Hannah Weiner

Hannah Weiner lives in New York City where, in 1970, she became clairvoyant and began, in 1972, to "see words." Her book Clairvoyant Journal is a record of that process. The excerpted passage is from Weiner's most recent book, SPOKE, Sun & Moon Press, 1984. Other books include Code Signals, Magritte Sun June 9, Little Books/Indians, Nijole's House, and Sixteen. She received an NEA writing grant in 1986.


Working Notes, Hannah Weiner:

The origin of WEEKS: My friend, the writer Barbara Rosenthal, gave me a "page-a-day" diary last Christmas to encourage me to write. Not seeing words anymore, I looked for another source. I found it in the TV news, which accounts for the bulk of the material. I typed it up week by week, which accounts for the title.

SPOKE was written clairvoyantly. I saw the words in small groups on my forehead and wrote them down in a notebook. The large words were seen on the notebook page. I wrote it one summer late at night, in bed, in my mother's home.


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