Stay ConnectedRewrite Radio is the podcast of the Festival of Faith & Writing (#FFWgr), a biennial celebration of literature and belief in Grand Rapids, MI.
Festival is the flagship initiative of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing (CCFW), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit fostering scholarship & community around the literary arts.
#67 Virginia Stem Owens 1994 by Festival of Faith & Writing
In episode #65 of Rewrite Radio, Newbery Medal winner Clare Vanderpool shares how stories transform us and how to maintain our most honest selves. She also sings a few yodel-ay-hee’s from her book Moon Over Manifest. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In episode #64 of Rewrite Radio, Jennifer Trafton teaches her listeners and students that play is at the heart of creativity. She draws on her experiences as a child and in the classroom to invite writers to play so that the idea brings something new to the world. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In episode #63 of Rewrite Radio, Sefi Atta and Diane Glancy offer their own thoughts on writing across the borders of religion, culture, language and more. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In episode #62 of Rewrite Radio, Jeff Zentner tells how he invited his characters to live inside his head for months in order to let them tell their own stories. He encourages listeners to write who fascinates them and that the story threads will follow. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio episode #61, Brady Udall offers his thoughts on teaching how to write a novel as opposed to short story or poetry. He distinguishes the long-lived popularity of novels in today’s society and why that is.
In Rewrite Radio episode #60, Dr. Anbara Salam teaches us more about the human interest in cults, how they are represented, and how they reveal our deepest vulnerabilities and anxieties.
In episode #59 of Rewrite Radio, author and minister Gloria Pinkney retells stories of how God answered her prayers through a reoccurring bumper sticker, through a yellow tow truck outside the LaGuardia Airport, and through many other signs. Listen as she encourages others to take time for God and ask Him questions.
In episode #58 of Rewrite Radio, Mitali Perkins offers five truths about fiction. Listen as she thinks of stories as windows and mirrors that teach us to make things right. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In episode #57 of Rewrite Radio, Helena María Viramontes shares her thoughts on prayer, compassion, and love to form a deeper connection with others. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio episode #56, Doris Betts reads from her novel, Souls Raised from the Dead, at the 1994 Festival of Faith & Writing. This particular chapter involves a quick-witted conversation between the two grandmothers of the main character, Mary Grace, who is currently in the hospital. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #55, writer, speaker, and traveler Daniel Taylor discusses the healing power of stories and the way stories make us a different person. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #54, journalist Emma Green opens up her reporter’s notebook from her time spent living in Jerusalem, looking at the broader themes that animate global religion. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #53, Luis Alberto Urrea shares his journey as a faithful writer—from a Tijuana garbage dump to Devil’s Highway. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #52, Eugene Peterson and Scott Hoezee discuss teaching, preaching, and conversation at the 2010 Festival of Faith & Writing. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #51, National Book Award winner Carlos Eire muses on the ethics of false memory, the power of images, and the story of thousands of children who, like him, were airlifted from Castro's Cuba, without their parents, in the early 1960's. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #50, Jen Hatmaker and Jennifer Holberg discuss the truths that humor conveys, the need for good friends, and the problems facing evangelicals. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #49, writer Lee Smith talks about and reads from her novel Saving Grace. Smith lets us into the stories behind her novels, her experiences with southern churches, and her fascination with all forms of ecstatic religion. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #48, Walter Wangerin, Jr. begins his Festival talk by comparing hard rain on a roof to the sound of applause and praise, and he says that he found it his job to seek God in the common things and know that the whole earth is filled with God's glory. He also dives into the whole process of writing–from observation to idea to final product. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #47, CCFW co-director Jennifer Holberg interviews some who have been there since the beginning of Festival: Henry J. Baron, Donald Hettinga, and Gary D. Schmidt. This episode shares the journey of the Festival’s past 30 years–its speakers, triumphs, difficulties–all driven by the idea for a place where writers of faith can learn from, appreciate, support, and affirm one another. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Episode 46 of Rewrite Radio features a collection of excerpts from our second season of the podcast, curated and edited together by CCFW media producerJon Brown and program coordinator Natalie Rowland. Join us as we journey through past Festival sessions in an exploration of stories as service. Speakers in order of appearance in this episode: Gene Luen Yang (2014) Richard Rodriguez (2010) Li-Young Lee & Nick Samaras (2004) Marie Howe (2018) Kwame Alexander & Nate Marshall (2018) Jacqueline Woodson (2004) Madeleine L'Engle (1996) Dorothy Fortenberry (2018) Elie Wiesel (1998)
On this episode of Rewrite Radio, we go back to the first night of Festival 1998 and Nobel-prize-winning writer Elie Wiesel, who offers powerful and prophetic words as applicable today as they were then. The author of over 60 books, Elie Wiesel was born in what is now Romania. At 15, he was deported to Auschwitz. By the time of liberation in 1945, Wiesel had lost his mother, his father, and his younger sister. After the war, he became a journalist and out of an interview, he was persuaded to write what would become his memoir, Night—now translated into more than 30 languages. Wiesel went on to a much-lauded career as a writer, professor, and humanitarian. In 1978, President Carter named Wiesel as chairman of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, and in 1980, Wiesel was the Founding Chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Council. Together with his wife, he established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. His works included fiction and non-fiction, including A Beggar in Jerusalem, The Testament, The Fifth Son, All Rivers Run to the Sea, and The Sea is Never Too Full. For his literary and human rights activities, he has received numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US Congressional Gold Medal, the National Humanities Medal, the Medal of Liberty, and the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor. In 1986, Wiesel won the Nobel Prize for Peace. He died in 2016. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Today on Rewrite Radio, we bring you Nikki Grimes, speaking at Festival 2018 about the potential story and poetry have to teach us empathy. Drawing examples from her own work, Grimes talks about the way that words can connect people across time and across cultures. The 2017 recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for a “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children,” Nikki Grimes has written many award-winning books for children and young adults, including Bronx Masquerade, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award in 2002. Her books Jazmin's Notebook, Talkin’ about Bessie, Dark Sons, The Road to Paris, and Words with Wings each received a Coretta Scott King Honor. In addition, the National Council of Teachers of English honored her with its Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 2006. Grimes’s other books include the Dyamonde Daniel chapter book series, as well as New York Times bestseller Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope. Her most recent books are One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance and The Watcher. Her memoir, Ordinary Hazards, is written in verse for young adult and adult readers and will be available in October 2019. In addition to her work for children, Grimes has written articles for Essence, Today’s Christian Woman, Image, and The Journal of Arts & Religion, among others. During a six-year stint in Sweden, she hosted a radio program for immigrants, Grunslöst, as well as another program for Swedish Educational Radio, and during the 1970s, Grimes co-produced and hosted The Kid’s Show on WBAI FM in New York. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Today’s episode, a recording from the very first Festival in 1990 and it features Will Campbell. Campbell, a Baptist minister, is perhaps best known for his involvement in the Civil Rights movement, first through the National Council of Churches and then through the Committee of Southern Churchmen, through which he published Katallagete, the New Testament Greek for “be reconciled.” He was on the front lines of integration efforts: one of the four people who escorted the black students who integrated the Little Rock public schools, the only white person present at the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King, and a marcher with King in Birmingham and Selma. His activism led him as well to protest other issues, such as Vietnam and the death penalty. Campbell was the author of numerous works, and his memoir, Brother to a Dragonfly, was a National Book Award finalist in 1978. He was also a pop culture icon: the inspiration for the character Will B. Dunn in the cartoon Kudzu. In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Campbell the National Humanities Medal. He passed away in 2013. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In this session of Rewrite Radio, we listen back to a conversation with writer Yann Martel from Festival 2008. Interviewed by Otto Selles, a French professor and poet, Martel lets us into the stories behind his stories, the quirks of his freewheeling curiosity, and the ideas at play in his art and mind. Yann Martel is the author of four novels: The Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2002, as well as The High Mountains of Portugal, Beatrice and Virgil, and Self. He has also published a book of short stories, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios and the collection 101 Letters to a Prime Minister, which address Canada’s former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. In addition to the Man Booker, Martel has received the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and his work has appeared repeatedly on the New York Times bestseller list. His fictions has been translated into many world languages, as well as adapted for the screen and the stage. Born in Spain, Martel now lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where he continues to write and also teaches at the University of Saskatchewan. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Marilynne Robinson is the author of four novels: Housekeeping, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for the best first novel published in 1980; Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction; Home, the winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction; and, most recently, Lila. Robinson has also written books of non-fiction, including Mother Country, The Death of Adam, Absence of Mind, When I Was a Child I Read Book, and The Givenness of Things. Her essays have appeared in such publications as Harper’s, The Paris Review, and The New York Review of Books. Robinson’s other honors include the National Humanities Medal and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, as well as nominations for both the National Book Award and the Man Booker. She spent much of her career teaching at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, from which she retired in 2016—that was the same year Time magazine named her on its annual list of 100 most influential people. Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making, Playing God, Strong and Weak, and The Tech-Wise Family, has also written about the intersection between culture and faith for Christianity Today, The New York Times, Books & Culture, and The Wall Street Journal. His work has appeared in the anthologies Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. Now a partner for theology and culture at Praxis, Crouch has served as a campus minister at Harvard University with Intervarsity and edited re:generation Quarterly. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On today’s episode of Rewrite Radio: working in the television and movie industry, Abigail Disney and Dorothy Fortenberry are involved in making some of the most significant media today. In this wide-ranging conversation with Jennifer Holberg, co-director of the CCFW, they discuss the ethical imperatives that shape--and should shape--the stories we tell on-screen. Abigail Disney is an award-winning filmmaker, philanthropist, and the CEO and president of Fork Films, which has supported more than 50 films and series that focus on social issues. Disney received her bachelor’s degree from Yale, her master’s from Stanford, and her doctorate from Columbia. An active supporter of peacebuilding, Disney is passionate about advancing women’s roles in the public sphere. In fact, in 2008 she turned to documentaries--inspired by the story of a group of women who used nonviolence to bring an end to Liberia’s long civil war--with the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, named best documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival. Disney’s directorial debut, The Armor of Light, premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. Dorothy Fortenberry is a producer and writer on Hulu’s Emmy Award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale. Prior to that, she spent three years on the writing staff for the CW series The 100. In 2017, IAMA Theatre Company produced the world premiere production of Fortenberry's play Species Native to California, a modern re-telling of The Cherry Orchard. Her play Partners had its world premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Fortenberry's essays on subjects including faith, fear, and the politics of country music have appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Real Simple, and Pacific Standard. Dorothy is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, and she has an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In this episode of Rewrite Radio, we bring you a session from Festival 2004. Listen in as two poets—Li-Young Lee and Nick Samaras—define the “demonization” of lyrical language and explore the meaning of pauses articulate in poems. Along the way, they reminisce about their lives as readers and writers, speaking about their own stories as pilgrimage. Li-Young Lee has written five highly acclaimed volumes of poetry: Rose; The City in Which I Love You, which was named the Lamont Poetry Selection (now the Laughlin Award); Book of My Nights, which received the William Carlos Williams Award; Behind My Eyes; and, most recently, The Undressing. He is also the author of a memoir, The Winged Seed; this book takes up his parents’ political exile from China, which transported the Lee family first to Indonesia and then to Pennsylvania. Lee has received multiple additional honors, including fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment of the Arts, and a Guggenheim. Nick Samaras is the author of two books of poetry. Hands of the Saddlemaker won the Yales Series of Younger Poets Award, followed by American Psalm, World Psalm. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, Poetry, and The Kenyon Review, as well as elsewhere. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On this Rewrite Radio: Calvin College chaplain, Mary Hulst--first woman ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in the US--interviews Rabbi Sandy Sasso, the first woman to have been ordained a rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism. Sasso and Hulst discuss Judaism, feminism, and why children’s books are so significant. Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the author of several nationally acclaimed children’s books, including For Heaven’s Sake, Noah’s Wife, and The Shema in the Mezuzah, which won the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Best Illustrated Children’s Book. Sasso credits her rabbinical and interfaith work with shaping her interests in the discovery of the religious imagination in children, as well as in the connection between spirituality and the arts. Sasso is the Director of Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts at Butler University and Christian Theological Seminary. Based in Indianapolis, she has been active in arts, civic, and interfaith communities. She has served on numerous boards addressing issues of women’s equality, education, hunger, philanthropy, the humanities, and the arts. She has been president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and chair of the annual Indianapolis Spirit and Place Festival. She also writes a monthly column for the Indianapolis Star. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On this episode of Rewrite Radio: Scott Hoezee, a noted preacher himself and the director of the Center for Excellence in Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary, conducts a wide-ranging interview with Fleming Rutledge. Fleming Rutledge is an Episcopal priest and writer of nine books, including the award-winning The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ. Ordained to the diaconate in 1975, two years later, she became one of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church. She has often been invited to preach in prominent pulpits such as the Washington National Cathedral, the Duke University Chapel, Trinity Church in Boston, and the Harvard Memorial Chapel. A native of Franklin, Virginia, Rutledge graduated magna cum laude from Sweet Briar College in 1959 and went on to complete her Master in Divinity at Union Theological Seminary. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary. For the first 14 years of her career, she served at Grace Church in New York City. Subsequently, Rutledge served as interim rector of St. John’s, Salisbury, Connecticut, and has twice been a resident Fellow at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. She has also been resident at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto School of Theology, where she taught preaching, and a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome. Rutledge’s particular expertise is the intersection of biblical theology with contemporary culture, current events and politics, literature, music, and art. The Crucifixion, Christianity Today’s 2017 Book of the Year, examines the contemporary meaning of Christ’s sacrifice. Her latest book, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, was published by Eerdmans in September 2018. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On today’s Rewrite Radio, independent scholar Sarina Gruver Moore talks with author Afaa Michael Weaver about how his journey took him from factory work to a Fulbright and ultimately to a professorship and an established writing career--and the spiritual practices that helped him along the way. Afaa M. Weaver is a poet, short story writer, playwright, and editor. You need to listen to this episode to learn his whole story, but--spoiler alert--in 1985, Weaver published his first collection of poetry, Water Song, received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for poetry, and attended Brown University’s graduate writing program on a fellowship. Weaver has gone on to publish 10 poetry collections, including Multitudes, The Ten Lights of God, and City of Eternal Spring. As a playwright, Weaver wrote Rosa, which was produced at the Venture Theatre in Philadelphia. He edited the collection These Hands I Know: African-American Writers on Family, and his short fiction appears in a number of anthologies including Children of the Night. Weaver has received many accolades, including the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, a Fulbright Scholar appointment, and a fellowship from the Pew Foundation. In addition to teaching at the National Taiwan University and Taipei National University of the Arts on his Fulbright, Weaver held the Alumnae Endowed Chair at Simmons College. He remains a member of the core faculty in the Drew MFA program in Poetry and Poetry in Translation. His papers are held in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On today’s episode, a look back to 2004 when the 2018 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Jacqueline Woodson, visited the Festival. As we listen back to the 2004 Festival, we hear Jacqueline Woodson consider how her upbringing, including her family’s faith commitments, prepared her for life as a writer, a mother, and a humanitarian. Though she writes for all ages, Jacqueline Woodson has won just about every major award in children’s and young adult literature, including several ALA Best Books for Young Adults, multiple Coretta Scott King awards and honors, a number of Newbery Honors, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the National Book Award. The author of poetry, fiction, and memoir, Woodson is the author of many books, among them: Brown Girl Dreaming, Another Brooklyn (a National Book Award for Fiction nominee), The Other Side, Each Kindness, Coming On Home Soon, Feathers, Show Way, After Tupac and D Foster, and Miracle’s Boys. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Today’s episode of Rewrite Radio features a conversation between the writers April Ayers Lawson and Jamie Quatro, hosted by Amy Frykholm. Titled “Sex, the Spirit, Short Stories, and South,” this conversation takes up the complicated work of writing about religious experience and sexual experience. It may not be appropriate for all listeners. Jamie Quatro writes fiction, poetry, and essays, and her work has appeared in publications such as Tin House, the New York Times Book Review, and the Kenyon Review. Her first book, I Want to Show You More, was a New York Times Notable Book, an NPR Best Book of 2013, and an Indie Next pick. The collection was also a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the Georgia Townsend Fiction Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize. Her first novel, Fire Sermon, was released in January 2018. A contributing editor at Oxford American, Quatro teaches in the MFA program at Sewanee, the University of the South, and lives on Lookout Mountain, Georgia. April Ayers Lawson is the author of Virgin and Other Stories, which was named a best book of the year by Vice, Bomb, Southern Living, and Refinery29, and has been translated into German, Italian, Norwegian, and Spanish. The title story in the collection won the Plimpton Prize for Fiction in 2011 and was also named a favorite short story by Flavorwire and anthologized in The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from the Paris Review. She was a 2015 writing fellow at Yaddo, has lectured in the creative writing department at Emory University, and was the 2016–2017 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On today’s Rewrite Radio, Kathleen Dean Moore, a philosopher and nature writer, proposes that the art of spiritual nature writing is to explore unfathomable ideas—mystery, astonishment, sanctity, despair—in the plain language of ice and frogs, returning stars, bells, birdsong, and pawprints in snow. The work of the nature writer, Moore argues, is to see the world—really see it, leaves and bones—and by that seeing, to find a gratitude so full that it can’t be distinguished from joy. Kathleen Dean Moore is an essayist, activist, and author of many books that explore cultural and spiritual connections to nature. Moore is best known for her award-winning books of personal essays, including Riverwalking: Reflections on Moving Water, Holdfast: At Home in the Natural World, and The Pine Island Paradox, for which she received the Oregon Book Award. Her first novel, Piano Tide, was published in 2016 by Counterpoint. She has written for numerous journals, including Orion, Discover, Audubon, and the New York Times Magazine. Moore is professor emerita of philosophy at Oregon State University, where she is also the founding director of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word. She teaches courses in environmental ethics as well as a field course in the philosophy of nature. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In Rewrite Radio Episode #32, Gary Schmidt discusses the ethical implications of using memories in fiction at the 2006 Festival of Faith & Writing. Gary Schmidt’s novels, though set as far back as 1730, often include moments and scenes from his own past and experience. So how does the writer for middle-grade and young-adult readers adapt his or her past to a narrative set in a different time period and to readers who are unfamiliar with both the author and the historical past? And what ethical implications do such uses carry, particularly when they involve issues of faith and meaning? Gary D. Schmidt is the prolific author of books for children and young adults as well as grown-up readers. With a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he is also a professor of English at Calvin College, where he currently co-chairs the department. He received both a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and a Newbery Honor for The Wednesday Wars, which was also nominated for a National Book Award. Of his many titles, some others include Anson's Way, The Sin Eater, Straw into Gold, Trouble, Orbiting Jupiter, and Okay for Now. In 2017, he contributed to the Star Wars anthology From A Certain Point of View: Star Wars. His latest book is So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom. Gary lives on a 150-year-old farm in Alto, Michigan, where he splits wood, plants gardens, writes, and feeds the wild cats that drop by. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On today’s episode, Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marie Howe, in a conversation with Micah Lott of Boston College, discuss the political possibilities of poetry: to bear witness, to inspire the moral imagination, and to provide perspective on our neighbors’ lives and the world around us. A poet, theologian, and group worker, Pádraig Ó Tuama is the leader of Corrymeela Community, an interdenominational church in Belfast dedicated to conflict transformation and church reconciliation. Ó Tuama has published and edited collections of poetry, essays, and theology, including Readings from the Book of Exile, Sorry for Your Troubles, and In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World. Working with groups in Ireland, Britain, Australia, and the United States, he leads workshops and retreats on storytelling, spirituality, and conflict resolution. The Poet Laureate of New York State from 2012 to 2014, Marie Howe has published four collections of verse. Her books include The Good Thief, which was chosen for the National Poetry Series by Margaret Atwood; What the Living Do, an elegy to her brother John, who died of an AIDS-related illness; The Kingdom of Ordinary Time; and Magdalene: Poems. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, Ploughshares, and the Partisan Review. Howe has received fellowships from the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, and NYU. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On this episode of Rewrite Radio from Festival 2010, Richard Rodriguez delivers the speech he rewrote after realizing that Festivalgoers really did want him to talk about the complexities of faith and class in his life as a writer. Starting with an Elvis-singing taxi-driver in the Sinai and a Thanksgiving turkey blessed with a Hindu hymn, he unfolds his American story. Richard Rodriguez writes about the diversity of cultural and religious traditions in conversation—and in conflict—throughout our country and our world. The winner of a Peabody Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an Emmy, a Fulbright, and the Anisfield-Wolf Award for Race Relations, he is also the author of The Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. His other books include Brown: The Last Discovery of Richard Rodriguez, Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father, and Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography. Born in California to immigrants, Rodriguez is a journalist as well as a writer of memoirs. He has written regularly for several newspapers and magazines and has contributed to PBS’s NewsHour and reported for the BBC. A nominee for a Pulitzer Prize, he has also published work in Harper’s, Mother Jones, Time, and The American Scholar, among many others. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In Rewrite Radio Episode 29, Anya Silver and several other poets discuss the landscape of joy amidst suffering in their personal and public lives. Joy, distinct from happiness, can be a form of religious practice. They explore questions regarding what cheapens joy, how Christians view joy and how to “balance the scale” of joy and pain in writing. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
As an editor, mentor, and friend, Luci Shaw has enjoyed deep creative partnerships with many writers, perhaps none so special as her relationship with the late Madeleine L’Engle. Despite differences, the two animated each other’s work in important ways. They coauthored three books—WinterSong, Friends for the Journey, and A Prayer Book for Spiritual Friends—and Luci suggested and then edited Madeleine’s seminal treatise on faith and writing, Walking on Water. Madeleine’s granddaughters, Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy, have known Luci for years as a close friend of their family. Here they interview her about the role of community in the life of a writer and what it takes to forge and sustain friends for the long haul. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Madeleine L’Engle reflects on her life and the “cosmic” questions that have guided her writing. Why do bad things happen? Why do people die? Why? Weaving stories of hurt knees and publisher rejections with the realities of marriage and the deaths of those she loves, L’Engle illuminates her commitment to writing and abiding faith in God. Opening introduction from Calvin professor Don Hettinga. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In this episode, Billy Mark, Kwame Alexander and Nate Marshall engage in a conversation about the power of poetry for children and young adults. Because of particular systemic and social issues within the literary communities, it can be difficult for some kids to gain access to the sorts of books they want to read. They suggest poetry, as a form of activism today, can forefront voices that are normally not heard at the publishing “dinner table.” From spoken word, to vocabulary lessons, to balling on the court, Kwame and Nate explore what it means to dream differently as a “yes” person in this difficult, but ever transforming world. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Episode 25 of Rewrite Radio features a collection of excerpts from our first season of the podcast, curated and edited together by our creative director Jon Brown. He’s teased out a conversation between Festival speakers through the years about the power of stories to help us understand and navigate dark times. Jon also joins Festival director Lisa Ann Cockrel on the microphone for a look behind the scenes of production. Speakers in order of appearance in this episode: Frederick Buechner (1992) Katherine Paterson (2004) Brian Doyle (2012) Patricia and Alana Raybon (2016) Ashley Bryan (2016) George Saunders (2016) Ashley Bryan (2016) Barbara Brown Taylor (2004) Zadie Smith (2016) Tobias Wolff (2016) Frederick Buechner (1992) Kelly Brown Douglas (2016)
Episode 10 of Rewrite Radio features one of the oldest recordings in our Festival archive, Frederick Buechner speaking at our gathering in 1992. Frederick Buechner’s books—fiction, essays, sermons and more—have been translated into 27 languages and he has often been praised for his ability to inspire readers to see the grace in their daily lives. The London Free Press called him “one of our great novelists because he is one of our finest religious writers." He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and has been awarded eight honorary degrees from institutions including Yale University and the Virginia Theological Seminary. In addition, Buechner has been the recipient of the O. Henry Award, the Rosenthal Award, the Christianity and Literature Belles Lettres Prize, and has been recognized by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Joining us to talk about Buechner's 1992 talk, his first of two appearances here at Calvin, is Jennifer Holberg who, along with Jane Zwart, co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Jennifer is senior faculty in the English department at Calvin and editor of SHOUTS AND WHISPERS: TWENTY-ONE WRITERS SPEAK ABOUT THEIR WRITING AND THEIR FAITH, a collection of interviews and essays gleaned from past Festivals. She was introduced to Buechner’s work through her good friend, colleague, and former Festival director(1992-2004)Dale Brown, who can be heard introducing Buechner to the assembled audience as well on the recording. Many thanks to Frederick Buechner and the The Frederick Buechner Center. You can learn more about Buechner's life and work at www.frederickbuechner.com. And you see everything the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing is up to, including producing this very podcast, at ccfw.calvin.edu.
Today’s episode of Rewrite Radio features Katherine Paterson at the 2004 Festival of Faith & Writing. In this talk she discusses how and why she finds meaning in the midst of life’s chaos, the comforts and challenges of art, and also the vital importance of teachers. Katherine Paterson is the author of more than 30 books, including 16 novels for children and young people. She’s won countless awards including the Newbery Medal for both Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved and National Book Awards for The Great Gilly Hopkins and The Master Puppeteer. For her body of work she received the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 2000 was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress. To help introduce this recording we snagged Gary Schmidt, an English professor here at Calvin College and our own resident award-winning author. He’s twice received a Newbery Honor, for both The Wednesday Wars and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. All told, he’s written more than 15 books for children and young adults including Okay for Now a finalist for the National Book Award and In God's Hands, a picture book he co-authored with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, that was a runner-up for a National Jewish Book Award. His most recent project is a short story told from the perspective of Yoda in the anthology Star Wars from a certain point of view.
Episode 5 of Rewrite Radio features Patricia and Alana Raybon on the power of the pen to bridge a deep divide. They talk about writing UNDIVIDED: A MUSLIM DAUGHTER, HER CHRISTIAN MOTHER, THEIR PATH TO PEACE and the truths, troubles, and triumphs of co-authoring when the collaborators are struggling not just to write a book, but to reconcile their deepest difference. ALANA RAYBON is the co-author of UNDIVIDED: A MUSLIM DAUGHTER, HER CHRISTIAN MOTHER, THEIR PATH TO PEACE, along with her mother, Patricia Raybon. Raybon writes and teaches middle school in Tennessee. PATRICIA RAYBON is a journalist and the author of four books, including the memoirs I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE, a finalist for Christianity Today’s 2006 Book of the Year, and MY FIRST WHITE FRIEND, which won the Christopher Award. Her most recent book is UNDIVIDED: A MUSLIM DAUGHTER, HER CHRISTIAN MOTHER, THEIR PATH TO PEACE, co-written with her daughter Alana Raybon.
Episode 23 of Rewrite Radio features Barbara Brown Taylor at the 2004 Festival of Faith & Writing. In this talk she discusses writing for the ear and the difference between what she calls the language of belief and the language of beholding. Barbara Brown Taylor is a teacher, Episcopal priest, and New York Times best-selling author of books including Speaking of Sin, An Altar in the World, and Learning to Walk in the Dark. In 2014 TIME included her on its annual list of Most Influential People. Her fourteenth book, Holy Envy, is due out in August 2018. To help introduce this recording we recruited Kristine Johnson, a professor of rhetoric and linguistics at Calvin College, who was once a member of the Festival of Faith & Writing student committee when she was an English major here herself. Kristine was Barbara’s student host during the 2004 Festival.
Episode 6 of Rewrite Radio features George Saunders in an on-stage conversation with Calvin College English professor Lew Klatt at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. A critically acclaimed author of essays, short stories, and now his first novel, LINCOLN IN THE BARDO, Saunders discusses a wide range of topics including the intimacy of storytelling, how weird narratives work to disrupt moral cul-de-sacs, and creative writing as a form of play. George Saunders is the author of three essay collections and several works of fiction, including TENTH OF DECEMBER and LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. Among his many awards are the MacArthur “genius grant” and Guggenheim fellowships. In 1997, he joined the faculty of Syracuse University, where he is currently a professor of creative writing. To help introduce Saunders's interview we called up Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of the much-lauded short story collection NIGHT AT THE FIESTAS, and a fellow speaker at the 2016 Festival. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories, among other places. She’s also an assistant professor at Princeton University.
Episode 22 of Rewrite Radio features a conversation with Shauna Niequist at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Shauna was interviewed by Ansley Kelly, a Calvin College senior at the time, and their wide-ranging conversation includes claiming the authority to create, the need writing meets in Shauna’s own life, the writing practices she’s developed over the years, and the joys of Razor scooters and dancing in the kitchen. Shauna is a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Cold Tangerines, Bittersweet, Bread & Wine, and most recently, Present Over Perfect. Her work focuses on the joys and challenges of day-to-day life. To help introduce this recording we called up another bestselling writer also known for honesty, vulnerability, and wisdom, Shauna’s good friend Jen Hatmaker.
Today, we have something a little different in store for you. Russian poet, author and activist Irina Ratushinskaya passed away earlier this summer, and as we dug into the Festival archives, we knew we wanted to celebrate her life and work with a special episode. Irina spoke at the 1998 Festival of Faith & Writing ten years after her release from a Russian prison camp, and we’ve pulled several different recordings from that weekend.
Episode 20 of Rewrite Radio features MT Anderson at the 2016 Festival of Faith & writing and his talk titled “The Sacred and the Strange.” MT, or Tobin as his friends call him, talked about how paying attention to what might be considered “unusual” religious practices can help us see our own faith with new eyes. He says literature has a similar power to help us see our lives more clearly, by taking what we think we know and putting it at a distance, making it strange. Tobin has written over 40 books for young adults, including The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and Feed, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His first graphic novel, Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, came out earlier year. And his next novel, Landscape with Invisible Hand is set to come out September 2017. Joining us to talk about the sacred and the strange is Tara Isabella Burton, who also spoke at the 2016 Festival. Like Tobin, she’s observed religious practices from all corners of the globe writing for National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, and Al Jazeera, among many other publications. She’s currently the religion writer for Vox. Her first novel, Social Creature, comes out next summer. Many thanks to M. T. Anderson. Check out his website at mt-anderson.com, and follow him on Twitter @_MTAnderson. Thanks also to Tara Isabella Burton. You can learn more about her at www.taraisabellaburton.com, and follow her on Twitter @NotoriousTIB.
Today’s episode features David Dark talking about “attention collections” at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Attention collections are memories, fears, even playful obsessions - anything that has left a deep impression on us. David encourages writers to examine these things in service of the question: What do I have in me that may be of use to someone else? David is the author of several books including The Gospel According to America and, most recently, Life’s Too Short to Pretend You’re Not Religious. And he teaches at both Belmont University and the Tennessee Prison for Women Charles Bass Correctional Facility. Sara Zarr was at the session in 2016 and joins me here to discuss why she appreciates David’s own collection of attention. Sara is the author of five novels for young adults, most recently The Lucy Variation. Her first book, Story of a Girl, was a National Book Award finalist and was recently made into a TV movie starring Kevin Bacon. Many thanks to David Dark. You can learn more about him at daviddark.org, and catch him on Twitter, @DavidDark, where he regularly comments on politics, pop culture, #liturgy. Thanks also to Sara Zarr. You can learn more about her at sarazarr.com. She’s also on Twitter, @sarazarrbooks.
Episode #18 of Rewrite Radio features Marilyn McEntyre speaking at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing in a session titled “Called to Clarity: Writing for a Polarized Public.” She discusses strategies for writing about subjects that deeply divide us, pulling wisdom from an array of authors she’s found who do this exceptionally well. Marilyn McEntyre’s interests are deep and wide-ranging. Author of 16 books to date, including Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, she is currently professor of medical humanities in the UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco Joint Medical program, where she teaches students to use tools found in literature to better treat patients. Her 2015 book What’s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause brought home the Christianity Today Book Award for Spirituality. Her next book, Make a List: How a Simple Practice Can Change Our Lives and Open Our Hearts is due out in February 2018. Katelyn Beaty, another author with a lot of experience in writing for a divided public, help introduce the session. Former managing editor and currently editor-at-large at Christianity Today magazine, Katelyn is the author of A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World. Many thanks to Marilyn McEntyre. You can learn more about her work at marilynmcentyre.com. And many thanks to Katelyn Beaty. You can also learn more about her at katelynbeaty.com.
Episode #17 of Rewrite Radio features Christian Wiman reading old and new work at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. A poet, translator, editor, and essayist, Christian Wiman is the author of numerous books including the poetry collections Once in the West, Every Riven Thing, and The Long Home, and the essay collections My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer and Ambition and Survival: Becoming a Poet. He was the editor Poetry magazine for ten years and is currently on faculty at the Yale Divinity School. Jane Zwart introduced Christian at the 2016 Festival and join us to introduce the session on the podcast. Jane is a professor of English at Calvin College, co-director of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing, and an accomplished poet herself, and we talked a little bit about what makes Wiman’s work so compelling. Many thanks to Jane Zwart. Learn more about the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing at ccfw.calvin.edu. Thanks also to Christian Wiman. A new collection of his poems spanning his career so far is out now titled the Hammer is the Prayer.
Episode #16 of Rewrite Radio features a conversation between five memoirists about the appeal of memoir, its relationship to the practice of sharing testimonies of faith, and how both have created room for women's voices in religious spaces. Titled "Memoir as Feminist Testimony," this panel featured Amy Julia Becker, Jessica Mesman Griffith, Alison Hodgson, Katherine Willis Pershey, and Rachel Marie Stone. Amy Julia Becker writes and speaks about family, faith, disability, and culture. A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, Why I am Both Spiritual and Religious, What Every Woman Needs to Know about Prenatal Testing. She has also authored and A Good and Perfect Gift, a spiritual memoir on battling the culture of perfection while raising a child with Down syndrome, and a parenting memoir called Small Talk: Learning From My Children About What Matters Most. You can learn more about her work at amyjuliabecker.com. Jessica Mesman Griffith is a widely published essayist and the co-author with Amy Andrews of the memoir Love & Salt: A Spiritual Friendship in Letters, winner of the 2014 Christopher Award. She has also authored Strange Journey and Grace Filled Days and co-authored Daily Inspiration for Women, and has a forthcoming memoir on her childhood called Eden Isles. A cultural columnist for US Catholic Magazine, she also runs a blog called Sick Pilgrim for Christians struggling with spiritual darkness, and helps organize the Trying to Say God literary festival. You can learn more about her work at jessicamesman.com. Alison Hodgson, author of The Pug List: A Ridiculous Dog, a Family Who Lost Everything and How They All Found Their Way Home, is a Moth StorySLAM chaption and a regular contributor to Houzz.com. Her writing has been featured on Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics, Religion News Service, Forbes.com, and published with Baker Publishing Group and Zondervan. She is a co-founder of Breathe Christian Writers Conference and a member of Ink: A Creative Collective. Find out more about Alison and her work at alisonhodgson.net. Katherine Willis Pershey is an Associate Minister of First Congregational Church in Western Springs, Illinois and the author of Any Day a Beautiful Change: A Story of Faith and Family and a recently released book called Very Married: Field Notes on Love and Fidelity. She has written essays, devotionals, and commentaries for several publications and anthologies and regularly contributes to The Christian Century and the TheArtofSimple.net. Learn more about her work at katherinewillispershey.com. Rachel Marie Stone is the author of Eat With Joy: Redeeming God’s Gift of Food, winner of the Christianity Today Christian Living book award. She has also authored The Unexpected Way, and worked extensively on More-With-Less, the classic Mennonite cookbook. She is a regular contributor to Her.meneutics, Christianity Today, Sojourners, Books & Culture, The Huffington Post, The Christian Century, the Suffolk Times, PRISM, The Progressive Christian, Creation Care Magazine, and Flourish Magazine. You can find Rachel on Twitter at @rachel_m_stone, and learn more about her work at rachelmariestone.com.
Episode #15 of Rewrite Radio features Zadie Smith, interviewed by Jane Zwart at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Their wide-ranging conversation includes Smith’s love of C. S. Lewis, the challenges of literature about and for the working class, and the varieties of religious experience. Zadie Smith is the award-winning author of 5 novels including White Teeth, On Beauty, and, Swing Time. Her essays and book reviews are frequently published in The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, and many of those are collected in her book Changing My Mind. She is currently a professor of creative writing at New York University. A short conversation with Bekah Waalkes, a member of the 2016 Festival Student Committee and Zadie’s student host while she was on the campus of Calvin College for the event, introduces the recording. Student involvement is a hallmark of the Festival of Faith & Writing—members of our student committee help with everything from registration to shuttles to social media—and one of the fun perks of the job is spending time with our speakers while they’re on campus. Bekah, who has since graduated, was an indispensable member of the 2016 team. Many thanks to Bekah Waalkes. We’re excited to see what cool things are in store for her in the coming years. Thanks also to Zadie Smith and to John Wilson, who published an edited version of this interview by Jane Zwart in the Sept/Oct 2016 issue of Books and Culture.
Episode #14 of Rewrite Radio features Brian Doyle talking about the power of bearing witness via the stories we tell at the 2012 Festival of Faith & Writing. This is a particularly poignant episode for us, as Brian passed away from complications related to a brain tumor on May 27, 2017, less than two weeks before this episode's publication. Just 60 years old at the time of his death, Brian was a prolific writer, producing more than two dozen books of fiction, nonfiction, essays, poems, and prayers all while editing Portland Magazine for over two decades. His many awards included three Puschart Prizes, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing, and a Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature. Seven of his essays appeared in The Best American Essays anthologies. Brian’s good friend and his fellow speaker at the 2012 Festival, essayist Patrick Madden, helps to introduce the session. Patrick’s work has been published in journals including the Iowa Review, Fourth Genre, and Hotel Amerika, as well as in the Best Creative Nonfiction and the Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies. His own books include two collections of essays--Sublime Physick and Quotidiana--and a co-edited volume After Montaigne: Contemporary Essayists Cover the Essays. Many thanks to Patrick Madden. You can learn more about his work and the art of the essay at www.quotidiana.org/. And to Brian Doyle: you will be missed. In the words of the last prayer you wrote, we are sure that “no one ever laughed more at the ocean of hilarious things in this world, or gaped more in astonishment at the wealth of miracles everywhere every moment.” Thank you for making us laugh and teaching us to pay attention.
Episode #13 of Rewrite Radio features a conversation between four seasoned authors who’ve written extensively about their personal lives. Carla Barnhill, Jennifer Grant, Margot Starbuck, and Caryn Rivadeneira discuss how to navigate writing about friends and family, and then living with what you’ve published in a panel at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing titled Memoirist’s Lament: Living with What you Publish. A short conversation with Wesley Hill introduces the session. Many thanks to everyone involved: Carla Barnhill is the director of youth development for Sparkhouse, a division of Augsburg Fortress Publishing. She is the author of The Myth of the Perfect Mother, the editor of several more books, and frequently serves as a consultant for writers getting started in publishing. http://carynrivadeneira.com/ Jennifer Grant is an author, book editor, and consultant. She has written four works of nonfiction, Love You More, MOMumental, Disquiet Time, and Wholehearted Living, and regularly contributes to blogs including Her.meneutics. http://www.jennifergrant.com/ Margot Starbuck is the co-author of the forthcoming book Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports and the author of five books, including The Girl in the Orange Dress. She is a regular contributor to Today’s Christian Woman and an editorial advisor for Gifted for Leadership.http://www.margotstarbuck.com/ Caryn Rivadeneira is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of five books and a regular contributor to Her.meneutics and Re:Frame Media’s ThinkChristian. Wesley Hill is an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He is the author of three books, including Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian. He co-founded the website SpiritualFriendship.org, and he writes regularly for Books & Culture, Christianity Today, and First Things. Follow him on Twitter @wesleyhill.
Episode #12 of Rewrite Radio features a stirring conversation between two writers who also illustrate books for children. Arree Chung, best known for his book NINJA!, first met Ashley Bryan at a conference almost ten years ago when he was still an aspiring author. Then as now, Ashley Bryan was a living legend in the literary world. At the age of 19 he was drafted out of art school and into a segregated army during World War II. He survived in part by drawing, stowing supplies in his gas mask when necessary. After the war, Ashley completed his art degree, studied philosophy and literature at Columbia University on the GI Bill, and then went to Europe on a Fulbright scholarship, seeking to understand why humans choose war. Ashley would eventually become the first African American to publish a book he both wrote and illustrated, and would go on to publish more than 50 books and win numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions award. Throughout the United States and Africa, libraries, children’s rooms, and literary festivals are named for Ashley. But as nice as these honors are, Ashley says it’s the joy of creation and the excitement he sees in children’s eyes, that delight him most. Many thanks to Arree Chung and Ashley Bryan. You can learn more about Arree’s work at http://arree.com/. The Ashley Bryan Center was created in 2013 to “preserve, celebrate and share broadly Ashley’s work and his joy of discovery, invention, learning and community." You can read all about Ashley’s amazing life story, and see his artwork, at https://ashleybryancenter.org/.
Episode #11 of Rewrite Radio features Dani Shapiro interviewed by Catherine Wolff about spirituality and creative practice at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Dani Shapiro is the author of several books including STILL WRITING: THE PLEASURES AND PERILS OF THE CREATIVE LIFE. Her most recent memoir HOURGLASS: TIME, MEMORY, MARRIAGE was released on April 11 and the Boston Globe says it’s “A gorgeous, poetic stay against loss and confusion. Shapiro has never written anything as raw, dark, or brave as HOURGLASS.” Dani has also written for magazines including The New Yorker; O, The Oprah Magazine; Vogue; and Elle. Catherine Wolff is the author of NOT LESS THAN EVERYTHING: CATHOLIC WRITERS ON HEROES OF CONSCIENCE, FROM JOAN OF ARC TO OSCAR ROMERO and the former director of the Arrupe Center for Community-Based Learning at Santa Clara University. Journalist Barbara Mahany helps introduce the recording. A former pediatric oncology nurse, Mahany spent nearly three decades as a reporter and writer at the Chicago Tribune. Her two collections of essays include SLOWING TIME: SEEING THE SACRED OUTSIDE YOUR KITCHEN DOOR, and MOTHERPRAYER: LESSONS IN LOVING JUST RELEASED LAST WEEK. Many thanks to Dani Shaprio and Catherine Wolff. You can learn more about Dani Shapiro’s work at danishapiro.com. Thanks also to Barbara Mahany, who can be followed at barbaramahany.com.
Episode 10 of Rewrite Radio features one of the oldest recordings in our Festival archive, Frederick Buechner speaking at our gathering in 1992. Frederick Buechner’s books—fiction, essays, sermons and more—have been translated into 27 languages and he has often been praised for his ability to inspire readers to see the grace in their daily lives. The London Free Press called him “one of our great novelists because he is one of our finest religious writers." He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and has been awarded eight honorary degrees from institutions including Yale University and the Virginia Theological Seminary. In addition, Buechner has been the recipient of the O. Henry Award, the Rosenthal Award, the Christianity and Literature Belles Lettres Prize, and has been recognized by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Joining us to talk about Buechner's 1992 talk, his first of two appearances here at Calvin, is Jennifer Holberg who, along with Jane Zwart, co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Jennifer is senior faculty in the English department at Calvin and editor of SHOUTS AND WHISPERS: TWENTY-ONE WRITERS SPEAK ABOUT THEIR WRITING AND THEIR FAITH, a collection of interviews and essays gleaned from past Festivals. She was introduced to Buechner’s work through her good friend, colleague, and former Festival director(1992-2004)Dale Brown, who can be heard introducing Buechner to the assembled audience as well on the recording. Many thanks to Frederick Buechner and the The Frederick Buechner Center. You can learn more about Buechner's life and work at www.frederickbuechner.com. And you see everything the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing is up to, including producing this very podcast, at ccfw.calvin.edu.
Episode 9 of Rewrite Radio features a conversation between four writers in the Eastern Orthodox religious tradition about the deep poetry and lasting peace that liturgy offers. Scott Cairns, Angela Doll Carlson, Gaelan Gilbert, and Cameron Alexander Lawrence reflect on Orthodoxy and how it can clear a pathway through the slings and arrows of modern life. Scott Cairns’s poems and essays have appeared many publications including The Paris Review, The Atlantic, and IMAGE Journal. His newest poetry collection is IDIOT PSALMS and he’s recently been appointed program director of the MFA program at Seattle Pacific University: http://spu.edu/prospects/grad/academics/mfa/index.asp Angela Doll Carlson is a poet, essayist and fiction writer. She’s the author of two books, NEARLY ORTHODOX: ON BEING A MODERN WOMAN IN AN ANCIENT TRADITION and GARDEN IN THE EAST: THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE BODY. Learn more at her website: http://www.angeladollcarlson.com Gaelan Gilbert is an assistant professor of English at St. Katherine College and the managing editor of the St. Katherine Review: http://www.stkathreview.org Cameron Alexander Lawrence is a poet, whose work has appeared in Asheville Poetry Review, Exit 7, IMAGE Journal, and Rock and Sling. Learn more at his website: http://www.cameronlawrence.com
Episode 8 of Rewrite Radio features Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas on Black Lives Matter and the Justice of God at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. The Susan D. Morgan Distinguished Professor of Religion at Goucher College, Rev. Dr. Douglas has served as a priest in the Episcopal Church for over 20 years and is currently the Canon Theologian at the National Cathedral. She writes about racial reconciliation, sexuality and the black church, and womanist theology. Her most recent book is STAND YOUR GROUND: BLACK BODIES AND THE JUSTICE OF GOD. Poet Shane McCrae helps to introduce the session. A fellow featured speaker at the 2016 Festival, McCrae is the author of several poetry collections including THE ANIMAL TOO BIG TO KILL, FORGIVENESS FORGIVENESS, and most recently IN THE LANGUAGE OF MY CAPTOR, a collection of historical persona poems with a prose memoir at the center that addresses the illusory freedom of both black and white Americans. McCrae was the recipient of a 2011 Whiting Award, and in 2013 he received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He’s on faculty at both Oberlin College and Spalding University. Special thanks to Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas. Thanks also to Shane McCrae who can be found on Twitter @akasomeguy.
Episode 7 of Rewrite Radio features the on-stage conversation between Tobias Wolff and his former student, George Saunders, that took place after Saunders’s keynote at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. As a professor of creative writing, Tobias was a major influence on George when the younger writer did his MFA at Syracuse. George now teaches at Syracuse himself, while Tobias recently retired after finishing his teaching career at Stanford. George has called Tobias an American master, one of our best short-story writers. And Tobias has called George “one of the luminous spots of our literature for the past 20 years.” Needless to say, we were delighted and honored to host their first public dialogue about their work. Moderated by Sarina Gruver Moore, the conversation covers how writers situate themselves within a creative lineage, the danger of abstractions, and the ways Catholicism and Buddhism influence their writing. To introduce the recording, we caught up with George just as he was getting ready to go out on the road to promote his first novel LINCOLN IN THE BARDO and we talked about Tobias and their time together at the Festival.
Episode 6 of Rewrite Radio features George Saunders in an on-stage conversation with Calvin College English professor Lew Klatt at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. A critically acclaimed author of essays, short stories, and now his first novel, LINCOLN IN THE BARDO, Saunders discusses a wide range of topics including the intimacy of storytelling, how weird narratives work to disrupt moral cul-de-sacs, and creative writing as a form of play. George Saunders is the author of three essay collections and several works of fiction, including TENTH OF DECEMBER and LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. Among his many awards are the MacArthur “genius grant” and Guggenheim fellowships. In 1997, he joined the faculty of Syracuse University, where he is currently a professor of creative writing. To help introduce Saunders's interview we called up Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of the much-lauded short story collection NIGHT AT THE FIESTAS, and a fellow speaker at the 2016 Festival. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories, among other places. She’s also an assistant professor at Princeton University.
Episode 4 of Rewrite Radio features John Darnielle’s talk about his creative process at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Hailed as the best storyteller in rock for his work as the frontman for the band the Mountain Goats, John Darnielle proved his storytelling prowess transcends genre with his debut novel WOLF IN WHITE VAN, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2014. His next book, ETERNAL HARVESTER, is slated to release in February and you can follow him on Twitter at @mountain_goats. To help introduce John Darnielle’s session is his fellow 2016 Festival speaker David Dark, author of several books including most recently LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO PRETEND YOU'RE NOT RELIGIOUS. In addition to writing books and essays for publications including MTV Pitchfork, and Oxford America, Dark teaches at the Tennessee Prison for Women and Belmont University, where he is assistant professor of Religion and the Arts in the College of Theology. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidDark.
Episode 5 of Rewrite Radio features Patricia and Alana Raybon on the power of the pen to bridge a deep divide. They talk about writing UNDIVIDED: A MUSLIM DAUGHTER, HER CHRISTIAN MOTHER, THEIR PATH TO PEACE and the truths, troubles, and triumphs of co-authoring when the collaborators are struggling not just to write a book, but to reconcile their deepest difference. ALANA RAYBON is the co-author of UNDIVIDED: A MUSLIM DAUGHTER, HER CHRISTIAN MOTHER, THEIR PATH TO PEACE, along with her mother, Patricia Raybon. Raybon writes and teaches middle school in Tennessee. PATRICIA RAYBON is a journalist and the author of four books, including the memoirs I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE, a finalist for Christianity Today’s 2006 Book of the Year, and MY FIRST WHITE FRIEND, which won the Christopher Award. Her most recent book is UNDIVIDED: A MUSLIM DAUGHTER, HER CHRISTIAN MOTHER, THEIR PATH TO PEACE, co-written with her daughter Alana Raybon.
Episode 3 of Rewrite Radio features Saladin Ahmed’s presentation on Science Fiction and the Muslim American imagination at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Saladin was born in Detroit and raised in a working-class, Arab American enclave in Dearborn, Michigan. His first novel, THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON, was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Crawford, Gemmell, and British Fantasy Awards, and won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Saladin's short stories have been translated into a half-dozen languages and he has also written nonfiction for NPR Books, Salon, and The Escapist. He’s currently writing a new series for Marvel Comics titled BLACK BOLT due out in May 2017. He is prolific on Twitter and you can follow him @saladinahmed. To help introduce Saladin Ahmed’s session in the podcast, is his friend and fellow 2016 Festival speaker Mallory Ortberg, author of TEXTS FROM JANE EYRE, co-founder of the defunct, but still much beloved website The Toast, and now author of Slate’s advice column Dear Prudence.
Episode 1 of Rewrite Radio features Dennis Covington’s presentation at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing in which he told stories about his time writing from the borders of Syria’s civil war, the stories behind his book REVELATION: A SEARCH FOR FAITH IN A VIOLENT RELIGIOUS WORLD. He also reads a selection from his memoir SALVATION ON SAND MOUNTAIN: SNAKE HANDLING IN SOUTH APPALACHIA, a finalist for the National Book Award. Dennis Covington is the author of six books and his work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Vogue, Esquire, Redbook, Georgia Review, and Oxford American. His awards include the Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel, the Boston Book Review’s Anne Rea Jewell Prize for Nonfiction, and creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. He’s currently a professor of creative writing at Texas Tech University. To help introduce Dennis Covington’s reading in the podcast is his fellow 2016 Festival speaker Chris Hoke, author of WANTED: A SPIRITUAL PURSUIT THROUGH JAIL, AMONG OUTLAWS, AND ACROSS BORDERS. Chris is a writer, gang pastor, and jail chaplain in the Pacific Northwest. You can learn more about his writing and his work with gang members in and outside of jail at www.chris-hoke.com.
Episode 2 of Rewrite Radio features Makoto Fujimura’s talk about Japanese history and literature at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. The novel SILENCE by Shusaku Endo and Makoto’s faith journey are the subject of his own book SILENCE AND BEAUTY: HIDDEN FAITH BORN FROM SUFFERING. And Makoto was a consultant on Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of SILENCE, opening in theaters this Christmas. You can follow him on Twitter @iamfujimura. To help introduce Makoto’s session is Josh Larsen, the film critic and editor of Think Christian, a digital magazine on faith and culture, as well as co-host of Filmspotting. His book, MOVIES ARE PRAYERS, is due out this summer. You can read his work at ThinkChristian.net. A note to listeners, Makoto references projected slides of his work during his talk. You can see much of his work on his website at makotofujimura.com.
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