Author Diane Thiel traveled the world to get inspiration for her recent book.
Thiel, who published two books this summer and is working on the release of two more, teaches creative writing as an assistant professor in the English department. She said she began writing to express her feelings at difficult times in her life.
One of her latest books, The White Horse: A Columbian Journey, is creative nonfiction inspired by Thiel's visit to the Choc¢ rainforest in Columbia. Thiel said this particular trip, where she was doing environmental work, had a very strong influence on her worldview. She put together a memoir and travel literature piece based on her experiences, she said.
"This trip had an impact on my ethics, on my belief in the importance of activism,
and for writing to serve as a kind of activism as well," Thiel said. "I also had a keener sense of the way in which First World countries have impacted Third World countries - in some ways for the better, but in far too many other ways, for the worse."
Thiel said traveling is an important part of being a creative writer and recommend it to her students.
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"I always encourage students to travel, but to try to spend extended time in a place to really experience it," Thiel said. "It's also important not to travel just as a tourist. Having a project can help make a visit to another part of the world much more meaningful."
Philip Brady, director of the Etruscan Press, said he received Thiel's manuscript after he met her at a conference in Miami. He said he took her manuscript on a trip with him and intended to get back to her. But while he was in Alaska, partially through his trip, he called Thiel and signed her book to be published, he said.
He said her book is political, cultural and personal.
"Specifically, it represents the human urge to unite - to unite with other cultures, with the world, and with the other world, a magical world," Brady said.
Brady said he thinks Thiel is one of the best young poets in the country today.
"She's a fantastic writer," Brady said. "She's a very original person in poetry and also in prose."
In the book, Thiel reflects on herself and some family history, but often has to deal with the bigger picture of different social issues.
"It's often an unconscious decision (to include societal issues), but I think I want the work to be relevant to people's lives and concerns," Thiel said.
Resistance Fantasies, a collection of poetry, was published this summer by Story Line Press. Theil said the collection is a continuation of themes from her first book of poetry, Echolocations, which won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize in 2000. She said much of the work deals with making connections and finding new physical and emotional terrains.
COMING ATTRACTION
Diane Thiel
A reading reception will be held tonight for White Horse and Resistance Fantasies Jonson Gallery at 7 p.m.
