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Welcome to the weekly podcast of the public radio literary program "New Letters on the Air." Listening to "New Letters on the Air" is like eavesdropping on intimate conversations with favorite writers who reveal secrets about their creative methods, read a few favorite passages, and inspire the list…

New Letters magazine

  • Aug 14, 2020 LATEST EPISODE
  • weekly NEW EPISODES
  • 30 EPISODES


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Latest episodes from New Letters - On the Air - Audio feed

New Letters On the Air Back to the Writing Well

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2020


Our "Classics Series" continues as we go "Back to the Writing Well" to hear from writers of place, including the late Pat Conroy. Famous for his novels about the south, with several made into movies such as The Great Santini, he finally puts his father to rest with his 2013 memoir, ...

New Letters On the Air The Writing Well

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2020


We continue our "Classics Series" by going to the writing well to fill our creative spirits with advice from several fiction writers, including Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Jane Smiley, who reveals her "Five Writing Tips." The author of the trilogy of novels...

New Letters On the Air Clarion Collection

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2020


We begin our "Classics Series" with our program celebrating our 2013 Clarion Award for Best Radio Talk/Interview Program from the Association for Women in Communications, which features audio excerpts from our award-winning interviews. Jamaica Kincaid reads from her novel Mr. Potter, based loosely on her life and relationship with her father, while ...

New Letters On the Air Favorites

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2020


This program features excerpts from shows of the past decade with multi-award winning poet Nikki Giovanni; a new poetry voice for the decade, Marcus Wicker; Booker Prize winning Australian writer, Thomas Keneally, whose novel was the basis for the film Schindler's List; the always inspiring workshop poet, ...

New Letters On the Air Women Writing Women

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2020


In this special anthology program novelist Meg Wolitzer (shown) and poet Molly Peacock both discuss the importance of writing about the lives and work of women. Wolitzer reads from her novel The Female Persuasion while Peacock shares poems from her collection...

New Letters On the Air Molly Peacock

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2020


American-Canadian essayist, poet and biographer Molly Peacock gives an in-depth look into her latest work, The Analyst, her 2017 poetry collection that traces her decades-long relationship with her...

New Letters On the Air Joy Harjo: Save America's Treasures Selection

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2020


To show your support, email telltheprovost@umkc.edu Current U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (2019-2021) talks about her Native American heritage and reads poetry from her fourth book, In Mad Love and War, that won the American Book Award, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Prize, and the William ...

New Letters On the Air Cheers to All the Years

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2020


To show your support for our radio program, email telltheprovost@umkc.edu and let UMKC know what New Letters on the Air means to you. As we near what may be the end of our 43 years of broadcasting, we look back at our decades of publishing the National Magazine Award-winning New Letters, the American Book Award-winning BkMk (BookMark) Press, and the radio show, New Letters on the Air...

New Letters On the Air Nikky Finney

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2020


Poet Nikky Finney discusses how her sense of social justice was informed  by her father, the first African American Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, revealing how growing up in the political household shaped her art. She reads a poetic tribute to her father from her second book, Rice, as well as her long, piercing poem "Dancing with Strom" from her fourth collection, the National Book A...

New Letters On the Air Nikky Finney

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2020


Poet Nikky Finney discusses how her sense of social justice was informed  by her father, the first African American Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, revealing how growing up in the political household shaped her art. She reads a poetic tribute to her father from her second book, Rice, as well as her long, piercing poem "Dancing with Strom" from her fourth collection, the National Book A...

New Letters On the Air Etheridge Knight: Past American Voice

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2020


The late Etheridge Knight began writing poetry in the 1960s, when he was imprisoned for armed robbery, where he discovered that "art is ultimately about freedom." This program features excerpts from a 1986 poetry reading and a 1989 interview by Rebekah Presson, when they discuss the role of black men in society and his use of prison as a metaphor. The author of four books, his work continues to inspire younger ...

New Letters On the Air Etheridge Knight: Past American Voice

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2020


The late Etheridge Knight began writing poetry in the 1960s, when he was imprisoned for armed robbery, where he discovered that "art is ultimately about freedom." This program features excerpts from a 1986 poetry reading and a 1989 interview by Rebekah Presson, when they discuss the role of black men in society and his use of prison as a metaphor. The author of four books, his work continues to inspire younger ...

New Letters On the Air Claudia Rankine

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2020


A 2016 MacArthur "Genius" and a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow, Claudia Rankine discusses her fifth poetry book, Citizen: An American Lyric. This multi-award-winning work features poetry and prose along with art, ranging from contemporary pieces and William Turner's paintings of The Slave Ship and talks about her collaboration with he...

New Letters On the Air Claudia Rankine

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2020


A 2016 MacArthur "Genius" and a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow, Claudia Rankine discusses her fifth poetry book, Citizen: An American Lyric. This multi-award-winning work features poetry and prose along with art, ranging from contemporary pieces and William Turner's paintings of The Slave Ship and talks about her collaboration with he...

New Letters On the Air That's It!

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2020


This special program features the final issue of new works of poetry, fiction, essays and reviews, edited by Robert Stewart for New Letters: Volume 86 Nos. 1 and 2. In this Diastole House reading in February 2020,...

New Letters On the Air That's It!

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2020


This special program features the final issue of new works of poetry, fiction, essays and reviews, edited by Robert Stewart for New Letters: Volume 86 Nos. 1 and 2. In this Diastole House reading in February 2020,...

New Letters On the Air Virginia Brackett

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2020


Virginia Brackett, the author of 15 books, discusses her 2019 family memoir, In the Company of Patriots. She reveals how she used family stories, scrapbooks, letters, and interviews to trace the life of her father, Captain Edmund C. Roberts, who was killed in the Korean War when she was only eight months old. The Park University Professor Emeritus of English als...

New Letters On the Air Virginia Brackett

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2020


Virginia Brackett, the author of 15 books, discusses her 2019 family memoir, In the Company of Patriots. She reveals how she used family stories, scrapbooks, letters, and interviews to trace the life of her father, Captain Edmund C. Roberts, who was killed in the Korean War when she was only eight months old. The Park University Professor Emeritus of English als...

New Letters On the Air Jericho Brown

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2020


Guggenheim fellow Jericho Brown describes the joy he finds in writing poetry and how his work helps him examine his world as a gay black man. He talks about some of his poetic mentors—from Emily Dickinson to Alice Walker—and the lessons he strives to pass along to his students at Emory University. He also reveals the story behind changing his name and discusses his childhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was raised by fundamental Christians. Brown reads from his second collec...

New Letters On the Air Jericho Brown

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2020


Guggenheim fellow Jericho Brown describes the joy he finds in writing poetry and how his work helps him examine his world as a gay black man. He talks about some of his poetic mentors—from Emily Dickinson to Alice Walker—and the lessons he strives to pass along to his students at Emory University. He also reveals the story behind changing his name and discusses his childhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was raised by fundamental Christians. Brown reads from his second collec...

New Letters On the Air Meg Wolitzer

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2020


New York Times Bestselling author Meg Wolitzer reads from her most recent novel, The Female Persuasion, and discusses its themes of feminism and the tendency to idealize our mentors. Her work has long centered on the experiences of women, with three of her books having been adapted for film, including ...

New Letters On the Air Meg Wolitzer

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2020


New York Times Bestselling author Meg Wolitzer reads from her most recent novel, The Female Persuasion, and discusses its themes of feminism and the tendency to idealize our mentors. Her work has long centered on the experiences of women, with three of her books having been adapted for film, including ...

New Letters On the Air Ben Lerner

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2020


MacArthur Fellow Ben Lerner discusses his third acclaimed novel, The Topeka School, a finalist for the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. The multi-award winning fiction writer and poet was interviewed at the Kansas City Public Library on the Plaza during his residence as the fall 2019 UMKC Cockefair Chair Writer-in-Residence. A previous program featured a long reading from the novel; in this half of the...

New Letters On the Air Ben Lerner

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2020


MacArthur Fellow Ben Lerner discusses his third acclaimed novel, The Topeka School, a finalist for the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. The multi-award winning fiction writer and poet was interviewed at the Kansas City Public Library on the Plaza during his residence as the fall 2019 UMKC Cockefair Chair Writer-in-Residence. A previous program featured a long reading from the novel; in this half of the...

New Letters On the Air Nikky Finney

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2020


Nikky Finney, winner of The Sewanee Review's 2020 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, talks about her development as a poet and her earlier books, from her 1985 On Wings Made of Gauze to her 2011 National Book Award-winning collection, Head Off and Split. In part on...

New Letters On the Air Ada Limón

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2020


In this 2020 reading at Rockhurst University for the Midwest Poets Series, Ada Limón talks about her creative process and shares work from her National Book Critics Circle Award-winning collection, The Carrying. While she uses poetry to explore loss and pain—from her own struggles with infertility to the world's devastation from climate change—she also reads praise and love poems—including t...

New Letters On the Air Marcus Jackson

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2020


Cave Canem Fellow Marcus Jackson reads from his 2019 Ohioana Award-winning poetry book, Pardon My Heart, as well as from his debut collection, Neighborhood Register. An Ohio native, who teaches in the MFA program at The Ohio State University, he discusses the importance of Cave Canem in his dev...

New Letters On the Air Mark Doty

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2020


Esteemed poet Mark Doty discusses his work, including Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, winner of the 2008 National Book Awards, and his 2013 book-length poem and meditative bestiary called A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Co...

New Letters On the Air Feminist Poets: Past American Voices

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2020


This program pays tribute to the past American voices of feminist poets from the last century, who opened doors at publishing houses for the vast numbers of talented women writers today. Listen to excerpts from Pulitzer Prize winners Maxine Kumin (1925-2014) and Carolyn Kizer (1925-2014), as well as MacArthur "genius" fellow Adrienne Rich (1929-2012). We'll also list...

New Letters On the Air Kim Shuck

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 20, 2020


Kim Shuck is San Francisco's seventh Poet Laureate and the first from a recognized Native Nation. Shuck, a citizen of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, takes on the disappearance of native women in the United States in her poetry book, Murdered Missing, winner of the 2019 PEN Oakland Censorship Award. During her reading at Haskell Indian Na...

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