Labor of Love: Barrelhousing with Courtney LeBlanc
For the third interview in my series on writer-publishers, I got in contact with the brilliant Courtney LeBlanc, whose most recent collection is Her Whole Bright Life. I first met Courtney when I hosted her for reading in the Fall of 2023 at the bookstore I ran in Orlando, Florida. She is one of those writers that is instantly memorable, funny, and leaves the room a little brighter than when she entered it (even if her poetry is raw and at times heartbreaking.) Courtney has contributed to her local community in her role as Poet Laureate of Arlington County Virginia, and the world at large through her press, Riot in Your Throat in addition to being a longtime friend of the magazine, mostly recently participating in Barrelhouse’s 2024 Writing Conference. This the conversation we had back and forth over email around the beginning of June.
To start with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about your writing journey?
I started writing when I was a tween and never really stopped. I studied business as an undergrad and for my first grad degree, and my day job is completely outside the creative world (more on that in a bit!) and for a few years writing took a backseat but was always there. I started getting serious again about writing in my mid-thirties and in my late thirties went back to school for my MFA, graduating the week I turned forty. My goals for my MFA program were to find my writing community, improve my writing, and write my first full length collection. I’m happy to report I accomplished all three! My first full length collection, Beautiful & Full of Monsters, was my thesis for the program. When I made the commitment to get my MFA I also made the commitment to prioritize writing and poetry-related things – that has held true ever since.
What made you want to be a writer?
I don’t think it was ever a conscious decision to be a writer, rather it’s something I always did and was always a part of me. I can’t imagine not writing. It’s an integral part of who I am.
Last year, you came down to Orlando where we hosted you at Zeppelin Books. One of the things that struck me about your reading was your slam ability. I still remember you getting up on the mic and just firing off these gut-wrenching beautiful lines from memory. Assuming I’m remembering this correctly, can you talk about how you got into slam and its impact on your work?
I’m actually not a slam poet! I’ve attended slams but never participated or competed. I just feel that when a poem is memorized and I can make eye contact with the audience it’s a stronger, more intimate performance. To that end I memorized my entire set list to give the crowd an immersive experience.
Your next collection Her Dark Everything is forthcoming in April 2025 from Riot in Your Throat, what can you tell us about this project?
In summer 2023 I lost a poet-friend to suicide. Around the same time my best friend was undergoing a radical and little-studied treatment to combat her lifelong battle with severe clinical depression. This treatment, Ketamine infusions, saved her life. So the collection is half elegy to my friend who died and half love poems to my best friend, who survived.
Many of your poems tackle heavy subject of a personal manner. How do you handle writing about subjects like these and how do you guard your peace and wellbeing when writing into this space?
Writing is very therapeutic for me and so I tend to lean hard into it and write exhaustively about whatever topic I’m dealing with – my dad’s death, my disordered eating, etc. – until I feel I’ve written through it. It’s not a substitute for actual therapy but it does help get it out of my head and heart a bit. If it’s feeling too intense, I step away from writing and take my dogs for a hike – being in the woods with them, without anyone else around us, is a great way to reset and protect myself.
What is your writing process like? Do you gravitate toward any particular forms when you write?
I don’t have a set writing process; I write when inspiration hits. But I also try to participate in workshops whenever I can – I love being around other writers and get a lot of energy from them. Yes, I’m one of those weird, extroverted writers! I started a Poetry Coven, a monthly generative writing workshop, to build community and write with others. I most often write free verse, but I’ve found that form poetry can be really beneficial when writing about a difficult topic. Having rules to follow – or break! – can really open up my writing.
What writers have influenced your writing?
How much space do you have?! 😊 I really love Megan Falley, Jeanann Verlee, Kelly Grace Thomas, Laura Passin, Melissa Fite Johnson – these are writers I really admire, and I’m drawn to their poetry. I’m always looking for their poems. I’m also fortunate that I’m good friends with several of them which just deepens my connection to their writing.
When I was looking at your biography, I noticed some of your books were published by your press and some books were published by other publishers. When you are assembling a collection, what makes you say, “this is a Riot collection” vs “I’m going to send this one out to other independent presses like Write Bloody”?
I approach it differently – my first collection was published in March 2020, the week the pandemic shut down the world. I didn’t get a lot of support from my publisher, which is understandable – we were all trying to figure out how to survive, but I wanted more from the experience, that’s why I founded my press, Riot in Your Throat. I wanted to both publish the kind of poetry I love – fierce and feminist – and I wanted to support the poets by heavily promoting their work, helping them schedule readings, and getting the books into the hands of readers. I wanted to provide the kind of experience I craved. My second collection came out under Riot, but we were still in the pandemic (Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart was published July 2021). When I started working on the collection that would become Her Whole Bright Life, which Write Bloody published, I wanted to get it out into the world with a press that was well-established and well known. Now having experienced working with two different publishers I feel I’m my own best advocate for my work. I’m also very Type A so maintaining control at every step is nice too! 😊
After being the editor for so long, can you talk about the experience of having the role reversal and being the one being edited?
I’ve always enjoyed it. I completed my MFA five years ago and still exchange work with a group of poets each month – having another set of eyes, or several sets of eyes, on your work is key in ensuring it’s polished. Even when I’m publishing my own collections, I hire an editor – I want to make sure it’s ready! And I think editing other’s work and being edited makes me a better writer.
How did you come to found Riot in Your Throat Press? How does running a press influence your work /or writing process? Are there any particular writers you have worked with that have influenced your work?
In fall of 2020, when everything was still shut down and we all were teleworking 100%, I found myself looking for a project that would allow me to engage more with the poetry community. When I started toying with the idea of starting a press I sat down with some publisher friends – Dan Brady of Barrelhouse being one of them! – and asked questions and talked through the process. I knew what kind of relationship I wanted from a publisher: more support, more communication, more promotion, more connectedness, and I felt like I could provide that. I tell the poets I publish that I will only publish a collection if I’m obsessed with it. I want poems that haunt me. My favorite thing about reading submissions is when I find a manuscript that makes me hold my breath because it’s so good. Every collection published by Riot in Your Throat is a manuscript I couldn’t put down. Those fierce, feminist voices fuel me – both as a reader and as a writer.
It’s often inspiring. I get to read so much amazing poetry and it often will make me want to write. To quote Jane Kenyon, I think it’s important to “have good sentences in your ears.”
In a similar vein, what book are you most proud of publishing so far?
You’re asking me to choose a favorite! Impossible! I’m proud of each of them for different reasons! What I can say is I’ve been so fortunate to publish so many poets’ first collection and that is a thing of joy. Holding someone’s very first book in my hands and knowing I helped bring it into the world fills my heart. And then hearing them say the publishing experience with Riot was wonderful gives me a warm-fuzzy and makes me feel like I’m accomplishing what I set out to do – to give poets the kind of publishing experience I wanted.
Can you talk a little about community and community building from both the perspective of the publisher and writer?
When I sign a poet with the press, I tell them “Welcome to the Riot in Your Throat family!” and then I work really hard to make sure they feel like they’re a part of the community I’ve built. This means connecting them with other writers, helping them schedule readings, letting them know when prizes are available, and supporting them as much as possible. I’m fortunate that I’ve become close friends with many of the poets I’ve published, it’s truly been enriching. I regularly text and email them, send them poems I’ve discovered, and I’ve sent more than one poet a care package because I knew they were going through a rough time and sometimes homemade pumpkin bread is exactly what’s needed. From the writer perspective I actively work to build and sustain community – as I mentioned before I run a monthly generative poetry workshop (Poetry Coven) and I’m involved in my local writing communities. I’m fortunate I live in an area with a thriving literary community, and I try to attend events and readings as much as possible.
In July of 2023, you were named Poet Laureate of Arlington, Virginia (congrats on your one year), what made you seek out the Poet Laureate role, how has it changed you, and what project(s) are you most proud of implementing in that role?
Thanks! When Arlington first introduced the Poet Laureate position in 2018, I knew immediately I wanted to apply. I didn’t get it that time, or the second time, but my persistence paid off because I became the 3rd Poet Laureate of Arlington in summer 2023! It’s been so thrilling and rewarding, and I’ve done a bunch of projects – I judged the annual poetry contest for inmates of the Arlington County Jail and was able to present the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes during a ceremony. I was a part of Arlington’s event for National Women’s History month. I’m leading a Poetry in the Park event in the fall (walking through a local park, reading poems, talking about them, and then writing our own nature-inspired poetry), and I’m writing and reading a poem for an event at the Dark Star Park later this summer. I have other ideas for poetry projects I’m hoping to execute but I only have another year left in my appointment so we’ll see what I can accomplish! For me the most amazing part about being the Poet Laureate is getting to bring the thing I love, poetry, to the community I love.
In an effort to create a transparent and realistic view of the writer-publisher I want to ask about your day job, what it is and how you balance all these different hats (or how you made publishing your full-time job)?
I would love to say that writing and publishing are my full-time job but that sadly isn’t true. My full-time job is in International Affairs for the US Government, about as far away from writing as a person can get! I like to say that my day job funds my poetry habit. 😊 I’m fortunate that my job is interesting and pays well, so it can fund things like running a small press, which makes absolutely no money. I’m a very organized, Type A person – I’ve yet to meet a list or spreadsheet I didn’t love – and this helps me balance all the hats I wear: International Affairs, Poet, Publisher. It also helps that I’m extroverted, which is rare for writers, so I get energy from being around people, especially writers. This helps keep momentum for all the poetry projects I manage.
What advice do you have for someone wanting to work in publishing?
I think knowing early on that publishing, at least as a small press, is not going to make you rich…or even break even most of the time. It’s truly a labor of love and so most people involved with small presses are likely doing it on a volunteer basis or as a side job. Perhaps working with a big publisher is different but I don’t have any experience with that. Also realize it’s a ton of work. I probably spend ~30 hours a week on poetry and press stuff, in addition to my full-time job. But I get so much joy and reward from poetry that it’s worth it to me.
Since its founding in 2004, Barrelhouse has ended every interview with the same question: what is your favorite Patrick Swayze movie? (Having recently reread Her Whole Bright Life I suspect I know the answer to this)
There is only one right answer to this question and it’s Dirty Dancing.
Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full-length collections Her Whole Bright Life (winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize); Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart; and Beautiful & Full of Monsters. Her next collection, Her Dark Everything is forthcoming in April 2025. She is the Arlington County Poet Laureate and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Find her online at www.courtneyleblanc.com.
Alex Gurtis is the author of the chapbook When the Ocean Comes to Me (Bottlecap Press, 2024). A ruth weiss Foundation Maverick Poet Award Finalist, Alex received his MFA from the University of Central Florida. His work as a poet and critic has appeared in or is forthcoming in anthologies and publications such as Autofocus, Barrelhouse, HAD, Rejection Letters, and The Shore among others. He is the co-owner of Zeppelin Books.