CWILA Critic-in-Residence Sue Sinclair Interviewed

Over at CWILA's website, they've posted an interview with their first critic-in-residence Sue Sinclair. Sinclair was Writer-in-Residence at UNB for 2011-12, and she's a frequent contributor of book reviews to The Fiddlehead.

The wide-ranging interview by Brecken Hancock covers beauty, editing, the political role of poetry, and much more. Here is part of her response to a question about the similarities between her previous roles as writer-in-residence and editor, and her current role with CWILA:

Both editing and criticism depend on being the most attentive reader you can be and on communicating that readerly experience as clearly as possible. In that way they’re twins. But in editing there’s a problem-solving approach that makes it different in spirit from criticism. I confess to feeling more comfortable as editor than critic; this year is partly an exercise in learning to practice criticism in a way that suits me. If a poem seems to be going awry, as editor I can offer that feedback while the author is still in a position to rework it. Pointing out a weakness after its publication seems a little like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted—there’s a way in which it doesn’t do the poem a lot of good (assuming that the poem isn’t reworked post-publication). On the other hand, what’s the point of a “published” work but to participate in “public” life, to invite readers, to ask them to respond somehow?

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Also, be sure to check out her "On Beauty" series over at Lemon Hound.