Write On, Mississippi!

Patrick Ryan joins the podcast to discuss his mesmerizing and captivating new novel, Buckeye . He explores the emotional undercurrents of the story, the characters that linger long after the final page, and the ideas that inspired the novel’s atmosphere. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, writer, editor, and Southern foodways champion John T. Edge has a thoughtful conversation about his memoir, House of Smoke . This episode digs into how food becomes narrative, how place leaves its mark, and why telling Southern stories still matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, author Addie E. Citchens joins the podcast to talk about her debut novel, Dominion. Exploring the ideas, inspirations, and personal experiences that shaped the work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Dr. Darden North as he sits down with Royal Allis, Executive Director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, to talk about his career as a medical doctor and author. Darden's latest book Party Favors follows a young orthopedic surgeon on the Mississippi Gulf Coast who, desperate to save his failing practice, turns to selling leftover narcotics and even hooking new patients on opioids. As local p...

Listen to Joesph Earl Thomas talk with host Matt Sawyer about his award-winning book, God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer . Joseph Earl Thomas - Joseph Earl Thomas is an American writer and educator known for his memoir "Sink", which was longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. His work has appeared in publications such as The...

Listen as author Julia Philips becomes fast friends with host Matt Sawyer as they talk about her latest best-selling book, Bear . Julia Philips : Julia Philips is the author of the bestselling novel  Bear  and  Disappearing Earth , a finalist for the National Book Award, and one of  The New York Times Book Review ’s 10 Best Books of the Year. A 2024 Guggenheim fellow, she...

Join Crystal Wilkinson as she sits with Ebony Lumumba to discuss her national best-selling book, Praise Song for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. Crystal Wilkinson : Crystal Wilkinson is an acclaimed American author, poet, and educator known for her poignant and lyrical explorations of identity, family, and rural Black life in Appalachia. Host E...

Join Richard Grant as he talks with Matt Sawyer about his book, A Race to the Bottom of Crazy . In A Race to the Bottom of Crazy , Grant blends memoir, research, and reporting to explore what makes Arizona both perplexing and undeniably captivating. Richard Gran t: Richard Grant is an author, journalist, and television host. He currently writes for the Smithsonian magazine, the New York Times, the...

Join Kate Medley as she talks with Matt Sawyer about her coffee-table book of photographs,  Thank You Please Come Again.  The book has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, among others. It was named a Best Book of 2024 by NPR and won the 2024 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters prize. Kate Medley: Kate Medley is a North Carolina-based visual journali...

Join New York Times bestselling author Patrick deWitt as he talks to Matt Sawyer about his newest novel, The Librarianist . The story follows retired librarian Bob Comet. The book is billed as a wide-ranging and ambitious document of the introvert's condition.  Patrick deWitt:  Patrick deWitt is the author of the novels  French Exit  (a national bestseller),  The Sisters B...

Writer, educator, musician, and University of Mississippi MFA graduate from Brooklyn, NY, delves into his debut novel We Are a Haunting. Tyriek White:  Tyriek Rashawn White is a writer, musician, and educator from Brooklyn, NY. He is currently the media director of Lampblack Literary Foundation, which seeks to provide mutual aid and various resources to Black writers across the diaspora. He h...

Winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction delves into her debut novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup , with Story Made Project podcast host Matt Sawyer. Jamila Minnicks:  Jamila Minnicks’ novel  Moonrise Over New Jessup  (Algonquin Books, 2023) won the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. In 2022, she was awarded a Tennessee Williams scholarship f...

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle discusses her debut novel,  Even As We Breath,  with her friend and fellow North Carolinian, Matt Sawyer. The book made Clapsaddle the first member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians the first member to publish a novel. Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle:  Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and resi...

Listen in as America's storyteller, James McBride, discusses his latest masterpiece, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store , with guest host and one of McBride's biggest fans, Matt Sawyer.  James McBride:  James McBride is the author of the  New York Times -bestselling Oprah's Book Club selection  Deacon King Kong , the National Book Award-winning  The Good Lord Bird , the Am...

Join our guest host, Matt Sawyer, creator of the Story Made Project podcast, as he chats with one of America's favorite humorists, Harrison Scott Key, about his newest memoir,  How to Stay Married: The Craziest Love Story Ever Told. Hear how Harrison balances humor with gut-wrenching honesty and self-examination. Harrison Scott Key:  Harrison Scott Key is the author of three books, inclu...

Sit back, relax, bring your appetite, and listen in on a conversation between our host, Ebony Lumumba, and James Beard award-winning food writer and historian, Michael W. Twitty. In Twitty’s newest,  Koshersoul,  he takes us on a personal journey through African and Jewish culinary traditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join book festival board member Chris Goodwin as he chats with Rinker Buck about his latest nonfiction triumph,  Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure.  Buck gives Goodwin the nuts and bolts of building and maneuvering a historic flatboat down the Mississippi to New Orleans.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our guest host, Sarah Story, as she talks with Juhea Kim about her debut novel,  Beasts of a Little Land, a n epic story of love, war, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Korean independence movement, following the intertwined fates of a young girl sold to a courtesan school and the penniless son of a hunter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olivia Clare Friedman sits down with Sarah Story to discuss her award-winning debut novel,  Here Lies.  Listen in as they discuss the book, which explores mourning, memory, and motherhood in a future Louisiana ravaged by climate change. Find hope in the beautifully told tale of grief and loss made bearable by the unexpected creation of a found family.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

Join Texas-native poet Joshua Nguyen and guest host Sarah Story as they discuss Nguyen’s award-winning poetry collection,  Come Clean.  Poems in the collection aim to confront the speaker’s past by physically and mentally, cleaning up.  Come Clean  unpacks, organizes, and tidies up life’s messy joys and hurtful chaos with intimacy, grace, and vulnerability. Hosted on Acast. See...

CALLING ALL TRUE CRIME LOVERS! Mississippi Delta native and author Beverly Lowry discusses her newest nonfiction work centered on a murder that rocked her Delta community when she was a child. Through rigorous research, one-on-one interviews, and her childhood recollections, Lowry sheds light on a decades-old murder case shrouded in mystery and injustice since that fateful, bloody day.  Hoste...

Join our host Ebony Lumumba as she talks with author and professor, Imani Perry about her latest book, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.  Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Perry is the author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, winner of the 20...

Sit back, relax, and listen as Antoine Wilson discusses Mouth to Mouth, his fresh new novel with Ellen Daniels of the Mississippi Book Festival. Antoine Wilson is the author of the novels Panorama City and The Interloper. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, StoryQuarterly, Best New American Voices, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications, and he is a contributing editor of A Pub...

Period photographs of pivotal moments, first-person stories from history, and the trail of Black America’s fight for freedom and equality present a vivid look at the movement that transformed America. Panelists: DEBORAH D. DOUGLAS is the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project, leading thought leadership fellow...

Gripping suspense, extraordinary heroism, and enduring love--set against the high stakes of wartime--resonate in these magnificently timeless stories of survival against all odds. Panelists: Ariel Lawhon is a critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. She is the author of THE WIFE THE MAID AND THE MISTRESS, FLIGHT OF DREAMS, I WAS ANASTASIA, and the CODE NAME HÉ...