Reading Rural YAL

Today’s episode is brought to you by…the snow day! It’s been another long while since I posted an episode of my podcast. Being back in the secondary classroom has left me still trying to find my groove. But! Today’s snow day seemed like the perfect opportunity to edit and post another episode. Thanks, Snow! It Continue reading "Rachel Bird by Becky Citra | Author ...

Celebrating PRIDE in rural places with Phil Stamper with my first episode in a while. Hope you'll join us.

In this episode, Whippoorwill Award winner Kevin Dunn and I talk about the importance of rural voices in publishing, the impact that transactions of place have on identity, and the connection between DIY punk and rural culture. To learn more about Kevin Dunn: https://www.kcdunn.com/ For more info on the Whippoorwill Award for Rural YA and Continue reading "Vicious Is My Middle Name by Kevin Dunn &...

In this episode, I sit down with my buddy, Brian Brady, to talk about the Whippoorwill Award winning Vicious Is My Middle Name by Kevin Dunn which is about Sydney Vicious Talcott and her efforts to derail the construction of an asphalt plant in her new home in Appalachia. Here’s the jacket copy summary: With Continue reading "Vicious Is My Middle Name by Kevin Dunn | Book Talk"

– Rural Teen Writing Contest Runner-Up – In this episode, high school junior, Laurel Aronian reads her award-winning poem, “So Long, Schoolhouse” and chats with me about her inspiration for the poem, her writing process, and gives some great advice to fellow young writers and teachers of writing alike. Check out her poem: https://literacyinplace.com/2024/02/15/so-long-schoo...

In this episode, Whippoorwill Award winning Tiffany D. Jackson sits down to chat with me about the importance of representation, her research process, and how to make a book authentic even when it’s about an experience outside of your own. Let’s just all agree to ignore the number of flubs during her bio – I Continue reading "The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson | Autho...

We’re kicking off Black History Month by acknowledging and honoring the experiences of rural Black folks. Rural America is not a white monolith, and we’d like for everyone to know that. In this episode, I chat with a former Southern Wells student and current Purdue preservice teacher, Emily McCorkle. We talk about all kinds of Continue reading "The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson...

We’re back, after a brief holiday hiatus, with an exciting bonus episode featuring *the* George Ella Lyon. Her poem “Where I’m From” has been used by English Teachers all over the world to invite students to think about who they are and their connections to their own places. George Ella Lyon is an award-winning poet Continue reading "George Ella Lyon | Author Talk...

In this episode I talk to Gary Eldon Peter about craft, about out-migrant experiences and identity building, and about the importance of never giving up on yourself or your writing. To buy the book with our affiliate link: https://bookshop.org/a/86567/9781646032532 To learn more about Gary Eldon Peter: https://www.garyeldonpeter.com/bio

With this episode, Reading Rural YAL is starting something new! Rather than just me talking about the book, I’m going to talk about the book with preservice teachers, inservice teachers, and teacher educators. Grace and Maya are fabulous and have incredible insights into the book as well as geospatial understandings of and in education. I’m Continue reading "The Complicated Calculus (a...

This episode features four of the contributors to Tori Bovalino’s folk horror anthology The Gathering Dark. These women are so insightful, and I learned so much about folklore, folk horror, and more through our discussion. In this talk, we tackle everything from what defines folk horror to publishing industry categories to what makes rural places Continue reading "The Gathering Dark edited b...

Halloween may be over, but for me spooky season doesn’t end until Thanksgiving. So, in honor of extended spooky season, this Book Talk features a short story collection full of spooky stories just perfect for this time of year. In it, you’ll find wonderfully goosebump-inducing folk horror stories that span a range of rural locations, Continue reading "The Gathering Dark edited by Tori...

In this episode Julia, David, and I talk about the importance of place and rurality to our lived experiences, to reading, and to writing. We also get to do something that few authors and readers get to do – talk to one another about the conversation we had across the page. This is one of Continue reading "Angel Falls by Julia Rust & David Surface | Author Talk"

Time to get our spooky on! In honor of Spooky Season, in this episode, I do a little reading, give a summary, and use some place-conscious analysis to talk about Whippoorwill Award winning Angel Falls. I also outline some teaching ideas for using the book in a rural (or non rural) ELA classroom. Angel Falls Continue reading "Angel Falls by Julia Rust & David Surface | Book Talk"

Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. is a brilliant poet and a kindred spirit, and I enjoyed every single second of this conversation. I hope rural English teachers out there will listen to it, because he puts language to a lot of issues faced by rural ELA in language with concrete examples that I’ve always wished Continue reading "Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. &#1...

In this episode I read a few poems from, give an overview of, and discuss how I would teach Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr.’s incredible collection, Gay Poems for Red States. If you’re teaching in a school that is currently inhospitable to queer literature, know that there are poems in this collection could still work Continue reading "Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor...

Y’all – this discussion with Regina Hansen was so good, I lost myself in the conversation and forgot about my questions. We talked about so much important stuff including Get the book: https://bookshop.org/a/86567/9781534482449 Learn more about Regina Hansen and her work: https://www.reginamhansen.com

In this Book Talk episode, I give the summary for, perform a mini analysis of the way place functions in the book, and provide a skeleton of an idea about how teachers could approach teaching The Coming Storm. Links to songs mentioned in the book:

In this Author Talk, Dr. Rob Petrone sits down with me to talk about my first book Country Teachers in City Schools. We talk about why I wrote it, how I wrote it, what’s in it, and what it means to me. I had so much fun and hope you do too! You can find Continue reading "Country Teachers in City Schools by Chea Parton | Author Talk"

In this episode, I give quite a few updates and announcements about cool stuff happening at Literacy In Place. I also talk about my book, Country Teachers In City Schools: The Challenge of Negotiating Identity and Place. Here are some things discussed in the show: You can buy the book Check out the Read Appalachia Continue reading "Country Teachers in City Schools by Chea Parton | Book T...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Darcie Little Badger to discuss her book Elatsoe, her rural background, her STEM background and PhD, and how all of that affects what and how she writes. It was a delightful conversation, and I hope you’ll listen in. Other books mentioned in this episode:

In this episode, I sit down to talk with the winner of the Literacy In Place Rural Teen Writing Contest, Allison Strange, about her winning story, “Fate for a Cat.” We talk about how her rural background has inspired her as a writer, her writing process, and she gives some sage advice to would-be submitters Continue reading "Allison Strange | Author Talk"

In this episode, I talk about how I would use Allison Strange’s Rural Teen Writing Contest story, “Fate for a Cat” in my classroom. In connection, I discuss writing worshop and give a big shout-out to Deb Kelt and the Heart of Texas Writing Project that changed my whole life as a writer, teacher of Continue reading "Fate for a Cat by Allison Strange | Ep. 2 Teaching Ide...

In this episode, I talk about Allison Strange’s winning story, Fate for a Cat. I read a bit from the beginning, give a summary, and then give a brief analysis of how place and rurality function in the story and how/why I connected it to it. Learn more about why I started the Rural Teen Continue reading "Fate for a Cat by Allison Strange | Ep. 1 Summary & Analysis"

I’m so excited to be kicking off the series where I talk about this year’s winner of the Literacy In Place Rural Teen Writing Contest! Before I get to talking about Allison Strange’s story “Fate for a Cat” I wanted to do a special episode where I talk about why this thing even exists – Continue reading "Rural Teen Writing Contest Series | Episode 0"