Born in Louisville, Mississippi, Jermaine Thompson learned language from big-armed women who greased their skillets with gossip and from full-bellied men who cursed and prayed with the same fervor. Jermaine earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Missouri Kansas City in 2018, and he currently teaches 9th–12th grade Humanities at Build Up Community School in Birmingham, AL.

Jermaine is interviewed by Connecticut teacher and Writing Project teacher-leader, Rich Novack.

Join The Write Time featuring Kate Messner, Write Out Author Ambassador and author of award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and The Brilliant Deep as well as books for older readers like Breakout and her forthcoming novel in verse, The Trouble with Heroes.

Kate is interviewed by San Diego Area Writing Project Director and early elementary educator, Kim Douillard.

Learn more about Write Out at https://writeout.nwp.org

NWP Radio visits with Benjamin Ludwig, a teacher, writer, school librarian, and an NWP Writers Council member. Benjamin is the author of Ginny Moon, and his next book, Outside, is coming December 4, 2024, with pre-ordering available today.

This episode of NWP Radio features Tomas Moniz, a member of the NWP Writers Council and the author of All Friends Are Necessary, a tender and open-hearted novel that explores the power of friendship, community, and the families we create for ourselves.

Based on the insight that "places are everywhere," this NWP Radio show explores how educators are using place to support students in having authentic opportunities to learn, grow, and connect. Join this team of teacher-editors and -authors from Place-Based Writing in Action: Opportunities for Authentic Writing in the World Beyond the Classroom to explore what is possible when you tap into this "everywhere resource" to support writing in elementary through preservice classrooms.

Our Guests and Their Chapters

Amanda Montgomery, Editor and “Making Connections to the Past: Using Place-based Writing to Bring History to Life”

Robert Montgomery, Editor and “Introduction to Place-Based Writing” (with Amanda) and “Touring the Place You Know Best: Virtual Tours as. Way to Teach Narrative, Argument, and Research Writing”

Cathie English, “Writing the Ecology of the Ozarks”

Clarice Moran, “In the Metaverse: Using VR as a Site for Place-based Writing”

Jeff Hudson, “The Sustainable Resource Project: Writing Towards Agency”

Rich Novack, “Mapping through Justice, through Padlet, and through the World”

This episode of NWP Radio features a conversation with Tess Taylor, an avid gardener, the author of five acclaimed collections of poetry, and the editor of Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands that Tend Them.

Join us for a conversation with NWP Writers Council member Lissa Soep, author of Other People’s Words: Friendship, Loss and the Conversation that Never Ends.

“Other People’s Words shows us how we carry within us the language of loved ones who are gone, and how their words can be portals to other times and places. Language—as with love—is boundless, and Other People’s Words is an intimate, original, and profoundly generous look at its power to nurture life amid the wreckage of grief. Dialogues do not end when a friendship or person is gone; instead, they accrue new layers of meaning, showing how the conversations we share with those we love continue after them, and will continue after us.”

Join us for a conversation with Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy, authors of Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare.

About the Authors

Dr. Andrea Balis is not only a distinguished faculty member in the history department of John Jay College, City University of New York, specializing in twentieth-century political history, but also a versatile writer and director.

Elizabeth Levy is an award-winning author of over 100 fiction and non-fiction books for young readers. Renowned for her humorous yet meticulously researched approach, Levy brings subjects to life and inspires and entertains audiences worldwide.

Join us for a conversation with Stephanie Vanderslice, a professor of creative writing, the co-director of the Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop at the University of Central Arkansas, and the author of Teaching Creative Writing: The Essential Guide.

This episode of The Write Time features members of the Furious Flower Syllabus Project, an open-access curriculum for incorporating Black poetry into classrooms of all ages and levels. More about the syllabus and guests at https://teach.nwp.org/the-write-time-and-the-furious-flower-syllabus-project