A recap of the books I read in 2022.
2022 Books Read in Review
Category: Writing
Radney Foster
A conversation with the singer, songwriter, and author, Radney Foster. We talk about his life and work, his writing process, his music, and more.
Sophfronia Scott
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.
Boyce Upholt
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.
Esteban Rodriguez
A conversation with Esteban Rodriguez. Esteban is the author of five poetry collections, most recently The Valley and the essay collection Before the Earth Devours Us both of which were released in 2021. He is the Interviews Editor for the EcoTheo Review, Senior Book Reviews Editor for Tupelo Quarterly, and Associate Poetry Editor for AGNI.
James Wade
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.
The Dharmadillo Podcast
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.
John Phillip Santos
A conversation with John Phillip Santos; a writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker from San Antonio, Texas. His two memoirs, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation (a National Book Award Finalist) and The Farthest Home is in an Empire of Fire, together tell the ancestral stories of his mother and father’s families, an American origin story of the centuries-long migrations that emerged out of Spain, Mexico, and the lands that became South Texas. His book of poems is Songs Older Than Any Known Singer.
Michael Kleber-Diggs
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.
Leah Naomi Green
A conversation with the poet and writer Leah Naomi Green. Leah's most recent book is "The More Extravagant Feast" and she is the recipient of the 2021 Lucille Clifton Legacy Award.