How do you write about the world while you’re still living through the events you’re trying to understand?

On this episode of Beyond the Page, I sit down with poet and author Andrea W. LeDew to talk about her book Polemics and the unusual path that led to its creation.

Andrea originally started blogging while homeschooling her children. Over time, those posts increasingly became a place for her to respond to events around her through essays and poetry. Eventually, years of material became Polemics, a collection that captures not simply events, but Andrea’s reactions to living through them.

Our conversation explores how Andrea approaches political poetry, why writing can be cathartic, and how satire and humor can help a writer process serious subjects. We also talk about the challenge of writing something inspired by today’s news while creating poetry that might still have meaning years from now.

We also talk about the realities of selling poetry, self-publishing, audiobooks, literary events and a Goodreads giveaway that introduced her book to thousands of potential readers.

And before we’re finished, things get considerably lighter with failed knitting projects, liverwurst sandwiches and Andrea’s first job at McDonald’s.

It’s a conversation about poetry, history, creativity and what it means to document the world through your own perspective.

Find Andrea: https://books2read.com/polemics

Click here to listen to the audio version