Ursa Short Fiction

Ursa Story Company
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Ursa Short Fiction

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We love short stories. Join authors Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev) for author interviews, book club discussions, and immersive short stories. We celebrate storytelling from some of today's most thrilling writers, with an emphasis on spotlighting underrepresented voices. (Photo credits: Vanessa German / Rayon Richards) Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

  1. 5 DAYS AGO

    [Free Teaser] Member Exclusive: Ask the Agents! PJ Mark and Danielle Chiotti on Getting Published

    Deesha and Dawnie sit down with their own agents, Danielle Chiotti and PJ Mark, to chat about the publishing industry. What does it mean to be a white agent representing authors of color? What are the gold standards for blurbing? Where are the best places to find an agent and what are some common red flags with scammy “agents”? They discuss the significance of the agent-author connection, the questions that an author should ask of a potential agent, as well as what makes an agent say “hell yes” to a pitched book.  To hear the full episode, become an Ursa Member in Apple Podcasts or at ursastory.com/join.  Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned Brian Broome Nicole D. Collier Tyriek White Joseph Earl Thomas Eileen Myles In West Mills (De’Shawn Charles Winslow) Decent People (De’Shawn Charles Winslow) Co-Parenting 101 (Deesha Philyaw and Michael D. Thomas) The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (Maurice Carlos Ruffin) More from Deesha and Dawnie: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) Produced by Ursa Story Company  Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong Associate Producer: Marina Leigh Episode Editor: Kelly Araja Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    23 min

  2. 5 DAYS AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Member Exclusive: Ask the Agents! PJ Mark and Danielle Chiotti on Getting Published

    Deesha and Dawnie sit down with their own agents, Danielle Chiotti and PJ Mark, to chat about the publishing industry. What does it mean to be a white agent representing authors of color? What are the gold standards for blurbing? Where are the best places to find an agent and what are some common red flags with scammy “agents”? They discuss the significance of the agent-author connection, the questions that an author should ask of a potential agent, as well as what makes an agent say “hell yes” to a pitched book. To hear the full episode, become an Ursa Member in Apple Podcasts or at ursastory.com/join. Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned Brian Broome Nicole D. Collier Tyriek White Joseph Earl Thomas Eileen Myles In West Mills (De’Shawn Charles Winslow) Decent People (De’Shawn Charles Winslow) Co-Parenting 101 (Deesha Philyaw and Michael D. Thomas) The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (Maurice Carlos Ruffin) More from Deesha and Dawnie: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) Produced by Ursa Story Company Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong Associate Producer: Marina Leigh Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

    55 min

  3. NOV 27

    Rion Amilcar Scott: ‘It Has to Be Fun, It Has to Be Funky’

    Deesha and Dawnie chat with Rion Amilcar Scott, sharing stories, craft advice, 90’s hip-hop references, and how experience as parents, as teachers, and as lovers of music can inform the writing process.  They discuss their reactions to elements of their work playing out in real life, and call for not forgetting the joys and humor of the Black experience that coincides with the tragedies. Rion talks about his generative and drafting process—his beginnings and endings, the structure and limitations of flash and short fiction, the revision process, and his playfulness and improvisation as an approach to the work.  Support our show by becoming an Ursa Member: ursastory.com/join Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned The World Doesn’t Require You (Rion Amilcar Scott) Insurrections (Rion Amilcar Scott) August Wilson “The N****r Knockers” (Rion Amilcar Scott, Tyrant Books, 2017) “Percy And The Fire Plums” (Rion Amilcar Scott, McSweeney’s 64: The Audio Issue) Heavy (Kiese Laymon) The Sellout (Paul Beatty) Percival Everett Mark Twain Heads of the Colored People (Nafissa Thompson-Spires) Walking on Cowrie Shells (Nana Nkweti) “David Sherman, The Last Son of God” (Rion Amilcar Scott, Midnight Breakfast, Issue 8) Eugenia Tsutsumi Rising of a Legend (Review by Jessica Sequeira, berfrois, 2016) “Special Topics in Loneliness Studies” (Story from The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott) “A Loudness of Screechers” (Rion Amilcar Scott, Barrelhouse) Edward P. Jones Ernest Hemingway “Klan” (Story from Insurrections by Rion Amilcar Scott) Poets and Writers To Sir, With Love (E.R. Braithwaite) Between The World And Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates) Night of the Living Rez (Morgan Talty) Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest (Hanif Abdurraqib) Mitchell S. Jackson The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells) The Women of Brewster Place (Gloria Naylor) Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson) Miguel Street (V.S. Naipaul) Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (ZZ Packer) Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (Danielle Evans) Sula (Toni Morrison) Listening List: “Foe Life” (Mack 10) Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (Outkast) “One More Chance” (The Notorious B.I.G.) “Triumph” (Wu-Tang Clan ft. Cappadonna; special shoutout to Inspectah Deck’s opening verse) “The End” (The Doors) “Riders on the Storm” (The Doors) “Winter Warz” (Wu-Tang Clan; special shoutout to Cappadonna’s verse) A Tribe Called Quest “Straight Outta Compton” (N.W.A.) Rakim GZA Chuck D Andre 3000 “Name Callin’ Pt. 1” (Queen Latifah) “Talk to Me” (Foxy Brown) E-40 Kendrick Lamar Books Are Pop Culture (Reggie Bailey and Akili Nzuri) More from Deesha and Dawnie: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) Produced by Ursa Story Company  Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, Mark Armstrong Associate Producer: Marina Leigh Episode Editor: Kelly Araja Author Bio: Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collections The World Doesn’t Require You and Insurrections, which was awarded the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017 Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland, College Park. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020, among other publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    57 min

  4. NOV 20

    [Free Teaser] Member Exclusive: 'Sonny's Blues,' by James Baldwin

    In this special Member Exclusive episode, Deesha and Dawnie kick off a recurring feature we call Iconic Stories — starting with James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues,’ first published in 1957 in the Partisan Review.  They discuss the prevalent themes of family and brotherhood, loss, drug addiction, and music, as well as the broader social and political contexts of Baldwin’s fiction and nonfiction.  Deesha Philyaw: “James Baldwin is the writer that made me want to be a writer.” To get access to the full episode, become an Ursa Member: ursastory.com/join Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned “Sonny’s Blues” (James Baldwin) Going To Meet The Man (James Baldwin) Daddy Was A Number Runner (Louise Meriwether) Go Tell It On The Mountain (James Baldwin) If Beale Street Could Talk (James Baldwin) Between The World And Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates) The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin) “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (Joyce Carol Oates) Toni Morrison His Name Is George Floyd (Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa Listening List: Charlie Parker More from Deesha and Dawnie: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) Produced by Ursa Story Company  Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton Executive Producers: Deesha Philyaw, Dawnie Walton, and Mark Armstrong Associate Producer: Marina Leigh Episode Editor: Kelly Araja Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    17 min

  5. NOV 13

    Story: ‘Telling Stories,’ by T.E. Wilderson

    Deesha and Dawnie introduce an Ursa original audio production of “Telling Stories” by T.E. Wilderson, published in The Account magazine in 2021, and narrated by Jordan Cobb.  Eighth grader, P’Mona, is sarcastic, witty, and a pathological liar. Taking place over the course of a day, the story follows P’Mona attempting to simultaneously navigate the world and cope with a difficult home life.  Be sure to stick around at the end of the story to hear from T.E. Wilderson in her own words, discussing the themes of the story, her advice to writers, and her inspirations for “Telling Stories” and the character of P’Mona. Support Our Show with a contribution: ursastory.com/join Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned “Telling Stories” (The Account magazine) T.E. Wilderson Publications More from Deesha and Dawnie: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) Produced by Ursa Story Company  Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton Story performed by Jordan Cobb Author interview by Marina Leigh Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong Associate Producers: Marina Leigh & Ashawnta Jackson  Episode Editor: Kelly Araja About the Author T. E. Wilderson is a New Orleans-born, African American writer, editor, and teaching artist currently living in the Midwest. Her short stories have appeared in F(r)iction, Notre Dame Review, Roanoke Review, Crack the Spine Anthology XVII, The Louisville Review, The Tishman Review, Still: The Journal, Cobalt Weekly, The Account: A Journal of Prose, Poetry, and Thought, and Coolest American Stories 2023, among others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and is a 2019 McKnight Foundation Writing Fellow. About the Narrator Jordan Cobb is a New York City-based writer and actress, with a focus on live stage and voiceover. Her work spans fiction podcasts such as Bloody Disgusting's Dead Space: Deep Cover and No Such Thing Production's Primordial Deep, to bestselling audiobooks like Kalynn Bayron's This Poison Heart and Tigest Girma's Immortal Dark. For more information, visit jordanvcobb.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    54 min

  6. OCT 30

    S.A. Cosby on the Art of the Thriller

    In the spirit of Halloween, Deesha and Dawnie dig into thrillers, mysteries, and suspense with acclaimed crime fiction writer S.A. Cosby, author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, and the forthcoming novel, King of Ashes.  Cosby talks about his early inspirations in the horror and suspense genres, and he explains how he began to use genre to craft stories that reflected his own experiences as a Black writer from the South. Cosby also offers advice to emerging writers and helps demystify the publication process, as co-editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 anthology.   Support our show: ursastory.com/join Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned Razorblade Tears (S.A. Cosby) Blacktop Wasteland (S.A. Cosby) The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 (co-edited by S.A. Cosby and Steph Cha) Heaven (First Book in Casteel Series) (V.C. Andrews) Gabino Iglesias Catriona Ward Bunnicula (James and Deborah Howe) The Celery Stalks At Midnight (James and Deborah Howe) Goosebumps (series) (R.L. Stine) “The Tell-Tale Heart” (Edgar Allan Poe) The Hardy Boys (series) (Franklin W. Dixon) The Three Investigators (series) (Robert Arthur Jr. and Mary Virginia Carey) “The Black Cat” (Edgar Allan Poe, Poe Stories, originally published 1845) “The Cask of Amontillado” (Edgar Allan Poe) Encyclopedia Brown (series) (Donald J. Sobol) Carrie (Stephen King) “The Animal Fair” (Robert Bloch) Clark Ashton Smith Algernon Blackwood ‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King) A Thousand Acres (Jane Smiley) “King Lear” (William Shakespeare) Before The Mango Ripens (Afabwaje Kurian) The Human Stain (Philip Roth) Red Dragon (Thomas Harris) Thuglit Steph Cha “The Funeral Suit” (Bobby Mathews, Frontier Tales, 2023) “My Savage Year” (Jordan Harper, Southwest Review, Volume 108 Number 3) “Like Babies Crying in the Dark” (S.A. Cosby, Southwest Review, Volume 108 Number 3) “Welcome to the Hammer Party” (Jordan Harper Newsletter) “Scorpions” (Nick Kolakowski) “Just A Girl” (Alyssa Cole) “Slant-Six” (S.A. Cosby) Megan Abbott It (Stephen King) The Dead Zone (Stephen King) All The Sinners Bleed (S.A. Cosby) Kellye Garrett Toni Morrison  Robert Jones Jr. Jack London Dennis Lehane Ernest J. Gaines Alice Walker King of Ashes (S.A. Cosby) The Godfather (Mario Puzo) W. Somerset Maugham Nikki Dolson Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill) James Baldwin Chester Himes Phillis Wheatley Donald Goines Richard Wright Claude McKay Langston Hughes Listening List: Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen) Watch List: 3:10 to Yuma (2007) American Masters: John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen 1991  S.A. Cosby on The Daily Show (2023) White Lightning (1973) Rolling Thunder (1977) True Detective More from Deesha and Dawnie: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw) The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) Produced by Ursa Story Company  Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong Associate Producer: Marina Leigh Episode Editor: Kelly Araja About the Author  S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    1h 7m

  7. OCT 24 · BONUS

    Season 3 Sneak Preview!

    We're back! Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw give us a special sneak preview of what's in store for Season Three. Show notes: Support this season with a membership or one-time contribution, and get access to bonus episodes: ursastory.com/join Follow our other show, Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon. Read more about Dawnie Walton's next novel! Contact us via email: hello@ursastory.com Produced by: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong Associate Producer: Marina Leigh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    11 min

  8. JUL 9

    Ursa Presents: Reckon True Stories, with Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon

    Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw introduce us to Reckon True Stories, a brand new podcast hosted by Deesha and acclaimed author Kiese Laymon, dedicated to all things nonfiction. Listen, then follow the show in your favorite podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://link.chtbl.com/truestories Guests for Season One include writers Roxane Gay, Imani Perry, Alexander Chee, Minda Honey, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Samantha Irby. Produced in partnership with Reckon. We'll also have more episodes of Ursa Short Fiction coming this fall! Sign up for email updates: https://ursastory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

    48 min
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We love short stories. Join authors Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev) for author interviews, book club discussions, and immersive short stories. We celebrate storytelling from some of today's most thrilling writers, with an emphasis on spotlighting underrepresented voices. (Photo credits: Vanessa German / Rayon Richards) Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://ursastory.com/join

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