Stay ConnectedRewrite Radio is the podcast of the Festival of Faith & Writing, 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.
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 featuredAmy 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.
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