Each semester, the Writing University hosts the 5Q Interview series with authors from the University of Iowa Press. We sit down with UI Press authors to ask about their work, their process, their reading lists and events. Today we are speaking with Mackenzie Kozak, the author of no swaddle (University of Iowa Press, 2025.)
Mackenzie Kozak is associate editor at Orison Books and works as a therapist specializing in grief counseling. Her poetry has appeared in the Boston Review, Colorado Review, DIAGRAM, jubilat, Missouri Review, Muzzle Magazine, Sixth Finch, THRUSH Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Kozak lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
1. Can you tell us a little bit about your new book no swaddle?
no swaddle is a collection of poems grappling with the question of whether or not to become a mother. The speaker in the poems examines origins, other mothers, and attempts to picture both futures as a way of gaining clarity. I chose to use the American sonnet form for these poems, in that each poem is 14 lines long, and I chose to leave the poems untitled to create an uninterrupted experience of reading the book.
2. What was the inspiration for this work?
I found inspiration for this book through my own process of sitting in spaces of ambivalence over the question of whether or not to mother. I have found it to be a lonely question, at times, because it seems that most of the people around me have felt clarity over this question and also have a lot of opinions about what conclusion others should come to regarding this decision. I wrote the poems as a way of processing my confusion, my grief, all the picturing I was doing in my head, and the shame that arose around societal expectations of women and bodies and purpose.
3. Do you have any plans for readings or events for this book, either in person or virtual?
I've had a couple of readings in Asheville and one in Durham, and I'll be doing a little tour on the east coast, stopping in Winchester, VA, Portland, ME, and Brooklyn, NY. I've also got a reading in Sylva, NC on August 9th, and Charleston, SC on August 17, and Chapel Hill, NC on September 14. I'm really excited to be a featured reader at the Punch Bucket Lit Festival in Asheville the weekend of September 19. Hoping to continue to book readings, but this is what I have so far :)
4. What are you reading right now? Any books from other university or independent presses?
I'm currently reading a few poetry books: Theophanies by Sarah Ghazal Ali (Alice James Books), Last Day of My Face by James Shea (University of Iowa Press), and With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). I just finished reading the short story collection Sleepovers by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips (Hub City Press) which moved me to tears repeatedly.
5. What is your writing routine? Do you have a daily routine?
I work as a therapist during the week, so I don't generally have the energy to write daily, but I try to carve out time weekly on Fridays to return to my writing projects. I also sign up for the Grind (a month-long daily writing group, started by Ross White) a few times a year, to push/force myself into a daily writing rhythm. For me, I find I need at least a few hours in a row to sit down as a poet and get into a writing headspace, so I have to be intentional with creating pockets of time for my work.
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BUY THE BOOK: no swaddle