Beasts of the Earth is the upcoming and third novel from writer James Wade and like his previous books is a raw and riveting story cloaked in literary prose. Clouds in white painted banks sat motionless yet ever moving across a sky so blue the locals called it Texas blue, as if they refused to … Continue reading Beasts of the Earth by James Wade
A conversation with Sophfronia Scott. Sophfronia is a novelist, essayist, and leading contemplative thinker whose work has appeared in numerous publications and received a 2020 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. Her book The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton received the 2021 Thomas Merton "Louie" Award from the International Thomas Merton Society. She is the founding director of Alma College’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing, a low residency graduate program based in Alma, Michigan.
A conversation with LM (Leslie) Browning, the author of numerous books including the recent, "Drive Through the Night." Additionally, Leslie is the founder of Homebound Publications.
A conversation with Boyce Upholt, a freelance journalist based in New Orleans. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, The Atlantic, and Mother Jones, among other outlets, and he received the 2019 James Beard Award for investigative journalism for his feature story in The New Republic about the farm chemical dicamba. His forthcoming book about the Mississippi River will be published by W.W. Norton.
The Deckle Edge Blog & Podcast recap of books read in 2021.
Today’s episode is a little different and features short conversations with several authors about their most recent book and involvement with the 2021 Boerne Book & Arts Festival. For those that don’t know, Boerne is a beautiful bedroom community just north of San Antonio, Texas, and the book festival takes place each year on Main Plaza on the first Saturday in October. This year’s event featured authors such as John Erickson and James Wade, as well as author panels with topics such as Heroines of WWII, Texas Ranches and Texas Rangers, and Early Roads and the Old Spanish Trail.
A conversation with the novelist, James Wade. James lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. His debut novel, All Things Left Wild, won the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Historical Novel and the MPIBA’s Reading the West Award for Best Debut Fiction. His second novel, River, Sing Out, was released in the summer of 2021. James is also a winner of the Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest, and a finalist of the Tethered by Letters Short Fiction Contest.
A crossover episode featuring an interview with me, Matt Boutte, on The Dharmadillo Podcast. We talk about Jimmy Buffett as a business, about my spiritual life, and about some of my reading and writing practices, among other things.
A conversation with Daniel Lassell. Daniel is the author of Spit (July 2021), winner of the 2020 Wheelbarrow Books Emerging Poetry Prize and a poetry finalist for the 2021 International Book Awards, as well as Ad Spot (April 2021), a chapbook from Ethel Zine & Micro Press. His recent poetry can be found in the Colorado Review, Southern Humanities Review, River Styx, Grist, and Prairie Schooner. He raised llamas and alpacas while growing up on a farm in Kentucky.
A conversation with Michael Kleber-Diggs. Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and will be published by Milkweed Editions in June of this year and his essay "On the Complex Flavors of Black Joy," is included in "There's a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis," edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman. This is an important, if at times painful, discussion about race, community, and hope. I'm grateful to Michael for having it with me.
