Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BCE) was an Archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by a lyre. In ancient times, Sappho was widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such as the "Tenth Muse" and "The Poetess".  The word Lesbian in Sappho’s poetry is a reference to the inhabitants of the island of Lesbos, not having anything to do with any sexual predilection. John Myers O'Hara (1870–1944) was an American poet. Born in Iowa into a wealthy famil ..read more

I find the writing of Ernest Hemingway to be fascinating. It feels like authentic artifact. His was a daring new style in 1921. It was a break away from the more stylized prose that had written in the past. In this podcast we discuss how Hemingway became a symbol of masculinity. We also share some of his advice to creative writers. If you want to support this Podcast, please consider buying this episode as an NFT on the Opensea NFT marketplace. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at johnwojewoda.substack.com/subscribe ..read more

These two short stories, A Carnival Jangle and Anarchy Alley, by African American writer Alice Dunbar Nelson were written in the 1890’s. They deliver a fascinating glimpse of the culture of New Orleans at this time, a wildly diverse city full of creativity and free thought. This is the New Orleans just before the explosion of Jazz music and the musical innovations of Buddy Bolden. Dunbar Nelson has been recognized for her exploration of something that came to be called the ‘Creole Condition’ - the experience of mixed race people in the era after the civil war. This is a public episode. Get ac ..read more

English author Walker Zupp talks about his new book “Martha”, published by Montag Press. Born in Bermuda in 1996, walker talks about his feelings of alienation from English society, saying that technically he’s a foreigner in British society, even though he isn’t because Bermuda is part of the British Empire. He is of the opinion that people find art deeply repulsive. He is currently writing a book about a white family in Bermuda - which he says will be like the Bermudan Sound and Fury. I look forward to reading that book in the future. Click here to get his novel ‘Martha’ from amazon. This i ..read more

In this episode we look at two very different 19th century American writers. Civil war veteran and short story writer Ambrose Bierce, as well as African American writer and activist Alice Dunbar Nelson. In this day and age of political division, the politics of these two individuals still have reverberations in modern America. Bierce, his commitment to the Federalist cause clearly demonstrated in his story “The Horsman in the Sky”. Alice Dunbar Nelson, writing for The Monthly Review, a piece about flowers and death, a story of deadly heart break, is a voice that would not exist without the v ..read more

The story 'The Vampyre' - written in 1816 is the product of the 'year without summer'. In that year summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest that they had ever been between the years 1766 and the year 2000. One night that summer at the villa Diodati in Lake Geneva Switzerland the writer George Gordon Noel Byron, also know as Lord Byron, suggested that those present should each write a ghost story. There were at least two writers there who's writing would go down in history. One was Mary Shelly, who two years later would published the book Frankenstein, the other was Byron's physician, Jo ..read more

Mike’s novels The Wraith of Skrellman, The Apocalypse of Lloyd, and I Ain’t Got No Home In This World Anymore are available from Montag Press. His forthcoming book "The Many Fentanyl Addicted Wraiths of Sault Sainte Marie" is coming out in the fall from Tailwinds Press. Mike grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, which is small a city in Ontario, Canada. It's on the St. Marys River, north of the U.S. border, near 3 of the Great Lakes. He currently lives in Toronto Canada, having graduated from Ryerson University with a degree in journalism. Mike works as a stenographer for the deaf ..read more

Listen now | A reading and a critique by John Wojewoda. Poe, in 1829, acting as an agent for his aunt Maria Clemm, sold a 21 year old slave named Edwin, to a man named Henry Ridgeway. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at johnwojewoda.substack.com/subscribe ..read more

Paul Miller talks about his new book ‘Albrecht Drue, Ghostpuncher'. Originally from Texas, author Paul Miller discusses the archetype of the cowboy and how it was one of the sources of inspiration for his novel. This is a work inspired by the likes of William Burroughs and Marvel comics. As Paul says, it is the literary version of someone kicking in your door, smashing up your furniture and pissing on your walls. The lead character encounters the ghost of a jive turkey seventies pimp and realizes that he can punch the ghost in the head. This is the first in a series of five books that Paul is ..read more

Angus Fletcher Ohio State University Professor Angus Fletcher of Ohio State University department of English, author of ‘Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature.’ This is a book that looks at literary invention as unique technical breakthroughs that can be viewed as both narrative and neuroscientific advancement. Professor Fletcher will be talking about literature and storytelling as technologies, how to innovate literature and story and the reasons that computer AI cannot innovate literature but humans can. This is a public episode. Get access to private ep ..read more