It is difficult to imagine finding the time to write poetry between teaching English courses at Wake Technical Community College and the responsibilities of fatherhood, but somehow Al does it.
After teaching at Louisburg College for a few years in the early nineties, he moved to Wake Tech where he has taught for over 18 years, and has been Co-chair of the Fine Arts Committee for the past 8. He teaches literature, composition, and creative writing.
Not only is he a prolific writer and busy teacher, but he also finds the time to be a loving father to his five-year-old adopted daughter, which is no small task for a man who began fatherhood at the age of 49, “Most of my friends are worried about paying for their kids’ college tuition,” Maginnes joked, “I’m thinking about how my daughter went up a reading level in kindergarten.”
Maginnes has won several awards for his poetry. His first full book of poems, Taking Up Our Daily Tools, won recognition from the North Carolina Poetry Council. He has also been awarded by the Lily Peter Fellowship at the University of Arkansas, the North Carolina Arts Council, and by the White Pine Poetry Press.
Maginnes draws influence from the poetry of Philip Levine and Charles Wright, and also jazz music, but admits, “I try to work on writing whether or not I’m inspired. Writing can also be therapy, but I don’t usually share those.”
He began writing stories around the age of 8, which got him started. “Most of it was copying the things I read, but a writer is really just a reader moved to imitation.”
Maginnes is working on a new poetry collection, which will be available in October of this year. The work is entitled Inventing Constellations, and many of the poems are inspired by his newfound fatherhood. His favorite poem in the collection, “Prayer for the Imponderables,” is about him being away on his own while he felt he should have been at home taking care of his daughter.
Despite the increased popularity of the internet, Maginnes believes that it has not severely affected the publishing industry, but he does admit that it “makes it hard to separate the wheat from the chaff,” meaning that there is so much out there, it becomes difficult to distinguish the quality of literary works. He encourages writers to never give up, however, “Stay at it,” he says, “Get a thick skin. People are going to tell you no. Just stick at it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment