Thursday kicks off a new season of the Shelterbelt Creative Writing and Publishing series at the University of Illinois Springfield. NPR Illinois hosts and records the visiting poets in the Suggs Performance Studio, on the UIS campus. This Thursday (10/6) at 7pm Natalie Eilbert reads from her forth-coming, already awarded book - Indictus. The reading is free and open to the public, details here.
Natalie Eilbert is the editor in chief and founder of The Atlas Review. She's a native of Long Island, New York - currently participating in a poetry fellowship in Madison, Wisconsin. Tune in to hear more about her background and inspirations for her nationally acclaimed works:
Indictus follows Eilbert's debut book, Swan Feast - released in 2014. That work explored issues like femininity and its often inherent ties to obsession with body image, among many other personal ruminations for a woman who writes openly about grappling with disordered eating. In that book, Eilbert creates an ode to the Venus of Willendorf, an ancient relic which represents a full figured female body meant to be honored. Eilbert writes about how for her, it exists in protest to today's societal standards which often diminish the value of a woman based on her weight.
Eilbert says her new book takes these themes a step further and delves into a world that is at times sci-fi, and meta. She considers a world without men who are abusive. "Inductus is a book that I have been trying to write for many, many years. It is a book that is full of trigger warnings, it is a book on assault ... it takes many forms."
WEB EXTRAS: Listen to Eilbert give a taste of the reading she has in store for Springfield, and also her advice for writers, which includes the statement: "Be insane. Piss on the sheets."
You can listen to the reading that took place in the Suggs Studio at NPR Illinois, here (note: strong language is used):
