It may only take an hour to travel from writer Christie Collins’ childhood home in Amory to her current residence in Starkville, but her life’s path took a 4,000-mile detour between the two.
Collins recently relocated to Starkville after spending several years abroad in Wales completing her PhD in critical and creative writing at Cardiff University. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree from Mississippi University for Women and a Master’s degree from Mississippi State University, where she now serves as a lecturer in the English Department.
Collins is touring Mississippi to support her book “The Art of Coming Undone,” a full-length poetry collection published simultaneously in the United States and United Kingdom earlier this year. Following launch events in Starkville at Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern and Book Mart in the spring, she will appear at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson on Aug. 19, at Friendly City Books in Columbus on Aug. 26, and at the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium hosted by MUW in the fall.
In “The Art of Coming Undone,” Collins worked with Dutch artist Erna Kuik not only on the book cover, but also on images throughout the book. The two women took the unique approach of riffing on each others’ work. Some of Kuik’s artwork in the books are directly based on Collins’ poems, and in turn Collins wrote a few poems in response to artwork that Kuik, who specializes in printmaking, shared with her.
In a recent interview with The Dispatch, Collins spoke about her transatlantic journey and the process of creating her inventive poetry collection.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What is one of your favorite memories from attending MUW?
I think it might actually be impossible to pick just one. (There were) so many fabulous classes. (There were) so many memories with social club friends and English major friends. My favorite memory may be just arriving on campus and feeling that I finally fit in somewhere.
What led you to pursue your PhD abroad and go to Wales?
I started my PhD studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. A few years in, I didn’t have a poetry advisor and was unhappy with the program overall. Looking back, I also needed a radical change. Wales is an ancient and beautiful nation, and it was good to me. I will always consider Wales my second home.
How did the collaboration with Dutch artist Erna Kuik for your poetry collection “The Art of Coming Undone” come about?
I met Erna by chance at an art market in Amsterdam near the Vincent Van Gogh museum. I felt an immediate emotional connection to her art, as if it were already the visual counterpart to the poems I was writing at the time. We stayed in touch after our meeting, and a few months later, I asked her to collaborate with me. Luckily, she agreed!
Many of your poems deal with womanhood and painful subjects like mental illness, loss, divorce and reinvention. What are you hoping readers take away from them?
I would love for readers to read my poems and be reminded that they don’t have to stay in a fixed environment. They don’t have to remain stuck, if this is a situation they are facing. We’re in control of our own narratives.
Who are some of your favorite poets and writers?
I have so many, but the three I’m always quick to buy and read as soon as they release new works are Sally Rooney, Karen Russell and Natasha Trethewey.
Emily Liner is the owner of Friendly City Books, an independent bookstore and press in Columbus.
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