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. 

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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/