[Andrew Frisardi]

Los Angeles Review of Books has just published an interview I did with the English poet Peter Russell: here. Russell (1921-2003) was living in a dilapidated mill in the Valdarno countryside of Tuscany at the time, which is where I visited him. The interview is 21 years old this month, and only recently did I look at it and realize it was too interesting not to publish. The LARB editor Boris Dralyuk kindly took it on.

Since Russell is unknown to most, the preface to the interview will introduce him. I'll just say here that he was a fascinating man who lived an adventurous life, and was a prolific often wonderful poet.

Dana Gioia in 1997 called Russell "one of contemporary poetry's few genuine originals." Read to see why!

[F.F. Teague]

Excellent news that this has been published, Andrew; I very much enjoyed reading the interview

Best wishes,
Fliss

[Jim Moonan]

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I really enjoyed this, Andrew. It's a gem. (We all are embedded in our own time, aren't we?) Thanks for retrieving it for us to enjoy.

A decade or so ago we stayed somewhere near Valdarno. I wish I could remember the town. (I wish I could remember yesterday : )
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[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

I really enjoyed this too. It's a lovely article - honest, interesting, and very relevant. I do like how the third voice comes in close to the end, and the tone switches. Very glad to read and I'll be re-reading it.

(it also reminded me that I really like reading W.S Merwin and I've ordered 'In the Shadow of Sirius' which I've been meaning to read for ages).

Thank you for signposting the article!

Sarah-Jane

[Julie Steiner]

Very interesting and entertaining, Andrew. I appreciated your knowing enough to be able to steer the conversation toward certain fertile ground.

[Siham Karami]

Yes, this was indeed a fascinating interview! All the history involved, and those little personal details like his dreams, plus his ideas about poetry, his experiences with famous poets of the period. So glad you posted this here.

[Andrew Frisardi]

Fliss, Jim, Sarah-Jane, Julie, and Siham: Thanks for reading. I’d happy you enjoyed it. A serendipitous aspect of the interview’s publication is that Peter would have turned 100 in September. He went nearly blind about a year after our talk, and spent his final days in a nursing home in a small town near Arezzo called Castelfranco di Sopra, which is where I last saw him. (Jim, you must have spent time in Arezzo, then? Petrarch’s hometown.)