Michael Kleber-Diggs, author of Worldly Things
Poetry Category, sponsored by Wellington Management, Inc.
Each week leading up to the 34th annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our 36 finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
Worldly Things won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and was selected by Henri Cole. It has received rave reviews in the New York Times, the Star Tribune, the New York Journal of Books and elsewhere. I was selected as one of 5 over 50 by Poets & Writers magazine.
What do you hope that your audience learns or takes away from your book?
Worldly Things is about who I’m from (my family), where I live (the upper Midwest, a racialized America), and where I’d like to live – aspirational poems about possibilities for community. I hope readers will see the world from the prospective of the speaker in the poems and appreciate candor, empathy, and the ability to face difficult truths as essential pathways to a more just and loving world.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Cherish your work. Take it seriously. Learn and grow however you can. Engage with the poetry community here in a way the feels comfortable to you: take classes, attend workshops, go to readings and open mics, form a writing group with writers who take poetry seriously, will hold you accountable (and expect the same of you), and will offer thoughtful feedback on your works in progress. Last, read a wide range of work made by poets here and elsewhere (other states and other countries).
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
I wrote short fiction for many years before falling in love with poetry. I love to read genre fiction in the summer and have a particular fondness for S.A. Cosby, Tana French, and Jo Nesbø.
Minnesota enjoys a reputation as a place that values literature and reading. If this sentiment rings true for you, what about our home state makes it such a welcoming and conducive place for writers?
The poetry community here is deep, diverse, and talented. In my experience, the literary community (and the poetry community within that) is full of people who are generous in sharing their time and ideas with others.
Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, virtually everything about our lives has changed in some way. Has COVID-19 (and its fallout) impacted your writing habits and preferences? Has the unique zeitgeist of the past two years influenced your writing output in any other ways that you can pinpoint?
I started working from home, and I’ve had more time with our dogs which has meant more time outside. My writing practice is rooting in noticing; I’m inspired by what I see. Nature has taken a more prominent posture in my recent work. I’ve tried to be generous with myself when the words aren’t there or I need a break. I’ve also tried to use the time to play at my writing desk more than I did before – to explore and tinker around with no expectation that anything will come from it the except joy I try to access when I’m working on a new poem.
Michael Kleber-Diggs teaches poetry and creative non-fiction through the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. He lives in St. Paul.