Word Carver

Word Carver co-host Herbert Ndecki II interviews Oprah Book Club writer Imbolo Mbue about her novel Behold the Dreamer. Both Ndeki and Mbue are from Cameroon, and they speak about African writers and what it takes to keep going. Then, in the first of a two-part series, Word Carver host Cynthia Rosi talks about a little-known writer in Columbus Ohio who was murdered this year.

Master writer Lee Martin takes us behind the scenes in his new short-story volume The Mutual UFO Network, a book that took 16 years to craft. Martin is a Distinguished Professor at Ohio State University, and the author of a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever.

Cold weather means hot chocolate and good books, so snuggle up and listen to the top picks. From Tayari Jone's Oprah Book Club winner to the latest from the author of The Nightingale plus many more, Linda Kass walks you through the best of the February titles in independent bookstores around the country.

Poet Steve Abbott discusses his poetry volume, craft, and the acceptance of melancholy with show host Cynthia Rosi.

Terry Hill has hand-sold 6,000 books outside stores and stadiums in Washington State. Terry's story shows the reader what it's like to be given away to strangers as a child, grow up in poverty in a small Louisiana logging town, and be abruptly called back to his mother in Seattle as a teenager. Left to his own devices, and given examples of alcoholism and sex addiction as role models, young Terry soon became attracted to thieves in Seattle who had one destination -- jail. After decades of addiction to alcohol, sex, and then crack cocaine, and in prison on robbery charges for over a decade, Hill picked up a pencil and begin writing his story. By the time he was done with three drafts, he'd realized the damage of his addiction to crack cocaine. The writing process freed his mind from that addiction and laid a new path for Hill, one dedicated to giving back to the community he'd once robbed.

This episode is devoted to a little-known Columbus author, Tonya Lynette Daniels, who was brutally murdered in February 2019. In researching Tonya's death, I found she'd written a book, and this book is the subject of analysis on this episode of Word Carver. Daniels' family has created a fundraiser for her funeral expenses, and donations can be given at https://www.gofundme.com/6ybmqiw.

Poet Maggie Smith of Good Bones, essayist Hanif Abdurraqib of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us and novelist Nick White of How to Survive a Summer all appeared on Word Carver -- here are my favorite parts of our conversations. Smith talks about the relationship between her poetry and the lost art of crankies, Abdurraqib takes on discussion of the n-word, and White examines gay conversion therapy camps and the ethos behind them.

Columbus native Hanif Abdurraqib talks about the themes running through his latest book, a collection of essays called "They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us." Speaking with Word Carver host Cynthia Rosi, the two compare themes emerging in the essays with Abdurraquib's previous volume of poetry "The Crown Ain't Worth Much." Additional reporting by Amy Dalrymple.

Deeply rooted in place, Sycamore Poems follows two conversations as filigree-fine as cloisonne beads: one with the long-lived sycamores of Ohio, and the other about the loss of love. Kathy Fagan, Director of the Creative Writing MFA at Ohio State University, speaks of place, art, and the construction of her poems with Word Carver host Cynthia Rosi.

Maggie Smith's lasting and resonant poems live up to the wide popularity of the title piece "Good Bones." Smith discusses living in the place where she grew up, the influence of crankies -- traditional storytelling with shadow puppets which pre-dated movies -- on one of the narrative themes, and handling emotionally hot material, with Word Carver host Cynthia Rosi. For links to Smith's volume visit wordcarver.com.

Columnist Pat Snyder Hurley talks with show host Cynthia Rosi about her forthcoming book of poetry from Night Ballet Press entitled Hard to Swallow, co-written with her husband Bill Hurley. The pair embarked on the poetic journey when Bill was diagnosed with cancer, and it formed a central part of their mindfulness work during that difficult time. After the interview, Amy Dalrymple visits the Global Gallery and the Peripatetic Poets and broadcasts a reading by Jane Varley. Music by Seastock on Jamendo, "Rise and Shine."

Paging Columbus founder Hannah Stephenson speaks with Word Carver reporter Amy Dalrymple at the OSU Urban Art Space. Paging Columbus moves to the new $2 Radio location on Parson's Avenue in November. Slam poet champ Barbara Fant reads two stunning pieces. Amy explores the whimsy and wonder of words at amydalrymple.net

How many of you feel this alienation and discomfort almost as soon as you open the screen in your cellphone, dip into social media, answer email, or listen to the news? The sages from India called illusion maya and they pray: “from delusion lead me to truth." Literature helps us to deal with a society awash in illusion. Calvino points us toward precision, logic, and detail as one answer. Coates asks readers to examine American society with exacting truth. Rushdie's readers find truth through fictions in which we find wisdom and compassion for the people we inhabit for the duration of the tale.

Minnecojou Lakota poet Trevino Brings Plenty discusses two poems from his volume Ghost River, as well as Native culture, writing, and the protests at Standing Rock. You can buy Wakpa Wanagi, Ghost River, on Amazon or order it through your local bookstore. Music by Rise and Shine (2015), Seastock from Jamendo.com. Artwork from an unsigned mural in Detroit.

Nita Sweeney writes the blog Bum Glue and puts out Write Now Newsletter a comprehensive listing of writer and reader events in central Ohio, through her writer website www.nitasweeney.com. She's also a student of Natalie Goldberg, and teaches Goldberg's work in Upper Arlington. Word Carver host Cynthia Rosi talks with Sweeney about using Goldberg's technique of timed writings to create a memoir, and about the changing writer's scene here in Columbus. Music credit: Rise and Shine (2015) by Seastock on Jamendo.com.

In Word Carver 40, Cynthia Rosi and co-host Herbert Ndeki II explore poetry. Ndeki reviews Ahmadou Kourouma's "Allah is not obliged to be fair about all the things he does here on Earth" (warning: strong language -- Kourouma makes liberal use of the n-word in his soldier-boy character) while Rosi reads several original poems.

Herbert Ndeki II, a Cameroon native and American emigre, reads poems from Aimé Césaire's work Cahier D'Un Retour and analyses the translation choices. Aimé Césaire was born in 1913 and pioneered the concept of "blackness." He grew up in the French colony of Martinique and moved to Paris where he encountered the racism of the colonizers. Ndeki is fluent in French and English, and brings to Word Carver listeners his love for African literature.

Herbert Ndeki reviews "How to Cook Your Husband the African Way" by Calixte Beyala, and Cynthia Rosi reads the short story "The Company" which arrived in a dream, and was written over two days.

Herbert Ndeki, a native-French speaker from Cameroon, reviews authors from the African canon. Hemu Venkataraman speaks about her work as an artist, author, and architect.

Flash fiction that coils back a spring and then packs a punch -- Sherrie was into flash before it had a name. We dropped into Grammercy Books to pick up a copy and hear Flick read her work, before sitting down to analyze the stories. Follow @wordcarverradio on Twitter.