In the wake of the election of 2016, words felt useless, even indulgent to John Freeman. Action was the only reasonable response. He took to the streets in protest, and the sense of community and collective conviction felt right. But the assaults continued—on citizens’ rights and long-held compacts, on the core principles of our culture and civilization, and on our language itself. Words seemed to be losing the meanings they once had and Freeman was compelled to return to their defense. The result is his his dictionary of the undoing. Freeman sits with Krysten Hill, poet and teacher of poetry at UMass Boston.
John Freeman is a freelance book reviewer who has worked his way from writing short, unsigned reviews for Publishers Weekly to writing for well over one hundred publications in both the United States and abroad. He is the former president of the National Book Critics Circle, and while in that position he began a commission to raise awareness about the diminishing pages of book reviews in publications across the country.
Krysten Hill is an educator, writer, and performer who has showcased her poetry on stage at The Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Blacksmith House, Cantab Lounge, Merrimack College, U35 Reading Series, Mr. Hip Presents, and many others. She received her MFA in poetry from UMass Boston where she currently teaches. Her work can be found in B O D Y, Muzzle, PANK, Winter Tangerine Review, apt, Amethyst Arsenic, Damfino Press, ROAR, and Write on the DOT. She is the recipient of the 2016 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award. Her forthcoming chapbook, How Her Spirit Got Out, will be released by Aforementioned Productions in the fall of 2016.