20 min listen
Novelist Jacinda Townsend, Mother Country
FromWriters on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers
Novelist Jacinda Townsend, Mother Country
FromWriters on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers
ratings:
Length:
20 minutes
Released:
Aug 22, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Jacinda Townsend, author of the novel Mother Country (Graywolf), and Barbara DeMarco-Barrett discuss her new book and the setting of Morocco, alternating POVs, slavery, writing with the senses, and more. During her Fulbright year, on a layover in Morocco, Jacinda discovered the city of Marrakech and fell in love. Later that same year, on a trip to Northern Mali, she also first witnessed modern-day slavery: that incident inspired the research that eventually took her to Mauritania, where she met with escaped slaves and anti-slavery activists and began the work that would become her newly published novel, Mother Country (Graywolf, 2022). Mother Country is told in the voices of an American woman struggling with infertility who kidnaps a young Moroccan girl, and the young mother, escaped from Mauritanian slavery, who loses her. Jacinda is also the author of Saint Monkey (Norton, 2014), which is set in 1950’s Eastern Kentucky and is a love letter to a Black community that has all but disappeared. Saint Monkey won the 2015 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for best fiction written by a woman and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for that year’s best historical fiction. Saint Monkey was also the 2015 Honor Book of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.Download audio. (Recorded via Zoom on July 28, 2022) Music and sound design by Travis Barrett Check out our Patreon page! Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com
Released:
Aug 22, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Jess Walter, author of collection "The Angel of Rome": Novelist and short story writer Jess Walter joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest collection, The Angel of Rome. Jess is the author of seven novels (including The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins), two collections of short stories, and a non-fiction book. He is the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe Award (Citizen Vance), and was a finalist for the National Book Award (The Zero). Walter talks about assembling the collection, choosing these 12 thematic stories out of 40 or 50 choices. He discusses effective humor, the difference between sentiment and sentimentality, and how to avoid cliches and stereotypes. He also talks about his ability to access elderly characters, writing a Gen X collection while not identifying completely with Gen X, and so much more. For more information about Jess Walter, upcoming events, and more visit his website here. We also invite you to check out our new Patreon page, where we offer weekly wr by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers