Talking Writing

Sarah Tulloch, Talking Writing’s podcast production manager, interviewed JoeAnn Hart. JoeAnn is the author of Highwire Act and Other Tales of Survival. Highwire Act is a collection of previously published short stories that highlight the conflicts that climate change will bring to the forefront of human civilization. The characters are confronted with the consequences of dying ecosystems, illnesses, political tension, and new norms within human communities in order to survive the global change.

In the wake of this summer’s Canadian wildfires, protesters are descending on Climate Week NYC, which includes today’s United Nations Climate Ambition Summit. Although the spotlight on climate change has gotten a lot brighter in the past several months, the issue has been going on for decades. Three works have come out recently that were all conceived before this summer’s alarming weather but seem even more relevant now. All three artists have some connection to Talking Writing, and I decided that making a collage of their works and interviewing them would be a great way to explore these themes through the lens of aesthetics. JoeAnn Hart has just released a book of short stories set in the near future called Highwire Act and Other Tales of Survival, which won the 2022 Hudson Prize. In April 2023, Alice Major put out Knife on Snow, a collection of poems that weaves together emotional considerations of climate change with science, mythology, space exploration, and daily life. And in March, 2023 John Atkinson released his solo album Energy Fields, created from field recordings of coal mines, turbines, refineries, and animals from his residency at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming in 2019.

Performing live and recording music are very different acts, and the skill sets don't necessarily cross over. Some musicians are prone to creating things in the studio and then face the challenge of making something live out of it. Others write and experiment in the live setting and then go into the studio to try and translate what they've been doing live. Both approaches come with unique challenges, and this episode asks the question: "What do you get psychologically out of each process, playing live and recording?"

Most artists tend to have many different projects occurring simultaneously or over the course of their artistic lives. Here the artists interviewed tell how they tend to move from one project to another and what their various projects provide them.

This episode explores the way that ideas come up and how they move through the process into becoming a piece of art. The path from vague idea to finished product is never straightforward. One thing that becomes clear during these conversations is how messy and random the progression can be.

The first episode of the Weird Music podcast series focuses on an idea put forth by Stephen King in On Writing: that art depends on telepathy. While discussing the telepathic elements of art, the conversation veers into the area of whether or not the artist's intention translates through the work.

John Vogel, Talking Writing's art director, interviews author Brad Schreiber on his latest book, Music is Power, and the influences that shaped his writing. Brad is an author, screenwriter, producer, literary consultant, journalist, playwright, teacher, and performer. Music Is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice, and the Will to Change tells fascinating stories about the origins and impact of dozens of world-changing songs while revealing political context and the personal challenges of legendary artists from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley.

Neva Talladen, managing editor of Talking Writing, interviews the self-published author Dana Humphrey. The two discuss creating such a vulnerable piece of work while still keeping your real-life relationships intact. Dana is a life coach, an author, a life coach, a death doula, and a hot yoga instructor. May All Beings Be Fed is an incredibly vulnerable memoir of Dana’s life written in the third person. Through Yaya, Dana is able to explore her upbringing, her experience acquiring a mental health diagnosis, and her experience with drugs at a healthy distance.