The Greg Brownderville Dimension Greg Brownderville

In this episode my poetry students at SMU invite you into the experience of 2024's total eclipse in Dallas, Texas, which occurred last month. The students talk about what it was like to see the eclipse, and then they read poems they wrote only fifteen minutes after totality.

In this episode I respond to questions from viewers, discussing (1) the faery blood running in Welsh veins, (2) the magical pigs in The Four Branches of the Mabinogi and the connection between dreams and myths, and (3), just for fun, the upcoming Mike Tyson / Jake Paul fight and how it relates to Beowulf, Toby Keith, and the Spoon River Anthology.I also tell the story of my days as a member of a blues band in the Arkansas Delta. Here's the essay I wrote about blues singer J. R. Hamilton, who ...

In this episode I discuss the meaning of the magical force of awen in Welsh culture and interpret a few stories about the tylwyth teg (the Welsh faeries).

In this episode I talk with renowned British historian Ronald Hutton about May Eve and May Day. Ronald offers tips as to how we might celebrate this wondrous holiday and weave it into our lives.

In this episode I tell about my recent experience celebrating a West Wales holiday called Hen Galan ("the Old New Year"). The centerpiece of the episode is my conversation with a young man named Carwyn, for whom Hen Galan and the historic pub where it is celebrated are of deep emotional and cultural importance. Bessie Davies, the woman and pub owner who did so much to keep Hen Galen alive, had passed away only a month before I arrived. The nighttime festivities still took place at her pub, bu...

For this special Christmas edition of GBD, I set up in my dad's shop in Pumpkin Bend, Arkansas, and talked with him about what Christmas has meant to him through the different stages of his life.