Spoken Words

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Spoken Words 19: Joe Wilkins — When We Were Birds Mar 13, 2018

Show notes

In his memoir The Mountain and the Fathers, Joe Wilkins reckoned with loss, poverty, and the landscape of his childhood in the Big Dry of eastern Montana. Now a father, Joe Wilkins’s poems in When We Were Birds attend to what is common to us all, to what binds us together and makes us human, from grief over the loss of a livelihood or health to the anxieties and hopes we have for our children.

Spoken Words 18: Jenny Forrester — Narrow River, Wide Sky Feb 06, 2018

Show notes

The rugged, rural, conservative town of Mancos, Colorado was a hard place for Jenny Forrester to grow up. Her new memoir is the story of the relationships and landscape that shaped her life, against which she had to struggle to find her own truth. Facing poverty, isolation, and violence, Forrester talks about her journey toward self-acceptance and what that journey suggests about living in a politically and culturally divided America.

Spoken Words 17: Sean Prentiss – Finding Abbey Jan 24, 2018

Show notes

When author and anarchist Edward Abbey died in 1989, his friends buried his body in a secret location in the desert southwest. More than twenty years later, Sean Prentiss goes looking for that grave and ends up finding something that changes his life.

Spoken Words 16: Robert Moor – On Trails Jan 08, 2018

Show notes

Robert Moor set out to write about his personal experience hiking the Appalachian Trail. What he finished with was On Trails, an exploration of the history, biology, and philosophy of pathways. For Moor, trails are more than a dirt path under our feet, they’re a guide to better understanding the world around us.

Spoken Words 15: Dan Flores – Coyote America Dec 13, 2017

Show notes

When the coyote howls, Dan Flores says we are hearing the original national anthem. Coyote America is the biography of an animal more than five million years in the making on this continent, and one that’s thrived despite the attempts at complete eradication.

Spoken Words 14: Tom Johnson – What Those Light Years Carry Nov 30, 2017

Show notes

Tom Johnson is a respected professional. He’s the Chief Performance Officer of the Wyoming Business Council, he has a wife and two children, he was even a star baseball player in high school and college. But he also has a secret, filed under Aden Thomas.

Spoken Words 13: JJ Anselmi - Heavy: A Memoir Of Wyoming, BMX, Drugs, And Heavy F***ing Music Nov 14, 2017

Show notes

JJ Anselmi’s memoir is a gritty tale of growing up in a railroad town defined by coal, oil, and a sketchy history. Anselmi talks to us about what a place like Rock Springs can do to a teenage identity, and what it taught him about living a DIY life.

Spoken Words 12: Marlin Holmes Nov 01, 2017

Show notes

The difference between poetry and slam poetry is vibrant and apparent in this interview with University of Wyoming PhD student, Marlin Holmes. Taking inspiration from rap, hip-hop, and a high school English assignment, Holmes discusses his passion for the spoken word, and shares some of his creations; rotating between narratives of identity and race, and the journey of finding love.

Spoken Words 11: Janine Shepherd - Defiant Oct 17, 2017

Show notes

While training for the Olympics, Janine Shepherd suffered a devastating accident. In Defiant, she depicts the nightmare that followed the accident and the new gifts the experience has given her.

Spoken Words 10: Shannon Baker - Stripped Bare Oct 03, 2017

Show notes

Reliving her years of living in the Nebraska sand hills, Shannon Baker discusses the splendor of the land and how it inspired the perfect setting for her new mystery Stripped Bare. Even with murder playing the main roll, Shannon describes the inspiration she gained from the interesting and particular people she has met throughout her life.

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