Cunningham Presents PERPETUA'S KIN at Powell's Books - FULL AUDIO

 

Listen to "M. Allen Cunningham Presents PERPETUA'S KIN at Powell's Books" on Spreaker.

During this event at the fabled Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, Cunningham discusses his fourth novel PERPETUA'S KIN. A sweeping story of five generations in one American family, PERPETUA'S KIN spans much of North America, from the 1820s in Iowa to the American south during the Civil War to World War II San Francisco. In a structured presentation, Cunningham describes the story's origins, his research, the themes and characters, the influence of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and why this novel was 11 years in the making. He also reads short selections from the book. The event includes an audience Q&A. It was recorded on a rainy night in November 2018.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m-allen-cunningham-presents-perpetuas-kin-at-powells-books/id1479000289?i=1000488106800

What Would Leonard Cohen Do?

 

WHAT WOULD LEONARD COHEN DO? If you’re a hardworking creative soul striving to continue doing the work of the expressive imagination, striving to honor an authentic vision that resists the forces of market optimization, you could do a lot worse than immerse yourself in Leonard Cohen’s corpus and give that question your consideration.

Mentioned in this episode: Leonard Cohen; Cohen's "Hallelujah"; Songs of Leonard Cohen; Cohen's 1963 debut novel The Favorite Game; CBC Television; Cohen's novel Beautiful Losers; Cohen's performance style; Bob Dylan; Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat"; Zen; Mount Baldy; Leonard Cohen world tour; skipping at age 78; Cohen's album You Want It Darker; Cohen's album Thanks for the Dance; Feist; Beck; Damien Rice.

https://anchor.fm/in-the-atelier/episodes/What-Would-Leonard-Cohen-Do-ei8gdg/a-a2vdsfe

Cunningham Talks Thoreau in the Room Where Thoreau Was Born

 

VIDEO: The Poet & the Sculptor / Rilke & Rodin

In this video excerpt from a talk I recently gave to a class of brilliant young writers, I describe the interdisciplinary relationship between Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin (a relationship depicted in Lost Son, my novel about Rilke). 

What can creative writers learn from what Rilke learned from Rodin?

The talk includes my own translation of Rilke's great poem "The Panther" (also found below).

 

The Panther

Rainer Maria Rilke

(transl. M. Allen Cunningham)

His gaze, from the passing bars,

has grown so weary that it can hold nothing more.

To him there are a thousand bars

and beyond the thousand bars no world at all.

The soft drop of his dread sleek steps,

conscribed to a tight circle,

is like a dance of stamina around a center

in which a greater will stands stunned.

Yet sometimes the curtain of the pupil stirs,

opens itself soundlessly -- then an image gets inside,

passes through the silent tension of the limbs

and -- snared in the heart, ceases to be.

NEW AUDIO: Cunningham's essay "Variations on a Beginning"

Listen to "Variations on a Beginning" on Spreaker.

 

Cunningham's autobiographical essay, with musical accompaniment and slightly abridged.

"Variations on a Beginning" was originally published in complete form in The Timberline Review, Issue No. 3 (summer/fall 2016). You can read the full essay HERE.

Secure Your Copy of Cunningham's New Book

My new book Q&A will appear in print (and ebook) from Regal House Publishing in January 2021, and you can pre-order it now.

What's it about? Among other things: reality television, TV politics, the triumph of incoherence, and deception via screens. Sound familiar?

(My favorite designer Nathan Shields created that kick-ass cover, by the way. It's a custom linocut.)