Hilda Raz: A Celebration
Rent from DeepDyve- Hilda Raz:A Celebration
My identification of Hilda Raz with Prairie Schooner goes back to my incipient, tentative association of myself with "poet." It's August 1973, opening day of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. I hear a knock at the door of my aerie in The Annex; I see even now Hilda's penumbra of dark hair. She wears a seersucker pantsuit, perfect summer professional attire for the contributing editor of a venerable literary magazine (but soon to be replaced by the jeans and denim shirts of that era on the mountain). We descend together for our entrance into the clamorous dining room at the Inn and two glorious weeks of immersion in words heard, overheard, uttered. All these heady days, Hilda's intellect shines.
The first letter in my stack of saved correspondence from Hilda—my first acceptance letter from Prairie Schooner—is dated 19 September 1973: "I've waited to write, hoping to have good news for you, and now I do, I do. Bernice Slote chose four poems . . . to include with a group of poems by people from Bread Loaf in the, hang onto your hat, the NEXT issue."
Fourteen years later, Hilda would become editor-in-chief of Prairie Schooner, and later Glenna Luschei Endowed Professor and Editor-in-Chief. Steadily she would place her unique stamp on the magazine and extend its reach, all the while continuing to delight with her own poetry and nonfiction. Throughout her tenure, Hilda has been an inspiring model of the editor-author-professor's engagement, a literary life in the world. Her editorial compass has continued to enlarge us with a rich panoply of work, literary traditions, [End Page 7] and tradition-breaking. Her vision and energy produced the special issues of the magazine; we collaborated on one, "Writing from Australia," the Winter 1988/89 issue. That same vision and energy produced the indispensable Prairie Schooner anthologies and the acclaimed Prairie Schooner poetry and fiction book series.
I cherish these thirty-seven years with Hilda—the projects we have shared, her enduring support for my work, the brilliance and fervor of hers.
Hilda's passion for her arts animates this excerpt from another letter, written 13 November 1985: "The working is most important to me. And that means reading about Fr. feminists, manuscripts for the Nebraska issue, Sarah's work (a long poem on Noah she wrote for David Hadas . . .), and the Barbara Guest biography of H.D. at night for the 15 minutes allowed before I fall into sleep. At least that was the map yesterday."
I wish Hilda joy as she charts the days ahead. I feel sure they too will lead to odd and splendid places for her and, through her work, for us all.
Carole Simmons Oles is the author of eight books of poems, most recently Waking Stone: Inventions on the Life of Harriet Hosmer. She returned to Bread Loaf for many summers on the faculty of the Writers' Conference and the School of English.
