John Freeman
Posted in Past Guests
John Freeman is the founder of the literary annual Freeman’s, and an executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. His books include How To Read a Novelist and Dictionary of the Undoing, as well as a trilogy of anthologies about inequality, including Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation, and Tales of Two Planets, which features dispatches from around the world, where the climate crisis has unfolded at crucially different rates. His poetry collections include Wind, Trees (Copper Canyon Press, 2022), The Park (2020), and Maps (2017). His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Orion and Zyzzyva. He is a former editor of Granta and a Writer in Residence at New York University.
Sleeping in the Crossbreeze
The air’s sweet tonight
across the sheets
your hair a tidal wash
What boat is this we’re on
Why does the sea feel
so calm some evenings
so dark on others What
is love but feeling
there’s no compass left
to consult no wind necessary
no destination needed just
the air this wind the night blue
as night Your body
by moonlight
From Wind, Trees (Copper Canyon Press, 2022)
Links
- “Maybe One Day I Will Learn How to Live: On John Freeman’s ‘Wind, Trees.'” Los Angeles Review of Books. 1 March 2023.
- “Editor John Freeman, a powerful force in the literary world.” The Los Angeles Times. 12 January 2018.
- “Fiery And Nuanced, ‘Tales Of Two Americas’ Sheds Light On Economic Inequality.” NPR. 6 September 2017.
Media
Freeman’s Anthology: A Celebration! – 2024 Lannan Literary Festival | March 19th, 2024
Aminatta Forna in Conversation with John Freeman | November 9th, 2021
Seminar with Eula Biss | February 26, 2019
Reading with Eula Biss | February 26, 2019
Writing in the Englishes | March 28, 2017
The Canon: Do Countries Need a National Literature? | March 28, 2017
Authors’ Reading | March 28, 2017
Seminar with Aminatta Forna and Marlon James | September 23, 2016
Reading with Aminatta Forna and Marlon James | September 23, 2016
Conversation with Aminatta Forna | November 17, 2015