey area, nothing feels quite the same, especially not attending the largest writing conference in the US. Rachel and I talked about how quickly our social batteries drain now, how we’re lugging around more world-weariness than we used to, but also how it’s important to keep imagining a better world and a more connected way of doing things.

Rachel’s conversation with Saeed unlocked a little window to that better world. Saeed’s energy—bright, generous, charming—helped me see that there is great value in pushing forward, even when our social batteries are running low or running on fumes. Saeed inspired me to continue writing difficult stories about my past, my family’s past, my city, and our collective future, and stand by those stories. He inspired me to encourage others to share their own.

Seattle, also, inspired me. With views of the water and mountains in almost any direction, it’s a stunningly beautiful city. And inside Open Books, an independent poetry bookstore, I was moved to see a long line of people eager to buy new works by poets they heard about via AWP or Twitter or through a friend or mentioned by the ticket-taker at a museum. Rachel, V, and I ate delicious food and drank hot, strong coffee. And after the recording, we were able to meet up with a few of our beloved Patrons (THANK YOU, Patrons!) and listen to all the reasons they return to Commonplace, episode after episode. I’m tired this week, but I am happy I went to AWP.

I’m rambling, so I’ll cut to the chase: here’s a link so you can listen to episode 108, featuring Saeed Jones, recorded live at Open Books in Seattle at their new-ish location, 108 Cherry Street. If you aren’t in Seattle, you can still purchase books from Open online, right here, and give them some much-needed support. Consider buying all of Saeed’s books if you haven’t read them—by the end of the episode, you’ll be eager to crack them open.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 108 HERE

Saeed Jones is the author of the memoir HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the poetry collection PRELUDE TO BRUISE, winner for the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His poetry and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Oxford American and GQ among other publications. His new poetry collection ALIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD is out now.

Some members of the Commonplace Book Club will receive:

• PRELUDE TO BRUISE by Saeed Jones

• ALIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Saeed Jones

For this episode, Commonplace Patrons will receive a 10% off discount code to use during the month of April for books by any of the over 100 former Commonplace guests! Also, all patrons will receive exclusive access to the full video recording of Rachel’s conversation with Saeed. We’ve never included video and would love to know what you think! Do you want more video? More unedited episodes? More live recordings? Send us an email or audio message and let us know!

‎Thanks to Coffee House Press for donating books! And to Open Books for giving us space to record, for the generous discount code, and for inspiring us!

Happy listening,

Christine