Monthly Archives: April 2025

Podcast

Stories for Survival: Eiren Caffall, ALL THE WATER IN THE WORD and Ishion Hutchinson, FUGITIVE TILTS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

Today’s episode brings together two extraordinary voices in literature—each grappling with the legacies of crisis, survival, and identity.

First, we speak with Eiren Caffall about her novel, All the Water in the World, a haunting, hope-filled work of climate fiction set in a post-collapse New York.

“I wanted to write something where I could imagine a future where all of the worst case scenarios had come to pass… and think through on the page whether I believed there was hope.” -Eiren Cafall

Then we turn to poet and essayist Ishion Hutchinson, whose latest collection Fugitive Tilts is a lyrical exploration of history, home, and poetic purpose.

“Poetry is confrontation and celebration. It’s how we stay rooted in a world that wants to erase us.”- Ishion Hutchinson

From cli-fi to cultural memory, this episode is about what we preserve, what we resist, and how art keeps us rooted through it all.

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Eiren Caffall All the Water in the World, Ishion Hutchinson Fugitive Tilts, Climate fiction, cli-fi, Caribbean, colonial history, poetry,
Rastafarianism, Jamaican music, Post-apocalyptic fiction with hope

You Might Also Like: Eiren Caffall, THE MOURNER’S BESTIARY

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Podcast

Seeds, Symphonies, and Survival: Leningrad’s Resistance in Science and Music

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

Two riveting accounts from the Siege of Leningrad during WWII: In the first half, Simon Parkin discusses The Forbidden Garden, the incredible true story of Soviet botanists who protected the world’s first seed bank during the Nazi blockade—sacrificing their own lives to preserve biodiversity.

“They have this decision—do we eat the seeds, do we distribute them to the starving people, or do we deny our hunger and preserve the collection?” — Simon Parkin

Then, we revisit my 2015 conversation with M.T. Anderson about his award-winning biography Symphony for the City of the Dead, a dramatic account of Dmitri Shostakovich and how his Seventh Symphony became a beacon of resistance and hope for the starving city.

The Seventh Symphony gave Leningraders the story of a victory that might be possible.” — M.T. Anderson

Together, these stories explore moral courage under the most agonizing duress, where dedication to science and to art rallied the deepest reserves of human resilience.

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Siege of Leningrad, Dmitri Shostakovich Seventh Symphony, Simon Parkin The Forbidden Garden, M.T. Anderson Symphony for the City of the Dead, Leningrad seed bank WWII, Leningrad Symphony broadcast,

You Might Also Like: Sasha Vasilyuk, YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY

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Podcast

Sanjana Sekhar, METAMORPHOSIS & Sy Montgomery, WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

Earth Day is coming up this month, so we get a jump on environmental awareness. From visionary climate futures to the minds of our feathered friends, this episode reminds us that joy, attention, and imagination may be our greatest tools for survival.

First, we speak with Sanjana Sekhar, editor of Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future, a bold new anthology of climate fiction that reimagines our planet’s future with optimism and justice at its core.

“Ancestral intelligence is the first AI—it’s the wisdom that has always known how to live on this planet.” — Sanjana Sekhar

Then we sit down with beloved naturalist and author Sy Montgomery to explore the surprising world of chickens—yes, chickens—in her delightfully enlightening new book, What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird.

“Almost everything we know about chickens is wrong.” — Sy Montgomery

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Sanjana Sekhar, Metamorphosis anthology, Imagine 2200, climate fiction, cli-fi, climate hope, Sy Montgomery, What the Chicken Knows, animal intelligence, ethical eating, chicken cognition, Earth Day

You Might Also Like: Sy Montgomery & Matthew Patterson: OF TIME AND TURTLES, James Bridle, WAYS OF BEING & Sy Montgomery, THE HAWK’S WAY

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Podcast

Poetry of Place and Freedom with Forrest Gander and DaMaris Hill

Episode Summary

This is the first week of April and April is Poetry Month. So we are so pleased to feature two conversations with poets who use their genre as a vehicle for historical witness and spiritual transformation.

First, we talk with poet, geologist and translator Forrest Gander about his novel in poetry Mojave Ghost. It’s a lyrical journey through the arid landscapes of the Mojave Desert that interweaves ecological awareness with personal loss.

First, we talk with poet, geologist and translator Forrest Gander about his novel in poetry Mojave Ghost. It’s a lyrical journey through the arid landscapes of the Mojave Desert that interweaves ecological awareness with personal loss. — Forrest Gander

Then, we revisit my 2019 conversation with poet DaMaris Hill, about her book of poems: A Bound Woman Is A Dangerous Thing. It’s a searing poetic exploration of Black women’s incarceration and resistance throughout American history.

“Black women’s resistance has always been an act of storytelling—of making sure we are seen, heard, and remembered.” — DaMaris Hill

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Forrest Gander, Mojave Desert, poetry and nature, ecological poetry, Pulitzer Prize poet, environmental literature, contemporary poetry, DaMaris Hill, A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing, Black women in poetry, historical poetry, poetry and activism, feminist poetry, poetry and social justice, contemporary Black poets, Poetry Month,

You Might Also Like: Nikki Giovanni on HipHop Poetry, Scott Chaskey: Soil & Spirit

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