Podcasts about cavankerry press

April 2024 Dante's Old South January Gill O'Neil is an associate professor at Salem State University, and the author of Glitter Road (2024), Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009), all published by CavanKerry Press. From 2019-2020, she served as the John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. She lives in Beverly, Massachusetts. And, my social media so you can tag me: TwitterX: @januaryoneil | Instagram: @januarygilloneil | Facebook: /january.oneil  Website: www.januarygilloneil.com Robert Petrillo is a retired English teacher who's currently on the editing team for the OLLI arts and literature journal at the University of Southern Maine, where he also facilitates a poetry workshop.  He's been published in several literary journals, as well as in the anthology A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the Climate Crisis.  His first book, What Passes For a Life, is forthcoming from SCE Press.  He lives in Westbrook, Maine. Social Media:   TwitterX:  @robpetrillo1  /  Facebook:  Robert Petrillo  /  Email:  robertpetrillo111@gmail.com Michael Jann is an Emmy-nominated late-night comedy writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon for over two decades. He currently teaches screenwriting at UCLA Extension, and writes screenplays with his wife Michele Jourdan, a writer and a gold-medal winning bodybuilder. Michele likes working out so much, she actually married a dumbbell: Mike. www.imdb.com/name/nm0417793/ Tae Lewis, a North Carolina native.  discovered his passion for music in church, sparked by Gospel melodies and a serendipitous encounter that led him to love country music at just 13. Despite initial resistance from his family, he immersed himself in the genre. Influenced by Rascal Flatts, Dan & Shay, and Vince Gill, who have all helped shape his distinct sound, making him a true standout in the music city. His breakthrough came with a Sync Placement on the hit TV show "Shameless" for his track "Good Luvin," earning him national recognition. In the Summer of 2023, Tae was also named the Tractor Supply Emerging Artist of the year, receiving mentorship from country music superstars Lauren Alaina and Lainey Wilson. He is also recognized on Season 25 of THE VOICE.  www.taelewis.com Special Thanks Goes to: Lucid House Press: www.lucidhousepublishing.com The Red Phone Booth: www.redphonebooth.com UCLA Extension Writing Program: www.uclaextension.edu The Crown: www.thecrownbrasstown.com Mercer University Press: www.mupress.org The Red Phone Booth: www.redphonebooth.com The host, Clifford Brooks', The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, Athena Departs, and Old Gods are available everywhere books are sold. His chapbook, Exiles of Eden, is only available through his website: www.cliffbrooks.com/how-to-order Check out his Teachable course on creative writing as a profession here: brooks-sessions.teachable.com/p/the-working-writer

Poet January Gill O'Neil speaks with Ann Wallace about her new collection, Glitter Road, forthcoming from CavanKerry Press in February 2024. January discusses her year as the John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, and her immersion in the difficult cultural history of the south, as laid against its rich and fertile landscape. She also reflects on the ways in which the pandemic, which began toward the end of residency, allowed time for family, writing, and observation of the natural world. We then hear from Dr. Randi Eckel about the new season of NPSNJ webinars during the next installment of Ask Randi. And co-host Kim Correro joins Ann Wallace in the final segment for an important conversation with renowned landscape designer Edwina von Gal in advance of her appearance at the Garden Futures Summit in New York City, which is hosted by the Garden Conservancy on Sept 29 and 30th. Edwina speaks about sustainable design and the Perfect Earth Project, as well as her Two Thirds for the Birds initiative, which offers an easy-to-remember strategy for incorporating native plants into our gardens.

Join Chris in conversation with author of Mausoleum of Flowers (CavanKerry Press), about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry! Daniel B. Summerhill is a Poet, Professor and Performer. He is an assistant professor of poetry/social action and composition studies at California State University Monterey Bay. Daniel has performed in over thirty states, the UK, and was invited by the US Embassy to guest lecture and perform in South Africa. He earned a Sharon Olds fellowship as well as a fellowship from the Watering Hole. His work has appeared in Columbia Journal, Rust & Moth, Button Poetry, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Hellebore, and elsewhere. His work has earned him two Pushcart nominations as well as a best of the net nomination. His debut collection Divine, Divine, Divine is available now from Oakland- based Nomadic Press. His sophomore collection, Mausoleum of Flowers will be published by Cavankerry Press in April 2022. Summerhill holds an MFA in creative writing from Pine Manor College in Boston, MA. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tpq20/support

Cindy Veach is the author of Her Kind, (CavanKerry Press), a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal, Gloved Against Blood (CavanKerry Press), named a Paterson Poetry Prize finalist and a Massachusetts Center for the Book 'Must Read' and the chapbook, Innocents (Nixes Mate Press). Her poems have appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day Series, AGNI, Chicago Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. Her poem, "This Patch Where the Light Cannot Reach," was selected by Mary Ruefle for the Philip Booth Poetry Prize (Salt Hill Journal). Her sonnet crown, "Witch Kitsch," was selected by Marilyn Nelson for the Samuel Washington Allen Prize (New England Poetry Club). Cindy received an MFA from the University of Oregon where she was a Graduate Teaching Fellow and an assistant poetry editor for Northwest Review. She is co-poetry editor of Mom Egg Review. Find the book and much more here: https://www.cindyveach.com/ As always, we'll also include live open lines for responses to our weekly prompt or any other poems you'd like to share. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week's Prompt: Write a poem about a landmark in your area. Next Week's Prompt: Write a spooky poem for Halloween. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Our guest this month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, poet, fiction writer, teacher and non-profit leader. Gibson's first collection of poems, "Death of a Ventriloquist", won the Vassar Miller Prize and was featured by Poets & Writers as one of a dozen debut collections to watch. His second book, "Deke Dangle Dive" was published by CavanKerry Press in 2021. Gibson's poems have appeared in magazines including The New Republic, Tin House, Narrative, Poetry Northwest, and Orion, and his prose in Kenyon Review online, Portland Magazine, and Slice. He has taught writing at conferences, schools and universities including Fordham, Haystack, and University of Southern Maine, and helped lead community arts organizations including The Telling Room, SPACE Gallery, and Hewnoaks Artist Colony. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and lives in Portland with his family. 

January Gill O'Neil is an associate professor at Salem State University, and the author of Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009), all published by CavanKerry Press. From 2012-2018, she served as the executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, and currently serves on the boards of AWP, Mass Poetry, and Montserrat College of Art. Her poems and articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day series, American Poetry Review, Green Mountains Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, and WBUR's Cognoscenti, among others. The recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, O'Neil was the 2019-2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. She lives with her two kids in Beverly, MA. Find more at: https://www.januarygilloneil.com/ As always, we'll also include live open lines for responses to our weekly prompt or any other poems you'd like to share. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week's Prompt: Craft a poem that connects to a folktale, Bible story, fairy tale, mythology, etc., and gives us a new perspective, turning it on its head. Next Week's Prompt: Write about a bruise or a scar, internal or external. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Host:Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Our guest this month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, poet, fiction writer, teacher and non-profit leader. Gibson’s first collection of poems, “Death of a Ventriloquist”, won the Vassar Miller Prize and was featured by Poets & Writers as one of a dozen debut collections to watch. His second book, “Deke Dangle Dive” was published by CavanKerry Press in 2021. Gibson's poems have appeared in magazines including The New Republic, Tin House, Narrative, Poetry Northwest, and Orion, and his prose in Kenyon Review online, Portland Magazine, and Slice. He has taught writing at conferences, schools and universities including Fordham, Haystack, and University of Southern Maine, and helped lead community arts organizations including The Telling Room, SPACE Gallery, and Hewnoaks Artist Colony. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and lives in Portland with his family. Guest/s: Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, poet, fiction writer, teacher and non-profit leader Maine Writers & Publishers AllianceGibson Fay-LeBlance Maine Lit Fest 2022 About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete's Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. The post Conversations from the Pointed Firs 9/2/22: Gibson Fay-LeBlanc first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Hi there, Welcome! Today I am arts calling Kevin Carey! About Kevin: Kevin Carey is the Coordinator of Creative Writing at Salem State University. He has published five books – a chapbook of fiction, The Beach People from Red Bird Chapbooks (2014) and three books of poetry from Cavankerry Press, The One Fifteen to Penn Station (2012), Jesus Was a Homeboy (2016) and Set in Stone (2020) and a new crime novel Murder in the Marsh from Darkstroke Books. His one-act plays have been staged at The New Works Festival in Newburyport, MA and The New Hampshire Theater Project and his co-written screenplay Peter's Song (with Ed Boyle) won Best Screenplay at the 2009 New Hampshire Film Festival and Best Drama at the Woods Hole Film Festival. Kevin's full-length play, The Stand or Sal is Dead, premiered at the Actor's Studio in Newburyport, MA in June of 2018. Kevin is also a documentary filmmaker. His latest co-produced film (with Mark Hillringhouse and music by RG Evans) Unburying Malcolm Miller premiered at the Mass Poetry Festival in 2017. His short fiction can be found in several literary journals, including his short story “Home for the Holidays” which appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of The Apple Valley Review and was included in the Best of the Net Anthology and selected as one of the story South Million Writers top ten online stories of 2011. The Apple Valley Review, Kevin was also a 7th-grade basketball coach for nineteen seasons before stepping down a couple of years ago. (Photo by Mark Hillringhouse). Visit Kevin's website, https://kevincareywriter.com, for updates and more projects! Purchase Kevin's novel, Murder in the Marsh, now on Amazon! Stop by Molecule, a Tiny Lit Mag! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content! Make art. Much love, j

Hi there, Today I am delighted to bring you this conversation: Today I am arts calling Richard Jeffrey Newman! About Richard: Poet. Literary co-translator. Essayist. Proud community college professor. Survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Curator, First Tuesdays reading series. As a poet and essayist, Richard Jeffrey Newman's work is rooted in the impact of feminism on his life as a man. As a co-translator of classical Persian poetry, he writes about the impact of that canon on our contemporary lives. His own books of poetry are, most recently, Words for What Those Men Have Done, (Guernica Editions 2017) and For My Son, A Kind of Prayer (Ghostbird Press in 2016). CavanKerry Press published his first book, The Silence of Men, in 2006. His most recent book of translations is The Teller of Tales: Stories From Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Junction Press 2011). Newman is on the Board of Directors of Newtown Literary and curates the First Tuesdays reading series in Jackson Heights, NY. He is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College. After ten years of service to his union, he is once again focusing on his writing. His website is http://richardjnewman.com. Thank you so much for talking with me, Richard! (TW: Experiences of sexual abuse are briefly discussed in this episode). -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content! Make art. Much love, j

Andrea Ross joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about battling memoir imposter syndrome, choosing scene over exposition, doing whatever it takes to get yourself to write, and how she used the wilderness to help tell her story and convey the particular brand of loneliness that adopted people experience.   Also in this episode: -what new writers sometimes forget -promoting your book  -publishing with a small press   Memoirs in this episode: Unnatural Selection by Andrea Ross Wild by Cheryl Strayed The Liars' Club by Mary Karr Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden The Mistress's Daughter by A.M. Homes   Bio: Andrea Ross's memoir, Unnatural Selection, about her years as a wilderness guide searching for her biological family, was published by CavanKerry Press in 2021. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The Huffington Post, Terrain The Conversation,  Mountain Gazette, and many other outlets. During the 1980s and 1990s, Andrea worked throughout the American West as a wilderness guide, a National Park Service Ranger, and a backcountry Search and Rescue leader. She is a faculty member in the University Writing Program at UC Davis.    Links: website: andrearosswriter.com link to buy book: https://www.cavankerrypress.org/product/unnatural-selection/ twitter: https://twitter.com/Andrea_M_Ross insta: https://www.instagram.com/andrearosswriter/ facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/rossandream   Ronit's essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/ Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://twitter.com/RonitPlank https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

This week, Kari O'Driscoll joins me and we discuss how parents and educators can help teens better deal with traumatic events such as COVID19. Kari addresses important things that parents need to keep in mind such as:The flight, fight, freeze part of a teenager's brain is more than 3x the size of an adultsThat teens lack critical thinking skills at this age in order to be "logical" about events and that's where a lot of the 'drama' comes fromThe loss of friends, school being online, busy schedules came to a screeching halt, and that there's no real end in sight has a huge impact on themGenZ has lived with collective trauma their entire livesAll of our nervous systems weren't designed to be on overdrive this longTune in to hear all of these points and more and be sure to check out Kari's books and follow her on social media with the links below!Truth Has a Different Shape, CavanKerry Press, 2020. MemoirOne Teenager at a Time: Developing Self-Awareness and Critical Thinking in Adolescence, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019The SELF Project for Parents, CreateSpace, 2019Website: www.kariodriscollwriter.com and www.theselfproject.comFacebook: @kariodriscollauthor and @theselfprojInstagram: @karilod and @selfproject3369Twitter: @karilod and @theselfproj

Join us for a check in and writing session in honor of “Easter Sunday Dinner.” lists: 1. list of comfort foods/drinks/treats? 2. who do these dishes belong to? who are the chefs/makers of your family? 3. who are the characters of your family partaking in these homemade fixing 4. feelings/memories connected with these homemade fixings? prompts: write a poem for the prepping of one of your favorite homemade fixings? write an ode to one of your favorite homemade fixings? poems heard in this episode: “cutting greens” by Lucille Clifton (as found in The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton; reprinted & republished by BOA Editions, Ltd. 1987/2015) (audio reading courtesy of Poetry Foundation, read by Lucille Clifton) “Ode to Kool-Aid” by Marcus Jackson (as found in Neighborhood Register; Cavankerry Press, 2011) #whatsyourthotjuice --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hoodwivesofchi/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hoodwivesofchi/support

John Nash was a genius who pushed mathematics to its outer limits as described in this poem awarded first prize in the BBC International Poetry Contest. Pamela Spiro Wagner (now known as Phoebe Sparrow Wagner) is an author and poet who suffers from schizophrenia, complicated by narcolepsy and CNS Lyme disease. She has completed two collections of poetry Learning to See in Three Dimensions, Green Writers Press, and We Mad Climb Shaky Ladders, Cavankerry Press 2009 the later which was a finalist for Foreword review’s Poetry Book of the Year. She also co-authored with her sister, Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and their Journey through Schizophrenia (St. Martin’s Press, 2005) which won the National NAMI Outstanding Literature Award and was a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award.  Her poem, “The Prayers of the Mathematician,” won first prize in the BBC International Poetry Contest. She lives in Brattleboro Vermont. “The Prayers Of  The Mathematician first appeared in We Mad Climb Shaky Ladders, Cavankerry Press 2009.

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews poet January Gill O'Neil. January is the author of the new poetry collection Rewilding, as well as other collections titled Misery Islands and Underlife, published by CavanKerry Press. She is a board of trustees member with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) A Cave Canem fellow, January's poems and articles have appeared in the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day series, Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, American Poetry Review, and others. She is currently the John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks to poet January Gill O'Neil. January Gill O’Neil is the author of the new poetry collection Rewilding, as well as other collections titled Misery Islands and Underlife, published by CavanKerry Press. She is a board of trustees member with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) A Cave Canem fellow, January's poems and articles have appeared in the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day series, Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, American Poetry Review, and others. She is currently the John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.

Margo Taft Stever is a prolific poet who has worked with many great poets through the years and through her work founding the Hudson Valley Writers Center and Slapering Hol Press.  Listen to us discuss her two books of poetry that was released this year, her work process and philosophies! http://yourartsygirlpodcast.com/episodes You can purchase a copy here:  CavanKerry Press   You can order your copy here: Kattywompus Press.     END OF HORSES   I write to you from the end of the time zone. You must realize that nothing survived after   the horses were slaughtered. We sleep below the hollow burned-out stars.   We look into dust bowls searching for horses. When you walk in the country,   you will be shocked to meet substantial masses on the road. We do not know whom to blame   or where the horses were driven, who slaughtered them, or for what purpose. Had the horses slept   under the linden trees? The generals and engineers pucker and snore on the veranda.   First published in chapbook, Ghost Moose, Margo Taft Stever, Kattywompus Press, 2019. Forthcoming in Canary: A Literary Journal of the Environmental Crisis.   Bio: In 2019, CavanKerry Press published Margo Taft Stever’s book, Cracked Piano, and Kattywompus Press published her chapbook, Ghost Moose. Her four other poetry collections are The Lunatic Ball, 2015; The Hudson Line, 2012; Frozen Spring, 2002; and Reading the Night Sky, 1996. Her poems have appeared widely in journals such as Verse Daily, upstreet; Plume, Blackbird; Salamander; Poem-A-Day, The Academy of American Poets; Cincinnati Review; Salamander; Prairie Schooner; New England Review; Poet Lore; West Branch; Seattle Review; and in numerous anthologies. She co-authored Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905 U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Asia (Zhejiang University Press, 2012 and Orange Frazier Press, 2015) and created a traveling exhibition of “Looking East photographs. She is the founder of the Hudson Valley Writers Center and the founding editor of Slapering Hol Press.   Website: https://margotaftstever.com      

As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride–formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father’s absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood. Although born in Sumter, South Carolina, Sarah spends much of her first five years in Philadelphia in the care of her bighearted Aunt Susie and her husband, Uncle Whitey. As her parents fourth daughter, she has been sent north to ease her family’s financial burden, freeing her mother to work as a schoolteacher. Young Sarah loves her life in Philadelphia, and is devastated when her mother comes to retrieve her and take her back to a home she has never known. There, she is shocked and confused to encounter strange signs that read “colored only” and to be told for the first time that black people must behave a certain way around white people and accept their lot as second class citizens. “The point of any successful memoir is to discover what the speaker learns on their journey,” writes Kevin Pilkington, author of Ready to Eat the Sky and The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, in his foreword to Primary Lessons. “[I]t is a trip worth taking when it teaches and enlightens and encourages me to revisit and solidify profound truths I already know to be true. Sarah Bracey Whites journey is a continuous struggle to find her way, a struggle I found both difficult and inspirational. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ Young Sarah becomes aware of this at an early age, realizing being born poor and black is not the measure of a persons value.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride–formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father's absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood. Although born in Sumter, South Carolina, Sarah spends much of her first five years in Philadelphia in the care of her bighearted Aunt Susie and her husband, Uncle Whitey. As her parents fourth daughter, she has been sent north to ease her family's financial burden, freeing her mother to work as a schoolteacher. Young Sarah loves her life in Philadelphia, and is devastated when her mother comes to retrieve her and take her back to a home she has never known. There, she is shocked and confused to encounter strange signs that read “colored only” and to be told for the first time that black people must behave a certain way around white people and accept their lot as second class citizens. “The point of any successful memoir is to discover what the speaker learns on their journey,” writes Kevin Pilkington, author of Ready to Eat the Sky and The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, in his foreword to Primary Lessons. “[I]t is a trip worth taking when it teaches and enlightens and encourages me to revisit and solidify profound truths I already know to be true. Sarah Bracey Whites journey is a continuous struggle to find her way, a struggle I found both difficult and inspirational. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' Young Sarah becomes aware of this at an early age, realizing being born poor and black is not the measure of a persons value.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride–formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father’s absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood. Although born in Sumter, South Carolina, Sarah spends much of her first five years in Philadelphia in the care of her bighearted Aunt Susie and her husband, Uncle Whitey. As her parents fourth daughter, she has been sent north to ease her family’s financial burden, freeing her mother to work as a schoolteacher. Young Sarah loves her life in Philadelphia, and is devastated when her mother comes to retrieve her and take her back to a home she has never known. There, she is shocked and confused to encounter strange signs that read “colored only” and to be told for the first time that black people must behave a certain way around white people and accept their lot as second class citizens. “The point of any successful memoir is to discover what the speaker learns on their journey,” writes Kevin Pilkington, author of Ready to Eat the Sky and The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, in his foreword to Primary Lessons. “[I]t is a trip worth taking when it teaches and enlightens and encourages me to revisit and solidify profound truths I already know to be true. Sarah Bracey Whites journey is a continuous struggle to find her way, a struggle I found both difficult and inspirational. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ Young Sarah becomes aware of this at an early age, realizing being born poor and black is not the measure of a persons value.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride–formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father’s absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood. Although born in Sumter, South Carolina, Sarah spends much of her first five years in Philadelphia in the care of her bighearted Aunt Susie and her husband, Uncle Whitey. As her parents fourth daughter, she has been sent north to ease her family’s financial burden, freeing her mother to work as a schoolteacher. Young Sarah loves her life in Philadelphia, and is devastated when her mother comes to retrieve her and take her back to a home she has never known. There, she is shocked and confused to encounter strange signs that read “colored only” and to be told for the first time that black people must behave a certain way around white people and accept their lot as second class citizens. “The point of any successful memoir is to discover what the speaker learns on their journey,” writes Kevin Pilkington, author of Ready to Eat the Sky and The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, in his foreword to Primary Lessons. “[I]t is a trip worth taking when it teaches and enlightens and encourages me to revisit and solidify profound truths I already know to be true. Sarah Bracey Whites journey is a continuous struggle to find her way, a struggle I found both difficult and inspirational. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ Young Sarah becomes aware of this at an early age, realizing being born poor and black is not the measure of a persons value.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride–formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father’s absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood. Although born in Sumter, South Carolina, Sarah spends much of her first five years in Philadelphia in the care of her bighearted Aunt Susie and her husband, Uncle Whitey. As her parents fourth daughter, she has been sent north to ease her family’s financial burden, freeing her mother to work as a schoolteacher. Young Sarah loves her life in Philadelphia, and is devastated when her mother comes to retrieve her and take her back to a home she has never known. There, she is shocked and confused to encounter strange signs that read “colored only” and to be told for the first time that black people must behave a certain way around white people and accept their lot as second class citizens. “The point of any successful memoir is to discover what the speaker learns on their journey,” writes Kevin Pilkington, author of Ready to Eat the Sky and The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, in his foreword to Primary Lessons. “[I]t is a trip worth taking when it teaches and enlightens and encourages me to revisit and solidify profound truths I already know to be true. Sarah Bracey Whites journey is a continuous struggle to find her way, a struggle I found both difficult and inspirational. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ Young Sarah becomes aware of this at an early age, realizing being born poor and black is not the measure of a persons value.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride–formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father’s absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood. Although born in Sumter, South Carolina, Sarah spends much of her first five years in Philadelphia in the care of her bighearted Aunt Susie and her husband, Uncle Whitey. As her parents fourth daughter, she has been sent north to ease her family’s financial burden, freeing her mother to work as a schoolteacher. Young Sarah loves her life in Philadelphia, and is devastated when her mother comes to retrieve her and take her back to a home she has never known. There, she is shocked and confused to encounter strange signs that read “colored only” and to be told for the first time that black people must behave a certain way around white people and accept their lot as second class citizens. “The point of any successful memoir is to discover what the speaker learns on their journey,” writes Kevin Pilkington, author of Ready to Eat the Sky and The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, in his foreword to Primary Lessons. “[I]t is a trip worth taking when it teaches and enlightens and encourages me to revisit and solidify profound truths I already know to be true. Sarah Bracey Whites journey is a continuous struggle to find her way, a struggle I found both difficult and inspirational. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ Young Sarah becomes aware of this at an early age, realizing being born poor and black is not the measure of a persons value.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices