Ursa Story Company
Deesha and Dawnie introduce an Ursa original audio production of “Telling Stories” by T.E. Wilderson, published in The Account magazine in 2021, and narrated by Jordan Cobb.
Eighth grader, P’Mona, is sarcastic, witty, and a pathological liar. Taking place over the course of a day, the story follows P’Mona attempting to simultaneously navigate the world and cope with a difficult home life.
Be sure to stick around at the end of the story to hear from T.E. Wilderson in her own words, discussing the themes of the story, her advice to writers, and her inspirations for “Telling Stories” and the character of P’Mona.
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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned
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Produced by Ursa Story Company
Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton
Story performed by Jordan Cobb
Author interview by Marina Leigh
Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong
Associate Producers: Marina Leigh & Ashawnta Jackson
Episode Editor: Kelly Araja
About the Author
T. E. Wilderson is a New Orleans-born, African American writer, editor, and teaching artist currently living in the Midwest. Her short stories have appeared in F(r)iction, Notre Dame Review, Roanoke Review, Crack the Spine Anthology XVII, The Louisville Review, The Tishman Review, Still: The Journal, Cobalt Weekly, The Account: A Journal of Prose, Poetry, and Thought, and Coolest American Stories 2023, among others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and is a 2019 McKnight Foundation Writing Fellow.
About the Narrator
Jordan Cobb is a New York City-based writer and actress, with a focus on live stage and voiceover. Her work spans fiction podcasts such as Bloody Disgusting's Dead Space: Deep Cover and No Such Thing Production's Primordial Deep, to bestselling audiobooks like Kalynn Bayron's This Poison Heart and Tigest Girma's Immortal Dark. For more information, visit jordanvcobb.com.
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In the spirit of Halloween, Deesha and Dawnie dig into thrillers, mysteries, and suspense with acclaimed crime fiction writer S.A. Cosby, author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, and the forthcoming novel, King of Ashes.
Cosby talks about his early inspirations in the horror and suspense genres, and he explains how he began to use genre to craft stories that reflected his own experiences as a Black writer from the South.
Cosby also offers advice to emerging writers and helps demystify the publication process, as co-editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 anthology.
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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned
Listening List:
Watch List:
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Produced by Ursa Story Company
Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton
Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong
Associate Producer: Marina Leigh
Episode Editor: Kelly Araja
About the Author
S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.
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We're back! Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw give us a special sneak preview of what's in store for Season Three.
Show notes:
Produced by: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong
Associate Producer: Marina Leigh
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Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw introduce us to Reckon True Stories, a brand new podcast hosted by Deesha and acclaimed author Kiese Laymon, dedicated to all things nonfiction.
Listen, then follow the show in your favorite podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://link.chtbl.com/truestories
Guests for Season One include writers Roxane Gay, Imani Perry, Alexander Chee, Minda Honey, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Samantha Irby. Produced in partnership with Reckon.
We'll also have more episodes of Ursa Short Fiction coming this fall! Sign up for email updates: https://ursastory.com
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While we put the final touches on Season Three, we wanted to share an episode from another podcast that we think you’ll love: Black & Published, hosted by Nikesha Elise Williams.
On today’s episode, Nikesha’s guest is Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the historical fiction novel TAKE MY HAND. It's a story based on the real-life Relf sisters of Montgomery, Alabama, who were forcibly sterilized by the workers of a federal family planning clinic in 1973.
Subscribe to listen to more episodes from the latest season of Black & Published:
https://blackpublished.buzzsprout.com/
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Thanks to our guests, contributors, and listeners for a wonderful second season!
Help us fund Season Three of Ursa Short Fiction by becoming an Ursa Member:
You can also make a one-time contribution to help fund future episodes.
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Deesha and Dawnie chat with Denne Michele Norris, editor-in-chief of Electric Literature and author of the forthcoming debut novel, When The Harvest Comes (Random House). She is also the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication.
Norris discusses her approaches to both writing and editing, sharing insights for writers on working with editors. She also talks about the ways different genres — from fiction to essay to memoir — all require their own approaches. Norris asks questions of herself and of the work, aiming to edit “ethically and responsibly and [tell] a beautiful story.”
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Reading List: Stories and Writers Mentioned
About the Author
Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the 2022 Whiting Digital Literary Magazine Prize, where she is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, VCCA, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction, and appears in McSweeney's, American Short Fiction, and ZORA. She co-hosts the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot, and mentors emerging writers of color with The Periplus Collective. Her debut novel, When The Harvest Comes, is forthcoming from Random House.
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Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Executive producers: Dawnie Walton & Mark Armstrong
Author photo: Hilary Leichter
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This week we’re excited to share a very special episode of Ursa Short Fiction — a Member Exclusive where Dawnie Walton chats with Deesha Philyaw about this week’s big news: Deesha has just signed a seven-figure book deal with Mariner Books for a new novel, THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF FIRST LADY FREEMAN, and short story collection, GIRL, LOOK. The novel is due out in 2025.
Enjoy this free teaser from our Member Exclusive episode. To access the full episode, become an Ursa Member: ursastory.com/join.
Links
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Produced & edited by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
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Deesha and Dawnie introduce “What Got Into Us,” a short story by Jacob Guajardo, performed by Vicki Valdeon.
The story is a candid look into queer adolescence, first loves, recklessness, and unbridled vulnerability. It was originally published in Passages North, and featured in The Best American Short Stories 2018.
Listen to the story, then stay tuned at the end for Guajardo in his own words, sharing how the story came together, and how he approaches the writing process.
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Jacob Guajardo lives and writes in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His fiction appears in The Best American Short Stories 2018 and Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts Presents 35 New Stories, among other publications. He is the recipient of the 2020 Robert Maxwell Fellowship from MacDowell. He works from home as a Narrative Designer.
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Performed by Vicki Valdeon
Associate producers: Marina Leigh, Ashawnta Jackson
Executive producers: Dawnie Walton & Mark Armstrong
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Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton go in-depth with Rubén Degollado, author of the novel The Family Izquierdo, which started out as a short story collection about a single family.
Degollado's story “The Seven Songs” was featured on last week’s episode, and he discusses his journey to writing and publishing the book, as well as how he navigated his writing journey alongside his career as an educator. He first started writing the Izquierdo family stories in the late '90s, eventually developing the family curse and tensions, and playing with point of view to inhabit the lives of the many family members.
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Degollado aims to represent his own family, experiences, and community through The Family Izquierdo, and he quotes Toni Morrison, who said “if there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
“A lot of the stories I read were about immigrants, and I think those are great stories. I love immigrant stories, but that’s not what I wanted to write. I wanted to write about what happens after. What happens post immigration.”If you haven't already, be sure to listen to last week's episode featuring Degollado's story, “The Seven Songs.”
Reading ListRubén Degollado’s work has recently appeared in Literary Hub, CRAFT, The Common, and elsewhere. His novel Throw won the Texas Institute of Letters Best Young Adult book for 2020. His debut literary novel The Family Izquierdo is a long list title for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Rubén lives and writes along the southern border, in the Río Grande Valley of Texas.
More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:***
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Producer: Mark Armstrong
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This week we're thrilled to feature “The Seven Songs,” by Rubén Degollado, from his novel, The Family Izquierdo.
The story is performed by Carolina Hoyos and is excerpted from The Family Izquierdo audiobook, produced by Blackstone Publishing. Our thanks to them for sharing this story with Ursa listeners.
In “The Seven Songs,” Dina, the daughter of Izquierdo family patriarch Octavio, tells her daughters about her encounter with a neighbor, Contreras, who put a curse on the Izquierdo family.
Dina notes the strength, not just of God, but of all the women in the family, in myths, and in music that guide and encourage her to face the enemy. The Family Izquierdo follows what binds the generations together in the family — the love as well as the curse — and in “The Seven Songs” Dina seeks out Contreras to free her family and herself from the family curse.
“No, I did not go to church, mis hijas. I had to go into the enemy’s camp. The place of evil and idolatry. Of greed and charlatans. That den of vipers where I knew I would find the brujo contreras. We went to the flea market.”Listen to the story, then come back next week for Deesha and Dawnie's conversation with Rubén Degollado.
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Reading ListRubén Degollado’s work has recently appeared in Literary Hub, CRAFT, The Common, and elsewhere. His novel Throw won the Texas Institute of Letters Best Young Adult book for 2020. His debut literary novel The Family Izquierdo is a long list title for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Rubén lives and writes along the southern border, in the Río Grande Valley of Texas.
More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:***
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Audio excerpted courtesy Blackstone Publishing from THE FAMILY IZQUIERDO by Rubén Degollado, excerpt read by Carolina Hoyos.
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