Centenary to host book launch event at Meadows Museum of Art November 12
SHREVEPORT, LA — Dr. John Linstrom, assistant professor of English at Centenary, will give a reading at the Meadows Museum of Art on Tuesday, November 12, at 6:00 p.m., to celebrate the Louisiana launch of his debut poetry book, To Leave for Our Own Country. Linstrom will sign copies of his book after the reading, which is free and open to the public.
To Leave for Our Own Country was published in April 2024 by Black Lawrence Press and officially launched at a reading in New York City’s Climate Museum. Reviewer Mary Swander wrote that Linstrom’s “spectacular” debut poetry collection “…opens our hearts and minds to a cosmic world of spiritual resonance.” The poems in To Leave for Our Own Country bring together the personal, political, historical, and spiritual, examining the particularities of place and neighbors, both human and nonhuman, in landscapes ranging from the shores of Lake Michigan to the heart of New York City. Linstrom’s work offers a new approach to place-based writing and thought, a creative response to a postmodern world marked by dislocations rooted in systems of oppression and inequality, such as the climate crisis and challenges to democracy.
“These poems are about surviving and sheltering in each other, but they are also about stopping to notice, to remember, to honor, and to mourn the troubling signs of a changing climate,” wrote reviewer Debra Marquart. “Homesickness and loss mark many of these poems, as the ‘retting’ of the organic world – that force of nature that separates the fiber from the stem – becomes metaphor for all that which breaks down and dies away. But love is the abiding force, the glue in the world these poems occupy.”
Linstrom shared that the poems in his debut poetry book come mostly from his day-to-day lived experience but also draw on research into his family history and his academic scholarship. One example is the book’s only long poem, "Blueshift," which includes a section that describes a story written by the Potawatomi author Simon Pokagon (c.1830-1899) describing the creation of the landscape in South Haven, Michigan, Linstrom’s hometown, by Ktthe mnedo (which means "Great Spirit").
“That document forever changed the way I see the landscape where I grew up, so it's a very personal section of the poem at the same time that it is rooted just as much in my literary dissertation research as it is in my lived experience,” said Linstrom. “I was specifically interested when writing this book in exploring what it means to be attentive to a sense of place despite being periodically uprooted from home by school and work. Many of the poems represent my attempts to slow down in the midst of all that life-movement and hone my attention on the little miracles of everyday life wherever I happen to be. I think we miss a lot of the beauty of life when we are constantly subjected to fast-paced electronic mediation, from social media and streaming services to things as mundane as email, and it helps when we consciously take breaks and try to strengthen our senses of curiosity and attentiveness, working them out like muscles. Writing these poems was one way I have sought to make that a practice.”
Linstrom’s poems have appeared in North American Review, Northwest Review, The Christian Century, and elsewhere. After growing up in Michigan and attending college in Indiana, he earned an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University and a PhD in English and American Literature from New York University. Linstrom also serves as the series editor of The Liberty Hyde Bailey Library for Cornell University Press, reintroducing the ecospheric writings of fellow South Havenite Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954) to twenty-first-century readers. His editions of Bailey's works include The Nature-Study Idea and Related Writings (Cornell UP, 2024), The Liberty Hyde Bailey Gardener's Companion (coedited; Cornell UP, 2019), and The Holy Earth (Counterpoint, 2015).
Linstrom was most recently the Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Climate Humanities and Social Justice at the Climate Museum in New York City. He joined the Centenary faculty this fall as an assistant professor of English and is currently teaching two sections of Credo, the first course in Centenary’s Trek program, along with a course in creative nonfiction. In the spring semester, he will teach a literary theory and criticism course in addition to the Credo sections.
“I love finding ways to bring my experience of writing and publishing into the classroom,” said Linstrom. “Right now, my Creative Nonfiction class is working on literary essays informed by research that focuses on the history of Centenary College for its upcoming bicentennial, and the students will have an opportunity to have their essays considered for inclusion in a special bicentennial book that Centenary Press will publish. We'll also have a class period toward the end of the semester specifically dedicated to a discussion of publishing in literary journals and how to go from short works to book-length ones, for those who may be interested in considering that someday--all information I wish I had learned more about as an undergraduate student!”
The book launch event for To Leave for Our Own Country will also feature poetry readings by three of Linstrom’s colleagues in the Centenary College English department. Professor Katie Bickham, Dr. Bellee Jones-Pierce, and Dr. Chrissy Martin will read some of their original poetry at the beginning of the evening.