Reading Rural YAL Dr. Chea Parton

This episode features four of the contributors to Tori Bovalino’s folk horror anthology The Gathering Dark. These women are so insightful, and I learned so much about folklore, folk horror, and more through our discussion. In this talk, we tackle everything from what defines folk horror to publishing industry categories to what makes rural placesContinue reading "The Gathering Dark edited by Tori Bovalino | Author Talk"

Halloween may be over, but for me spooky season doesn’t end until Thanksgiving. So, in honor of extended spooky season, this Book Talk features a short story collection full of spooky stories just perfect for this time of year. In it, you’ll find wonderfully goosebump-inducing folk horror stories that span a range of rural locations,Continue reading "The Gathering Dark edited by Tori Bovalino | Book Talk"

In this episode Julia, David, and I talk about the importance of place and rurality to our lived experiences, to reading, and to writing. We also get to do something that few authors and readers get to do – talk to one another about the conversation we had across the page. This is one ofContinue reading "Angel Falls by Julia Rust & David Surface | Author Talk"

Time to get our spooky on! In honor of Spooky Season, in this episode, I do a little reading, give a summary, and use some place-conscious analysis to talk about Whippoorwill Award winning Angel Falls. I also outline some teaching ideas for using the book in a rural (or non rural) ELA classroom. Angel FallsContinue reading "Angel Falls by Julia Rust & David Surface | Book Talk"

Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. is a brilliant poet and a kindred spirit, and I enjoyed every single second of this conversation. I hope rural English teachers out there will listen to it, because he puts language to a lot of issues faced by rural ELA in language with concrete examples that I’ve always wishedContinue reading "Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. | Author Talk"

In this episode I read a few poems from, give an overview of, and discuss how I would teach Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr.’s incredible collection, Gay Poems for Red States. If you’re teaching in a school that is currently inhospitable to queer literature, know that there are poems in this collection could still workContinue reading "Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. | Book Talk"