Waywords Studio Full Slate

Akwaeke Emezi demonstrates how Nigeria’s contemporary writers turn our conceptual realities around. They offer a YA novel that doesn’t condescend, but more, one which shows that we should not “walk away” from Omelas, but perhaps “Stay and Hunt.” This is also the final of three episodes which offers a broader look at the history and newer trends in Nigerian liter...

Why have so few read Soyinka? And can we find hope through his cynical dramas? I admit I am a victim of the myth-making around me which has made Soyinka and other African writers largely invisible. Let’s see why. Episode 6.24 – Words from Nigeria Pt 2: Soyinka’s Tiger & Brother Jero African writers named in this episode and some of the most rewarding reads: Soyinka, Wole: The Trial...

  What sort of literature is this, anyway? Today we introduce some approaches to Nigerian literature, offer a bevy of African writers, and explore how one of Nigeria’s most powerful authors can write her own modest letter to humanity. Also, we learn about hostile architecture from one of our listeners. Episode 6.23 – Words from Nigeria Pt 1: Adichie and the Literary Manifesto Afri...

  And what if nobody listens? Yes, entering our calls for justice into public space carries no small amount of anxiety. And the poster-child for being unheard, the Trojan princess and priestess Cassandra, may–if we read our mythology carefully–provide us some clues to our purpose and goals in writing as anti-epic heroes, wielding language as our weapons. Episode 6.22 – Cassa...

  26 Dec 2025 Episode 6.21 – Writing Back: Letters to Humanity A different sort of New Year Resolution, moving us from personal improvement to public advocacy! Let’s write an essay of address, framing our passions into a perspective that would make Le Guin proud! Texts from this episode: Nazim Hikmet: Letters to Taranta-Babu , 1935 Aimé Césaire: Notebook of a Return to the Native...

  19 Dec 2025 Episode 6.20 – The Great Societies: Lowry’s The Giver Another thorny utopia, Lowry’s Community practices a different kind of strategy to the Hideous Bargain: ethical evasion, a too tempting strategy for all of us. Political? Yes. But also a YA fantasy vision of what some of the latest writers and thinkers believe we’re doing already. Texts from this episo...

  12 Dec 2025 Episode 6.19 – The Great Societies, Pt 2: Metropolis & The Ways of Meaning We finish our discussion of the silent film Metropolis and answer our question of art and politics by examining the text, context, and reader meaning-making. Discussed in the episode: A definition of Context: with / accompanying / outside of (traditional definitions) as a Limitation as Dialogue...

  5 Dec 2025 Episode 6.18 – Is All Art Political? The Great Societies, Pt. 1: Metropolis It seems everything is politics these days. But at least can’t we keep art pure? You know, art for art’s sake? I offer my thoughts on the topic while we examine the classic silent film, Metropolis (1927). In the process, we discuss an indigenous protest against American Art, the nature o...

  28 Nov 2025 Episode 6.17 – True Horror: Le Guin, Poe, Cavarero, Bataille, and Arendt NOTE: While nothing explicit or graphic is named in this episode, it does touch upon difficult and challenging psychological topics, so it is not recommended for those sensitive to violence and war. We finish our side trail on the implications of Poe’s horror by stepping more deeply into our own...

  21 Nov 2025 Episode 6.16 – Poe: Horror, Pathology, and the Necessity for Care *NOTE: While nothing explicit or graphic is named in this episode, it does touch upon difficult and challenging psychological topics, so it is not recommended for those sensitive to violence and war. We say Poe has influence the genre of horror, but have we really considered what that influence has revealed...

  7 Nov 2025 Episode 6.15 – The “Hideous Heart:” Poe’s Aesthetic of Accountability   There really isn’t that much to say about Poe, is there? He’s just creepy. But wait. What if we could explain the supposed madness in all these stories?  We look at the narrators of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Imp of Perversity,” and...

  31 October 2025 Waypoint – “The Imp of Perversity” (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe https://waywordsstudio.com Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords-podcast/ Another Halloween treat from Poe, a reading of this lesser-known tale which bears some comparison to “The Tell-Tale Heart.” American pioneer of many literary traditions including the Go...

  28 October 2025 Waypoint – “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe https://waywordsstudio.com Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords-podcast/ American pioneer of many literary traditions including the Gothic tradition, detective fiction, and science fiction, Poe was also a literary critic who well understood the goals of his art, to articulate th...

  10 Oct 2025 Episode 0.3 – Literary Nomads for Teachers   What is this podcast? I recommend you start here, with this introduction to Literary Nomads and get a taste of what the larger series offers! And, to be sure I’ve sold you, we’ll offer some fresh approaches to the most-taught poem in the US, Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Listen and find...

  3 Oct 2025 Episode 0.2 – Literary Nomads for Students   What is this podcast? I recommend you start here, with this introduction to Literary Nomads and get a taste of what the larger series offers! And, to be sure I’ve sold you, we’re looking at one of the lamest choices for literary discussion, the much-overtaught “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost. An...

  26 Sept 2025 Episode 0.1 – Literary Nomads for Readers   What is this podcast? I recommend you start here, with this introduction to Literary Nomads and get a taste of what the larger series offers! And, to be sure I’ve sold you, we’re looking at one of the lamest choices for literary discussion, the much-overtaught “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost. A...

  19 Sept 2025 Episode 6.14 – Le Guin – What I Carry With Me   Now that we’ve wrestled in and with Omelas for a bit, what questions remain for us to take forward on our journey? We’re walking away from Omelas, but let’s have an idea where we’re going.   Complete Resources:  https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/ CHAPTERS 00:00     Re-P...

12 Sept 2025 Episode 6.13 – Le Guin Part 5: Q&A Listeners offer their questions from narrator trust to activism to teaching controversy. I rant–or respond–back. Important Links Mentioned: Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag:  https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8  Literary Nomads , Journey 5, “Dorian Gray and Difficult Conversations”: https://waywordsstudio.com...

5 Sept 2025 Episode 6.12 – Le Guin Part 4: The Ones Who Stay – N. K. Jemisin Can we pull this utopia dilemma together? Or will we add even more levels of complication? When we wrestle with Le Guin, take solace knowing that others have, too, and so we enter into the dialogue of building utopia, together with its responsibilities! As we explore today, we add Mikhail Bakhtin and George Ba...

29 Aug 2025 Episode 6.11 – Le Guin Part 3: The Reader’s Labyrinth Sure, the Omelas dilemma is tough, but at least we have our narrator as ally, right? Right? Perhaps the real horror in Omelas has less to do with the child at its center. We also discuss how the relationship between culture and the individual, narrator rhetoric, broader allegories, reader psychology, and the alienation e...

22 Aug 2025 Episode 6.10 – Le Guin 2: Architectures of Happiness Is this story really about that suffering child? Or is it more about how we wall its suffering out, then invite it back in? We also discuss how social complicity, blissful ignorance, binary breakdowns, and the pee privileges at Waywords Studio. Our Main Text: Ursula K. Le Guin: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”:...

15 Aug 2025 Episode 6.09 – Le Guin 1: The Hideous Bargain At last we settle in to think about Le Guin’s Omelas story and set aside some common approaches to it. The first of several parts. We also discuss how the obvious question posed by the story may not be the place to start, and how philosopher/historian/critic Rene Girard’s scapegoat theories played a role in Le Guin’s...

8 Aug 2025 Episode 6.08 – Gardens of Imagination – Narrative Utopias Let’s niche down into a small sub-genre of fantasy and explore our desire for it, the classic utopia. As Le Guin’s work is utopia, understanding the genre’s tradition, functions, and roles for readers is our final essential piece prior to taking on the story directly. Some key texts discussed in this...

1 Aug 2025 Episode 6.07 – In Defense of Fantasy Riddle: What do Beowulf , Palmolive dish liquid, and Sarah Maas have in common? Hint: Ursula K. Le Guin knows! Today we wonder at both the disdain of fantasy as genre and its enduring popularity, examine some of Le Guin’s arguments for it as literature, and take a crash course in the history of fantasy across the millennia. Some key texts...

25 July 2025 Episode 6.06 – Stephen King Meets Shel Silverstein: Formalism and Trope in Story What do a children’s story and horror film have in common? Maybe our Suffering Child question, with very different approaches to it. In the meantime, we break down some of the keys to understanding form, genre, trope, medium–and throw some shade of formula, cliches, and stereotypes. Term...