Hillary Behrman’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel called All Over the Place and a collection of short stories called Lake Effect that explore human care and intimacy in a world that breeds doubt and isolation. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss some of the themes of her work, how humans affect environmental degradation, and how the characters in her work cope with trauma. “They are people who have had to rely on themselves through some very difficult times. And it’s not that they are defined by trauma but they have experienced significant trauma and they’ve had to rely on their inner self and strength in a pretty profound way.”

Content warning: This podcast contains adult language, including brief descriptions of sex and sexual assault.

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Monique Ouk’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a series of poems, essays, and fiction pieces that attempt to record her family’s history, her parents’ experience of surviving the Cambodian genocide, and their life after the genocide. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss the purpose her fiction writing serves, the people she plans to interview for her project, and why her work is an act of defiance. “The act of learning about my family, like my mother’s biological parents for example, who they were, the lives they led, whatever I can find out, and writing that down and recording it helps me remember that they existed on this world and they still exist.”

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Nhatt Nichols’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a non-fiction graphic novel about the history of the Białowieża Forest, a World Heritage Area that sits between Poland and Belarus, and how the forest and humanity influence each other. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they explore how she first became interested in the Białowieża Forest, the ethics of being a journalist in a crisis zone, and why it’s important to see humans as a part of nature. “Even though the most protected part of that forest doesn’t have people in it anymore, people very much formed what that forest looks like. People have formed environments in such a really pivotal way. And it’s possible to have something that is healthy and beautiful and natural and have humans in it . . . it’s just got to be done carefully and responsibly.”

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Sigrun Susan Lane’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems about her immigrant family and their origins in Iceland. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss Icelandic folklore such as the little people, the influence of Icelandic poet Jakobína Johnson on her life, and the importance of poets in Icelandic society. “They’re really admired and looked up to because they continue the tradition of the sagas, which is Iceland’s great contribution to literature . . . and so people are valued for that. The Rimur are valued for their work.”

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Jenny Harrington Lill’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a memoir about her late son, Ewan, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2018.  In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss Jenny’s writing style, her scientific background as a cell biologist, and her essay titled “How to Write a Eulogy For a 10-Year-Old.” “I am not asking for anyone’s pity, or to feel sorry for me. Just to be seen. I’m asking for space to hold. I’m asking for my child to be remembered. And I’m asking for myself to be remembered. And that’s a huge ask. When others do it well on the page, it feels like a larger community, like a movement. . . . Sadness is as real as any other emotion. ”

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Asha Dore’s  project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is an autoethnography titled Gravity that focuses on weird crime in Florida, class, and neurodivergence.  In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss why her father became involved with a Colombian cartel, what her hometown of Pensacola, Florida is like, and why poetics is an important aspect of her writing. “I think resilience is great, but also sometimes the hard things that happen to us tear us up and we are changed. And I don’t know that it always makes us stronger. But I think that if we survive them, then we have survived and we can think about it a little bit and talk about it in different ways. ”

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Bill Hollands’s  project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems that incorporate pop culture elements from his childhood. In his conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they talk about the ’70s television shows that Bill watched as a kid, gay representation in popular culture, and how the book The Art of Voice by Tony Hoagland helped him with his writing. “What you’re looking for is a unique perspective on the world, and you want to hear that there’s a person behind these words. And so I think voice is what I turn to and am drawn to the most in good writing.”

Music by Greg Kramer, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Gabriel Moseley’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a speculative fiction novel set at a fundamentalist Christian camp in the Olympic Peninsula, where the revelation of a child’s healing abilities leads to devastating consequences. In his conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they explore how the genre of science fiction allows him to tackle larger issues, some of his science-fiction influences, and how elements of his upbringing show up in his writing. “I think there’s something fascinating about this set up. You know, these kind of constrained environments and all the dynamics that go into it.”

Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Stacy Nathaniel Jackson’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel that he describes as “Epic, leaning speculative fiction, with a horror lens.” The Dim centers on a headhunter who has a genetic mutation that causes his sense of physical pain to be dimmed and how that lack of pain affects him. In his conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they talk about why the ability to feel pain is important and how elements of his activism and trans identity inform his writing. “Even in this piece that I’ve just written, the grandfather is telling the grandson . . . you not having pain, good for you as a rebel, as a warrior. [A] woman . . . having childbirth, if you didn’t feel pain, this is not good. You may not be able to pick up the signals that you need to.”

Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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Catherine Denardo’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a piece of nonfiction narrative writing that celebrates the sounds of the Southern Residents, a community of endangered killer whales located in coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington State. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they delve into the importance of scientific accuracy in her narrative writing, why she chose to write about the Southern Residents, and why she feels hopeful for their recovery. “I felt like a lot of the writing was leading me in a sorrowful way. A lot of grief and a lot of exasperation about us not doing enough to save these killer whales. And for the Jack Straw project I felt like I wanted to write something a little more hopeful that was still accurate and truthful and more of a celebration about something wonderful about them.”

Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

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