Robin Greene, novelist, poet, English professor, yoga practitioner, parent and wife, is a native New Yorker who is a “Southerner by choice.” She came to Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1989, and joined the faculty at Methodist University where she is now Professor of English and Writing, the Director of the Writing Center, and Literary Editor of Longleaf Press.
Greene recently completed “Augustus: Narrative of a Slave Woman,” a novel based on the oral history of a former Fayetteville slave compiled by the Works Progress Administration. It expertly weaves together Greene’s imagination of what happened with the sparse written legacy recorded in the Library of Congress archives. The book took Greene ten years to write and she included herself in the novel. “I exist as Professor Greene, an inquisitive English professor who finds her way into an old mystery,” she says. In a twist of events, the protagonist Sarah Louise Augustus, the former slave, emerges from the narrative to become the Professor’s teacher.
“The novel is a commentary on black feminism, race-specific reactions to historical inquiry, on sexuality and rape and the quest for identity,” explains Greene. In 2010, she was invited to teach American Slave Narrative as Literature at a university in Romania. And, then Norma Hawthorne selected her from an applicant pool of over 100 published writers and writing instructors to lead a creative writing retreat in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat (March 2-9, 2012) is a natural extension of Robin Greene’s reflective nature. In Oaxaca, Mexico each spring she offers coaching, inspiration and guidance to other women writers. “We come together as a supportive community and develop a spirit of strength that is often transformative,” Greene says. “The life of any artist is a complicated one, and emergent writers need to learn not only how to write but also how to make their lives work.”
Novelist and Poet Robin Greene in Oaxaca, Mexico
Greene is passionate about this: “Many writers need help to integrate the many demands on their time. It is hard to write, edit, publish, make a living, and be an effective parent.” Her own life experience tells her so.
When Robin Greene earned the Master’s degree in English from State University of New York at Binghamton and the Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, she was married and then became a mother. She knows what it takes to balance work, home, family, commitments, and creative endeavors. She goes on to say that, “Today, writers also need to be able to handle Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—plus all sorts of electronic information systems.
Her nonfiction book, Real Birth, took Greene eight years to complete. Memories of Light and Lateral Drift, two volumes of poetry, were published after years of getting up at five o’clock in the morning before her family awakened, then writing for two or three hours in solitude before turning to the responsibilities of getting children fed and ready for school.
Greene knows how difficult it is to try to negotiate the many incongruent parts of a writer’s life. Her advice: “In order to write successfully, you must first schedule writing time. Writers must selfishly honor that time regardless of all other commitments.” She also believes that grammar is at the core of knowing one’s craft. She includes optional grammar mini-sessions in the writing retreat.
Writers must also have a commitment to lifelong learning. “A writer’s education is never complete,” she says. “Writers need feedback, need to understand the business side of writing, and show always focus on improving technique. This happens over a lifetime. Writers are marathon runners, not twenty-yard sprinters. It is why attending a professional development program like our women’s writing retreat can be so important and essential, no matter what your level or personal accomplishment.”
And for her next project? Greene is at work on a collection of open letters of advice and inspiration from a range of poets, from the “old masters” to the “younger, less established who are looking to find their way.” The book will offer guidance for emergent poets that is now offered at some of the best writing programs. She is now in the process of searching for a publisher! Does that sound familiar?
Resources: See Robin Greene’s website! You can Order Augustus: Narrative of a Slave Woman from Amazon
Food and Poetry: Writing About Eating, Ingredients and the Kitchen
After our cooking class with Reyna Mendoza Ruiz, Robin Greene, MFA, led us in a writing about food discussion. She referred us to Poet Laureate Mark Strand’s poem, “Pot Roast.” He uses words masterfully: gaze, sit, spoon, “I bend, I raise my fork in praise.” We come to a place where we are ‘eating poetry.’ To understand the interrelationship between food and poetry, we must write it out, memorize it, hear the sound repetitions, embed it in our bodies. This is the way to eat poetry.
So I go back to the image of Reyna bending over the metate, grinding the roasted peppers into the paste that will become the base for the mole roja. I take notes and write. Then, I try my hand at the metate and write some more.
Reyna at the Metate
“My fingers are stained red from the grinding of the peppers on the metate, ancient instrument of women’s work. The peppers become paste. My wrists turn “la mano de metate” — the hand of the metate. The stone in my hand grinds against the stone platform that sits on the ground. My back bends, I wipe brow sweat with the edge of my apron. I have hardly just begun. An electric machine would be easier I whisper under my breath. Kneel, Reyna says.
Tapete (rug) at the metate
“My knees are on a hand-woven square rug that sits on the raw earth. My back is an arch, my hands outstretched gripping the edges of the stone cylinder that looks like a rolling pin without handles. Come closer to the metate, she coaches. Use small, close strokes. Add water to make the paste until it is smooth and supple, like the skin of a young woman I imagine. Faster, press against the stone, grind as fine as possible. The stone is granite hewn from the mountainside from the labor of man. Muy fina, back and forth, a reverence to the rhythm of work to fill bellies and remember when time began.”
We offer an optional cooking class with Reyna for those who wish during the women’s creative writing and yoga retreat. It is a great way to stretch your creative cooking and writing skills.
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