Hey! It's been a while!
(I'm resisting the urge to follow that with a Staind lyric)
Is January 29th too late to say “Happy New Year?” I don’t care! I’m doing it anyway: Happy New Year! The president sucks, everything has been either on fire or iced over, and I’ve had such a long and miserable sinus infection that my partner has dubbed me “The Mucus Queen of Tennessee,” but at least the price of eggs is…nevermind.
Things have been shitty for pretty much everyone, and it’s made me feel a little strange about sending out an email with happy updates, but I’m starting to come out of the post-election-and-inauguration dissociative haze, and I’m remembering that joy, especially in times like these, is a radical act. So I’m going to lean into that the best I can by telling y’all what I’ve been up to, and what I’m about to get up to in the coming weeks and months!
The last time I wrote on September 2nd, my book had been out for a full 24 hours! The months since have been a chaotic, fantastic, exhausting whirlwind. Fall was my first semester teaching at the University of Tennessee, and I decided it would be a great time for a book tour since I guess I had nothing else going on. (HEAVY sarcasm here.) It was truly wonderful, though, even though I ran myself a bit ragged. Here’s a breakdown of what I did:
September
1st: The book came out!
4th: Read with the lovely BeWell Reading Series (virtual)!
12th: Read with the Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville with the amazing Elise Tran!
14th: Flew back to my dearest Austin, TX for a very special launch party at the bookstore (then Malvern, now Alienated Majesty) I used to walk to almost daily during my MFA, right down the street from where I used to live! I got to see so many friends & former professors & read with fellow Texas alum Sarah Matthes, and my pressmate, Octavio Quintanilla!
27th: Journeyed down to Auburn, AL, the home of my heart, during Hurricane Helene to read at Auburn Oil Co. Booksellers (and of course, visit some beloveds and hit a football game with my Dad)
October
2-3rd: I got to read & lead a poetry class with blurber of my dreams Ansel Elkins for the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College in Kentucky (which was super special because it’s my grandmother’s alma mater)!
7-8th: I was the 2024 Lynne Burris Butler Visiting Artist at the University of North Alabama, where I got to meet long-time poet fav Jason McCall!
22nd: Had a joint book launch party with Bess Cooley for her painfully beautiful debut collection, Florence, in Knoxville!
27-28th: Drove out to Memphis to read for the Pinch Presents reading series at the University of Memphis! This one was super cool because Marcus Wicker, who teaches in the MFA at UM, published the title poem of this collection, and the Pinch was very first invited reading back in 2017, AND they also published some of my earliest poems and my first ever intentionally-written piece of fiction!
30th: I had the honor of participating in Soul Waters Rising: An Appalachian Pause, which was an online benefit reading and performance for Helene-impacted communities. It was a really beautiful night of listening to and being in community with my fellow Southern Appalachians for a good cause.
November
7th: I was the co-feature with Roses for the Storm the Mic! virtual poetry reading by the Thunder and Lightning Poetry Collective, a virtual showcase that exclusively features disabled queer and/or BIPOC creatives!
15th: I got to read with Bess Cooley (again!) and Amber Albritton, two beautiful poets in the English department with me at UTK, at Union Ave Books, a very cute shop in downtown Knoxville!
And more importantly…also on the 15th, my partner graduated from UTK’s culinary program!!!!!!!!!!! They’re working at the famous Blackberry Farm resort now and I’m very very proud and also glad I get to eat their food!!!!!
December
15th: Visited New Orleans for the first time in more than a decade to read with the brilliant Vanessa Saunders and Anne Gisleson for LMNL Arts, and got to catch up with a good buddy from high school who lives in town! I also went to the WWII museum and had an existential crisis!!!!!
January
5th: Kicked off the year reading in Asheville, NC at Malaprop’s with two incredibly talented poets, Claudine Moreau and Britt Kaufmann, and also got to meet Ailey & Lanelle, the cutest couple of book bloggers this world has ever seen (Bisexual Bookshelf and Library of Lanelle on the gram)!
15th: I turned 33! Jesus year, baby! Soon I’ll have officially outlived God!
I did a cheesy book photoshoot in the snow that I will force you to look at below!
17th: Dream of my life reading in the city where I was born, Birmingham, AL, with the Burdock Book Collective and my good friend and forever favorite Halley Cotton, who has some BANGER poems in need of homes, if you’re into that sort of thing!
18th: Drove to Tuscaloosa for a joint birthday party with my grandfather, who turned 92 in December!
I’ve also been really lucky to do a couple interviews and have my book featured in several reviews! Here are those:
Finally, the book has gotten a few really cool shout-outs!
Hanif Abdurraqib named What Good Is Heaven one of his favorite books of 2024 in an interview for Kirkus Reviews
What Good Is Heaven named one of the best queer poetry releases of 2024 by Autostraddle
What’s Next? Will I ever get to sleep?
No! I have insomnia and also don’t know how to relax! Here’s what’s coming up:
February 3 - Reading with the Sawmill Poetry Series in Cookeville, TN
February 23 - Reading with Bleah Patterson at Basket Books in Houston, TX
March 15 - Reading at Evermore Coffee in Burlington, NJ
March 19 - Reading at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL
March 26-29 - AWP Conference in Los Angeles, CA
I’ll send a short email with my conference reading schedule in March!
May 28 - Reading with Rajiv Mohabir in Denver, CO
Y’all also get the first scoop on this: I’m judging my first poetry contests! I’ll be the judge of the Academy of American Poets Robert Hughes Mount, Jr. Poetry Prize for Auburn University and the Pinch Prize for Poetry! And I’m guest-curating a Disability Poetry feature for Southern Humanities Review, which will be live in April!
That was a lot! Maybe my life will slow down soon (unlikely, I chronically over-schedule myself). I hope you’re being kind to yourselves and holding your loved ones close in this fucked up moment. And I hope I get to see a lot of y’all soon.
In y’all-idarity,
Raye
Such an awesome time getting to read with you and talk about your book. All the love to you, friend!