Willis & Aliki Barnstone

Father/daughter poets Willis Barnstone and Aliki Barnstone, regular contributors to New Letters magazine, talk about how they influence each other’s work. Aliki, who was named the Missouri Poet Laureate in June 2016, had her first book published before her father’s, when she was just twelve years old. Now, his books of poetry and translations far outnumber hers. They read one of their earliest collaborations, published in New Letters in 1977, and Aliki reads from the book, Bright Body, and her collection of new and selected poems, Dear God, Dear Dr. Heartbreak, while Willis reads from Life Watch and one of his 501 Sonnets from The Secret Reader.