We were so fortunate to not only have one badass author in our presence recently, but two. Pam Houston and Deborah Jackson Taffa came to town for a live author talk event in February and we got them to talk to the Honest Dog Pod the morning before. Thanks to both Pam and Deborah for taking the time to sit down with us and for the powerful conversation. Pam Houston is making her fourth appearance at Honest Dog Books. She is an instructor at the American Indian Institute of the Arts and UC Davis. She teaches writing workshops all over, including at Bayfield's own Wild Rice Retreat. She is the author of the memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me. Her most recent book, Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom, is her call to action. Deborah Jackson Taffa is the director of the MFA program in creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts and a hometown treasure in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her memoir Whiskey Tender, about growing up as a mixed-tribe Native American torn by the pressures of assimilation, was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award, as well as longlisted for a Carnegie Medal of Excellence in Nonfiction. The memoir was named a Top Ten Book of 2024 by The Atlantic and Time Magazine. It also made top book lists at Esquire, NPR, Elle, Audible, Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, and of course, Honest Dog Books and other outlets. The Washington Post praised Whiskey Tender for its “mesmerizing dive into tumultuous childhood stories and its excavation of a particular place and time”—that being New Mexico’s Navajo territory in the 1970s and ’80s. SHOW NOTES Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom by Pam HoustonWhiskey Tender: A Memoir by Deborah Jackson Taffa Want to support the continuation of the Honest Dog Pod? Buy books from us! Shop in person, online, or over the phone (https://honestdogbooks.com/). For audiobook lovers, purchase our picks on Libro.fm (https://libro.fm/honestdogbooks) And don’t forget to subscribe, rate our episodes, and share with your people! Thanks for listening!
