You can find Willie Carver on Instagram @williecarverjr or on his website at www.williecarver.com.

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a Book Lover.

Sometimes when people have experienced a loss or some kind of traumatic event, they are encouraged to write about it, which gives them an outlet for their feelings and a way to help them process the experience. Our guest this week, Willie Carver Jr. was the 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year but he experienced loss and trauma when both he and his students were targeted because he is gay. He began putting his thoughts and feelings into poetic lines and stanzas.

The book of poems that resulted, Gay Poems for Red States published by University Press of Kentucky, helped him look back at prejudices he had experienced as a child living in rural Kentucky, as a gay man, and as a teacher offering a place of security for his students. The poetry served as an impetus for him to engage more as an activist, even testifying before the House Subcommittee on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights concerning the need for rights for LGBTQ students and educators. Book Riot has named Gay Poems for Red States one of its' best of the year.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Carver Jr

2- The Awakening by Kate Chopin

3- Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer (audiobook)

4- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll narrated by Sally Field (audiobook)

5- The Eyre Affair series by Jasper Fforde (audiobook)

6- What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

7- The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

8- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

9- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

10- Theoretical Tiger Society by Brian Fuchs

11- With a Hammer for My Heart by George Ella Lyon

12- Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live by Dan Ahdoot

Five Star Recommendation by Fellow Book Lover Michael DeConzo, author of Welcome to the Arcade and Two Nickels

1- Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

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