June 17, 2024

Episode 238 with Nina St. Pierre, Author of Love is a Burning Thing, and Master of the Introspective, Resonant, Thoughtful, and the Personal

1 hour 20 minutes

Notes and Links to Nina St. Pierre’s Work

For Episode 238, Pete talks live with Nina St. Pierre at Sacramento’s Capital Books about her deeply personal, timely, and resonant memoir, Love is a Burning Thing.

Whether telling her own stories or reporting on the lives of others, Nina St. Pierre is drawn to boundary breakers and in-between places. Her debut memoir, LOVE IS A BURNING THING, came out May 7 from Dutton Books, and is available to order now. Set at the foot of a cosmic mountain, it's a story about fire, family, and what it means to believe; about the boundaries between mysticism and mental illness.

As a culture writer and essayist, she makes unexpected connections; whether profiling the sole woman in the Ruff Ryders street-bike crew or exploring the prophecy of the mystical udumbara flower. Read her work in GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Gossamer, Outside, Bitch, and more. Nina holds an MFA from Rutgers, was a 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Nonfiction Literature, and a RESP Fellow. She lives in New York City.

Buy Love is a Burning Thing

Nina St. Pierre: Website

Article in Los Angeles Times, 2024: “Opinion: My mother set herself on fire. Why do people choose to self-immolate?”

At about 1:10: Railroad Museum Talk!

At about 2:45, Pete asks Nina about connections to a Kate Zambreno quote about writing as “repair”

At about 5:30, Nina talks about the book’s formation at times as “meta” in the act of creation

At about 6:40-7:40, Nina responds to Pete’s asking if the writing of the book was “cathartic”

At about 8:05, Nina responds to audience question and talks about the “meta-ness” and inspiration from/connections to the movie Synecdoche, New York

At about 10:10, Nina responds to Pete’s questions about any hesitance in writing so personally about herself and others

At about 13:05, Nina talks about idealizing the past and or its opposite in writing the book

At about 14:55, Nina gives a summary of the book through a thematic description

At about 18:00, Transcendental Meditation and an important quote about obsession is discussed in terms of Nina’s mother

At about 23:10, Nina responds to Pete’s questions about her Midwest family and ideas of rebellion

At about 28:30, Nina and Pete discuss her family’s moving to Dunsmuir, CA, and her mother’s motivations in moving there, close to Mount Shasta

At about 30:50, Nina replies to Pete’s questions about things she took for granted that others didn’t know about, due to her constant moving and living in/visiting so many disparate places

At about 33:40-Shout out to Nina’s cool Love is a Burning Thing-themed nails, done by Claws by Joy!

At about 34:00, Nina describes the split between “Anita I” and “Anita II” (“walking in”) that her mother described so nonchalantly

At about 39:35, Nina homes in on her mother’s self-immolation and images

At about 42:15, Nina expands on different ideas in the West and East, specifically in Buddhist areas, of self-immolation

At about 46:40, Pete and Nina talk about a resonant scene that involves an adolescent Nina at a religious revival and she expounds upon her feelings during and after the “fervent religious experience”

At about 52:15, Nina reads from page 117, a scene involving the issues described above

At about 56:15, Pete asks Nina about the times she and her mother were not living together and worries Nina had

At about 58:30, Nina reflects on her perspective in looking back at her mother’s words in emails from a different time and place

At about 1:05:00, Nina gives her thoughts on connections between her mother and the archetypal “perfect female victim”

At about 1:11:20, Pete reflects on youth and obsession and compliments the book

At about 1:13:00, Niña gives out social media and contact info and book purchasing information, including a shoutout to Taylor & Co Books in New York

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Please tune in for Episode 239 with Ben Purkert. He is a poet, novelist, and creative writing instructor, as well as the author of the 2018 poetry collection, For the Love of Endings. His latest is the critically-acclaimed 2023 novel, The Men Can't Be Saved.

The episode will go live on June 21.

Please go to ceasefiretoday.com, which features 10+ actions to help bring about Ceasefire in Gaza.

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