SoundPages Podcast

In her writing, poet Rachel Dilworth seeks to illuminate new perspectives and understanding through the exploration of voice. Her focus on voice as connected to self, loss of voice, and regaining voice, allows her subjects to be heard in new ways.

Permission to use portions of The Wild Rose Asylum by Rachel Dilworth has been granted by the University of Akron Press. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

Music by Sean Osborn, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post Exploring Voice – Rachel Dilworth appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Years of living and traveling in Europe and a profound interest in the visual arts, inform Michael Magee’s work. His writing, which crosses many disciplines, is full of wit, color, and panache. His dynamic range of subjects and artful turn of phrase are both fresh and entertaining.

Music by Matt Weiner and Del Rey, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post A Writer’s Palette – Michael Magee appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

In her far-reaching poem Rhapsody in Red, Priscilla Long weaves cultural, political, and scientific threads together in a lyrical statement featuring the color red. Full of historic references and bright imagery, Long’s writing draws the reader through memory and experience.

Music by Amy Rubin and Dawn Clement, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post Poetry as Visual Art – Priscilla Long appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

In her second Jack Straw Writers Residency, Anna Balint explores themes of war, motherhood, ethnic identity, and family legacy. She draws upon her diverse experiences, as an activist, mother and grandmother, in her writing.

Music by Christopher Roberts, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post From Poetry to Prose – Anna Balint appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Through her series of poems about Little Red Riding Hood, Lana Hechtman Ayers has pushed a storybook character into the throes of real life. Red deals with complex relationships, temptation, and frustration with traditional gender roles. Lana says in her live reading that she was abducted by Red and consumed with writing about her.

Music by the Tom Varner Tentet, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post Following Little Red – Lana Hechtman Ayers appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Inspired by the ancients, Kevin Craft weaves classical themes into contemporary poetry. His studies and travels have led him to write with a deep sense of history. As he puts it, every writer has an inheritance, and he sought his in the Mediterranean.

Music by Yerba Buena, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post A Writer’s Inheritance – Kevin Craft appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

As a poet and a storyteller, Brian McGuigan tells it like it is, and then some. A listener of his work can feel grimy streets underfoot and see cracks in the buildings. His poems are personal and visceral and he has a great appreciation for the way things used to be.

THIS PODCAST CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE.

Music by Johanna Kunin, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post A Poet’s Grit – Brian McGuigan appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Judith Skillman grew up amidst a family of scientists and her poems reflect her early exposure to the natural world. She was often awakened at night to see a meteor shower or lunar eclipse. Her writing plays on themes in nature, elucidated by strong, earthy images.

Music by the Bird Tribe Orchestra, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post Observing the Natural World – Judith Skillman appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Sharon Cumberland draws from her diverse life experience, including several years in a religious order, for her poems and fiction writing. She came up with the idea to write poems in plainsong, or Gregorian chant. The scope of this form, she says, allows her to write about anything and everything.

Music by Tamara Friedman, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post Poetry in Plainsong – Sharon Cumberland appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Rebecca Hoogs studies the roots of language and works with words’ meanings in her poetry. The result is dynamic wordplay that reads and sounds like a riddle, but cuts deeper into word evolution.

Music by the Bella Musica Woodwind Trio, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

The post I l’oeuf you – Rebecca Hoogs appeared first on Jack Straw Cultural Center.