Prompt to Page

Jessamine County Public Library
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A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts—exercises that can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a novelist, essayist, or poet, you’ll find ideas and advice to motivate you to keep writing. A partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

  1. 4D AGO

    Shauna M. Morgan

    Poet Shauna M. Morgan understands that feeling "weighed down by all of those things happening around us" can make writing even more challenging. For her, it helps to remember "that generations of my forebears created art in times of abject crises and bore witness to what was happening." On this episode, Shauna shares what she calls the "weight prompt." It will help you reflect on the subjects that feel heavy to you as well as the subjects that feel light. About Shauna M. Morgan Shauna M. Morgan is a poet-scholar and Associate Professor of creative writing and Africana literature at the University of Kentucky.  Her poetry has appeared in A Gathering Together, Interviewing the Caribbean, and A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia, and her debut collection, Ground Provisions, was published by Peepal Tree Press in the United Kingdom.  Shauna tends a small, hopeful provision ground at her home in the East End Artists’ Village in Lexington, and she continues to explore the environmental and cultural linkages between her rural Afro-Indo-Jamaican upbringing and her US-Kentucky life.

    21 min

  2. JAN 20

    Mary Anna Evans

    While novelist Mary Anna Evans believes that studying writing is "very valuable," she also advises writers "to go out and live your life." She says that "all experience is useful" in writing. And she should know. Mary Anna's books have drawn on her former engineering career and her interest in archaeology, among other experiences.  Mary Anna's favorite writing prompt will help writers of all backgrounds and genres explore setting. She's successfully used it with fiction and nonfiction students and even environmental architecture students. About Mary Anna Evans Mary Anna Evans is an award-winning author with a PhD in English literature, a handy background for writing The Dark Library, the story of a woman menaced by her dead father, a literature professor whose rare book collection holds the secret to escaping him. Her crime fiction has earned recognition including two Oklahoma Book Awards, the Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award, the Mississippi Author Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. In addition to writing crime fiction, she writes about crime fiction, as evidenced by the Edgar, Agatha, Macavity, and HRF Keating Award-nominated Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie, co-edited with J.C. Bernthal. Bloomsbury will publish her Agatha Christie and the 20th Century Woman: Rewriting Female Justice in 2027.

    20 min

  3. 12/15/2025

    Dorian Hairston

    Poet and educator Dorian Hairston encourages all writers—from his high school students to adults—to make their writing fresh and new. Dorian believes "if we can just find ways as artists to be interesting... we give ourselves a fighting chance at allowing love to blossom in our lives and surviving whatever we must." Keep your writing interesting with help from Dorian's favorite writing prompts. He uses these exercises in his own work as well as with students. About Dorian Hairston Dorian Hairston is a poet, educator, and former college athlete from Lexington, KY. His first collection of poetry, Pretend the Ball is Named Jim Crow, explores the life and legacy of Josh Gibson, the greatest catcher to play the game of baseball.  He is an Affrilachian Poet, and his work has appeared in Anthology of Appalachian Writers and Black Bone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets. While he enjoys reading and writing poetry, what he loves most is cooking for his family, playing some good music, and dancing often.

    15 min

  4. 11/17/2025

    Celebrating 50 Episodes of Prompt to Page

    On this special edition of the Prompt to Page writing podcast, we look back at some of our best moments so far.  Past guests—including Crystal Wilkinson, Gwenda Bond, Silas House, and Mariama Lockington—share tips on using writing prompts, finding time to write, nurturing your creativity, and more.

    22 min

  5. 10/20/2025

    Rachel Elliott

    For graphic novelist Rachel Elliott, drawing comes more easily than writing. "I think prompts really help me make that move from drawing a goofy kid, drawing a talking animal," she says, "into...what is this story about?" Rachel shares a writing prompt that helped her understand her main character in The Real Riley Mayes. She also discusses her love of drawing Martin Short, the importance of the freedom to read, and her upcoming workshop at JCPL, Inventing Comic Characters for Teens. About Rachel Elliott Rachel Elliott is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. Her debut middle-grade graphic novel, The Real Riley Mayes, was released in May of 2022 and became both a Stonewall Honor Book and a Sid Fleischman Humor Honor Book.  If you love secret codes, parallel cat universes, and dude-ish girls who act out humorous death scenes, you’ll want to read this book. She is now working on two different graphic novel book series for two different publishers. Rachel grew up queer during the 1980s in rural Oklahoma. She has worked as a volunteer “zooteen,” a plaster-caster, a crumpet baker, and a children’s museum grant writer. She now lives in Kentucky with her wife and teaches comics writing at the University of Kentucky.  She’s a big fan of dance music, tacos, cats, comedians, and her niece’s ice hockey team. In her spare time, she plays badminton with her wife and draws Martin Short way too much.

    22 min

  6. 09/15/2025

    Kevin Holm-Hudson

    Don't think your writing is important? Singer-songwriter and music professor Dr. Kevin Holm-Hudson disagrees. "I think that's a positive contribution to the atmosphere, to society, to the planet," he says, "to create something where there had been nothing."  On this episode, Kevin discusses his songwriting process. Whether you write songs, prose, or poetry, Kevin's favorite writing prompts will inspire you to create something new.

    26 min

  7. 08/18/2025

    Fenton Johnson

    Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame author Fenton Johnson doesn't believe in writer's block. "Fighting with the white page over a week, a month, a year, sometimes 10 years," he says, "that's what we call writing.... That's just part of the process." Fenton shares several writing prompts that can help you move beyond the blank page. He also discusses his most recent book, At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life. About Fenton Johnson Fenton Johnson is the author of three novels and four works of creative nonfiction, most recently At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life, a New York Times Editors’ Pick.  He has been a contributor to National Public Radio, Harper’s Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine, and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other literary awards.  He has taught in the nation’s leading creative writing programs and continues to lecture and teach nationally. In 2024, he was named to the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.

    34 min

  8. 07/21/2025

    Leatha Kendrick

    Poet Leatha Kendrick believes that creativity is a habit. "To exercise your creativity is to keep it active and alive," she says. "You have to get up and walk to the library and then something can happen." Exercise your creativity with Leatha's favorite writing prompt. It will help you turn off your conscious mind and remember forgotten details. About Leatha Kendrick Author of five poetry collections, Leatha Kendrick received Transylvania University’s 2025 Judy Gaines Young Award, recognizing exceptional works by Appalachian authors.  Leatha grew up on a southern Kentucky farm. Her adult life was spent in eastern Kentucky where she and her husband raised three daughters.  Kendrick began writing seriously in midlife and found her first community of writers at the Appalachian Writers Workshop. She received her MFA in Poetry (at the age of 45) from Vermont College of Fine Arts.  Recent poems and essays appear in anthologies such as Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky and in journals including Appalachian Journal, Still: The Journal, and Hood of Bone Review.

    22 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts—exercises that can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a novelist, essayist, or poet, you’ll find ideas and advice to motivate you to keep writing. A partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Information

  • Creator
    Jessamine County Public Library
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jessamine County Public Library
  • Show Website
    Prompt to Page