Donna Murch is an associate professor at Rutgers University and the author of “Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism, and the Movement for Black Lives." Her work has appeared in the Guardian, The Nation, The New Republic, and Jacobin – among others. In this Craft Talk, Murch spoke with hosts Ted Ibur & Kate Essig about writing from oral history and the archive, how she writes about the past in order to understand the present, how listening to music helps her hear history in a new way, and how her book “Assata Taught Me” came to be.

Amitava Kumar is the author of several books of nonfiction and four novels, and his work has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, Harper’s and many other publications. He’s been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, and his novel Immigrant, Montana was named as one of President Obama’s favorite books of 2018. In this CraftTalk, hosts Kate Essig & Ted Ibur talk to Kumar about what it looks like to write with intention – and we caught up with him about his new novel “My Beloved Life.”

Derrick Goold is the St. Louis Post Dispatch Cardinals beat writer, a two-time Missouri Sports Writer of the year, an MLB Network contributor, and the host of the best podcast in baseball called The Best Podcast in Baseball. Hosts Ted Ibur & Kate Essig caught up with Goold right after the 2023 Cardinals season ended, and he shared with Craft Talks his approach to writing as a creative endeavor and a deadline-driven job – and whether there really is something to the "Cardinal Way."

Mahogany L. Browne is a poet, a young adult novelist, a children's book writer, the founder and executive director of the media literacy organization JustMedia, and the first ever Poet Laureate of New York's Lincoln Center. In this CraftTalk, Browne joins hosts Ted Ibur & Kate Essig on the day of the release of her 2023 poetry collection, Chrome Valley, to talk collaboration, creating across genres, and writing with perfect imperfection.

This week Saint Louis University welcomes St. Louis Literary Award Recipient Jamaica Kincaid – and launches a new season of the CraftTalk podcast. Join hosts Ted Ibur and Kate Essig as they preview what's in store this season on CraftTalk.

Ron Austin is one of those rare writers that you know is going to be a powerhouse in the publishing industry one day, and that day may be very soon. His exceptional debut is a collection of short stories called Avery Colt is a Snake, A Thief, A Liar.  I could not help comparing it to one of my favorite creative nonfiction memoirs, Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. McCourt's autobiography that captures the Depression and World War II eras from a poor Irish child’s perspective in a way that keeps flipping the emotional switches between pathos, horror, and laugh-out-loud humor. I had the same reaction to the stories in Avery Colt is a Snake, A Thief, A Liar. Just as McCourt so successfully captured the unique voice and the internal feelings of the narrator and the way he observed the children and adult characters that cycled in and out of his life, Avery Colt’s narrative voice does the same thing, but this time from a poor Black kid’s experiences in North St. Louis. Ron Austin takes us in a deep dive into the stories and its incredibly vivid characters along with his fascinating perspectives on writing and teaching.

-Ted Ibur
Executive Director, St. Louis Literary Award Programs at Saint Louis University

Phong Nguyen is the author of three novels, The Bronze Drum (Grand Central Publishing, 2022), Roundabout: An Improvisational Fiction (Moon City Press, 2020) and The Adventures of Joe Harper (Outpost19, 2016), winner of the Prairie Heritage Book Award; and two story collections: Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History (C&R Press, 2019) and Memory Sickness and Other Stories (Elixir Press, 2011), winner of the Elixir Press Fiction Prize. Phong is Professor and Miller Family Endowed Chair of Writing; Director of Creative Writing at the University of Missouri-Columbia. 

In this episode of Craft Talks at Saint Louis University, we discussed many topics that connect to writing process and the arts, including Professor Nguyen's forthcoming novel, The Bronze Drum. The novel is based on the true story of the Trung sisters who raised an army of 80,000 women in the year 40 CE against the Han Chinese occupation of Lac Viet lands. Phong Nguyen provides a fascinating window into his approach to writing, research, and instruction. A must listen for students intersted in pursuing a career as a writer or artist and for fellow writers.

Awards and Honors
Prairie Heritage Book Award, 2019, The Adventures of Joe Harper

Pushcart Prize Special Mention 2019, Short Story, "We're So Blessed, We're So Lucky"

Pushcart Prize Special Mention 2011, Short Story, “My Hand Is My Cup”

9 Pushcart Prize Nominations, 2007-2018

Elixir Press Fiction Award 2010, Memory Sickness and Other Stories

Professor Phyllis Weliver discusses her newest book, The Arrow Tree, a creative nonfiction memoir about recovering from long-haul COVID. We discuss a wide range of topics including the shift to creative nonfiction instead of more traditional "scholarly" writing for an academic audience. Professor Weliver delves into a wide array of subjects in this discussion. Some of the topics we cover include the relationship between form and subject in her writing, the role of digital resources play in preserving and disseminating works of literature and other art forms, her extensive musical training growing up on the grounds of the internationally renowned Interlochen Arts Academy, and the role nature plays in healing.

Craft Talks: Part of the St. Louis Literary Award Programs at Saint Louis University