What Craig Santos Perez reads when he’s writing
At the National Book Award ceremony in November, Craig Santos Perez was so surprised that his collection “From Unincorporated Territory [åmot]” won the poetry award that he had to be reminded by his companions to get up from his chair and walk to the stage. He also had not written a speech. He is the first poet from Guam to win the award. He is the author of six collections and the co-editor of seven anthologies. He lives in San Diego.
BOOKS: What are you reading?
PEREZ: I’m not reading anything for myself at the moment. I’m writing a few blurbs so I am reading manuscripts. I just received the National Book Award winner in poetry from last year, Martin Espada’s “Floaters.” I’m looking forward to diving into that.
BOOKS: What’s the last book you read just for yourself ?
PEREZ: It was not a poetry book but a guide on how to train for a marathon by Hal Higdon. I’m planning to run a half marathon in January and then a full marathon later next year. It was really helpful. It talks about the mental side of long-distance running.
BOOKS: What is your typical reading?
PEREZ: For the last couple of years, I’ve been mostly been reading poetry or books in environmental studies. When I was on the faculty at the University of Hawaii, I taught a class on ecopoetry, which brings together poetry and the environment. I love the anthology “Black Nature” edited by Camille Dungy. It’s a collection of African American nature poetry. The other anthology I teach from is “The Ecopoetry Anthology,” edited by Ann FisherWirth. That’s the first and most comprehensive anthology of ecopoetry in the US.
BOOKS: When did you start reading ecopoetry?
PEREZ: Oh goodness. Probably dating back to when I was an undergrad but I’ve always been reading it in that almost all poetry is about the environment, such as the British Romantics like Wordsworth. Only the term ecopoetry is new.
‘My parents were voracious readers.’
BOOKS: When did you start reading poetry?
PEREZ: When I was 15, I had a great English teacher in high school who introduced me to poetry. I fell in love with it. I’d go to the bookstore after school or on the weekend and buy poetry books. Collections by W.S. Merwin, Robert Hass, Jane Hirshfield and Jack Gilbert. We had just moved to California from Guam, this small island with no big buildings or freeways. I was starting school, getting a driver’s license, and my parents wanted me to get a job. Everything was very busy and I didn’t have a lot of time to reflect on all these changes. That is where poetry came in, to slow down and reflect on this new, fast-paced lifestyle.
BOOKS: Were you a bookish kid? PEREZ: I was for part of the year because in Guam we have a dry season and a rainy season. During the rainy season I was inside a lot and that’s when I liked to read. My parents were voracious readers and always encouraged us to read, and I think that made me fall in love with books.
BOOKS: When did you start reading Pacific Island authors?
PEREZ: Not until I was in graduate school when I was able to go online and find more Pacific literature that I hadn’t learned about when I was younger.
BOOKS: Who were some of the authors you discovered then?
PEREZ: One was Albert Wendt, a famous Samoan author, whose bestknown novel is “Leaves of the Banyan Tree.” Another was Patricia Grace, a Maori author from New Zealand. She wrote “Potiki,” which is about a Maori family who is trying to stay connected to their culture.
BOOKS: Where would you suggest readers new to Pacific Island authors start? PEREZ: I would send them to some anthologies. My most recent one, “Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures,” includes most of the major and emerging contemporary Pacific writers. Albert Wendt edited “Nuanua,” which was one of the first anthologies of Pacific literature.
BOOKS: Will you have more time for reading during your holiday break? PEREZ: Maybe, but I’m planning on writing, and I try to not read when I’m working. There is maybe one thing I’ll read. I’m training for a triathlon next year. I might get a triathlon book.