Interviews and Profiles
Three seasoned writers who have given a great deal of thought to training Christian writers are Mischa Willett, director of the Whitworth Writers Workshop, and James Matthew Wilson and Joshua Hren, cofounders of the MFA in creative writing at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
I didn’t know what most of the words meant, nor had I any sense of the majestic realities beneath them, but the cadence lulled me like a song.
Most schoolchildren countdown the seconds until recess. They look forward to going down the slides and playing games with their friends. However, this was not the case for Mischa Willett, a professor new to ACU this year. In fourth grade, he would skip recess just to read his teacher’s poetry.
Any work that's taking chaos and ordering it is co-laboring with the Holy Spirit…
How can Christian artists perform their vocations in such a way that the practice strengthens their faith?
You speak of exploring the “pliability of formal structures in making verse.” Can you elaborate what you mean by this, perhaps again in light of your faith?
I had never met a professor, never met anyone who had a PhD. I had never called anyone doctor, apart from my doctor.
When Mischa Willett started college in the late ‘90s, he encountered an academic environment that was completely unfamiliar to him.
For poet and educator Mischa Willett, walking to work is the long held dream.
Audio
The earliest stirrings of a literary response were hearing my mother read King James Bible.
What about the poet? How do you perceive your work as serving God?
My problem was I could never slow down enough to get it and I became impatient.
It might help to have some commentary from the author.
Reviews
Willett whirs and waxes rhapsodic, yet never writes from disembodied fancy. He converses with what he classifies knowing that, if we’re lucky, our understanding falls within the margin of error.
These poems by Willett remind us that the elegy is a living poetic form, needed as much now as it ever was. Perhaps even more.
Unlike Rilke, Willet is not ultimately afraid of the perfection of angels. He can turn our morbid foreknowledge into Christian hope.
“Precisely this “more” is what gives these poems their strong allure.”
“Is Willett a Christian writer, or someone who uses Christian tropes to explore his (sometimes) spiritual experience?”
“Phases proves that poetry can be clever without being condescending… and touching without being sentimental.”
“Phases is a wonderful book, filled with energy and thoughtfulness, resonant with the strenuous Christianity which still makes Hopkins and Donne pleasurable to read even in these post-Christian times.”
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Images
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About
Dr. Mischa Willett is a celebrated poet and essayist, with scholarly articles and translations appearing in a wide range of venues. He is a practicing Anglican and is Director of the Whitworth Writers’ Workshop, a low-res MFA program in Creative Writing based in Spokane, WA.
Contact Mischa.
If you’d like to book a lecture, a poetry reading, or a podcast appearance, or if you’d like a copy of the books for review purposes, reach out here.
mischawillett@me.com