A Conversation with Pierre Joris

A Conversation with Pierre Joris

On March 5, 2014, as part of a daylong celebration
at the New York State Writer’s Institute in honor of
Pierre Joris’ extensive achievements as poet, scholar
and translator, Tomás Urayoán Noel sat down with
Pierre for an intriguing chat about his life and work.

Special thanks to the New York State Writer’s Institute
and to Don Faulkner for sharing this footage with Barzakh.

Pierre Joris is a poet, translator, essayist & anthologist who has published some 50 books, most recently, Meditations on the Stations of Mansur al-Hallaj (poems) from Chax Press and The University of California Book of North African Literature (volume 4 in the Poems for the Millenniumseries), coedited with Habib Tengour. Exile is My Trade: A Habib Tengour Reader edited & translated by Joris and Pierre Joris:  Cartographies of the In-between, essays on Joris’ work edited by Peter Cockelbergh, came out in 2012. Forthcoming are Barzakh — Poems 2000-2012 (Black Widow Press),  Breathturn into Timestead: The Collected Later Poetry of Paul Celan (FSG), & A Voice Full of Cities: The Collected Essays of Robert Kelly, co-edited with Peter Cockelbergh (Contra Mundum Press). His The Meridian: Final Version—Drafts—Materials by Paul Celan (Stanford U.P. 2011) was awarded the 2013 MLA Aldo & Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature). With Jerome Rothenberg he edited Poems for the Millennium, vol. 1 & 2: The University of California Book of Modern & Postmodern Poetry. He lives & works in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with his wife, performance artist Nicole Peyrafitte. Check out his website (pierrejoris.com) & his Nomadics Blog, as well as his latest (pre-anthology) book of poetry Meditations on the Stations of Mansur al-Hallaj.