Our "Classics Series" continues as we go "Back to the Writing Well" to hear from writers of place, including the late Pat Conroy. Famous for his novels about the south, with several made into movies such as The Great Santini, he finally puts his father to rest with his 2013 memoir, ...By New Letters magazine

We continue our "Classics Series" by going to the writing well to fill our creative spirits with advice from several fiction writers, including Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Jane Smiley, who reveals her "Five Writing Tips." The author of the trilogy of novels...By New Letters magazine

We begin our "Classics Series" with our program celebrating our 2013 Clarion Award for Best Radio Talk/Interview Program from the Association for Women in Communications, which features audio excerpts from our award-winning interviews. Jamaica Kincaid reads from her novel Mr. Potter, based loosely on her life and relationship with her father, while…

This program features excerpts from shows of the past decade with multi-award winning poet Nikki Giovanni; a new poetry voice for the decade, Marcus Wicker; Booker Prize winning Australian writer, Thomas Keneally, whose novel was the basis for the film Schindler's List; the always inspiring workshop poet, ...…

In this special anthology program novelist Meg Wolitzer (shown) and poet Molly Peacock both discuss the importance of writing about the lives and work of women. Wolitzer reads from her novel The Female Persuasion while Peacock shares poems from her collection...By New Letters magazine

American-Canadian essayist, poet and biographer Molly Peacock gives an in-depth look into her latest work, The Analyst, her 2017 poetry collection that traces her decades-long relationship with her...By New Letters magazine

To show your support, email [email protected] U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (2019-2021) talks about her Native American heritage and reads poetry from her fourth book, In Mad Love and War, that won the American Book Award, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Prize, and the William ...By New Letters magazine

To show your support for our radio program, email [email protected] and let UMKC know what New Letters on the Air means to you.As we near what may be the end of our 43 years of broadcasting, we look back at our decades of publishing the National Magazine Award-winning New Letters, the American Book Award-winning BkMk (BookMark) Press, and the…

Poet Nikky Finney discusses how her sense of social justice was informed by her father, the first African American Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, revealing how growing up in the political household shaped her art. She reads a poetic tribute to her father from her second book, Rice, as well as her long, piercing poem "Dancing wit…

The late Etheridge Knight began writing poetry in the 1960s, when he was imprisoned for armed robbery, where he discovered that "art is ultimately about freedom." This program features excerpts from a 1986 poetry reading and a 1989 interview by Rebekah Presson, when they discuss the role of black men in society and his use of prison as a metaphor. …