Spoken interview

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Here’s some background information for starters:

Don Bodey: I  live near where I was born, in  rural Indiana, in places I keep saying I am “fixing up,” like I’ve been saying about places in Florida for awhile, Oregon for nine years, Chicago for another nine. I’m a carpenter, and for most of my life I’ve been making my living by “fixing” houses while  I live there amongst the fixings, then get another one, fix it up.

Somehow I’ve also been a writer and sometimes a teacher of writing. I’ve taught at colleges and universities as a part timer. I got my Bachelor’s degree in 1968 and was immediately drafted into the Army, trained to be a mortar man, sent to Vietnam for 405 days, discharged. I earned  my MFA at Oregon, and came away with the beginning of  what would become F.N.G. 

I spent some years building houses on the coast, then ended up in Chicago, teaching and writing. Within six months, in 1985, my book came out, then won the Midland Award, and my house burned down. That tragedy overwhelmed the book. With two old friends–one was  81 years old–I bought a bar in a rather “tough” Chicago neighborhood and that lasted 3 years, during which I became a father. Full circle:20 years after I left, I came back to Indiana, with my wife and son, and went to work as a carpenter again, for the ensuing 20 years.

Without the mental wherewithal to be a writer and a fixer-upper, I assumed the pragmatic role of a carpenter again, and writing all but disappeared from my life. But it’s a strong pull to want to write, so when a publisher, Victor Volkman, offered to re-publish the book, and suggested I write something to tie it into today, I jumped at the chance. It took about 18 months to put it together, but the happy result is this new edition, which ultimately, consequently, brings me here.

U.P. Reader -- Volume #8 [PB]

SKU 978-1-61599-810-4
$19.95
NEW!
: Bringing Upper Michigan Literature to the World
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-810-4
Brand: Modern History Press
Binding: Paperback
Audiobook: Audible, iTunes
Edition: 1st
Author: Ed. by Mikel Classen, Deborah K. Frontiera
Pages: 182
Publication Date: 04/01/2024

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is blessed with a treasure trove of storytellers, poets, and historians, all seeking to capture a sense of Yooper Life from settler's days to the far-flung future. Since 2017, the U.P. Reader has offered a rich collection of their voices that embraces the U.P.'s natural beauty and way of life, along with a few surprises.

The sixty-plus short works in this 8th annual volume take readers on U.P. road and boat trips from the Keweenaw to the Soo and from St. Ignace to Escanaba. Every page is rich with descriptions of the characters and culture that make the Upper Peninsula worth living in and writing about. U.P. writers span genres from humor to history and from science fiction to poetry. This issue also includes imaginative fiction from the Dandelion Cottage Short Story Award winners, honoring the amazing young writers enrolled in all of the U.P.'s schools.

Featuring the words of John Adamcik, Nancy Besonen, Miina Chopp, Tom Conlan, Nina L. Craig, Art Curtis, Adam Dompierre, Julie Dickerson, Rosemary Gegare, J.L. Hagen, Mack Hassler, Richard Hill, Skye Isaacson, Kathleen Carlton Johnson, Leah Johnson, Larry Jorgensen, Rick Kent, Tamara Lauder, Ellen Lord, Raymond Luczak, Gregory M. Lusk, Beverly Matherne, Maria Vezzetti Matson, Becky Ross Michael, R.H. Miller, Hilton Moore, Mark Nelson, Eve Noble, Alex Noel, M. Kelly Peach, Jodi Perras, Isla Peterson, Jane Piirto, T. Kilgore Splake, Bill Sproule, David Swindell, Ninie Gaspariani Syarikin, Brandy Thomas, Edd Tury, Tyler R. Tichelaar, Analise VerBerkmoes, and Victor R. Volkman.

"Funny, wise, or speculative, the essays, memoirs, and poems found in the pages of these profusely illustrated annuals are windows to the history, soul, and spirit of both the exceptional land and people found in Michigan's remarkable U.P. If you seek some great writing about the northernmost of the state's two peninsulas look around for copies of the U.P. Reader. --Tom Powers, Michigan in Books

"U.P. Reader offers a wonderful mix of storytelling, poetry, and Yooper culture. Here's to many future volumes!" --Sonny Longtine, author of Murder in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

"As readers embark upon this storied landscape, they learn that the people of Michigan's Upper Peninsula offer a unique voice, a tribute to a timeless place too long silent." --Sue Harrison, international bestselling author of Mother Earth Father Sky

The U.P. Reader is sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA) a non-profit corporation. A portion of proceeds from each copy sold will be donated to the UPPAA for its educational programming.

Learn more at www.UPReader.org

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U.P. Reader -- Volume #8 [PB]

 

 

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