Nick Ripatrazone: On the Surprising History of Poetry

Nick Ripatrazone is the culture editor for Image Journal, a staff writer at The Millions, and a columnist for Literary Hub. He has written for Rolling Stone, GQ, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and Esquire. He is also the author of Longing for an Absent God, Wild Belief, and Digital Communion. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and twin daughters. Find him on Twitter.

In this post, Nick discusses the process of writing his new historical book, The Habit of Poetry, his advice for writers, and more!

Name: Nick Ripatrazone
Book title: The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Mid-Century America
Publisher: Fortress Press
Release date: May 9, 2023
Genre/category: History
Previous titles: Longing for an Absent God, Wild Belief, Digital Communion
Elevator pitch for the book: Something of a minor literary renaissance happened in mid 20th-century America from an unexpected source: Nuns were writing poetry, and being published and praised in secular venues. Their literary moment has faded into history, but it is worth revisiting.

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Literary magazines—publications of poetry, fiction, and essays—are what made me want to become a writer. As a college student, I’d sit with a pile of issues in the campus library and was introduced to a variety of writers and styles.

I’ve never stopped reading these magazines, and over the years have noticed that a number of nuns have appeared in these pages. I wrote the book to discover—and reveal for readers—the story behind these talented poets.

The book began seven years ago as an essay about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the 17th-century Mexican poet-nun famous for her iconic verses and trailblazing sense of the role of religious creative women. Although she was a singular talent, I wondered: Who has followed in her literary footsteps?

Over the years, I began to investigate the lives and writing of American nun poets. I wrote essays for a variety of publications, from literature sites (like Literary Hub) to magazines with a religious focus (like America: The Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture). I realized that a wide range of readers were curious about these literary nuns. Two years ago, I set out to write the actual book.

All books are made of other books. Sometimes that creation is direct, through research and citation; otherwise, we are working in a lineage of thought.

Since much of The Habit of Poetry focuses on a historical moment that predates my own life, I needed to inhabit that world through reading the work of these women, as well as a process I call “reading around” them—reading the poets and writers with whom they shared the pages of magazines.

When I reached the stage of publishing where I had to finalize my bibliography for the book, it was extensive. Some authors aren’t thrilled with the process of indexing, but I like it: Creating an index is like giving a tour of your book. If you enjoy the tour yourself, that’s probably a good sign for your readers.

I was surprised to learn how many famous and renowned writers were correspondents (and fans!) of these nun poets: Flannery O’Connor, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, James Wright, Randall Jarrell, Allen Tate, Denise Levertov, Robert Penn Warren, and Seamus Heaney.

The poetry of these nuns is devotional and deft, complex and contemplative. This mid-20th century renaissance by nun poets is more than a literary footnote; it is a case study in how women negotiate tradition and individual creativity.

Accepting that writing is real, physical work is a necessary step in becoming an author. I love the word “manuscript,” because it reminds me that there is a manual component to this art form: A book is made by many hands.

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