Ruchi Acharya

What does it mean to carry a poem across centuries, cultures, and languages? In this thoughtful conversation, poet, translator, and educational psychologist Talbot Hook reflects on translation as an “imperfect bridge” between worlds, the imaginative act of conversing with voices from the past, and the beauty of uncertainty in literature. From classical Chinese poetry and literary friendship to the delicate balance between academic rigor and creative freedom, Hook offers a deeply reflective look

What happens when the body knows something before language can name it? For this Dallas-based queer poet, writing begins in that unsettled space between experience and expression—where desire, intimacy, identity, freedom, and the private self resist easy definitions. Her work is deeply attentive to the stories we construct around ourselves and others, while remaining beautifully suspicious of the structures that try to make human experience neat and legible. From examining desire as both...

In *Dead Grandmas Are Universal*, poetry becomes a place where grief, queerness, mental health, womanhood, and survival can exist side by side. Spanning years of lived experiences, the collection grew from the poet’s grief after losing her grandmother and evolved into a deeply personal exploration of one enduring longing: to be loved without disappearing in the process. In this intimate interview, she reflects on how poetry has helped her process emotions, and document the passage of time.