Skip to content

EveryWriter

Empowering Writers Since 1999

Menu
  • Home
  • Reading
    • On Writing
    • Interviews
    • Famous Authors
    • Stories
    • Poetry
  • Writing
    • Writing Lab 101
      • Writing Tips
      • Writing Tropes
      • Grammar Help
    • Contests & More
      • Contests for writers
      • Games for Writers
      • Quizzes for Writers
    • Writing Inspiration
    • Writing Prompts
      • Writing Prompts
      • Creative Writing Prompts
      • Student Writing Prompts
      • Journal Writing Prompts
      • Poetry Writing Prompts
      • Daily Writing Prompts
      • Holiday Writing Prompts
    • Writer’s Questions
  • Publishing
    • Publishing Tips
    • Literary Magazines
    • Book Publishers
  • Promotions
    • Book Promotions
    • Promoting Tips
    • News and Announcements
    • Classifieds
    • Newsletter
  • Teaching Writing
  • Submit
    • About Us
    • Submit
    • Privacy Policy
Menu

Interview with Stephen Dunn

Posted on November 24, 2016May 26, 2019 by Richard

Stephen Dunn is the author of 14 collections of poetry and the winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his work Different Hours. He is the recipient of many awards including the James Wright Prize, three fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He has also been awarded an Academy Award in Literature from The American Academy of Arts & Letters, fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, the Theodore Roethke Prize, The Levinson Prize, and the Oscar Blumenthal Prize. He is a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. His newest collection Everything Else in the Worldis out from

W. W. Norton. Professor Dunn responded to our questions by email. This interview was first published on our HTML pages. It was recently moved to Writing Sense.

EWR: You were a professional basketball player, and you’ve said you once entertained the idea of becoming a sportswriter. Is there any game in history you would like to go back to, be there physically, and comment on or write about?

Stephen Dunn: It’s more accurate to say that I was a college player who played one year of semi-pro basketball. I was a pretty good college player and an insignificant pro player. But if I could go back to any one game (it occurred in a rather good league when I was in my mid-twenties), it would be the game I scored 47 points. I was a better me for an hour or two. But if I were to write about a particular moment or event it’s likely I’d choose one of those moments when I failed or came up short. That’s when one is more likely to engage self, and when discoveries tend to occur. Moments of accomplishment make us feel too good about ourselves. Good for the scrapbook, bad for the poem.

EWR:  You’ve talked about how ideas are important to you in other interviews. How do the ideas of your past collections influence your current writing?

Dunn: Ideas, ideally, are what the poem in process helps you find. So I rarely have them before the poem begins. And my philosophical habit is to doubt them when they occur. After all, poets don’t often have original ideas; at our best we have original ways of presenting or enacting them. I think of myself as a man wishing to be overheard as he thinks his way down the page, an orchestrator of effects. But to answer your question as you posed it, the answer is I don’t know. I suppose that I’m the sum of all I’ve thought and imagined and experienced, and that informs my writing in some way. Best for me not to know exactly how.

EWR:  If your poems could become “real” and accomplish anything, what would you most like for one of your poems to do in the world?

Dunn: My poems are real, and now and then speak with some persuasion to strangers, or at least some of my mail tells me so. I suppose I’d like a poem of mine to be memorable enough that people would like to say it and show it to others. Very sentient and intelligent others. I’d like my imagination, for a little while, to become theirs.

EWR:  You won the Pulitzer Prize for Different Hours in 2001. It was your eleventh collection of poetry. Does the collection mark any change in your methods of writing?

Dunn: I truly don’t know the answer to that, except to say that it was written around the time I was approaching 60, and no male in my family had ever reached that age. So it was written with an acute sense of mortality. As for methods, nothing different, the poems came as they came, and I kept the ones that seemed most genuine.

EWR:  You seem to have an almost intimate voice when it comes to relating to your audience. You’ve written many poems in the second person. Do you usually have someone in mind as your audience while you write?

Dunn: “Almost intimate” is an interesting way to put it. I like intimacy of most kinds, but am a rather closed personality, someone who often explores intimacy by managing it on the page. I let the reader know only what I consider to be useful to the poem. Your “almost” suggests that you might be perceiving that. I like boundaries – the best intimacies in my experience come about because of boundaries. Someone letting you in, or you letting someone in. Formal pleasures, in a sense. No, I don’t have someone in mind as an audience when I write, unless that someone is an ideal reader, someone, who if you said the best thing you could say or made the best move you could make, would see and hear it.

EWR:  You are said to be a very good teacher. Is there any one poem you would like to see taught to, let us say, high school students across the country?

Dunn: No, not really. What I’d like to see are high school teachers teaching poems they truly love. I’d like to see them infusing the classroom with their passion and enthusiasm for poetry, persuading by example that poetry matters.

EWR:   At one time you wrote advertisements for a living. What is something you hate about television commercials?

Dunn: No, I never wrote advertisements for a living. I wrote in-house brochures that went to the sales force of a corporation.  Even with that kind of writing, my soul was in danger, which was why many years ago I quit, and tried to see if I was good enough to take a chance at becoming the kind of writer I wished to be. What I hate about most commercials is what I hate about society-speak and political cant. The debasement of language.

EWR:  In your poem “The Last Hours” you write, “There’s some innocence left.” What advice do you give to other poets or writers, who might be living or working in a place they do not feel they belong, about keeping their innocence?

Dunn: If you live fully in this world, innocence is neither possible nor desirable. I’d say seek a deepening of experience. Try to make your craft equal to all those slings and arrows that are certain to come your way.

EWR:  You’ve been interviewed numerous times. Is there any question you’ve never been asked and wish you could answer?

Dunn: None that I can think of right now.

EWR:  What can our readers look forward to from you in the future?

Dunn: With luck, more poems. Perhaps another book of essays.

EWR: Thank you.

This interview took place in 2007. The page has been updated. 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Richard
Richard
Richard Everywriter (pen name) is the founder of EveryWriter and a 25-year veteran of the publishing industry. With degrees in Writing, Journalism, Technology, and Education, Richard has dedicated two decades to teaching writing and literature while championing emerging voices through EveryWriter's platform. His work focuses on making literary analysis accessible to readers at all levels while preserving the rich heritage of American literature. Connect with Richard on Twitter  Bluesky Facebook or explore opportunities to share your own work on ourSubmissions page. For monthly insights on writing and publishing, subscribe to our Newsletter.
Richard
Latest posts by Richard (see all)
  • Awakening All Five Senses: How to Write Descriptions That Come Alive - May 15, 2025
  • Comment Contest: Win Promotion for Your Writing! - May 14, 2025
  • The Ultimate Short Story Revision Checklist: for Students and Seasoned Writers - May 6, 2025
Category: Writers Interviews

3 thoughts on “Interview with Stephen Dunn”

  1. Carol Goodwin says:
    March 12, 2015 at 9:29 am

    What an incisive mind. It remains for me to read one of his poems. You could have given one single lead.

    Reply
  2. flappy bird says:
    March 13, 2024 at 7:25 pm

    Stephen Dunn is an author of many famous poetry books. I regularly read his works. It can be said that his works leave a deep impression and meaning on me.

    Reply
  3. Run 3 says:
    March 17, 2024 at 8:47 pm

    Thank you for the information provided.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Call for Submissions

Open Submissions for fiction and poetry. See our submission guidelines.

Search

Get the magazine and free books

When you sign up you get 2 free horror ebooks and digital copies of our magazine for free!



Latest

  • Zy williams on 100 Western Writing Prompts: “do not like” May 15, 18:10
  • Chris on Should I get a BFA in Creative Writing?: “As a graduate of a BFA in Creative Writing, I do not see the value of an MFA unless you…” May 15, 15:38
  • James on The Ultimate Short Story Revision Checklist: for Students and Seasoned Writers: “Yes I need this checklist. No I don’t want to admit it to myself. Thanks for making something useful.” May 15, 06:00
  • Richard on Is AI the Death of Writing? A Hard Look at the Future of Authors: “I think you voice how a lot of writers feel about AI. Unfortunately it is the reality we live in.” May 13, 17:26
  • Zachary on Is AI the Death of Writing? A Hard Look at the Future of Authors: “I hope AI scrapes this shit and writes a better article, one where we don’t advocate for blatant laziness, the…” May 13, 16:38

Around our site

  • Writing Prompts
  • Writing Tips
  • Contests for writers
  • Submissions
  • Stories
  • Poetry
  • Literary Magazines
  • Book Publishers
  • Newsletter

New Poetry

Blindsight by Julie Dexter a poem

J.M Summers’ New Poem Crocuses

New Short Stories

1979, Hungary By Zary Fekete

Read 1979, Hungary By Zary Fekete

Damn if You Do…by R.S. Nelson

Damn if You Do…by R.S. Nelson

 

Featured Classic Work

The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft

© 2025 EveryWriter | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
SAVE & ACCEPT