Sweet Connections: Joy Ladin

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Joy Ladin
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “A Little Bit of Ocean,” “August,” “Afterward,” “Letter to Poetry”
Issues: 6.2

Find Her:
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You can find Joy in Hadley, MA, where she is the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College of Yeshiva University. She is also a poet and a nationally known speaker on transgendered issues. You can watch her TED talk, “Ain’t I A Woman?” for more.

Check out her website!

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I have published two books of poetry, “The Future is Trying to Tell Us Something: New and Selected Poems” and “Fireworks in the Graveyard,” and one book of creative non-fiction, “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective,” and was chosen as one of 19 poets commissioned by the Academy of American Poets and the New York Philharmonic to contribute new works to Project 19, a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment and women’s right to vote, among other cool things!

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’m in the midst of a book of poems called Shekhinah Speaks, in the voice of the Shekhinah, who, in Jewish tradition, is the immanent, female aspect of the Divine.

Who is your favorite author?

Emily Dickinson

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Too many to choose!

What inspires you to write?

If I don’t write, I start to feel like I’m dead.

What are you reading right now?

Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Alas, I have developed an allergy to sugar, so everyone else, please enjoy for me!

That makes us so sad, but there are lots of alternatives out there these days. Here’s one worth checking out!

Thank you, Joy, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!