Kimberly Campanello on Autofiction, the Midwest, and Notebooks

“How do you sound like you know what you’re doing when you don’t have the words”

Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It’s a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She’s finding a new language.

Kimberly’s work moves between forms, genres, and histories. She’s the author of MOTHERBABYHOME (zimZALLA), a harrowing and formally innovative response to Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes, is held in the national poetry special collections across the U.K and Ireland. Her poetry has appeared in publications like Granta, The White Review, and The Poetry Review, and essays in Tolka. And, this year, her poetry collection, AN INTERESTING DETAIL was released by Bloomsbury. 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod



Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon

https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

 Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 





Rippling Points

01:30 - Motherbabyhome

02:07 - From motherbabyhome to Use the words you have

05:38 - What is the novel about

08:02 - Sounding like you know what you’re doing when you don’t

09:51 - Differences poetry and the novel

11:46 - Who is K

14:16 - Belief and reading

15:58 - Making sense through Rimbaud

16:28 - Life in the Midwest

20:03 - Rippling Pages Bookshop

21:05 - K in Paris

22:16 - K’s notebook

25:37 - Wonky translations

29:19 - Kimberly’s notebooks.



Reference Points

Hart Crane

Dante

Marguerite Duras

Annie Ernaux

Tony Harrison

Marcel Proust

Arthur Rimbaud 

Nathalie Sarraute

Bruce Omar Yates review https://thelondonmagazine.org/review-use-the-words-you-have-by-kimberly-campanello/