Podcast - Jolina Petersheim

 
Stephen Usery interviews Jolina Petersheim about her debut novel, The Outcast: A Modern Retelling of The Scarlett Letter. Set in contemporary Tennessee, The Outcast in question is Rachel Stoltzfus a young woman with a baby recently born out wedlock who has been made unwelcome in her Old Order Mennonite community and must find her way among the outside world they call The English.

Download here.

Podcast - Cary Holladay

Stephen Usery welcomes Cary Holladay back to the program to talk about her new, award-winning collection of short stories, The Deer in The Mirror. Set in many different eras ranging from the early 18th century to modern times, the stories are connected by characters who come from the same area of Virginia, and themes often revolve around the power dynamic of male-female relationships and our stewardship of nature.

Download here.

Podcast - John Dufresne

John Dufresne is a Guggenheim fellow, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. His first two novels, Louisiana Power and Light and Love Warps the Mind a Little were named New York Times notable books of the year. He's now trying his hand at crime fiction with No Regrets, Coyote, the story of middle-aged therapist Wylie Melville who gets caught up in in a tough situation when he's called into consult on a murder case on Christmas Eve down in south Florida.

Download here.

Podcast - Kiese Laymon

Stephen Usery interviews Jackson, Mississippi native and Vassar College professor Kiese Laymon about his two new books. Long Division is the story of contemporary Jackson teenager named City Coldson, who finds a novel starring a teen from the 1980s with his same name. How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America is a collection of unflinching essays which examine race and class in America and how it often fails to live up to its promise of liberty and justice for all.

Download here.

Podcast - Eric Barnes

Stephen Usery interviews Eric Barnes. Eric is the publisher of three newspapers: The Daily News, The Memphis News, and The Nashville Ledger. He's written short stories which have appeared in many fine journals such as Prairie Schooner and The Literary Review. 2009 saw his first novel publication with Shimmer, and Outpost19 has recently published Something Pretty, Something Beautiful.

Download here.

 

Podcast - Elaine Hussey

Elaine Hussey is a new name on the southern literary fiction scene, although the woman behind that name, Peggy Webb, has published dozens of  romance, suspense, and mystery novels. Her new novel inspired her to take on a new pen name. The Sweetest Hallelujah is set in Tupelo, Mississippi in the 1950s, which becomes the meeting ground for women from different races and backgrounds to plan for the care of a young girl.

Download here.