Inspired by her pregnancy and motherhood, Northeastern Illinois University English Instructor Olivia Cronk will publish a new book of poetry in August.
“Louise and Louise and Louise,” Cronk’s second book, is described by publisher The Lettered Streets Press as “beautiful and repulsive; a train barreling off the tracks toward you.”
The book’s official release is Aug. 15.
“The book comes from two separate manuscripts, one of which was some of my work during the end of pregnancy and first few months of motherhood and one of which was some of my work in Barcelona during an educational leave in 2014 when my daughter was 2,” Cronk said about the writing process.
“I spent some strange afternoons typing on the balcony of our place, and I was mired in an unplanned reading of a Clarice Lispector book. Somehow, everything shifted. I got really interested in the use of time in narrative, and particularly in particular genres. I realized that I wanted to frame childbirth and child-rearing as the shifting curtains of genre; the experience alters the milieu of one’s own life. And so the book is named with my daughter's name three times over.”
Cronk published her first book of poetry, “Skin Horse,” in 2012.
