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 #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.aspAngela 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.comGaelan Gilbert is an assistant professor of English at St. Katherine College and the managing editor of the St. Katherine Review: http://www.stkathreview.orgCameron 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.
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