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    Arts

    Ursa Short Fiction

    We love short stories. Join authors Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev) for author interviews, book club discussions, and immersive short stories. We celebrate storytelling from some of today’s most thrilling writers, with an emphasis on spotlighting underrepresented voices. (Photo credits: Vanessa German / Rayon Richards)
    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

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    Copyright: © 2022 Ursa Story Company

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    Latest Episodes:
    ZZ Packer on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Drinking Coffee Elsewhere’ Mar 29, 2023
    Show notes

    In our Season Two premiere, co-hosts Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton talk with the beloved ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, a collection first published in 2003 that went on to inspire countless writers. Packer talks about how she found her voice, style, and authenticity as a young, Black, female writer who hadn’t even planned on becoming a writer. She addresses ideas of navigating both physical and figurative spaces and learning how to find a place in the literary world.


    Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

    • Drinking Coffee Elsewhere(ZZ Packer)
    • Zora Neale Hurston
    • Toni Morrison
    • Flannery O’Connor
    • James Alan McPherson (Elbow Roomand Hue and Cry)
    • Lorrie Moore
    • Stuart Dybek
    • Percival Everett
    • James Baldwin
    • Anton Chekhov
    • Edward P. Jones (Lost in the Cityand The Known World)
    • Alice Munro
    • Imani Perry
    • Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy)
    • Edwidge Danticat


    Read more from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies(Deesha Philyaw)
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev(Dawnie Walton)


    Ursa Short Fiction is 100% independent and supported by our listeners. Become a Member today to help us keep going: ursastory.com/join


    Episode editor: Kelly Araja

    Associate producer: Marina Leigh

    Producer: Mark Armstrong

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Nana Nkweti: ‘I Always Knew I Was Going to Write Stories’ Oct 19, 2022
    Show notes

    On the Season One finale of Ursa Short Fiction, co-hosts Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton talk to Nana Nkweti, author of the acclaimed short story collection, Walking on Cowrie Shells (Graywolf Press).


    Nkweti’s story “Dance the Fiya Dance,” performed by Enih Agwe, was featured in Episode 15.


    Read the full transcript.


    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.


    About the Author


    Nana Nkwetiis a Cameroonian-American writer, Whiting Award winner, and AKO Caine Prize finalist whose work has garnered fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, Ucross, Byrdcliffe, Kimbilio, Hub City Writers, the Stadler Center for Poetry, the Wurlitzer Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Clarion West Writers Workshop. Her first book, Walking on Cowrie Shells, was hailed by The New York Times review as a “raucous and thoroughly impressive debut” with "stories to get lost in again and again." The collection is also a New York Times Editor's Choice, Indie Next pick, recipient of starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and BookPage; and has been featured in The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Oprah Daily, The Root, NPR, Buzzfeed, and Thrillist; amongst others. The workfeatures elements of mystery, horror, myth, and graphic novels to showcase the complexity and vibrance of African diaspora cultures and identities. She is a professor of English at the University of Alabama where she teaches creative writing courses that explore her eclectic literary interests: ranging from graphic novels to medical humanities onto exploring works by female authors in genres such as horror, Afrofuturism, and mystery.


    Episode Links and Reading List:

    • “Dance the Fiya Dance” (Ursa)
    • Walking on Cowrie Shells (Graywolf Press)
    • Nana Nkweti’s website
    • “Nana Nkweti’s Tales of Cameroonians at Home and in America” (Deesha Philyaw, The New York Times Book Review)
    • Citizen: An American Lyric, by Claudia Rankine
    • Bloodchild, Octavia Butler
    • “The Secret Sci-Fi Life of Alice B. Sheldon” (NPR)


    More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Story: 'Dance the Fiya Dance,' by Nana Nkweti Oct 12, 2022
    Show notes

    Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton introduce their latest short story pick, Nana Nkweti’s “Dance the Fiya Dance,” from her acclaimed 2021 debut collection, Walking On Cowrie Shells, published by Graywolf Press.


    Through a series of journal entries, we meet Chambu, a DC-based linguistic anthropologist and “Halfrican” (daughter of a Cameroonian mom and African American dad) who processes a devastating loss while sparking a sexy new romance.


    For content advisories, scroll to the end of the show notes.

    The story is performed by Enih Agwe, with music and mixing by Alexis Adimora, and illustrations by Halimah Smith at Artpce. Ursa Executive producers are Dawnie Walton and Mark Armstrong.


    You can read along at ursastory.com/dance.


    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.


    About the Author

    Nana Nkwetiis a Cameroonian-American writer, Whiting Award winner, and AKO Caine Prize finalist whose work has garnered fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, Ucross, Byrdcliffe, Kimbilio, Hub City Writers, the Stadler Center for Poetry, the Wurlitzer Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Clarion West Writers Workshop. Her first book, Walking on Cowrie Shells, was hailed by The New York Times review as a “raucous and thoroughly impressive debut” with "stories to get lost in again and again." The collection is also a New York Times Editor's Choice, Indie Next pick, recipient of starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and BookPage; and has been featured in The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Oprah Daily, The Root, NPR, Buzzfeed, and Thrillist; amongst others. The workfeatures elements of mystery, horror, myth, and graphic novels to showcase the complexity and vibrance of African diaspora cultures and identities. She is a professor of English at the University of Alabama where she teaches creative writing courses that explore her eclectic literary interests: ranging from graphic novels to medical humanities onto exploring works by female authors in genres such as horror, Afrofuturism, and mystery.


    More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton


    Content advisory: Partner abuse, pregnancy loss.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Book Club: 'The Secret Lives of Church Ladies' Sep 27, 2022
    Show notes

    This month marked the two-year anniversary of the publication of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, author Deesha Philyaw’s groundbreaking and award-winning debut short story collection that examined the inner lives of Black women as they navigate relationships, sex, and the church.


    On Episode 14 of Ursa Short Fiction, Dawnie Walton digs into the stories with her co-host Philyaw, and gets some hints on what might be in store for the characters as Philyaw and Tessa Thompson are adapting The Secret Lives of Church Ladies for HBO Max.


    Philyaw’s collection won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Philyaw is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and the 2022-2023 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.


    Get the full transcript here.


    Episode edited by Kelly Araja.


    From Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s Creative Journey from Lawyer to Award-Winning Writer Aug 31, 2022
    Show notes

    Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton are joined by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of the short story collection The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You. That acclaimed 2021 bookincludes “Ghetto University,” the story we featured previously on the show.

    Ruffin talks about the inspiration he takes from his native New Orleans, and his journey from a “three-piece suit-wearing, BMW-driving lawyer” to putting all of his energy into becoming a writer and telling the stories he was meant to tell.

    Read the full transcript.

    About the Author

    Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, a New York Times Editor’s Choice that was also longlisted for the Story Prize. His first book, We Cast a Shadow, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN America Open Book Prize. Ruffin is the winner of several literary prizes, including the Iowa Review Award in fiction. A New Orleans native, Ruffin is a professor of Creative Writing at Louisiana State University, and the 2020-2021 John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.

    Episode Links and Reading List:

    • “Ghetto University” (Ursa)
    • The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (One World, 2021)
    • We Cast a Shadow (One World, 2020)
    • “Leaving the Law Behind for My Dream Job” (Oldster, 2021)
    • About Maurice Carlos Ruffin
    • Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s newsletter
    • New Stories from the South (edited by ZZ Packer, 2008)

    More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Story: 'Ghetto University,' by Maurice Carlos Ruffin Aug 24, 2022
    Show notes

    A professor in New Orleans loses his job and resorts to a new line of work – mugging tourists in the French Quarter.

    “Ghetto University” is a short story by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, featured in his 2021 collection, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You.

    Listen to the story here, and read along at ursastory.com/ghetto-university

    Then come back next week for Ruffin’s in-depth conversation with Ursa Short Fiction co-hosts Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton.

    About the Author

    Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, a New York Times Editor’s Choice that was also longlisted for the Story Prize. His first book, We Cast a Shadow, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN America Open Book Prize. Ruffin is the winner of several literary prizes, including the Iowa Review Award in fiction. A New Orleans native, Ruffin is a professor of Creative Writing at Louisiana State University, and the 2020-2021 John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.

    Episode Links and Reading List:

    • “Ghetto University” (Ursa)
    • The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (One World, 2021)
    • About Maurice Carlos Ruffin
    • Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s newsletter


    Story Credits

    “Ghetto University”

    Written by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

    Performed by Allan Thomas

    Directed by Adetola Abdulkadir

    Sound Design and Mixing by Alicia Qian

    Illustrations by Anthony Santagati

    Music: “Zizu de Calp,” Blue Dot Studios

    Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton & Mark Armstrong

    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    The Life and Stories of Diane Oliver, Part Two (with Michael A. Gonzales) Aug 17, 2022
    Show notes

    Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton welcome writer Michael A. Gonzales for part two of our deep dive into the life and work of Diane Oliver, who published six short stories before her death at age 22. (Part one of our series is here.)

    Gonzales published an essay about Diane Oliver in The Bitter Southerner earlier this year, and he talks about his work digging into the archives to put a spotlight on Black authors who never got the recognition they deserved. His column for Catapult, The Blacklist, has shared stories about authors including Charlotte Carter, Julian Mayfield, Henry Dumas, and Darius James.

    Get the full transcript.

    About the Author

    Harlem native Michael A. Gonzales is a cultural critic/short story scribe who has written for The Hopkins Review, The Paris Review, Longreads, Wax Poetics and Soulhead.com. Gonzales writes true crime articles for Crimereads.com and wrote the series The Blacklist about out-of-print Black authors for Catapult. His fiction has appeared in Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression edited by S.A. Cosby, Killens Review of Arts & Letters, Dead-End Jobs: A Hit Man Anthology edited by Andrew J. Rausch, Black Pulp edited by Gary Phillips and The Root. His latest short story "Really Gone" was published in the Summer 2022 issue of the Oxford American.

    Episode Links and Reading List:

    • “The Short Stories and Too-Short Life of Diane Oliver” (Michael A. Gonzales, The Bitter Southerner, 2022)
    • Ursa Short Fiction, Episode Nine: The Life and Stories of Diane Oliver, Part One
    • “Mint Juleps Not Served Here” (Diane Oliver, Negro Digest, March 1967)
    • The Blacklist essay series on out-of-print books from Black authors (Michael A. Gonzales, Catapult)
    • Sticking It to the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980 (2019)
    • “Beautiful Women, Ugly Scenes: On Novelist Nettie Jones and the Madness of ‘Fish Tales’” (Michael A. Gonzales, Longreads, 2019)

    More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    The Life and Short Stories of Diane Oliver (Part One) Aug 09, 2022
    Show notes

    Content advisory: This episode contains a mention of a racist slur.

    Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton's two-part book club discussion on the life and work of Diane Oliver, who published six short stories before her life was tragically cut short in May 1966 at the age of 22.

    Oliver was just a month away from graduating from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop when she was killed in a motorcycle accident in Iowa City, Iowa.

    Philyaw and Walton first discovered Oliver’s stories from writer Michael A. Gonzales, who wrote an essay about Oliver for The Bitter Southerner. In part one of Ursa’s book club episode, they go in-depth on four of Oliver’s short stories: “Key to the City,” “Health Service,” “Traffic Jam,” and “Neighbors.”

    Full episode transcript.

    Episode Links and Reading List:

    • The Short Stories and Too-Short Life of Diane Oliver (Michael A. Gonzales, The Bitter Southerner, 2022)
    • “Key to the City” (Red Clay Reader II, 1965)
    • “Health Service” (Negro Digest, November 1965)
    • “Traffic Jam” (Negro Digest, July 1966)
    • “Neighbors” (The Sewanee Review, 1966)
    • Diane Oliver obituary (Jet, 1966)

    More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Cleyvis Natera on ‘Fog,’ Staying True to Your Voice, and Embracing Short Stories as Play Jul 25, 2022
    Show notes

    Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton chat with author Cleyvis Natera, author of the new Ursa Original short story, “Fog,” and the recently published debut novel Neruda on the Park.

    Read the full transcript.

    About the Author

    Cleyvis Natera is the author of the debut novel Neruda on the Park. She was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College and a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from New York University. She’s received honors from PEN America, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA). Her fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration, TIME, Gagosian Quarterly, The Washington Post, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among other publications. Cleyvis teaches creative writing to undergraduate and graduate students in New York City. She lives with her husband and two young children in Montclair, New Jersey.

    Episode Links and Reading List:

    • “Fog” (Ursa)
    • Neruda on the Park (2022)
    • “Played or How I Failed at Becoming a Chapiadora” (Kweli Journal, 2019)
    • In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd by Ana Menéndez (2002)

    More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

    Support Future Episodes of Ursa Short Fiction

    Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    Story: 'Fog,' by Cleyvis Natera Jul 18, 2022
    Show notes

    Content warning: explicit language, sex, depiction of violence.

    Author Cleyvis Natera debuts her original short story “Fog.” It’s the story of a worker at a Dominican resort who caters to high-end clients and must confront the choices he’s made to elevate his status and seek a different life for himself.

    Read Along

    Listen to the story in your favorite podcast app, and read along at ursastory.com/fog.

    Support Ursa

    Help us fund future episodes. Become a Member at ursastory.com/join.

    Story Credits

    “Fog” is edited by Dawnie Walton and performed by Alberto “Mojo” Peña, with music and sound design by Alexis Adimora, illustrations by Bex Glendining, and audio engineering by Deon Vozov (LA Voiceover). Ursa executive producers are Dawnie Walton and Mark Armstrong.

    About the Author

    Cleyvis Natera is the author of the debut novel Neruda on the Park. She was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College and a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from New York University. She’s received honors from PEN America, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA). Her fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration, TIME, Gagosian Quarterly, The Washington Post, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among other publications. Cleyvis teaches creative writing to undergraduate and graduate students in New York City. She lives with her husband and two young children in Montclair, New Jersey.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

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