Month: September 2016

Javier tells James about his journey to the United States at the age of 9. They discuss the power of teachers, the Undocupoets Campaign, transcendent readings, struggling to find an ending, and his collection of poems, UNACCOMPANIED (fall 2017). Then, Jennifer De Leon talks about opportunities for teen writers, #WeNeedDiverseBooks, and her experiences teaching in the YAWP program at Grub Street in Boston.

Javier and James Discuss:

Yusef Komunyakaa

Sharon Olds

Alejandro Zambra

Valeria Luiselli

Dick Scanlan

Roberto Bolano

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Jorge Luis Borges

ONE STORY

Yaddo

MacDowell Colony

Pablo Neruda

Rebecca Faust

Squaw Valley Writers’ Workshops

Napa Valley Writers’ Conference

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

Alberto Rios

BIG FISH by Daniel Wallace

UC- Berkeley

NYU

Olive B. O’Connor

Peter Balakian

Carolyn Forche

Wallace Stegner Fellowship

Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship

UndocuPoets Campaign

Sibling Rivalry Press

Wil S. Hylton

Matthew Salesses

Monica Sok

Jennifer and James Discuss:

YAWP (Young Adult Writers Program)

Grub Street

Val Wang

Celeste Ng

Teen Ink

826

WriteBoston

New England Young Writers’ Conference

Champlain College Young Writers’ Conference

Iowa Young Writers’ Studio

Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference

Reggie Gibson

Junot Diaz

ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY by Mildred D. Taylor

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

VONA (Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation)

Set in Spain in the late 70s, Gabrielle’s debut novel, THE SLEEPING WORLD, represents something deeply personal to her. She tells James about writing through grief, how the novel grew from a short story inspired by a song, as well as world building, dirt, and ‘the spaghetti mind.’ Plus Janet Geddis, the owner of Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA, shares exciting news and she and James geek out over upcoming fall titles.

James and Gabrielle Discuss: 

Keith Waldrop

LADY AND THE TRAMP

Jamaica Kincaid

“Runaway”, THE NATIONAL

SOY CUBA dir by Mikhail Kalatozov

PEPI, LUCI, BOM AND OTHER GIRLS LIKE MOM dir. by Pedro Almodovar

Alberto Garcia-Alix (photographer)

NADA by Carmen Laforet

Elena Ferrante

RAY OF THE STAR by Laird Hunt

Toni Morrison

Audre Lorde

Alice Walker

WHAT BELONGS TO YOU by Garth Greenwell

James and Janet Discuss:

Deirdre Sugiuchi

Al Dixon

WE SHOW WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED by Clare Beams (10/25)*

THE MORTIFICATIONS by Derek Palacio (10/4)#

HOW TO SHAKE THE OTHER MAN by Derek Palacio

Nouvella Books

COMMONWEALTH by Ann Patchett (9/13)*

LITTLE NOTHING by Marisa Silver (9/13)#

THE REACTIVES by Masande Ntshanga*

MERCURY by Margot Livesey (9/27)#

BOWIE by Simon Critchley (9/13)#

REPUTATIONS by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (9/20)#

THE SOUND OF THINGS FALLING by Juan Gabriel Vasquez

A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY written by Sara O’Leary, ill. by Qin Leng*

THE SLEEPING WORLD by Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes*#

*Janet Recommends

#James Recommends