Reading Rural YAL

In this episode, I discuss the way that place, wilderness, and ecology shape and function in the novel.

In this episode, I give a summary of the novel and read the first few pages.

Interested in learning more about the UNLV YA Summit here.

Visit Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday

In this episode, Heath and I discuss everything from her rural background, farm and horse injuries, creating the world of a book while not living there, advice for young writers, and more.

Follow her –

• On Twitter: @carlylheath
• On Instagram: @carlylynheath
• On the Web: https://www.carlyheathauthor.com

Pick up the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/668136/the-reckless-kind-by-carly-heath/

In this episode, I give a brief description of a research project students could do and present to their own communities inspired by The Reckless Kind.

In this episode, I discuss the aspects of Heath’s novel that were connections and disconnections for me and what I learned from them.

In this video, Melissa Wyatt and I cover a lot of ground.

Here are some of the major things we talk about:

• 01:25: Where she’s from
• 04:05 Defining rural
• 07:12 Becoming a writer
• 08:24 Crafting people and places that aren’t where you’re from
• 10:14 Who gets to write rural stories
• 14:31 Disrupting and nuancing dominant narratives
• 21:30 Considering narratives of leaving, class, & rurality
• 34:24 What she likes to read
• 41:47 Her writing process
• 53:59 Advice to writers

This episode discusses how I would teach Funny How Things Change and the way it layers place and class.

In this episode, I discuss my personal reaction to FUNNY HOW THINGS CHANGE as a rural (out-migrant) reader. I read some of my favorite quotes and discuss how the book deals with complexities of rural folks leaving their hometowns.

In this episode, I talk about how place functions in the text – the complex connections to and opinions of the mountains held by both community insiders and outsides.

In this episode, I provide a summary of Wyatt’s novel as well as read the first few pages. I’m really excited to talk about this text because of the way the narrative of leaving a rural place sits in conversation with that of Zentner’s In the Wild Light.

Check out Wyatt’s Twitter thread mentioned in the episode here.