Anya Achtenberg is the award-winning writer of novel Blue Earth, recently published; and the novella, The Stories of Devil-Girl (both with Modern History Press); poetry books The Stone of Language, and, I Know What the Small Girl Knew. She teaches creative writing, works individually with writers, and takes groups of writers, artists, filmmakers, and others, to Cuba. She is currently working on the novel History Artist.
Topics of conversation:
- Commitment to Social Change
- Family displacement, gentrification, and loss of family farms
- Family Farms, Injuries and illness related to farming
- Societal Crimes
- Violence against women and children
Listen to the Podcast interview here!
Anya Achtenberg
Modern History Press (2012)
ISBN 9781615991464
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (8/12)
Read interview with author on ReaderViews.com
Read the review on ReaderViews.com
Synopsis: Blue Earth opens as Carver Heinz loses both farm and family in the farm crisis of the 1980s. Displaced into urban Minneapolis, he becomes obsessed with Angie, a beautiful child he rescues from a tornado in an encounter he insists they keep silent. Her close friendship with a Dakota Indian boy fuels Carver’s rage and unleashes a series of events that echoes their shared histories, including the 1862 Dakota Conflict and public hanging of 38 Dakotas the largest mass execution in U.S. history.