Enzo Silon Surin, Haitian-born poet, educator, publisher, and social advocate, is the author of two chapbooks, A Letter of Resignation: An American Libretto and Higher Ground. He is recipient of a Brother Thomas Fellowship from The Boston Foundation and is a PEN New England Celebrated New Voice in Poetry.
Enzo’s work gives voice to experiences that take place in what he calls “broken spaces” and has appeared in numerous publications. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and is an associate professor of English at Bunker Hill Community College and founding editor and publisher at Central Square Press.
Today, he speaks with former Boston Poet Laureate Danielle Legros Georges. She is the author of two books of poems, The Dear Remote Nearness of You and Maroon; the chapbook Letters from Congo; and the editor of City of Notions: An Anthology of Contemporary Boston Poems. She is a professor of creative writing and interim director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University. She is also a faculty member of the William Joiner Institute Summer Writer’s Workshop, University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her work includes poetry translations, collaborations, and curation. Her honors include fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation, the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and commissions from the Trustees of Reservations. She is the City of Boston’s former poet laureate.
Read more about Enzo and see a video profile of Danielle on our podcast page.
Zin E. Rocklyn speaks on their Shirley Jackson Award-winning novella “Flowers for the Sea" with fellow speculative fiction author and Lesley University faculty Laurie Foos.
Read Zin's essay, "My Genre Makes a Monster of Me" from Uncanny Magazine
Read more about Zin and Laurie and find a transcript for this episode on our website.
Learn more about Lesley University's low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program.
Creative Writing alum Nathan Tavares talks about his debut novel, "A Fractured Infinity," a sci-fi love story that's "like the movie 'Arrival,' but really gay." In this episode, Nathan gives us a view into writing sci-fi, his career as a freelance journalist, and what he learned in his MFA program.
Read more about Nathan and our MFA in Creative Writing program.
P.S. See Nathan speak about his book live at Brookline Booksmith on Dec. 7.
Being friends with Toni Morrison, one of the most influential writers in American literature was a life-changing experience for A.J. Verdelle, but it came with its ups and downs. A.J. writes about her relationship with the Beloved author, including their "two and a half spats" in Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison. In this episode, A.J. sits down with nonfiction author Jane Brox to give us insight into her writing process and the impact of being chosen by Toni Morrison.
A. J. Verdelle is the award-winning author of the novel, The Good Negress, as well as a number of essays and short stories. She was awarded the Whiting Award in fiction, the Vursell Distinguished Fiction Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the Bunting Fellowship and the NEA Critical Studies Award. She was also a finalist for PEN/Faulkner Award. A.J. teaches in Lesley's MFA in Creative Writing program.
Mentioned in this episode:
The forced relocation of thousands of Japanese and Japanese-Americans during World War II profoundly shaped Emily Inouye Huey's family. Uprooted from their home on the West Coast, her great grandparents and grandparents were forced to live in a Wyoming internment camp, which is where her father was born. Inspired by her family's story, Emily wrote Beneath the Wide Silk Sky, a heartbreaking and beautiful story of a Japanese-American teenager in the days leading up to and following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
In this episode, Emily shares her writing and research process, some questionable publishing advice she received (add werewolves?!), and the evergreen call to preserve human dignity.
Emily Inouye Huey is the author of Beneath the Wide Silk Sky (Scholastic 2022). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. Besides books, her passions include education, the arts, the outdoors, and her family.
More about Emily:
Lesley University alumna and Creative Writing faculty Sara Farizan talks about her first YA horror novel, Dead Flip, a not-too-scary of nostalgia, friendship, and an evil pinball machine. In this episode, she gives advice for writers about writing in a new genre and shares her own fears of Chucky Dolls, Stephen King novels, and more!
Sara discusses her novel "Here to Stay" on Why We Write.
Sara interviews fellow YA writer Axie Oh.
Growing up, Grace K. Shim relished the twists and turns of Korean dramas. Now, she's written one of her own with her YA debut, The Noh Family, in which recent high school graduate Chloe Chang discovers through a DNA test that she has family in Korea...and they're not only rich but they've got lots of secrets. Drama ensues.
On the episode, Grace talks about how her story overlaps with her character's, why she took up writing, and the rise of Asian American voices in publishing.
Grace K. Chang ’05 received a master's degree from Lesley's Graduate School of Education. Grace grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma as one of two Korean-Americans at her high school (her sister was the other one). Today, Grace writes books with Korean-American protagonists that she wished she had read about as a teen.
When she’s not plotting (the writing kind, not the world domination kind), you can find her wearing a Korean sheet mask, baking French macarons, and unintentionally killing house plants and succulents. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and three kids.
More about Grace:
Listen to our interviews with more Asian American YA authors:
Find the transcript on the episode page.
The Bronx is Reading founder Saraciea J. Fennell is working to get more books into the hands of young people, especially those who come from backgrounds similar to hers, through her organization, a yearly book festival, and one day a bookstore. Saraciea is also the editor of the acclaimed 2021 young adult anthology Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed, which features essays and poems by Latinx authors such as Elizabeth Acevedo and Ibi Zoboi about the myths, and stereotypes surrounding their culture and identity. In this episode, Saraciea, a 2020 graduate of our MFA in Creative Writing program, discusses her own essay about being put into foster care as a kid and how she wants to effect change in her corner of New York City.
Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Honduran writer and the founder of The Bronx is Reading. She is also a book publicist who has worked with many award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors. Fennell sits on the board for Latinx in Publishing as well as on the Advisory Board of People of Color in Publishing.
Whether you're a parent, teacher, or simply someone who will one day in encounter a child, Rebecca Rolland ’17 has advice for how to respond to kids, and most importantly, how to listen.
Find a transcript of this episode on our show page.
Rebecca Rolland is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and serves on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. She is also an oral and written language specialist in the Neurology Department of Boston Children's Hospital. As a nationally certified speech-language pathologist, she has worked clinically with populations ranging from early childhood through high school and has provided teacher professional development. In addition to a master's in Creative Writing from Lesley, she has an Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, an M.A. in English from Boston University, and a B.A. in English from Yale.
With heartfelt, gritty, and sometimes humorous essays, Cindy House's memoir Mother Noise addresses her years of drug addiction, becoming a parent, and her long friendship with David Sedaris.
About our guest
Cindy House is an essayist, short story writer, artist, and a regular opener for David Sedaris on his tours across the country. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an MFA from Lesley University in 2017. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with her husband and son.
A transcript and more podcast info are available on the episode page.
Tavi Taylor Black and Christine Junge are the podcasters behind The Personal Element, a monthly discussion about one essay that both writers loved. On this episode, they take us through their podcasting process, and we discuss an essay from Cindy House's forthcoming collection "Mother Noise."
A transcript and more podcast info are available on the episode page.
About our guests
Christine Junge and Tavi Black met when they were working on their MFAs at Lesley University in the early 2000s. They became fast friends after sharing conversations about books, love, and life over meals in the cafeteria and drinks at the Lizard Lounge. Since graduating, they often read and critique each other’s work. They are both really excited to be sharing The Personal Element podcast with listeners. Follow the podcast on Instagram or Facebook.
More about Christine
Christine is currently shopping two novels to agents. She lives in San Jose, CA, with her husband and baby. She’s also hard at work on her next book, which features a character dealing with debilitating anxiety. You can read Christine's essay, which we talk about in Season 1: Episode 3, Taking Control of My Body Image, which was originally published in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Find out more info about Christine on her website.
More about Tavi
Tavi lives on Vashon Island outside of Seattle with her husband, daughter, and a full household of pets. Tavi's debut novel with TouchPoint Press, Where Are We Tomorrow? is about four women working backstage on a rock tour. Her next projects are a historical fiction set in 1913 in Bar Harbor, Maine due out in January of 2023, and a middle-grade fantasy novel she wrote with her daughter. You can find out more about Tavi on her website or on Instagram.
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