SoundPages
SoundPages is produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center as part of the Jack Straw Writers Program. This podcast features interviews and live readings from artists in the Jack Straw Writers Program. Each year a series of twelve episodes is produced featuring the current Jack Straw Writers and curator.-
Urban Gardening - Waverly Fitzgerald
Jack Straw Writer Waverly Fitzgerald set out to learn about nature in an urban setting. Her studies began in her own neighborhood: Capitol Hill. Waverly researched and collected information about her natural surroundings, and through the writing process, completed her own learning process.
Music by The Bird Tribe Orchestra, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Moving through Water and Words – Janna Cawrse Esarey
The Jack Straw Writers podcast begins the 2008 series with Janna Cawrse Esarey. She sailed and wrote her way around the world for two and a half years on an extended honeymoon. Her writing is about relationships and the journey, sailing and through life.
THIS PODCAST CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE.
Music by Jim Page and Artis, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Live Surveys - The Vis-a-Vis Society
“The Vis-a-Vis Society is for the poetic analysis of the everyday.” That’s how Sierra Nelson and Rachel Kessler sum up their literary duo. The pair take surveys of their audiences and present their findings in dynamic performances. In this podcast, you’ll hear excerpts from their interview with writers program curator Matt Briggs along with poetic surveys and data from their live performance at Jack Straw Productions.
Music by Jim Knodle as part of Pam Dionne’s residency in the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Creative Cussing - Willie Smith
Poet and a novelist Willie Smith started writing when he was nine. His first love was science, but when he had the opportunity to enter a grade school writing contest, Smith wrote his first short story. From that point forward, Smith was hooked.
In this podcast, you’ll hear Smith talk about his beginnings in writing with program curator Matt Briggs and excerpts from his live performance at Jack Straw Productions.
Music by Christian Asplund, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Under the Radar and Winning Awards - Laurie Blauner
For Laurie Blauner writing is an exercise that helps her to understand her own thoughts and subsequently herself. She began her writing career as a poet and later explored prose where she could spread out. In this podcast, you’ll hear excerpts from her interview with writers program curator Matt Briggs and selections from her live reading at Jack Straw Productions.
Music by Sean Osborn, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Growing Up in Rural Minnesota - Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed experienced a range of living situations in her childhood, from apartment living to camping in rural Minnesota. Her mother told her that these experiences would be “character building,” but she didn’t come to truly appreciate them until adulthood. Now her experiences serve as fodder for her writing. In this podcast, you’ll hear excerpts from Cheryl’s interview with writer’s program curator Matt Briggs and her reading at a live performance at Jack Straw Productions.
Music by Sheila Fox, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Poems For Children - Susan Landgraf
Poet Susan Landgraf wrote a collection of children’s poems inspired by the sea for the Jack Straw Writers Program. In her interview with program curator Matt Briggs, she discusses her childhood love for writing and the freedom she felt in writing these poems for children.
You’ll also hear selections from her live reading at Jack Straw including a special performance with musician Paul Rucker.
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Poetic Rants - Anna Maria Hong
Poet Anna Maria Hong began her writing career in her 20s and was instinctually drawn to poetry after several years of working in journalism. In this podcast, you’ll hear Maria talk about the apparent anger in her poems, which program curator Matt Briggs characterizes as “mean”, and also her recent manuscript which touches on the myths we’re taught growing up and the process of shedding those as an adult.
You’ll also hear selected poems from Hong’s reading at Jack Straw Productions.
Music by Ed Petry, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Lit Games - Doug Nufer
Doug Nufer is a specialist in literary constraints, a technique that applies certain conditions to or establishes a pattern within writing. In this podcast, you’ll hear excerpts from his interview with 2007 Jack Straw Writers Program curator Matt Briggs and highlights from his live reading at the Jack Straw May Reading Series.
Music by Emma Zunz, a duo featuring Cristin Miller and Annie Lewandowski, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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The Bricolage of Kotagaeshi - Howard W. Robertson
Howard W. Robertson, rebelling against the expectations of his upbringing in a rural Oregon mill town, became a poet. In this podcast, Robertson talks with Writers Program curator Matt Briggs about teaching himself how to type and discovering a need to write poetry and stories along the way. You’ll also hear an excerpt from his live reading at Jack Straw Productions featuring unpublished work and a poem from his new book The Bricolage of Kotagaeshi.
Music by the Bird Tribe Orchestra, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
