New Letters on the Air

Now Streaming: For Memorial Day we're looking back on this program with novelist Whitney Terrell. In this classic show, he talks about his third novel, The Good Lieutenant, that offers an eye-opening look at women in the military. Listen to the full show on our PRX page.

Now Streaming: We celebrate The Academy of American Poets’ Poem in Your Pocket Day with this anthology program, The Cruelest Month. Billy Collins, Charles Simic, Kay Ryan, Juan Felipe Herrera, Rita Dove, Donald Hall and more use poetry to reflect on love. Listen to the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3AApzPS

Now Streaming: We continue National Poetry Month with a two part interview featuring poet Ellen Bass. She talks about her early poetic mentors and reads from her collections The Human Line and Like a Beggar. Listen to both shows on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3NmcrFV

Now Streaming: We’re celebrating National Poetry Month by featuring two classic episodes with current U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. In a 2011 interview, she discusses her early work and the influence of her poetry teacher, the late Philip Levine. Then, in a more recent reading at Rockhurst University, she  shares work from her National Book Critics Circle Award-winning collection, The Carrying. Listen to both programs on our PRX page.

Now Streaming: For Women's History Month, we feature a special program about four important feminist poets who led the the next generations into the 21st century. Influential for decades, the last two died in 2014--Pulitzer Prize winners Carolyn Kizer and Maxine Kumin. Kumin was also the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress and the New Hampshire Poet Laureate. The two others are MacArthur "genius" Fellows, Adrienne Rich and the groundbreaking African-American poet, Audre Lorde. Listen to the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3YvBJDg

We continue Black History Month with the Past American Voice of Al Young, the two-time American Book Award winner, who passed away in 2021 at age 81. The former California Poet Laureate (2005-2008) penned some 25 books and at the time of this interview had been included in The Best American Poetry 2016. Young discusses how his African American childhood in Mississippi shaped some of his award-winning writing and reads from his book Something About the Blues: An Unlikely Collection of Poetry. Listen to the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3IvEmPk

Now Streaming: Anthony Grooms is a two-time winner of the Lillian Smith Book Prize, given to writers who tackle issues of racial and social justice. His 2001 novel, Bombingham, is a compelling tale intertwining Civil Rights era Birmingham with the war-torn rice fields of Vietnam. Listen to Anthony Grooms talk about this novel that is used classrooms to bring the era to life and is now an audio book on Audible. Find the full show on our PRX page.

Now Streaming: We feature a program of readings and conversation at Commerce Bank's The Box Gallery. Poets Wyatt Townley, H.C. Palmer, Brian Daldorph, Melinda Hemmelgarn and Catherine Anderson, read poems associated with the Ekphrasis exhibit and share stories with the visual artists about using each other's work to create something new, that ultimately resulted in the book, Ekphrasis. Listen to the full show on our PRX page.

Now Streaming: We feature the late Russell Banks, author of 21 books of fiction and non-fiction, including the two Pulitzer Prize finalists, Continental Drift and Cloudsplitter. In this classic New Letters on the Air, he talks about his earlier memoir, Voyager: Travel Writings in front of an audience to support literacy and burgeoning writers. His former student and now fellow novelist, Whitney Terrell, a professor in UMKC's Creative Writing program, talks to the award-winning author of numerous novels, short stories, and non-fiction about his life and work. Banks discusses his thoughts on the creolization of America that he believes makes this country unique. He also shares some of his adventures and misadventures with marriage, traveling, and even mountain climbing at age 78. Listen to the full show on our PRX page.

Now Streaming: Pulitzer Prize winners Tony Kushner, Jane Smiley, Richard Russo, as well as Sherman Alexie, Naomi Shihab Nye, & the late August Wilson share some of their initial inspirations for writing in this anthology called "In the Beginning." Listen to the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3GCZuSO

Now Streaming: A holiday favorite, this short story is read by the late author Grace Paley. “The Loudest Voice” is an amusing tale about a little Jewish girl, chosen to play the lead in her school's Christmas pageant, and her family's reactions. Listen on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3FZ1t4T

Now #Streaming: George Saunders reads from his Story Prize-winning collection, Tenth of December & discusses his path to becoming a writer, how his family and career have influenced his work, & the desire he has to connect with and engage readers. Listen on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3HGeamo

Now #Streaming: The late poet Michelle Boisseau knew what it meant to be thankful. In this interview at the Kansas City Public Library on the Plaza, the 2017 Guggenheim Fellow reveals how aging, Greek myths, art and family losses inspired her fifth book of award-winning poetry, Among the Gorgons. Co-author of the textbook Writing Poems, Michelle Boisseau talked about being a literary citizen and editor and read from her then recent book that contains work included in Best American Poetry 2016. Now, her posthumous collection, Luminous Blue Variables and Other Major Poems, is available from BkMK Press. Listen to the full show on our PRX page.

Now Streaming: In this classic 2015 interview, former journalist and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Geraldine Brooks reads from her then new book about King David, The Secret Chord, and reveals the inspiration for her 2022 bestseller, Horse. Hear the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3Uf6een

Now Streaming: Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, whose new poetry is published in the fall 2022 issue of New Letters, discusses memory and its role in creating the personal poetry for which he's known. Listen to the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3NRW2qY

Now Streaming: In this classic interview, David Baker, who is currently on tour with his 2022 book Whale Fall, discusses his poetry and reads work that now appears in his other recent book, Swift: New & Selected Poems. Listen on our @prx page at: https://bit.ly/3eXe6CO

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we'll revisit Rigoberto González, who won the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from Association of Lesbians and Gay Men in Publishing. Inspired by Latino writers Octavio Paz and Gabriel García Marquez to write across genres, Rigoberto González discusses his work that includes poetry, fiction for young people and adults, memoir and criticism. A self-proclaimed gay Chicano, his book Butterfly Boy won the 2007 American Book Award, and his 2014 poetry book, Unpeopled Eden, won both the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, as well as the esteemed Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American poets. In 2013, two non-fiction books by González were published, Red-Inked Retablos and Autobiography of My Hungers, followed in 2015 with his young adult novel, Mariposa U, and his poetry chapbook, Our Lady of the Crossword. He talks about the many influences on his work, including his relationship with his father and brother, the idea of "Mariposa Culture," and his role as a literary critic. Winner of the 2020 PEN/Voelkner Poetry Award, his 2022 book, Abuela in Shadow, Abuela in Light, is a memoir about his indigenous Mexican grandmother who raised him after his mother's death. Listen to the full show on our PRX page at: https://bit.ly/3EcYCok