An Ursa Member Bonus! In a new recurring feature we call First Chapters, Dawnie and Deesha dig into the memorable opening chapter of Dawnie’s debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. Dawnie talks about her journey to becoming a writer, as well as the process of this story coming to fruition.

To listen to the full episode, become an Ursa Member in Apple Podcasts or at ursastory.com/join. 

Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

Listening List:

Watch List:

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Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

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Deesha and Dawnie introduce an Ursa original production of “Snow Bath Season,” a short story written by Stacie Denetsosie, and performed by Nasheen Sleuth. This story is about Diana, a young Navajo woman whose late mother is communicating with her via an Amazon Alexa device. 

Denetsosie juxtaposes modern technology with Navajo tradition in compelling ways, while also writing into grief, love, and mother-daughter relationships through humor and bizarre circumstances. “Snow Bath Season” is from Denetsosie’s debut collection, The Missing Morningstar, published by Torrey House Press. Stay tuned after the story to hear from Stacie Denetsosie herself.

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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

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Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

“Snow Bath Season” written by Stacie Denetsosie 

Performed by Nasheen Sleuth

Interview by Marina Leigh 

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producers: Marina Leigh & Ashawnta Jackson

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

Special thanks to Cleyvis Natera

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Deesha and Dawnie sit down with their own agents, Danielle Chiotti and PJ Mark, to chat about the publishing industry. What does it mean to be a white agent representing authors of color? What are the gold standards for blurbing? Where are the best places to find an agent and what are some common red flags with scammy “agents”? They discuss the significance of the agent-author connection, the questions that an author should ask of a potential agent, as well as what makes an agent say “hell yes” to a pitched book. 

To hear the full episode, become an Ursa Member in Apple Podcasts or at ursastory.com/join. 

Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

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Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

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Deesha and Dawnie chat with Rion Amilcar Scott, sharing stories, craft advice, 90’s hip-hop references, and how experience as parents, as teachers, and as lovers of music can inform the writing process. 

They discuss their reactions to elements of their work playing out in real life, and call for not forgetting the joys and humor of the Black experience that coincides with the tragedies. Rion talks about his generative and drafting process—his beginnings and endings, the structure and limitations of flash and short fiction, the revision process, and his playfulness and improvisation as an approach to the work. 

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Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

Author Bio:

Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collections The World Doesn’t Require You and Insurrections, which was awarded the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017 Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland, College Park. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020, among other publications.

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In this special Member Exclusive episode, Deesha and Dawnie kick off a recurring feature we call Iconic Stories — starting with James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues,’ first published in 1957 in the Partisan Review.  They discuss the prevalent themes of family and brotherhood, loss, drug addiction, and music, as well as the broader social and political contexts of Baldwin’s fiction and nonfiction. 

Deesha Philyaw: “James Baldwin is the writer that made me want to be a writer.”

To get access to the full episode, become an Ursa Member: ursastory.com/join

Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

Listening List:

• Charlie Parker

More from Deesha and Dawnie:

Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Deesha Philyaw, Dawnie Walton, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

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Deesha and Dawnie introduce an Ursa original audio production of “Telling Stories” by T.E. Wilderson, published in The Account magazine in 2021, and narrated by Jordan Cobb. 

Eighth grader, P’Mona, is sarcastic, witty, and a pathological liar. Taking place over the course of a day, the story follows P’Mona attempting to simultaneously navigate the world and cope with a difficult home life. 

Be sure to stick around at the end of the story to hear from T.E. Wilderson in her own words, discussing the themes of the story, her advice to writers, and her inspirations for “Telling Stories” and the character of P’Mona.

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Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Story performed by Jordan Cobb

Author interview by Marina Leigh

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producers: Marina Leigh & Ashawnta Jackson 

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

About the Author

T. E. Wilderson is a New Orleans-born, African American writer, editor, and teaching artist currently living in the Midwest. Her short stories have appeared in F(r)iction, Notre Dame Review, Roanoke Review, Crack the Spine Anthology XVII, The Louisville Review, The Tishman Review, Still: The Journal, Cobalt Weekly, The Account: A Journal of Prose, Poetry, and Thought, and Coolest American Stories 2023, among others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and is a 2019 McKnight Foundation Writing Fellow.

About the Narrator

Jordan Cobb is a New York City-based writer and actress, with a focus on live stage and voiceover. Her work spans fiction podcasts such as Bloody Disgusting's Dead Space: Deep Cover and No Such Thing Production's Primordial Deep, to bestselling audiobooks like Kalynn Bayron's This Poison Heart and Tigest Girma's Immortal Dark. For more information, visit jordanvcobb.com.

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In the spirit of Halloween, Deesha and Dawnie dig into thrillers, mysteries, and suspense with acclaimed crime fiction writer S.A. Cosby, author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, and the forthcoming novel, King of Ashes. 

Cosby talks about his early inspirations in the horror and suspense genres, and he explains how he began to use genre to craft stories that reflected his own experiences as a Black writer from the South.

Cosby also offers advice to emerging writers and helps demystify the publication process, as co-editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 anthology.  

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Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

About the Author 

S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.

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We're back! Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw give us a special sneak preview of what's in store for Season Three.

Show notes:

Produced by: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

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Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw introduce us to Reckon True Stories, a brand new podcast hosted by Deesha and acclaimed author Kiese Laymon, dedicated to all things nonfiction.

Listen, then follow the show in your favorite podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://link.chtbl.com/truestories

Guests for Season One include writers Roxane Gay, Imani Perry, Alexander Chee, Minda Honey, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Samantha Irby. Produced in partnership with Reckon.

We'll also have more episodes of Ursa Short Fiction coming this fall! Sign up for email updates: https://ursastory.com

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While we put the final touches on Season Three, we wanted to share an episode from another podcast that we think you’ll love: Black & Published, hosted by Nikesha Elise Williams. 

On today’s episode, Nikesha’s guest is Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the historical fiction novel TAKE MY HAND. It's a story based on the real-life Relf sisters of Montgomery, Alabama, who were forcibly sterilized by the workers of a federal family planning clinic in 1973.

Subscribe to listen to more episodes from the latest season of Black & Published: 

https://blackpublished.buzzsprout.com/

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