Podcasts about Zinzi Clemmons

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (Celadon Books, 2024). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, among many others. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Like Happiness has been listed as a best books of the year so far by Elle, Bookshop.org, Libby. Recommended Books: Raquel Gutierrez, Brown Neon Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa Catherine Lacey, Pew  Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is forthcoming with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (Celadon Books, 2024). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, among many others. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Like Happiness has been listed as a best books of the year so far by Elle, Bookshop.org, Libby. Recommended Books: Raquel Gutierrez, Brown Neon Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa Catherine Lacey, Pew  Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is forthcoming with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (Celadon Books, 2024). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, among many others. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Like Happiness has been listed as a best books of the year so far by Elle, Bookshop.org, Libby. Recommended Books: Raquel Gutierrez, Brown Neon Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa Catherine Lacey, Pew  Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is forthcoming with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Notes and Links to Ursula Villarreal-Moura's Work        For Episode 207, Pete welcomes Ursula Villarreal-Moura, and the two discuss, among other topics, her early San Antonio Spurs' education, her omnivorous reading habits, particularly in her childhood, a formative writing contest and reading event, her transitioning from poetry to short stories and flash fiction, and salient themes addressed in her collection, including mental health issues, trauma, delusion, ideas of identity and self-perception, and imagination and story.         Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (Celadon Books, 2024). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, Midnight Breakfast, Washington Square, Story, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, and Gulf Coast. She contributed to Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction, a flash anthology by writers of color, and in 2012, she won the CutBank Big Fish Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry Contest. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015.     Ursula Villarreal-Moura's Website   Buy Math for the Self-Crippling   Interview in Tri-Quarterly     At about 2:20, Ursula shares her love of the Spurs and the ways in which the Spurs culture was infused in her schooling   At about 5:00, Ursula talks about the ways in which she became an omnivorous reader, and how a Judy Blume book really flipped the reading switch    At about 7:10, Ursula describes her first writing as “exotic,” including stories set in boarding schools   At about 10:00, Ursula describes being “receptive” and maybe not as “expressive” in Spanish, and ideas of representations, including as an “Ursula”    At about 13:30, Ursula talks about the “beautiful readings” she witnessed from Sandra Cisneros and the big impact    At about 15:30, Ursula talks about the beginnings of her writing and writing career, including a memorable writing contest that she placed well in at a young age    At about 20:55, Ursula responds to Pete's questions about genre and how Ursula sees her work in terms of flash fiction, short stories, poetry, etc.    At about 23:45, Ursula describes short stories, including from Denis Johnson, Roberto Bolaño, Jeffrey Eugenides, Sandra Cisneros, Donald Barthelme, Tobias Wolff, and Amy Bloom that inspired her   At about 26:00, Ursula   At about 27:00, Ursula speaks to the idea that her work, like that of many women, is more likely assumed to be autobiographical    At about 27:50, Ursula answers Pete's questions about the chronology of her book, and she describes how much of it was written in the library    At about 29:35, Pete cites the collection's first story in asking Ursula about ideas of truth in storytelling and imagination   At about 31:00, Ursula and Pete shout out past guest Oscar Hokeah's Calling for a Blanket Dance and an example of things being “true but unreal”   At about 32:35, Pete cites an example of a story having to do with self-discovery and personas, and Ursula expands upon these ideas   At about 33:55, The two reflect on the power of a story about mental health and Sophia Loren   At about 36:20, Ursula reflects on meanings for the book's title, and Pete cites a Cherry Valance example from The Outsiders in connection to ruminations on seemingly life-changing experiences   At about 39:30, Ursula reflects on the narrator's disappointment and despair after a nonchalant comment from a possible boyfriend    At about 41:50, Ursula describes the ways in which therapy is featured in the book and differing ways in which it can be delivered in the real world   At about 43:00, Ursula expands on items of “totems”   At about 45:00, Pete highlights an important quote about “the power of suggestion” and Ursula describes how real-life events and ideas of “delusion” inspired a story in her collection   At about 45:52-Ursula's cat makes an appearance!   At about 47:10, Ideas of trauma affecting adult experiences and relationships is discussed    At about 50:55, The two reflect on ideas of observers and how Ursula skillfully uses second and third-person   At about 52:25, Ursula shares exciting new projects   At about 54:50, Ursula gives out contact info and social media info and recommends Bookshop.org, Powell's, and McNally-Jackson as places to buy her book      You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.    Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl     Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    NEW MERCH! You can browse and buy here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChillsatWillPodcast    This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.    Please tune in for Episode 208 with Sowmya Krishnamurthy, a music journalist and pop culture expert whose work can be found in publications like Rolling Stone, Billboard, XXL, and Time.  Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion comes out on October 10, which is the date the book will be published! Also, look out for a late October/early November print conversation with me and Sowmya that will be in Chicago Review of Books.     Again, this episode will air on October 10.

Today, Ursula Villarreal-Moura talks to us about her new collection, hating and then learning to love flash fiction, Muriel Spark, how Roberto Bolaño would blurb her forthcoming novel, and more!  Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling, which was selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness, forthcoming with Celadon Books. A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, Midnight Breakfast, Washington Square, Story, Bennington Review, the Wigleaf Top 50, and Gulf Coast.  Find out more about Alex's new press, Great Place Books, here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (forthcoming with Celadon Books). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, Midnight Breakfast, Washington Square, Story, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, and Gulf Coast. She contributed to Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction, a flash anthology by writers of color, and in 2012, she won the CutBank Big Fish Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry Contest. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Recommended Books: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom Patricia Highsmith, Deep Water Billy Ray-Belcourt, A Minor Chorus Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon Evie Wyld, The Bass Rock Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (forthcoming with Celadon Books). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, Midnight Breakfast, Washington Square, Story, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, and Gulf Coast. She contributed to Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction, a flash anthology by writers of color, and in 2012, she won the CutBank Big Fish Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry Contest. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Recommended Books: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom Patricia Highsmith, Deep Water Billy Ray-Belcourt, A Minor Chorus Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon Evie Wyld, The Bass Rock Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (forthcoming with Celadon Books). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, Midnight Breakfast, Washington Square, Story, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, and Gulf Coast. She contributed to Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction, a flash anthology by writers of color, and in 2012, she won the CutBank Big Fish Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry Contest. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Recommended Books: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom Patricia Highsmith, Deep Water Billy Ray-Belcourt, A Minor Chorus Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon Evie Wyld, The Bass Rock Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like Happiness (forthcoming with Celadon Books). A graduate of Middlebury College, she received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was a VONA/Voices fellow. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including Tin House, Catapult, Prairie Schooner, Midnight Breakfast, Washington Square, Story, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, and Gulf Coast. She contributed to Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction, a flash anthology by writers of color, and in 2012, she won the CutBank Big Fish Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry Contest. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize, and longlisted for Best American Short Stories 2015. Recommended Books: Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom Patricia Highsmith, Deep Water Billy Ray-Belcourt, A Minor Chorus Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon Evie Wyld, The Bass Rock Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Chez Myriam, la passion pour la musique, la littérature et les arts en général est une histoire de famille et de transmission entre l'île de la Réunion, le Niger et la France. Chaque lecture est une rencontre avec un personnage, une atmosphère, un univers et une plume unique qui marqueront sa vie d'une empreinte indélébile. Si elle ne se souvient pas toujours avec précision de l'histoire qu'elle découvre, elle peut au contraire décrire avec clarté les émotions ressenties. C'est ça le merveilleux pouvoir des livres. Myriam jeune femme pétillante qui croque la vie à pleine dents a paradoxalement choisi de parler de la mort. Un sujet parfois tabou qui effraie autant qu'il fascine et qui est le thème principal de What we lose, le roman de l'actrice américaine Zinzi Clemmons. Cet ovni littéraire à la fois journal intime, journal de bord et récit aux accents autobiographiques nous plonge au coeur du deuil du personnage principal et nous a permis de mettre les mots sur cette étape qui fait partie de la vie. Nous avons également échangé sur ses habitudes de lectures, ses genres de prédilection et sur son envie de lire de plus en plus d'autrices africaines, notamment celles dont on entend moins parler mais qui ont pourtant ouvert la voie aux grandes plumes d'aujourd'hui : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Yaa Gyasi... Une discussion riche, pleine de good vibes qui je l'espère vous plaira. Merci Myriam pour ce beau moment. Vous pouvez la retrouver sur son compte Instagram ou sur son blog. LIEU(X) Librairie Le comptoir des mots, 75020 Paris SITE https://bookshop.org AUTEUR.ICE.S Sefi Atta Dany Laferrière Irvin Yalom Amin Maalouf Imbolo Mbue Yaa Gyasi LIVRE(S) Désordres amoureux, Ama Ata Aidoo Ségou, Maryse Condé L'hibiscus pourpre, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Ordinary people, Diana Evans Verre cassé, Alain Mabanckou Luster, Raven Leilani What we lose, Zinzi Clemmons This mournable body, Tsitsi Dangaremgba Nervous conditions, Tsitsi Dangaremgba CRÉDITS Réalisation, montage et mixage : Jay Identité graphique : Agathe Bretaudeau & Kévin Djedje Générique : Palette (feat Meltzer) the Villars from Fugue/Icons8.com

Claire and Linda discuss the sublime experience of reading something that resonates with you so deeply that you return to the book as often as possible--in other words, you make it a reading ritual. If you are lucky enough to encounter a book that moves you when you are young and begin a ritual of rereading that book year after year, you can enjoy an evolving relationship with the text, much like enjoying the evolution of personal relationships. In this episode, we unpack why Linda does not habitually reread books but wants to (it’s never too late to begin a tradition!) and why Claire returns to certain books again and again.    Books discussed during the episode: The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard  The End of the Affair by Graham Greene The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Christy by Catherine Marshall  Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder  What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons    

First things first: are YOU familiar with coding on the WIX platform? Let us know, because we could use your help!! Now that that’s out of the way, thanks for tuning in to hear us talk about our fictional Valentine's and the V-Day candy we'd love to share with them. PS: here's the link to help support Troop 6000, as promised in the ep: https://digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/troop6000-161. If you’re a member of the fan club you may have seen that The Ex Talk book club discussion kicked off yesterday. We’re so excited to keep chatting about the book for the rest of the month, so join us over on the Patreon if you’re interested! You can join our fan club at https://www.patreon.com/booksandthecitypod, and you can get your merch here: https://www.booksandthecitypod.com/merch. Shop all the books we’ve discussed on this episode and past episodes at bookshop.org/shop/booksandthecity. Make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter on our website, and send us an email at booksandthecitypod@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!!-------------> Emily just read: Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour (11:20-22:03) https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/Black-Buck/9780358380887 Up next for Emily: Breathless by Beverly Jenkins Becky just read: The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor (22:04-31:09) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534620/the-lost-letter-by-jillian-cantor/ Up next for Becky: The Divines by Ellie Eaton Libby just read: What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons (31:10-39:33) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547466/what-we-lose-by-zinzi-clemmons/ Up next for Libby: A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley Kayla just read: The Dating Plan by Sara Desai (39:34-48:52) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622473/the-dating-plan-by-sara-desai/ Up next for Kayla: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn Music by EpidemicSound, logo art by @niczollos, all opinions our own.

Hey hey hey, it's Ada. how are you doing? I hope you're taking good care of yourself and doing well. In this episode of The Misty Bloom book club I am going to be reviewing What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons. You ready? Let's go into the clubhouse. Before I launch into my review of what we lose by Zinzi Clemmons, I want to talk a little bit about honesty. So grab your coffee, water, wine, whatever your drink of choice is, sit back and relax. Because it's about to get real. So there's this great advice that I’ve seen floating around the internet. I’ve seen two versions of the same advice and I don’t know who to originally attribute the quotes to but if you do know, let me know. Okay, so the first quote is truth without love is brutality. And the second quote is honesty without compassion is cruelty. So both of these quotes are essentially saying the same thing. And it's stuck with me because honesty is a virtue. And that is unquestioned. We are taught from a young age not to lie, to always speak truth to power, we are taught honesty is the best policy. There's no negotiating honesty. We should all strive for honesty as one of the greatest virtues to pursue and practice. However, honesty is not an excuse for us to hurt people. You know in the exercise of being blunt there's no need for us to administer blunt force trauma. There has to be a way, and I'm learning this as well, to be honest without inflicting harm on someone. So finding a balance between being honest and truthful but also couching the honesty and truth in the way that minimizes harm. So why am I bringing this up? No, I'm not taking a detour from talking and being about books to becoming a virtue guru. Although if that pays more I might reconsider. I still want everyone, including myself, to be kind. It makes for a better world and a gentler existence when we're all kind to each other. But the reason I was bringing up the whole honesty and truth cruelty brutality thing is because I thought about perhaps not doing reviews for books that I didn't enjoy reading but I also think that's completely unrealistic. You know, sort of pandering to the whole if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all. Which to me can sometimes be a cowardly piece of advice in my opinion because it is taking the path of least resistance. If you're willing to do the work you can always find something nice to say. It's a little bit passive and kinda wack to just absolve yourself of the responsibility of saying nothing at all. Rather than plumbing the depths to finding the good about someone or a situation. Also the podcast would start to come across as fake because after a while you'd notice that I love absolutely everything that I read. Which is impossible. Life is not just a pond of lilies. It would not give The Misty Bloom Book Club any sort of dimension, I would not be a reliable source of literary commentary, critique, or appreciation. You guys are smart. You would pick up on the artifice that I'd be putting out. And even as a published author, I'm still growing and always learning to be a better writer and seeing the work of others, where their novels shine and where they fail, helps to sharpen my own craft. And the bottom line is that it is immature to avoid conversations that are difficult or uncomfortable. And, like you, I also want to challenge myself to be honest without being brutal. So now that I've given you my whole spiel on honesty and brutality, let me start my review of What We Lose with a quick and dirty overview. See what I did there? What We Lose is written in the first-person, the I, and follows Thandi who's born and raised in Pennsylvania to a South African mother and an American father. Partway through the novel, Thandi’s mother is diagnosed with cancer and very unfortunately passes away. And the novel transforms into a meditation on dealing with terminal illness, grief, and loss. So going into what we lose by Zinzi Clemmons, I had high hopes for the book. And the reason I had such high hopes is because the writer Zinzi Clemmons. Ok, hold on let's talk about her name for a second. I love her name, Zinzi, by the way. It just sounds glorious and she has the coolest initials. Zee Cee baby. Zee Cee in da building!!!. Anyway Zinzi Clemmons is part South African and part African-American so I was looking forward to getting her extremely unique and distinctive perspective on race and race relations. You know with her coming from this dual heritage that's very loaded on both sides with very different but both extremely intense race histories and that's putting it mildly. And no I'm not putting this burden on Zinzi Clemmons to talk about race. You guys know exactly how I feel about black and minority writers being forced to take on social issues. If not, go listen to Episode 1 of The Misty Bloom Book Club where I talk about this in a little bit more detail. I had this expectation for Zinzi Clemmons to address race issues not because of her heritage. But because the actual book jacket describes the protagonist of What We Lose, Thandie, as being caught between being black and white. So there you go. The first thing I thought about What We Lose is that this novel, for me read like a memoir or maybe even more accurately a non chronological diary. Or maybe a fusion of all these things together. Like part novel part memoir part diary. Which I thought of as an unconventional approach to creative writing. I totally saw what the author was trying to do here. Zinzi Clemmons took what we know of as the conventional novel, you know the traditional approach to crafting a novel and turned it on its head. It had like untitled mini chapters under chapters, there are graphs included in the book, it is wildly non-chronological, there is some philosophy thrown in, there are expositions on South Africa. With What We Lose, the author attempted to do something inventive. But not just trying to be inventive for its own sake. I saw very clearly that the unorthodox structure Zinzi Clemmons adopted for this novel is meant to reflect that grief is not linear or a tidy emotion. The emotions of grief are all over the place. Grief is disorganized. Your feelings are a jumbled mess. Your memories of the person you lost switch back and forth between the recent past and way way back. And the non-chronological narrative choice of What We Lose reflects this. And I always respect when anyone is truthfully and doggedly pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible. It was certainly brave of Zinzi Clemmons to attempt to do something innovative here. Like I said earlier taking what we know of as the orthodox approach to novel writing and turning it on its head. And I respect Zinzi Clemmons for writing What We Lose in the manner that she felt was best suited to this story. I'm gonna speculate that Zinzi Clemmons would have come up against some resistance so it must have taken guts to push forward with and fight for a novel structured in this manner. Aside from that, What We Lose had some profound moments. And I'll give you some examples. I really liked the part of the book where Thandi's father is moving on and finding a new relationship after the death of his wife. And Thandie is understandably resistant to her father moving on from her mother. And I'll read the scene to you from page 164. "I want to be happy again" he says, his voice breaking. "Don't you think I deserve happiness?" "of course, I say." you deserve much more than that. I only wish I could be okay with what form of happiness you've chosen." That right there is a pearl of wisdom that I want you to think about in your life. For example I think many of us are not really resistant to other people finding happiness. We only question their methods for doing so. Whether or not is our business to do so but it's something to definitely think about. There was one line I really liked on page 145 and it reads "I realized that that was how heartbreak occurred. Your heart wants something but reality resists it." So true, you guys! So true. I also like this paragraph from page 182. It reads “Love and marriage are completely unrelated enterprises. Marriage bears little resemblance to love as competing in the Olympics does to your afternoon jog. Sometimes I think with regret of how our love might have grown if we hadn't driven a pregnancy, then a marriage, like two speeding 18-wheelers straight into it.” I mean that right there is a lot of food for thought. I also liked this line on page 185, “Peter sighs, reaches for the pacifier, and pops it nervously into M's mouth, as if our child is a bottle of champagne threatening to explode.” I thought that was a fun sentence. Here’s another great line page 206. It reads, “sometimes I sniff the bottle of perfume of hers that I saved, but it doesn't come close to the robustness of her smell. It is her, flattened.” It is a heavy sentence and it made me sad. I think the sentence was so effective because we associate smell with memories and nostalgia so I think that's what was so profound about this particular sentence. So those are the things that I appreciated about What We Lose. Now, I'm gonna flip the script and talk about what I didn't like quite as much about What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons. But before I do that here is a quick message from my sponsor. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to the Misty Bloom book club thanks for staying with me. So now I'm going to talk about what frustrated me about What We Lose So, overall, I'm going to admit that I struggled with What We Lose. Sadly, it didn't hit the spot for me. And I hate that it didn't because like I said earlier, I had such high hopes for this book. However, I wouldn't call what I didn't like about the book as weaknesses per se. But I see this more as a cataloging of my frustrations with the What We Lose. What We Lose totally was a worthy and admirable attempt at being experimental and innovative with fiction However and ultimately for me. I’m sorry. it just didn't work. While I wholeheartedly understood that the author was making a deliberate eclectic artistic choice, I struggled with the way the book was structured. I mentioned that it had like untitled mini chapters under chapters, there are graphs, it is wildly non-chronological making it difficult to follow, the philosophy felt like it was thrown in, there are what I found to be problematic expositions on South Africa that I'll talk about a little bit later . The inconsistency of the novel's structure crippled my enjoyment of it. It interrupted the flow of the novel and gave it a distinctly jerky quality that felt like whiplash. I appreciate the author’s experimentation. But to me, it just read as disjointed and came off as gimmicky. Or maybe I just simply have boring, stock, archetypal tastes in literature. You tell me, I don’t know. But my advice here for any new and aspiring writers who are listening, my advice for whatever it's worth is to be aware of the line between avant garde and gimmicks. You should always, always aim to express your own originality or uniqueness like Zinzi Clemmons did here. However, please remember that your originality or uniqueness is like a fingerprint, it’s innate in you. And you don't need the gimmicks, bells and whistles, or whatever the writing version of auto-tune is. Trust yourself that your work will reflect your individuality. Period. Apart from the stylistic and structural choices that Zinzi Clemmons made in What We Lose, I also found that unfortunately there was nothing special about the writing itself. And that was another problem for me. The writing overall was pretty basic. But it did have some very strong, thoughtful moments which I shared with you earlier in the episode. And those were the shining moments. I didn’t like that beyond those examples that I shared earlier, most of the rest of the prose was pretty basic. Like describing winter as a “long dark and cold period”. Or saying “The sun is shining with full strength.” I don’t expect descriptions like this from someone with an MFA in Creative Writing. And for those who don’t know, an MFA is a Masters in Fine Arts. Which is an advanced degree for fiction writing. So, when I get descriptions like winter is long dark and cold period or the sun is shining with full strength I get genuinely confused and frustrated.These are some of the ways in which I found What We Lose to be frustrating. I mentioned before that What We Lose contains expositions on South Africa. These expositions on South Africa did not resonate with me at all. I wasn't feeling them because the protagonist’s story would suddenly stop, and then the author would randomly veer off into unrelated discussions sprinkled through the book on South Africans and South Africa. Like talking about Oscar Pistorius, talking about the Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist, Kevin Carter, the author inserted a blog post about crime in Durban, there were sections on Winne Mandela. And then we'd return to the novel’s main plot, Thandie's story. It was totally disruptive to the story’s narrative arc. And the hard part about reading these expositions on South Africa was it didn't feel like I was reading it from an insider, it wasn't a knowing, intimate, and heartfelt perspective of a South African but felt like it was coming from a foreign, touristy gaze. These South African sidebars had the quality of reading as academic, like something copied and pasted from Wikipedia or a newspaper article. They were all things that anyone who even has a tiny micro familiarity with events in South Africa already knows. It wasn’t new information or like you know a new take on these people or events. And there was no emotional connection or narrative links between these events and Thandie. And this matters because Thandie is supposed to be half South African. It really really frustrated me because all it did was to say "hey I'm Thandie, I'm half South African and I'll prove this to you by talking about some South African things. " It just felt like a cheap shot, like these South African events and people were used as filler, to fill in pages in the book. And it made me honestly feel defensive and protective of South Africa being used this way. Something else I had mixed feelings about was that this book is very unapologetically upper-middle-class. I felt like Thandie kept trying to emphasize the fact that in South Africa she is a colored and therefore higher up the social ladder than a black person. And in America, she comes from an upper middle class black pedigree. The issue is not in having these social advantages. The issue here is that they're not stated merely as fact but stated as a sort of point being made about social separation. And I'm not sure who that point is being made to because this book is written in the first-person. Hmmmm. I honestly cannot see it appealing to a diverse array of literary tastes. I mentioned that this book is a meditation on Grief. And grief is a universal emotion and feeling that everyone across every social category will go through. We will all experience loss. We will all experience bereavement. We will all mourn people that we love. That's bound to happen to all of us unfortunately. So I feel like this book should have read as universal but it didn't. It's very specific in its target audience, very specific in who it would appeal to. And it would appeal to firmly upper middle class readers. But maybe ultimately there's nothing wrong with that. You know there's an old saying - know your audience. Something else I wanna discuss and this is not just specific to what we lose or Zinzi Clemmons but broadly across the literary world. Literature has a lot of jobs. You know? To inform. To help us empathize. To reveal who we are as a people. To introduce us to new worlds. Blah Blah Blah. But there's another function of literature which I feel is often minimized or not seen as important as the other functions of literature. And I'm just going to say it. Literature also has a duty to entertain. It's like other forms of art whether it's film or music or paintings or fashion. I don't care how high brow or indie or niche or upscale your sensibilities are. Art should also be aesthetically pleasing and part of being aesthetically pleasing is the duty to entertain, to please my senses you know. It's kind of like those super, super indie movies that only like two people that get what the filmmaker is trying to do . Or those haute couture outfits that only 10 people in the world will ever wear not because of the price tag but because there's no normal everyday event to wear them to. In those cases, you're ultimately producing art for yourself and not to please an audience. And this is how I felt reading What We Lose entertaining. My opinion is that yes make art for you. But, if you expect to have an audience participate in your art, then you have to think beyond yourself. Look, I get it this book is not a $100 bill so it's not going to appeal to every single person that reads it. Including me. But I would have at least liked to have been able to relate to a tiny aspect of it. And speaking of being unable to relate to this novel I think I figured out what the crux of the issue was for me. What We Lose reads like the diary of a moody, conflicted teenager. Even though Thandie is not a teenager. So you're immersed in this conflicted, jumbled reality of a person who doesn't even know who they are, who has no sense of direction, who's simply aimless. And there was no inner growth or progression as Thandie got older. I was disappointed. Very disappointed. I found Thandie to be very tiresome. And the reason I found her to be tiresome is because she is one of those people that's very feelings based who is so severely inward looking. You know those people who never really look outward, who don’t seem to be concerned about how other people are feeling or how they're doing. They're just so into the supposed complexity of their own super important feelings. You know those kinds of people who define themselves by their feelings and think that somehow the complexity of their feelings makes them cool. But all it does for the rest of us is it make them appear selfish because they don’t care about how other people feel. They come across to us as insufferable because they don't have the capacity to realize that other people besides them also experience very complex emotions.I said earlier that What We Lose is a novel about handling grief. It also deals with the depression that accompanies grief which I think is a really powerful subject to always address in fiction. But the problem with Thandie as a fictional character is that she was always inward looking and feeling sorry for herself even before tragedy hit so we never saw her degradation from normalcy into grief. Thandie was mourning life waaay before death came along. Another aspect to this was that I didn't feel like I could latch onto the secondary characters even if I wanted to ignore Thandie. Thandie was so me me me, that I never got the chance to really get to know the secondary characters in a tangible way. So guys, that's the main gist of my catalog of frustrations of What We Lose. Next up, I'll do the fun personality profile of Zinzi Clemmons and guess what I think she is like as a person. And then I'll end with some final thoughts. But before I do that, here's a quick message from my sponsor. Per usual, don't go anywhere. Okay I'm going to do a personality profile of Zinzi Clemmons. Of course this is purely fun guesswork from reading What We Lose. Soooo, I'm gonna guess that Zinzi Clemmons is probably a spontaneous, adventurous type person, who wears her heart on her sleeve. If you know Zinzi Clemmons, let me know if I hit the bullseye with this or if I'm completely way off base. Finally I'll close with saying that i admire the unconventional eclectic style and structure of what we lose. Even though i think would have been incredibly successful if it was written as a straightforward memoir. But I also realize it's a selfish thing for me to say because by saying that, I'm wanting the author to adapt her art to suit my own particular preference. And I suspect, and of course this is pure but respectful speculation, that it was a deliberate choice for Zinzi Clemmons not to write this book as a memoir to intentionally put some distance between herself and the grief, and shield herself from direct pain. And I completely understand this. So, if you've read What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons or if you do plan to read it, let me know what you think. I'd love to have a conversation with you on social media. Support Misty Bloom Book Club by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/mistybloombookclub Find out more at https://mistybloombookclub.pinecast.co

Annie is joined by Jordan Jones, her husband who also happens to be an attorney and personality typing expert. Today, they’re chatting about the Enneagram and making book recommendations for each type. Enneagram 1: East of Eden by John Steinbeck or Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski Enneagram 2: Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel or A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza Enneagram 3: The Best of Me by David Sedaris or Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell Enneagram 4: The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon or The Harpy by Megan Hunter Enneagram 5: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry Enneagram 6: Sea Wife by Amity Gaige and Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer Enneagram 7: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert and Here for It by R. Eric Thomas Enneagram 8: Untamed by Glennon Doyle and A Knock at Midnight by Brittany K. Barnett Enneagram 9: What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons and Hey Ladies! by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss A full transcript for today’s episode is available here. From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  This week, Annie is reading Boy-Crazy Stacey by Ann M. Martin and Jordan is reading The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova. If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online books orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

Slip on your comfiest shoes (ideally the ones that don’t go outdoors?) and get ready to curl up with a good book—or, rather, our enthusiastic endorsements of 26 novels by Black authors. YA and romance included, duh.   The linkage:   If you want more from us on Instagram, head to @athingortwohq. If you want to give us a ring, dial up 833-632-5463.   Some (Birkenstock-y) house-shoe picks: Arizona Essentials EVA, Boston Essentials EVA, and Boston Suede with Shearling.     NOVELS BY BLACK AUTHORS! That we love! Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid; Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue; The Idea of You by Robinne Lee; The Wedding Date, The Proposal, The Wedding Party, and more (!!) by Jasmine Guillory; The Nickel Boys (and next up: Sag Harbor) by Colson Whitehead; My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite; American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson; What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons; An American Marriage and Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones; The Mothers (and next up: The Vanishing Half) by Brit Bennett; Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson; Homegoing (up next: Transcendent Kingdom) by Yaa Gyasi; We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge; Americanah and The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.   YA NOVELS! With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo; The Hate U Give and On the Come Up by Angie Thomas; The Sun is Also a Star and Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.   Listen to Tayari Jones on our podcast or on Death, Sex & Money (where she talks about getting a call from Oprah!).   Get your DIY fix with Sewsquad. For free shipping on your first order, sign up for the newsletter. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

This week our guest is novelist Liara Tamani, author of All the Things We Never Knew, a young adult novel that follows two Black teenagers as they discover how first love, heartbreak, betrayal, and family can shape you - for better or worse. In this episode, we discuss her writing process, and:The three questions to ask yourself when you’re blockedEditing as you writeAnd moreIf you’re a new listener to Fierce Womxn Writing, I would love to hear from you. Please visit my Contact Page and tell me about your writing challenges.Follow this WriterVisit Liara Tamani’s Website, Twitter, and InstagramOrder her latest Young Adult novel, All the Things We Never KnewFollow the PodcastVisit my Website for more info on the podcastFollow the HostSlide into Sara Gallagher’s DM’s on InstagramFollow our PartnersLearn more about We Need Diverse Books, whose mission is to put more diverse books into the hands of all childrenBecome an AdvertiserUse my Contact Page or hit me up on InstaThis Week’s Writing PromptEach week the featured author offers a writing prompt for you to use at home. I suggest setting a timer for 6 or 8 minutes, putting the writing prompt at the top of your page, and free writing whatever comes to mind. Remember, the important part is keeping your pen moving. You can always edit later. Right now we just want to write something new and see what happens.This week’s writing prompt is: Inspired by Ross Gay, write an essay about delight. Draft it really quickly and write it by hand.Explore Womxn AuthorsIn this episode, the author recommended these womxn writers:Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We LoseElana K. Arnold, author of An Ordinary DayRenee Watson, author of Ways to Make SunshineBrandy Colbert, author of The Only Black Girls in TownEnsure the Podcast ContinuesLove what you’re hearing? Show your appreciation and become a Supporter with a monthly contribution.Check Out More Black Womxn AuthorsEpisode 27: Aja Black - Songwriter of musical duo The RemindersEpisode 26: Minna Salami - Author of Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for EveryoneEpisdoe 15: Brittney Morris - Author of SlaySupport the show (https://fiercewomxnwriting.com/support)

Wir erinnern an die große US-amerikanische Schriftstellerin Toni Morrison und stellen neue weibliche Stimmen vor, darunter die Schwedin Liv Strömquist, die Niederländerin Marente de Moor und Zinzi Clemmons aus den USA.

We're back to continue our series on radical, community libraries! In this episode, we chat with Ola Ronke Akinmowo of the Free Black Women's Library, Dev Aujla of Sorted Library, and Jen Hoyer and Daniel Pecoraro from our own Interference Archive library. To learn more about the Free Black Women's Library, stay up to date about future pop ups, and find out where to donate books, visit her site, follow the library on social media @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, and consider supporting the project via Patreon. Here's a short list of reading recommendations from Ola Ronke: Audre Lorde, Gloria Naylor, Buchi Emecheta, Pat Parker, June Jordan, Nnedi Okorafor, especially Who Fears Death, Octavia Butler, especially Parable of the Sower, Zora Neale Hurston, especially Dust Tracks on the Road, This Thing Around My Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sula by Toni Morrison, Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi, Things We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons, All About Love by bell hooks, Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires, I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé, The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clementine Wamariya, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper. To learn more about the Sorted Library, including the date of their next open house, you can follow them on Instagram @SortedLibrary or visit them at sortedlibrary.com. To learn more about the Interference Archive library, visit our website, or visit us in person. The archive (and library) is open to the public Thursdays-Sundays. A huge thank you to Ola Ronke Akinmowo, Dev Aujla, Jen Hoyer, and Daniel Pecoraro for talking with us and the important and exciting work you do! Music: “Good Times” and “Laid Back Fuzz” Podington Bear Produced by Interference Archive.

We’re back to continue our series on radical, community libraries! In this episode, we chat with Ola Ronke Akinmowo of the Free Black Women’s Library, Dev Aujla of Sorted Library, and Jen Hoyer and Daniel Pecoraro from our own Interference Archive library. To learn more about the Free Black Women’s Library, stay up to date about future pop ups, and find out where to donate books, visit her site, follow the library on social media @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, and consider supporting the project via Patreon. Here’s a short list of reading recommendations from Ola Ronke: Audre Lorde, Gloria Naylor, Buchi Emecheta, Pat Parker, June Jordan, Nnedi Okorafor, especially Who Fears Death, Octavia Butler, especially Parable of the Sower, Zora Neale Hurston, especially Dust Tracks on the Road, This Thing Around My Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sula by Toni Morrison, Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi, Things We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons, All About Love by bell hooks, Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires, I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé, The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clementine Wamariya, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper. To learn more about the Sorted Library, including the date of their next open house, you can follow them on Instagram @SortedLibrary or visit them at sortedlibrary.com. To learn more about the Interference Archive library, visit our website, or visit us in person. The archive (and library) is open to the public Thursdays-Sundays. A huge thank you to Ola Ronke Akinmowo, Dev Aujla, Jen Hoyer, and Daniel Pecoraro for talking with us and the important and exciting work you do! Music: “Good Times” and “Laid Back Fuzz” Podington Bear Produced by Interference Archive.

‘She comes to me in snatches - I remember pieces of her laugh, the look she gave when she was upset. Sometimes I sniff the bottle of perfume of hers that I saved, but it doesn't come close to the robustness of her smell. It is her, flattened. This is what it's really like to lose. It is complete and irreversible. How pernicious these little things called memories are. They barbed me once, but now that I no longer have many of them, I am devastated.' — Zinzi Clemmons, What We Lose Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. Her debut novel, What We Lose is about a young woman coming of age while navigating loss, difficult relationships and self identity. Written as auto fiction in both emotional and poignant prose. In this episode, Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele sat down with Zinzi to discuss her novel. Zinzi recalls talking a creative writing class in college and how that sparks her writing journey. Alma-Nalisha and Zinzi have a frank conversation about writing, literature and her book which Alma-Nalisha describes as ‘a deeply personal meditation on loss is and how we deal with grief'. The discussion touches of a myriad of topics such as grief, identity, relationships, mental health, displacement, sex, race, mortality and other musings. Both lighthearted and but deeply reflective. This is a powerful conversation on our interaction with loss, grief and relationships.

Charlie Lovett interviews Ginger Hendricks and Jamie Rogers Southern, both of Bookmarks, about the 14th annual Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors in Wnston-Salem, NC on September 6–9. We discuss authors such as Dav Pilkey, Rebecca Makkai, Rick Bragg, Beth Macy, Zinzi Clemmons, and many others.

Watch the video here. A cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal and a contributing editor for Literary Hub, Zinzi Clemmons has had work published in a variety of literary magazines, including Zoetrope: All Story, The Paris Review Daily, and Transition. Raised in Philadelphia to a South African mother and an American father, Clemmons teaches in Los Angeles at The Coleburn Conservatory and Occidental College. Her debut novel, What We Lose, tells the story of Thandi, a young woman caught between cultures as she struggles with love, unexpected motherhood, and the loss of the person who shaped her the most.  (recorded 7/13/2017)

We go down the #INCEL rabbit hole in Episode 36. What IS an INCEL? What is the "INCEL rebellion," a "Chad," a "Stacy," a "Normie," and all the other various language and ideas guiding this particularly dangerous group of men. We also give you new language: "aggrieved entitlement," and "misogynistic terrorism." With all the #massshootings today, mostly committed by young white men who are angry with women for denying them sex, we provide a basic primer on this movement and make the connection, which is something that is being ignored in mainstream media outlets. The #TrumpsterFire addresses #POTUS's misogyny (or hatred of women). Our #FierceWomanWarriors this episode are two #womenwriters who have shared their stories and exposed #JunotDiaz as a sexual predator: Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We Lose and Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties. Our #MediaMinute asks you to watch the second season of Hulu's series The Handmaid's Tale. And finally, our #ActivistAction asks you to buy books by women #whistleblowers. #Empower yourself by joining our #community and feel less alone in this topsy-turvy time. #Share this episode with your social media networks and ask others to #listen and join this fight (we are also on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Google Play Music). We are in this together.   We work hard to bring you #originalcontent. Do you agree that our content is valuable? Important? Have we given #voice to some of your own concerns? Helped you feel less alone in this world-gone-off-the-rails? Become a patron for $1 a month and help us be #sustainable. That's less than the cost of a cup of coffee to help support our feminist/activist podcast. Click the little green "Become a Patron" button on this screen to start your patronage today! (At $8/month, you'll get access to every episode and Expert Extra AS SOON AS WE POST THEM, along with an Inside 254 writing journal, stickers, shout-outs, and love!) Want to help us out with expenses, but don't want the monthly patron option? You can make a one-time donation at our GoFundMe page.   Please #share our #podcast with your like-minded friends. We need your help to build our audience and community! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on our web site where we post links and additional information from the current episode. Thanks for listening and helping us be sustainable for you for the long-term, community!

From an author of rare, haunting power, a stunning novel about a young African-American woman coming of age--a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, family, and country.  Raised in Pennsylvania, Thandi views the world of her mother's childhood in Johannesburg as both impossibly distant and ever present. She is an outsider wherever she goes, caught between being black and white, American and not. She tries to connect these dislocated pieces of her life, and as her mother succumbs to cancer, Thandi searches for an anchor--someone, or something, to love. In arresting and unsettling prose, we watch Thandi's life unfold, from losing her mother and learning to live without the person who has most profoundly shaped her existence, to her own encounters with romance and unexpected motherhood. Through exquisite and emotional vignettes, Clemmons creates a stunning portrayal of what it means to choose to live, after loss. An elegiac distillation, at once intellectual and visceral, of a young woman's understanding of absence and identity that spans continents and decades, What We Lose heralds the arrival of a virtuosic new voice in fiction. Praise for What We Lose "Penetratingly good and written in vivid still life, What We Lose reads like a guided tour through a melancholic Van Gogh exhibit--wonderfully chromatic, transfixing and bursting with emotion. Zinzi Clemmons's debut novel signals the emergence of a voice that refuses to be ignored." --Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout  "An intimate narrative that often makes another life as believable as your own." --John Edgar Wideman, author of Writing to Save a Life  "The narrator of What We Lose navigates the many registers of grief, love and injustice, moving between the death of her mother and the birth of her son, as well as an America of blacks and whites and a South Africa of Coloreds. What an intricate mapping of inner and outer geographies! Clemmons's prose is rhythmically exact and acutely moving. No experience is left unexamined or unimagined." --Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland  "Zinzi Clemmons' first book heralds the work of a new writer with a true and lasting voice--one that is just right for our complicated millennium. Bright and filled with shadows, humor, and trenchant insights into what it means to have a heart divided by different cultures, What We Lose is a win, just right for the ages." --Hilton Als, author of White Girls  "I love how Zinzi Clemmons complicates identity in What We Lose. Her main character is both South African and American, privileged and outsider, driven by desire and gutted by grief. This is a piercingly beautiful first novel." --Danzy Senna, author of New People  "It takes a rare, gifted writer to make her readers look at day-to-day aspects of the world around them anew. Zinzi Clemmons is one such writer.What We Lose immerses us in a world of complex ideas and issues with ease. Clemmons imbues each aspect of this novel with clear, nuanced thinking and emotional heft. Part meditation on loss, part examination of identity as it relates to ethnicity, nationality, gender and class, and part intimate look at one woman's coming of age, What We Lose announces a talented new voice in fiction." --Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House  "Wise and tender and possessed of a fiercely insightful intimacy, What We Lose is a lyrical ode to the complexities of race, love, illness, parenthood, and the hairline fractures they leave behind. Zinzi Clemmons has gifted the reader a rare and thoughtful emotional topography, a map to the mirror regions of their own heart." --Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine  Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. She is a cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal, a contributing editor to Literary Hub, and deputy editor for Phoneme Media. Her writing has appeared in Zoetrope, The Paris Review Daily, Transition, and the Common. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction. Clemmons lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Event date:  Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - 7:30pm

This week we're joined by Aisha Brown (JFL. Kevin Hart LOL) we talk about her life as stand up, Jordan Peterson and the idea of Free speech and problematic white feminism. ----more----  Here are some of the articles and links we used in this episodeThe National Post - Here’s the full recording of Wilfrid Laurier reprimanding Lindsay Shepherd for showing a Jordan Peterson videoVice - No, the Trans Rights Bill Doesn’t Criminalize Free SpeechThe Bustle - This Difference Between Charlottesville & Ferguson Could Be Part Of A Sickening Double StandardThe Guardian - Yes, there is a free speech crisis. But its victims are not white menYamahtta Taylor commencement speech Zinzi Clemmons  - Divest from Lena DuhamVice - How to know if you're a hipster racist  

This week we were joined by the Managing Director of MusicNSW Emily Collins, and Aboriginal theatre producer Ali Murphy-Oates, to talk about a new collective called Why Are You Winking At Me? offering strategies for disarming sexism for people working in the arts and cultural sector. Thoughts That Count: Coming up to the holiday, we asked for your advice on how to navigate the holiday season, Christmas parties and family dinners in these complex political and social times. And as always we gave you all the news and trash from the past week from a feminist perspective for our segment “go home everything is terrible”, including Nigeria’s first female bobsled team, writer Zinzi Clemmons’ decision to stop working with Lena Dunham, the incredible trailer for A Wrinkle in Time, plus more.

What We Lose author Zinzi Clemmons on writing grief, experimental literature and the author who changed her life.

Zinzi Clemmons' debut novel, "What We Lose," is an intimate coming-of-age story centered around a tough and tender moment -- the loss of the main character's mother. The story is based on Clemmons' own loss and grieving process. The novel -- referred to as autofiction, a cross between an autobiography and ficition -- also explores love, identity and womanhood. Reviews hail the novel as "stunning," "inventive" and "poignant," and critics are calling Clemmons "a promising new voice." Callie Crossley speaks with the author about the themes of the novel and her avant-garde approach to writing and literature. "What We Lose" is our October selection for Bookmarked: the Under the Radar book club. Guest: Zinzi Clemmons, author of "What We Lose."

Hey there word nerds! Today I am delighted to have author Zinzi Clemmons on the show! Zinzi’s gorgeous debut novel, What We Lose, has already taken the literary world by storm establishing her as a strong new voice to watch. Raised in the Philadelphia suburbs by a South African mother and American father, Zinzi has much in common with the main character of her novel, Thandi, so much so that What We Lose has been described as autobiographical fiction. Listen in as we dive into Zinzi’s novel and how to craft fiction and reality in a novel that defies normal expectations. In this episode Zinzi and I discuss: Autobiographical fiction, and how to decide what pieces of reality to include in your novel. How to weave big topics—such as race and identity—into your novel organically. What to do when you receive pushback about your story, and how to preserve that emotional truth. Why art and literature can shine a light on the grey areas of life. When to keep pursuing a novel and when to throw it out. Plus, Zinzi’s #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/165

The Riff Raff chat to Zinzi Clemmons about her incredible debut 'What We Lose'. We discuss writing a book with an unusual structure, knowing when to start over with a manuscript and the value of seeking guidance and advice from other writers. Music: www.bensound.com.

Ryan Gattis is the author of Kung Fu and All Involved, which won the American Library Association’s Alex Award & the Lire Award for Noir of the Year in France. Gattis lives and writes in Los Angeles, where he is a member of the street art crew UGLARworks & a founding board member of 1888, a Southern California literary arts non-profit. Ryan’s latest novel is Safe. Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. Her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, the Paris Review Daily, Transition and elsewhere. She is a cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal and a contributing editor to Literary Hub. Clemmons lives in Los Angeles and teaches at the Colburn Conservatory and Occidental College. Zinzi’s debut novel is What We Lose. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Walliams has just notched up his 100th week as the UK's best-selling children's author. Among his most popular books is Gangsta Granny, and a stage version is about to open at the London's Garrick Theatre. David Walliams tells Samira Ahmed why he thinks the play is better than the book, and how his career as a children's author developed out of the comedy sketch show he created with Matt Lucas - Little Britain.Cultural commentator Agnès Poirier reflects on the life of Jeanne Moreau, the French film actress and leading light of the Nouvelle Vague, whose death was announced today; and New York Times London theatre critic Matt Wolf remembers the American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Sam Shepard, who has died aged 73.Debut novelist Zinzi Clemmons was brought up in the USA, with roots in South Africa and Trinidad. She discusses her fragmentary book What We Lose, which was inspired by her own experiences nursing her mother through terminal cancer and explores motherhood, race and grief.Ever since Mamma Mia! burst onto the West End stage in 2001, the jukebox musical - using a popular artist's back catalogue of music to tell a theatrical story - has become a phenomenon. But why do some make millions and some spectacularly flop? Are they a great way of bringing theatre to the masses, or simply a lazy ploy by producers to guarantee a cash cow?Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Harry Parker.

Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We Lose, talks to Daniel Ford about her circuitous path to writing, why she decided to pursue an MFA, and what inspired her incredibly well-written and structured debut novel. To learn more about Zinzi Clemmons, visit her official website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Also read our review of What We Lose in July’s “Books That Should Be On Your Radar.”

Named a “Writer Worth Knowing” in The New York Times Summer Book Preview Named a summer 2017 recommended read by The New York Times, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Elle, The Millions, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Nylon, Houston Chronicle, Redbook, and Time Zinzi Clemmons’ WHAT WE LOSE is a powerful and innovative debut novel that questions the nature of identity, grief, and love through the eyes of a young woman who loses her mother to cancer. Told in visceral vignettes that draw from autofiction, online media, and encyclopedia, WHAT WE LOSE is a thoughtful, poignant debut from a promising new voice. At the beginning of the novel we meet Thandi, a second generation South African American of mixed race growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs. Thandi is raised by her South African mother, yet in Thandi’s daily life she is immersed in the culture of “American Blacks . . . my precarious homeland.” “Because of my light skin and foreign roots,” Clemmons writes, “I was never fully accepted by any race.” This feeling, of being detached from a tribe, the loneliness of a perpetual outsider, follows her throughout her life. Her mother, a pillar of strength in their family, becomes ill while Thandi is at college, and eventually Thandi leaves school to care for her. After her mother’s death, Thandi struggles to anchor herself to a self-image and to relationships that seem increasingly tenuous to her. She falls in love and fashions an unexpected new family for herself, only to find herself uncomfortable in it—an interloper again—and still deeply disoriented by the loss of her mother. Clemmons intersperses the narrative with photography, text messages, excerpts from blogs and newspaper articles; the effect is by turns playful and haunting. The primary sources create intimate and sprawling connections between the reader, Thandi, and the novel’s larger questions: about the construct of race, injustice within social systems, the durability of love, and the ability to overcome grief. In this way WHAT WE LOSE confronts the horrors and the legacy of Apartheid, and the tyranny of race in the personal and political realms. The meditations in WHAT WE LOSE are deeply felt, not least because its themes are informed by the author’s personal experiences. www.zinziclemmons.com Twitter: @zinziclemmons ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. She is a graduate of Brown and Columbia universities, and her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All Story, The Paris Review Daily, Transition, and elsewhere. She is a cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal, a contributing editor to Literary Hub. She has been in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Dar al-Ma’mûn, Morocco. Clemmons lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Whitman, Alabama; debut fiction writers Jess Arndt and Zinzi Clemmons read from their new books; Sherman Alexie reads from his new memoir; Erika L. Sanchez reads from her debut poetry collection.