Ursa Short Fiction

Deesha and Dawnie chat with Jonathan Escoffery, author of last week's audio story, "Under the Ackee Tree," from his acclaimed collection and audiobook, If I Survive You. The linked stories follow Trelawny, a second generation Jamaican American, as he struggles through family tensions, cultural and historical loss and reclamation, and exploration of identity. 

Escoffery talks about his collection and how it came to be—the process of developing characters, tensions, and narrative threads, as well as constructing a complicated family with conflicting generational perspectives on agency, culture, and legacy. 

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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

About the Author 

Jonathan Escoffery is the author of the linked story collection, If I Survive You, a New York Times  and Booklist Editor’s Choice, an IndieNext Pick, and a National Bestseller. If I Survive You was longlisted for the National Book Award, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize For Debut Short Story Collection, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the Story Prize, and was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. It was named a ‘best’ book by The New Yorker, The New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, People, TIME, Oprah Daily, GQ, and elsewhere. In 2020, Jonathan received the Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for Fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He was a 2021-2023 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Producer: Mark Armstrong

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Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton introduce “Under the Ackee Tree,” a story by Jonathan Escoffery from his acclaimed 2022 collection, If I Survive You.

The story is performed by Torian Brackett, and it comes from the collection's audiobook, produced by Macmillan Audio. Our thanks to Macmillan for sharing the story with Ursa's listeners.

This story follows Topper, a Jamaican immigrant who has fled the political violence in Kingston and moved his family to Miami to raise his two sons. “Under the Ackee Tree” is a narrative of leaving and of loss, of destruction and rebuilding, and of the ways we disappoint as partners, as parents, and as children. 

Support our show by becoming an Ursa Member: https://ursastory.com/join/

Reading List

About the Author 

Jonathan Escoffery is the author of the linked story collection, If I Survive You, a New York Times and Booklist Editor’s Choice, an IndieNext Pick, and a National Bestseller. If I Survive You was longlisted for the National Book Award, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize For Debut Short Story Collection, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the Story Prize, and was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. It was named a ‘best’ book by The New Yorker, The New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, People, TIME, Oprah Daily, GQ, and elsewhere. In 2020, Jonathan received the Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for Fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He was a 2021-2023 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

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Performed by Torian Brackett

Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Music: “Biosphere” by Yotam Agam

Audio excerpt courtesy Macmillan Audio, from IF I SURVIVE YOU by Jonathan Escoffery, read by Torian Brackett.

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Deesha and Dawnie sit down with Jamil Jan Kochai, whose short story “Enough!” from his collection The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories (Viking / Penguin Random House Audio), was featured in our previous episode.

Kochai discusses how he fell in love with storytelling and short stories as a form—reflecting on his family, his childhood, and how his stories, characters, and themes come naturally because they’re rooted in his upbringing. 

Kochai also talks about the challenge of writing as a public experience as he becomes more well-known in the literary world, and how he approaches writing personally, where he consistently returns to the idea of writing as writing — separating writing from “the noise.”

“In storytelling, sometimes you have to build walls in order to dance within them.”

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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

About the Author 

Jamil Jan Kochai is the author of The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, winner of the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize and a finalist for 2022 National Book Award. His debut novel 99 Nights in Logar was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Best American Short Stories. His essays have been published at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Kochai was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and a Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Currently, he is a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. 

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Producer: Mark Armstrong

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Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton introduce “Enough!”, a short story by Jamil Jan Kochai, from his collection The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories.

Kochai's story discusses intergenerational trauma, violences of both war and refuge, and rage as we follow Rangeena, a mother reflecting on her family and own past.

The story is performed by Suehyla El-Attar Young, and it's excerpted from the audiobook of The Haunting of Hajji Hotak, produced by Penguin Random House Audio. Our thanks to them for sharing this story with Ursa's listeners.

Jamil Jan Kochai’s writing is lyrical, his images surreal, and because of the cyclical narrative, the repetition, and obsession with themes of rambling, the story leaves us breathless. 

“Enough!” interrogates the ways in which we suffocate, the ways we’re haunted, and the ways we survive.

“Enough rambling, enough advice, enough pills, enough nightmares, enough lung damage, enough ghosts, enough beautiful dying boys, enough bomb smoke, enough burning apple trees, enough staring white neighbors, enough heavy breathing…”

Come back next week for our conversation with Jamil Jan Kochai.

Help Us Fund Future Seasons and Shows

Ursa Short Fiction is supported by our listeners. Share this podcast with a friend—or become a Member to help fund production: https://ursastory.com/join/

Reading List

About the Author 

Jamil Jan Kochai is the author of The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, winner of the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize and a finalist for 2022 National Book Award. His debut novel 99 Nights in Logar was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Best American Short Stories. His essays have been published at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Kochai was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and a Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Currently, he is a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. 

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Audio excerpted courtesy Penguin Random House Audio from THE HAUNTING OF HAJJI HOTAK by Jamil Jan Kochai, excerpt read by Suehyla El-Attar Young.

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Deesha and Dawnie sit down with Sidik Fofana, author of the acclaimed collection Stories from the Tenants Downstairs, published in 2022. Fofana discusses his journey getting into NYU, being a public school teacher, taking the long road to publishing his debut collection, and finding inspiration in the daily world around him. Fofana talks about creating voice and authentic characters, and he asks the hard question: in the chaos of life, how do we hold onto dreams?

Ursa Short Fiction is 100% independent and supported by our listeners. Become a Member today to help us keep going: ursastory.com/join

Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

About the Author 

Sidik Fofana is a New York City public school teacher, was a 2018 fellow at the Center for Fiction, and was named a “Writer to Watch” by Publishers Weekly. He is the author of the 2022 collection STORIES FROM THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS, in which he introduces readers to the residents of Banneker Homes, a low-income residential building in Harlem, where a looming rent increase affects everyone in different ways. Tenants young and old who weave in and out of each other’s lives.

Sidik earned his MFA from New York University. And he lives with his wife and son in New York City. 

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Producer: Mark Armstrong

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Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton introduce “Tumble,” an audio short story by Sidik Fofana about two women, Neisha and Kya, and a childhood fight with long-term consequences. 

The story is performed by Jade Wheeler, and it’s one of eight linked stories from Fofana’s 2022 debut collection, STORIES FROM THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS. This audiobook excerpt comes to us from Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio—our thanks to them for sharing it with Ursa Short Fiction listeners. 

As Philyaw noted in her recommendation of “Tumble” in Electric Lit:

“What happens to a dream deferred thanks to the cruel betrayal of a former childhood friend? What do justice, empathy, and forgiveness look like within a community when traumatized, violated people turn around to traumatize and violate those closest to them?” 

Listen to the story, then come back next week for our conversation with Sidik Fofana.

Support our show by becoming an Ursa Member: https://ursastory.com/join/

Reading List

About the Author 

Sidik Fofana is a New York City public school teacher, was a 2018 fellow at the Center for Fiction, and was named a “Writer to Watch” by Publishers Weekly. He is the author of the 2022 collection STORIES FROM THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS, in which he introduces readers to the residents of Banneker Homes, a low-income residential building in Harlem, where a looming rent increase affects everyone in different ways. Tenants young and old who weave in and out of each other’s lives.

Sidik earned his MFA from New York University. And he lives with his wife and son in New York City. 

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Music: “Fifth Avenue,” by Phury

Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from “Tumble” found in STORIES FROM THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS by Sidik Fofana, read by Jade Wheeler. Audiobook also read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Nile Bullock, Sidik Fofana, Dominic Hoffman, DePre Owens, André Santana and Bahni Turpin. Copyright © 2022 by Sidik Fofana. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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It’s a very special “Three Ds from Duval” episode of Ursa Short Fiction! Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton welcome fellow Jacksonville native Dantiel W. Moniz, author of the acclaimed 2021 short story collection MILK BLOOD HEAT. 

Moniz talks about how growing up in Jacksonville informed the stories in MILK BLOOD HEAT, and how real-life experiences serve as a jumping-off point for the stories we tell. 

“It’s always as a seed or a starting off point because the story is a thing that allows me to get past what actually happened or what I think actually happened, and then explore what could have happened.”

Dantiel W. Moniz is the recipient of a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Award, a Pushcart Prize, a MacDowell Fellowship, and the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction. Her debut collection, Milk Blood Heat, is the winner of a Florida Book Award, and was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award, the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, as well as longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Harper's Bazaar, American Short Fiction, Tin House, and elsewhere. Moniz is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches fiction.

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Producer: Mark Armstrong

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We’re thrilled to present a new audio story, “Rioja,” written by Shannon Sanders and performed by Khaya Fraites. It was originally published in the literary magazine SLICE, and it’s forthcoming in Sanders’s debut collection COMPANY, to be published by Graywolf Press in October 2023. 

In this story we meet Cole, who is taking his girlfriend Cecilia to a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by his Aunt Peach. It’s Cecilia’s first introduction to the family, and though the encounters seem pleasant on the surface, secrets, family history, and resentment run deep beneath them. 

Listen to "Rioja," then stick around at the end for Sanders, in her own words, on the origins of the story:

“This story really deals with the idea of cultural inheritance. So I'm really interested in how each generation has the potential to build on what the previous generation did. And there's always the chance that we'll do it way better than the previous generation did, learning from their mistakes. But there's also kind of this compulsion to repeat the mistakes of the previous generation, and there's just some legacies that are really, really hard to shake.”

Reading List: Books, Stories, and Authors Mentioned

About the Author

Shannon Sanders’s debut short story collection, COMPANY, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in October 2023; her short fiction has won the PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and can be found in One Story, Electric Literature, Joyland, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. Find her at ShannonSandersWrites.com or on Twitter at @ShandersWrites.

About the Narrator

Khaya Fraites is a voice and film actor/writer based in New York City. Her recent credits include "Rainbow High," the animated series, and "RIP, LOL," the short film she wrote based on her upcoming novel of the same name. For more about Khaya, visit her website at www.khayafraites.com or keep up with her on Instagram and TikTok @khayafraites.

Read More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton: 

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Story Credits

‘Rioja,’ written by Shannon Sanders

Performed by Khaya Fraites 

Directed by Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Executive producers: Dawnie Walton & Mark Armstrong

Additional production support by Ashawnta Jackson

Music: “The Doubt,” by Francesco D'Andrea

Author photo by David F. Choy.

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Ursa Short Fiction is supported by our listeners. Share this podcast with a friend—or become a Member to help fund production: https://ursastory.com/join

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Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton sit down with Jocelyn Nicole Johnson—author of Ursa's Season Two, Episode 3 story, "Virginia Is Not Your Home"—to discuss her acclaimed debut collection, My Monticello, and the journey of its making. Johnson talks about her writing as a direct response to historical events as they occur, much of her work centering Virginia as home, and grappling with complicated histories, experiences, and ideas around identity.

Johnson addresses the themes that occur throughout her collection, such as that of loneliness, belonging, resistance, violence, and salvation. Deesha and Dawnie dive into questions about perspective, voice, character- and world-building, the writing and revision process, and perseverance as a writer:

Reading List:

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is the author of My Monticello, a fiction debut that was called "a masterly feat" by the New York Times, and winner of the Library of Virginia Fiction Award, the Weatherford Award, the Balcones Fiction Prize, and the Lillian Smith Award, as well as a finalist for the Kirkus Fiction Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Award, the LA Times Debut Seidenbaum Prize, and long-listed for a Pen/Faulkner Fiction Award and the Story Prize. Johnson has been a fellow at TinHouse, Hedgebrook, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Guardian, Kweli Journal, Joyland, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Her short story “Control Negro” was anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, guest edited by Roxane Gay and read live by LeVar Burton. A veteran public school art teacher, Johnson lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Producer: Mark Armstrong

Ursa Short Fiction is supported by our listeners. Share this podcast with a friend—or become a Member to help fund production: https://ursastory.com/join

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton introduce their first story pick for Season Two, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s “Virginia Is Not Your Home,” from her debut collection, My Monticello, published in 2021 by Henry Holt and Co.

“Virginia Is Not Your Home” follows the life of a woman who is attempting to outrun her namesake, and the story conjures questions of origin, of becoming, and of freedom. There is emphasis on movement and escape, on our names as our homes, and on understanding what it is we leave behind when we go. It interrogates the ways we forget and the ways we remember.

The story is performed by January LaVoy, and it's excerpted from the My Monticello audiobook, produced by our friends at Macmillan Audio. Our thanks to them for sharing this story with Ursa listeners.

Listen, then come back next week for our conversation with Jocelyn Nicole Johnson.

Reading List:

About the Author

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is the author of My Monticello, a fiction debut that was called "a masterly feat" by the New York Times, and winner of the Library of Virginia Fiction Award, the Weatherford Award, the Balcones Fiction Prize, and the Lillian Smith Award, as well as a finalist for the Kirkus Fiction Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Award, the LA Times Debut Seidenbaum Prize, and long-listed for a Pen/Faulkner Fiction Award and the Story Prize. Johnson has been a fellow at TinHouse, Hedgebrook, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Guardian, Kweli Journal, Joyland, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Her short story “Control Negro” was anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, guest edited by Roxane Gay and read live by LeVar Burton. A veteran public school art teacher, Johnson lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Read more from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton: 

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Episode editor: Kelly Araja

Associate producer: Marina Leigh

Episode producer: Mark Armstrong

Audio story produced by Macmillan Audio and performed by January LaVoy.

Ursa Short Fiction is supported by our listeners. Share this podcast with a friend—or become a Member to help fund production: https://ursastory.com/join/

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Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join