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.-
The Absurdity of Life - Helen Anderson
Helen Anderson’s project for the 2022 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of short stories living at the intersection of the recognizable and the uncanny. In her conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they talk about the writers that inspire her, maintaining relationships in the age of social media, and what she thinks makes for funny writing. “To be really funny, something should have a strong foundation in a sort of truth, as sort of something we recognize about ourselves or the world.”
Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Are We Asking the Right Questions to Our Stories? - Julie Feng
Julie Feng’s project for the 2022 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems in the framework of the Hakka hill song that layer themes of love, labor, and leisure with themes of deeper cultural contexts. In her conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they delve into Hakka hill songs, centering people’s desires versus centering their traumas, and moving away from stories that reinforce violent constructions. “I want my poems to be like little protest songs in a lot of ways, little riots in some ways.”
Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Entropy - Danielle Hayden
Danielle Hayden’s project for the 2022 Jack Straw Writers Program is an essay collection titled Entropy that delves into both the different identities that she holds and the identities that are trying to find her. In her conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they talk about the challenges of witnessing oneself, the beautiful and ugly truths in her writing, and the dark night of the soul that instilled a sense of urgency in her. ”I’m talking about some things that are taboo . . . but there are other people who feel like I feel. And so I want to kind of say, ‘Hey, you’re not the only one.’”
Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Every Poem Is Its Own Kind of Music - Jory Mickelson
2022 Jack Straw Writer Jory Mickelson’s ekphrastic poetry project deals with queerness, art history, and the imaginative connections between things. In his conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they discuss Jory’s process for researching art pieces, a photograph of genderplay from 1891, and the challenges that come with writing ekphrastic work. “I want to think about, how can I present different little songs for each piece.”
Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Everybody Is Redeemable - Katharine Strange
Katharine Strange’s project for the 2022 Jack Straw Writers Program is a snarky memoir that explores the PTSD that came with her decision to get married and move to the UK when she was 22. In her conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they delve into Katherine’s comedic style of writing, the ways she stays motivated, and the theme of empathy that comes through in her writing. “In my writing I like to make fun a lot, but I try to always leave room to see the humanity, even in people who are kind of more antagonistic.”
Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Writing Towards a Better World - Ally Ang
Ally Ang’s project for the 2022 Jack Straw Writers Program is a full-length poetry collection they call an offering to their ghosts and ancestors. In their conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they talk about the importance of documenting for future generations, processing feelings of loneliness and anger, and the discipline of hope. “Even when I am writing from a really dark and seemingly hopeless place, I do try to tap into that joy, that levity, that hope, and that kind of helps me feel like I am building something.”
Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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No Way Home - Michael Overa
Michael Overa‘s project for the 2021 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel he calls an elegy for his youth, about the origins and career of a punk band in Seattle. His conversation with curator E.J. Koh touches on Michael’s favorite ‘90s punk bands, authenticity in art, and his own Seattle youth. “It’s not necessarily a time that at my age I want to go back and live, but it’s fun to think about.”
Music by Andrew Weathers, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Transplants - Daniel Tam-Claiborne
Daniel Tam-Claiborne’s project for the 2021 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel about a Chinese woman and a Chinese-American woman navigating the experience of being transplants in different ways. In his conversation with curator E.J. Koh, they discuss Daniel’s connection to these characters, the relationship between China and America, and how it effects individuals in both places. “That’s something I’m really hoping to address and think about when we think about fiction. . . . is to make the case that there are lived experiences that are worth thinking about in ways that are more sympathetic and more tolerant and with greater understanding.”
Music by Andrew Weathers, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Memory - Grace Jahng Lee
Grace Jahng Lee’s project for the 2021 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel about a Korean-American family, incorporating themes of memory and intergenerational trauma. In her conversation with curator E.J. Koh, they discuss the enduring impacts of the Korean War, and the challenges of preserving stories from the past. “Sometimes you have to forget to survive, right? . . . And through my writing, I guess I’m always pushing against that, but yet also trying to respect the fact that a lot of what I’m writing is a source of trauma, not only for me but for many people who were involved in those stories.”
Music by Andrew Weathers, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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America, America - Tochukwu Okafor
Tochukwu Okafor’s project for the 2021 Jack Straw Writers Program is a story about a young gay man coming of age in Nigeria. In his conversation with curator E.J. Koh, they discuss what it’s like to be gay in Nigeria and bond over their shared experiences with both Catholicism and the engineering world. “I don’t know if I should get offended when people ask me ‘so what’s it gonna be,’ am I going to give up my engineering career for my writing career . . . and I’m always asking them why can’t it be both?”
Music by Andrew Weathers, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
