Lanier Ivester sees hospitality as a primary way she expresses her creativity. All of her creative endeavors are shaped by the belief that the most quotidian things are charged with eternal meaning, if only we have eyes to see. Her new book, illustrated by Jennifer Trafton, is Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide. In this episode, Lanier and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between hospitality and entertaining; we discuss ways to make the holidays a season of rest. And Lanier makes the case that “matter matters.”

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This week's guest is Kathleen Norris. Her best known books include Acedia and Me, The Cloister Walk, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, and Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith. A Benedictine oblate, she practices the Benedictines’ commitment to good order and deep hospitality her writing. Kathleen Norris’s new book she co-authored with Gareth Higgins. It’s called A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: a Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality.

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You may know Randall Goodgame as a purveyor of children’s music. His new project is for people of all ages. In the Scripture Hymnal, Randall has written and arranged music for 106 word-for-word Bible passages, for congregational singing. In addition to the hymnal, Randall and friends have recorded all 106 hymns with full instrumentation and rich production, to be released as ten albums over the next year. The first of those albums is available now on all your favorite platforms. In this episode Jonathan Rogers speaks with Randall Goodgame and record producer Kyle Schonewill about congregational singing, and how the Scripture Hymnal and the Scripture Hymnal albums came to life.

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Russ Ramsey is a gifted storyteller and a trusted guide in the world of art. His new book is Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About The Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive. In this episode, Russ and Jonathan Rogers talk about sunflowers, the sublime, and the connection between suffering and wonder.

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Stephanie Duncan Smith is a senior editor for HarperOne. She has spent her career developing award-winning and bestselling authors. She is the creator of Slant Letter, a Substack email newsletter for writers who want to deepen their craft and do it in style. She is also the author of Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway.

In this episode, Stephanie Duncan Smith and Jonathan Rogers talk about creative risk as a way of "going first" for the reader—and giving the reader a little more courage.

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Steven James has written and published about twenty books in the last couple of decades. Most of his novels and been thrillers. But with his new novel, Rift, he’s doing something completely new: young adult Appalachian folktale horror. Steven has lived in the southern Appalachians since the 1990s.

The part of East Tennessee where Rift is set was hit really hard by Hurricane Helene a couple of weeks ago. Steven’s publisher, Rebecca Reynolds of Sky Turtle Books, also lives in the region. She is putting together a project to collect old stories from Appalachia, creating an anthology that can be used to raise funds for the area. 

She needs help finding the storytellers and their stories. Part 2 of this episode is a short conversation with Rebecca Reynholds about the Old Stories project.

Here's a video about The Old Stories: An Appalachian Anthology.

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Carolyn Leiloglou is the author of the middle grade fantasy series The Restorationists. Book Two of that series, Between Flowers and Bones, has been recently released. In this episode, Carolyn and I talk about writing about family, balancing motherhood with creative pursuits, and the ways that interacting with visual art enriches writing.

Here's a video of Carolyn in San Antonio's McNay Art Museum, referenced in the episode.

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John Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of many books. His award-winning illustrations have also appeared on book jackets, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. The Society of Illustrators named John the Distinguished Educator in the Arts for 2024. He is the Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art and the founding Chair of the MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture program at Washington University in St. Louis. John’s new graphic novel is The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. 

In this episode, John and Jonathan Rogers talk about the nature of myth, the creative power of friendship, the beginning of the Inklings, and the sad end of the Inklings.

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Daniel Silliman is senior news editor for Christianity Today. He earned a doctorate in American studies from Heidelberg University in Germany and has taught US history and humanities at Heidelberg, the University of Notre Dame, Valparaiso University, and Milligan University. His new book is One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation. From the jacket copy: "Impious and amoral, petty and vindictive, Richard Nixon is not the typical protagonist of a religious biography. But spiritual drama is at the heart of this former president’s tragic story."

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In this back-to-school episode Jonathan Rogers speaks with Rachel Griffis and Rachel De Smith Roberts about their book, Deep Reading: Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age. Dr. Griffis is a professor of English at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, and Dr. Roberts is an associate professor of English at North Greenville University in South Carolina. In this episode, they talk about “Deep Reading” as a corrective to the vices of Distraction, Hostility, and Consumerism. 

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Jared C. Wilson is an author of over twenty books and a popular speaker at churches and conferences around the world. He serves as Pastor for Preaching and the Director of the Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Liberty, Missouri. He is also an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Author in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. His new book is The Storied Life: Christian Writing as Art and Worship. In this episode, Jared and Jonathan Rogers talk about the multi-faceted calling of a writer, and the ways that writing a means of transformation for the writer as much as a means of communication to a reader. 

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