Lorine Niedecker (1903-70) was a poet of the objectivist school who loved a quiet, almost reclusive life on Black Hawk Island near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Cid Corman, editor of the influential and pioneering literary journal Origin, learned of Niedecker from poet Louis Zukofsky. This annotated edition of the letters from Niedecker to her editor and fellow poet Corman charts the development of a warm and important literary friendship. These letters furnish some of the only biographical information available on the reticent Niedecker, reveal the literary process in progress, and demonstrate how much being a poet in America is a matter of choice, hard work, and a clearheaded commitment to the realities of time and place.

The early letters were written before Niedecker's marriage and at a time when the poet had "more trees for friends than people." In these letters from Black Hawk Island, Niedecker sought a community of fellow poets. The following period, the Milwaukee years, form the bulk of the collection and saw the establishment of Niedecker's identity as a poet. From the city of "point-top towers," she wrote Corman frequently about poetry, other poets, current events, and daily life. After her return in 1969 to Black Hawk Island, relieved of earlier anxieties over publication, she was confidently at work on her sequences, her most serious poetic undertaking.

"Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts… I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated."—From a letter by Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment, February 10, 1985

A revolutionary imprisoned on an island fortress may hold the key to peace in the Middle East. The leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, is considered by many to be the “Kurdish Mandela”, courageously issuing proposals for peace even from his prison cell. His ideas on democracy, women's liberation, and freedom have even inspired the remarkable Rojava Revolution in northern Syria. As Turkey descended into tyranny and Syria exploded in civil war, a peace delegation of European politicians, academics, and journalists, led by Nelson Mandela's lawyer and Supreme Court judge Essa Moosa, repeatedly attempted to go to meet with Öcalan at his prison on Imrali Island. Your Freedom and Mine tells the story of these momentous delegations.
 
The book opens with an informative historical overview of the Kurdish Question, leading up until the optimistic opening—and eventual bitter failure—of the peace process in Turkey. It includes official documents and reports from the Imrali Delegations in Istanbul and Diyarbakir/Amed, which involved in-depth interviews with Kurdish and Turkish politicians, media, and civil society regarding the degenerating political and human rights situation. The final section is a collection of testimonials from delegation participants. Your Freedom and Mine offers crucial insight into the dramatic history and current reality of the Kurdish struggle for recognition and peace in Turkey.