During her time as a University graduate student, poet Megan Volpert found her voice as a writer and learned what it takes to make it in the professional literary world.
Under the guidance of English professors such as Andrei Crodescu, who is now retired, and Laura Mullen, Volpert graduated in 2006 from the University with an MFA in creative writing. She went on to publish five original poetry books and edited an anthology called “This Assignment is So Gay: LGBTIQ Poets on the Art of Teaching.” Her sixth book, “Order Sutra,” will be published in May.
Tonight, Volpert will read excerpts from her Lambda Literary Award-nominated poetry book “Only Ride” in the University bookstore at 7 p.m. for the annual Delta Mouth Literary Festival.
Volpert’s “Only Ride” is a finalist for the 27th annual “Lammys” — an awards ceremony which recognizes the merit of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender stories in the literary world by honoring the LGBT books of the year. The winners will be announced on June 1.
She wrote “Only Ride” in two-minute installments on her phone while riding the train to work at 6 a.m. She said the book is her most personal work, which she spent more time writing than any of her other five books.
Volpert said she believes it is her first work that is timeless and continues to resonate in her current voice.
“Some of my earlier work, almost the minute that it’s published, it’s like forgettable even to me, and it seems very far away,” Volpert said. “It seems like I was a different person when I wrote it, but as I do readings for ‘Only Ride’ and the more times I go back to it, I still feel really touched by it myself.”
This is her second time as a “Lammys” finalist, and her first time as a finalist in the poetry category. “This Assignment is So Gay: LGBTIQ Poets on the Art of Teaching” was a Lammys finalist in the anthology category.
“I’m trying to keep to as humble a place as I can about it because I’m obviously thrilled, and I’m trying not to hold my breath to win,” Volpert said. “I’m trying to enjoy being a finalist.”
When Volpert came to the University to study under Crodescu, the atmosphere allowed her to learn and grow as a writer.
Now that she has a day job in addition to her career as a writer, she said she isn’t always able to find the creative environment she had at the University.
“It gave me time and space to write, which is exceedingly difficult to come by working a nine to five, and when you have time and space that’s what gives you the opportunity to really think about what sort of writer you are,” Volpert said. “It was just a place for me to find my voice.”
Volpert said she looks forward to returning to the University to meet the next round of MFA students and see the evolution of Baton Rouge.
“When I was living in Baton Rouge, it felt like everything just always stayed the same,” Volpert said. “But now, as I come back and visit every two or three years, so much has changed.”
Volpert continues to write and teaches high school English in Fulton County, Georgia. She also visits colleges as a guest lecturer and instructor for various writing workshops.
She said what sets her apart as a poet is not necessarily the different literary voice every writer sets out to find, but rather, her sheer determination to continue publishing.