Samantha Willman: Truth, Poetry, and the Love It Demands
Samantha Willman is co-founder of Romanticon, a literary magazine reviving Romantic thought for the modern moment. She talks building community from scratch, why sincerity is the counterculture now, and what poets like Rilke can teach artists about creative survival.
Episode 018 – Samantha Willman | MAKE // BREAK
Samantha Willman is a Canadian writer, designer, and editor based in Montréal. She co-founded and co-edits Romanticon, a Substack literary magazine dedicated to neo-romanticism and new sincerity, alongside Anthony Galluzzo, Paul Franz, and Matthew Gasda. She also publishes Marbl, a personal newsletter exploring intimacy, symbolism, and the interior life. Her 2016 book Behind The First One was published through the Canadian Academy in Rome. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Samantha unpacks why irony culture has hollowed out creative life, how she built a thriving 60-person poetry reading series from nothing, and why approaching truth with love (not optimization) is the real survival strategy for artists.
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