For Conrad and Jane Hilberry, poetry is all in the family. Both English teachers and writers (Jane teaches at Colorado College), the two have shared a lifelong love of the craft that Conrad passed on to Jane when she was still a teenager. The two have just released a collection of poems that share themes, topics, language and ideas organized into what could probably be best described as chapters.

What’s amazing about the collection is that none of it was consciously planned. Even their respective poems about a Vermeer painting were written without the other’s knowledge entirely. Only later did Jane notice the odd, yet resonant, connections between some of her poems and those of her father’s. The result is This Awkward Art: Poems by a Father and Daughter.

In the interview below, Jane and Conrad discuss the mysterious death of Jane’s sister and both read poems about her. Jane also discusses a recent incident in which the cover of one of her books caused her to be uninvited from a lecture at a local school. If you’d like to read the Gazette’s article on the incident, click HERE. If you’d like to see the book cover or but the book, click HERE.

Jane and Conrad Hilberry will read from their book tonight in the Gates Common Room on the 2nd Floor of Palmer Hall on the Colorado College Campus (full details HERE) and tomorrow night at Gallery 210 from 5 to 8 p.m.

(To download the interview, just right click on it. Or you can stream it her by clicking the play button)

Hilberry Interview

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(As ever, we anxiously await your amazing comments, suggestions and thoughts below or at thebigsoemthing@krcc.org. Thanks!)