SoundPages
SoundPages is produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center as part of the Jack Straw Writers Program. This podcast features interviews and live readings from artists in the Jack Straw Writers Program. Each year a series of twelve episodes is produced featuring the current Jack Straw Writers and curator.-
The Metagnosis Vignettes - Mary Pan
Mary Pan’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of lyric essays focusing on themes of mental health, caregiving, identity, and the idea of retrospective diagnosis. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they discuss the challenges of navigating the healthcare system, the stories she encounters during her medical practice as a physician, and how she came up with the title of her work in progress. “I really like this idea of metagnosis . . . which is this idea of coming to an understanding of a diagnosis after the fact, maybe as an adult. Something that you’ve had your entire life . . . and didn’t realize it until many years after the fact. And what does that mean when you look back on your life and look back on those stories of your lives?”
Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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I Shall - E.J. Batiste
E.J. Batiste’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems two years in the making, covering a range of topics including her experience as a person of color in the rural south, femininity, prayer, and history. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, they explore her recent name change and what it means for her work, why she sometimes prefers printed poems, and how her queerness shows up in her writing. “I shall walk in the ethereal energy that I denied myself / That same energy they scoffed at / And told me to tone down.”
Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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The Boy and the Pennies - McKenna Princing
McKenna Princing’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of fairy tale retellings set in the Pacific Northwest that focuses on social justice issues. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, she delves into the stories she wrote as a kid, the process of writing characters with underrepresented identities, and why she gravitates to fairy tales and horror as a genre. “There’s often some kind of truth being expressed in that kind of storytelling that is interesting to unpack and delve into a little bit more.”
Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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They Say Art Is Healing - Allison Masangkay
Allison Masangkay’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a zine that will be a culmination of past work exploring manananggal (a female presenting winged mythical creature in Filipino folklore) based on her experiences of disability, gender, colonization, imperialism, and more. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, Allison delves into why she decided to make the manananggal the centerpiece of her project, the academic authors she wants to introduce to non-academic audiences, and how her work challenges colonizers’ ways of thinking when it comes to disability and ableism. “Sometimes people take in different media, such as visual art or even speculative fiction . . . versus academic essays and critical theory writing, some people are able to process that information better than an essay. So, kind of part of why the zine will be incorporating all those different genres and media is to hopefully meet people where they’re at.”
Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
Applications are open now for Jack Straw’s 2025 artist residency programs – and Writers Program applications are due October 31st. Visit us on Submittable for more information: https://jackstraw.submittable.com/submit
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Searching for a More Real Sea - Elyse Hauser
Elyse Hauser’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a series of essays covering her work researching the deep sea in Bergen, Norway in late 2023. In her conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, she discusses how the research she did as a journalist has the potential for creative writing works, how deep sea ecosystems can look like cities, and the different methods of deep sea mining. “I would like people to think a little more deeply I suppose, pun intended, about the ocean and our relationship to it . . . to think and maybe have a little curiosity for how things live in these really remote places.”
Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
Applications are open now for Jack Straw’s 2025 artist residency programs. Visit us on Submittable for more information: https://jackstraw.submittable.com/submit
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A Healing Journey - Josh Griffin
Josh Griffin’s project for the 2024 Jack Straw Writers Program is a book of poems dedicated to the life and legacy of his mother, Carolyn Jane Griffin, who passed away in 2018. In his conversation with curator Nisi Shawl, he talks about how his mother encouraged him to pursue his art, choosing to write about the joy of life, and how artists can create change. “One of the most important things a mentor told me is I need to be able to sit across people who might not find value in me and for me to be able to see them as human. ’Cause the moment we’ve gotten past that there is no hope.”
Music by EarthtoneSkytone, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
Applications are open now for Jack Straw’s 2025 artist residency programs. Visit us on Submittable for more information: https://jackstraw.submittable.com/submit
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Hope in a Time of Disaster - Kaitlyn Teer
Kaitlyn Teer’s project for the 2023 Jack Straw Writers Program is a non-fiction book about the love, fears, and contradictions of mothering in a climate crisis and how mothering can be a force for social change. In her conversation with curator Priscilla Long, she talks about how her conversations with her daughter have shaped her thinking, the mentors in her life, and her thoughts on the idea of hope in a time of environmental degradation. “I think that’s the task of writers, in both fiction and in non-fiction. To help shape our imaginations for what could be. And I think if we’re going to do it, we first have to imagine it.”
Music by Bryan Smith, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Sauti - Nancy Mburu
Nancy Mburu’s project for the 2023 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel titled Sauti, which translates to The Voice. The novel follows a performing poet named Nuru, who loses her voice when she immigrates to the United States from Kenya. In her conversation with curator Priscilla Long, she talks about how she first started writing fiction, how being trilingual enhances her writing, and where she sees her work in 5 years. “Sometimes I bring it up in my own writing . . . I saw this really nice way this writer did, but it was in a Swahili book, and I haven’t seen it in an English book. So I do think it does bring a lot.”
Music by Bryan Smith, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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365/24/7 - Julene Tripp Weaver
Julene Tripp Weaver‘s project for the 2023 Jack Straw Writers Program is a memoir titled 365/24/7 that delves into Julene’s experience working in AIDS service while keeping her own AIDS status private. In her conversation with curator Priscilla Long, she talks about the strategies she used to prevent burnout while working in AIDS social services, her daily writing practices, and writing projects she’s planning on publishing. “Hike to the top of a mountain, friends enjoy the view . . . but you wonder, how many jumped off this cliff?”
Music by Bryan Smith, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
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Remembering Indigenous and Latino History - Jim Cantú
Jim Cantú’s project for the 2023 Jack Straw Program is a collection of poems that cover the ignored historical stories of People of Color, Indigenous People, and Latinos. In his conversation with curator Priscilla Long, they talk about how Jim first got interested in studying his indigenous heritage, the way his wife encouraged him to keep writing, and the importance of sharing one’s writing with other people. “My great great grandfather was the County clerk for Cameron County in Texas in the late 1800s, early 1900s. And so we would see ledgers with his hand-writing. And so, it was this sense of a history and a past. And so that really interested me.”
Music by Bryan Smith, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
