Interview with Author Nicholas Samaras

In a recent interview with “Ancient Faith Radio,” poet Nicholas Samaras spoke about his Ashland Poetry Press book “American Psalm, World Psalm.” Samaras discussed how his faith, his poetry, and his love of music fused to create this ambitious collection of poems focused on the biblical psalms.

Since the psalms were originally set to music, Samaras said he thought it would be a fascinating project to try to imagine the biblical psalms as rendered in contemporary music.

"I came to poetry through music, through pop music, through folk music, through rock and roll. And so I thought: What would a psalm be like if it were rendered in American rhythm & blues, in American jazz, in folk music, in modern hip hop music? What would that do to the cadences? And how much of the psalms if made contemporary would still retain their universality of human experience?"

The resulting collection of poems was published by Ashland Poetry Press in April of 2014. The book is available from Amazon, SPD Books, Ashland Poetry Press, or from your local bookseller.

As part of the interview, Samaras read several of the poems in the book, and discussed how and why he writes. You can listen to the entire interview at http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/features/american_psalm_world_psalm