Ellen Hagan : part five

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

I return often to TEETH by Aracelis Girmay and Tougaloo Blues by Kelly Norman Ellis. Those books feel central to my work in that they build community with their poems – they welcome and gather people to the table. They celebrate and honor – hold up and hold close. I love everything about those collections. And I am returning often to the writers that mix genres and write and experiment with their work like Renée Watson, Krista Franklin, Fatimah Asghar and Rachelle Cruz. Often, I am returning to their work and seeing how they shape the future with their words.

Ellen Hagan : part four

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

Reading has been the best work for me as a writer. It is instrumental in everything I do – and I try to read as widely as possible and get as much exposure to language and craft as possible. I have been reading Horsepower by Joy Priest, which I absolutely love. Her voice stands out to me so much. The way the South shows up in her poems is stunning and needed. Other books that have stayed with me this year are: Seeing the Body by Rachel Eliza Griffiths, TERTULIA by Vincent Toro, FINNA by Nate Marshall and The Pink Box by Yesenia Montilla. I also love Elizabeth Acevedo. I read With the Fire on High this year, and even though it is not a novel in in verse, there was poetry in every sentence. I love books that shift my perception and make me see poetry or poetic language in a new and unique way. 

Ellen Hagan : part three

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

The first poets who really shaped the way I saw my own writing were my teachers and mentors: Kelly Norman Ellis, Crystal Wilkinson and Karen Harryman. They showed me how to write about identity, landscape, where I’m from and who and what I write for. They introduced me to writers like June Jordan, Naomi Shihab Nye and Nikky Finney. The Affrilachian Poets were also instrumental for me. I am thinking specifically of Parneshia Jones, Asha French, Mitchell L. H. Douglas and Danni Quintos – all artists I have worked with – and who encouraged me in different ways in craft and experimentation. I am also thinking of my former students: Alondra Uribe, Olivia Cole, Yvonne M. Johnson and Marissa Davis. They are constantly changing the way I see my own work. I am so moved and lifted by watching the way they create. It makes me want to keep rising up in my own work. 

Ellen Hagan : part two

How does your work first enter the world? Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with?

For the last six years, I have been part of a collective called: Elma’s Heart Circle – founded by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor. It is a group of poets who write every day in April and weekly throughout the year. In this way, I am always creating work and feel so lucky to be part of a group that is so generous and inspiring to my work. This has been transformative for my poetry. The act of writing, crafting, editing, sharing and commenting. It nurtures and holds the work in such clear and beautiful ways. 

Ellen Hagan : part one

Ellen Hagan is a writer, performer, and educator. She is the co-author with Renée Watson of Watch Us Rise. Her books include Blooming Fiascoes, Reckless, Glorious, Girl, Hemisphere & Crowned.  Her work can be found in ESPN Magazine, She Walks in Beauty, and Southern Sin. She received a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in poetry in 2020 and has received grants from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Raised in Kentucky, she now lives in Kentucky and New York City with her family. www.ellenhagan.com

What are you working on?

I am currently working on a Young Adult novel in verse about a family in Long Beach Island, New Jersey who lives through Hurricane Sandy. There is a focus on environmental justice and our rapidly changing climate. It is a story of family, community, the changing ocean tides and what it means to fall in love with someone who sees the world in a different way – and how to come together. It is also a love story – for the people and places we come from – and is a journey to preserve what we love most about home.