There's very minimal distance between my persona on the page and who I really am.

And then when I'm writing poetry, that persona really takes on more weight.

The book reviews poetry columnist, Alisa Gabbert, is here to talk about how she approaches

criticism and her own newest collection of poems, Normal Distance.

He's talking about an image that he takes from proofs and it's in that section when he

has the supefinite about what it takes to be a good person.

Ian Johnson joins me to talk about the life of Wong Shiboa and his novel about China's

Cultural Revolution, The Golden Age.

Plus, I talk to my colleague, Steve Kim and Elizabeth Egan, about what we've all been

reading.

This is the Book Review Podcast.

It's August 5th.

I'm John Williams.

Alisa Gabbert is here.

She is the Book Reviews on Poetry columnist.

She is also the author of two delightful and thought-provoking books of prose, The Word

Pretty and the Unreality of Memory.

And she's just about to publish in September her fourth collection of poetry, Normal Distance.

Alisa, thanks for being here.

Thank you so much for having me.

Let's start with your life as a columnist.

You work on the poetry column for the times with the esteemed Greg Cole's, our poetry editor

...