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 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 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.
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.
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