The Friends of Lorine Niedecker publishes “What Region?”, a monograph pamphlet series related to the life and writing of Lorine Niedecker. The title of the series comes from a letter Niedecker wrote to Cid Corman in 1969:
I sent University of Wisconsin Milwaukee a copy of T&G way back in Sept. A few days ago I wrote: Did you fail to receive? They answer they’ve placed it with reigional materials. I should ask: What region—London, Wisconsin, New York?
Published Monographs
Issue 1.1: Lorine Niedecker’s Century 1903 – 2003 – by Jenny Penberthy; The text of a public lecture given at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on 8 May 2003, a few days before the 100th anniversary of Niedecker’s birth (on 12 May 1903).
Issue 1.2: Increase Lapham and Lorine Niedecker – by Martha Bergland and Paul Hayes; The text of a paper delivered at the Lorine Niedecker Wisconsin Poetry Festival on 11 October 2014 detailing the historical background of 19th century Wisconsin naturalists Increase Lapham, Asa Gray, and James Percival and contextualizing their appearance in two short Niedecker poems.
Issue 2.1: Lorine Niedecker: The Poet In Her Place – by David Wilk; Recounts the author’s long engagement with the poetry of Lorine Niedecker, including the circumstances surrounding his editing of a special issue of the literary magazine Truck in the Summer of 1975 dedicated to Niedecker.
Issue 3.1: Lorine Niedecker in Spain – by Natalia Carbajosa; Discusses the author’s experiences translating Niedecker’s highly-compressed, exceptionally musical poetry from English to Spanish.
Issue 4.1: Lorine Niedecker’s Short Fiction – by Jenny Penberthy, Kate Colby, Flora Coker, & Karl Gartung; This issue of ‘What Region?’ is meant to give Lorine Niedecker’s fiction the respect it deserves. Jenny Penberthy’s essay explores the first two of the fictions, ‘Uncle’ and ‘Switchboard Girl.’ Kate Colby examines Niedecker’s poetics regarding ‘The evening’s automobiles.’ Karl Gartung provides a preface, and Flora Coker performs supplemental recordings of all three fictions. Purchase print copy from Woodland Pattern.
Editorial Board
Karl Gartung: Co-editor
Tom Montag
Jenny Penberthy: Contributing Editor
Chuck Stebelton: Co-editor
David Wilk: Contributing Editor
Correspondence and inquiries can be directed to:
What Region?
c/o Tom Montag
P.O. Box 8
Fairwater, WI 53951