Ep 41: Long Division with Kiese Laymon

05/26/23 • 50 min

//SPOILERS FOR LONG DIVISION//

Mississippi author Kiese Laymon joins us for our season finale. We discuss the revised version of his novel Long Division, explore themes of freedom, language, and timelessness, and talk about creating art separate from the white imagination.

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libby Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir , won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of “The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative,” a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

RESOURCES

Long Division by Kiese Laymon
"We Need to Reckon with the Rot at the Core of Publishing" by Elaine Castillo. LitHub.

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This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.

Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

//SPOILERS FOR LONG DIVISION//

RESOURCES

Long Division by Kiese Laymon
"We Need to Reckon with the Rot at the Core of Publishing" by Elaine Castillo. LitHub.

BOOKSHOP

https://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamas

BE A PATRON!

https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: @hoodooplants

Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas

DONATE

Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas

Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas

This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.

Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

Previous Episode

Ep 40: The Highs and Lows of Black Joy with Starr Dunigan

We're joined by Starr, founder of Reckon's Black Joy. In this episode, we discuss the highs and lows of healing, leading when you feel unqualified, and Black joy as our birthright.

Jonece Starr Dunigan (She/her/hers) is a journalist who gives the microphone to communities that are often ignored by mainstream media. Guided by empathy, her reporting centers the stories, movement work and voices of Black, brown and queer people. Her writing strives to amplify and empower readers instead of exploiting them of their traumas. Starr is also the founder of Reckon’s Black Joy (formerly Black Magic Project), a media brand under Reckon that’s highlighting the multiple ways we as Black people cultivate liberating joy in our lives.

RESOURCES

"Blessings six years of Black joy have taught me." Jonece Starr Dunigan. Black Joy.
Nolaskinsentials
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good edited by adrienne marie brown
Diving with a Purpose

BE A PATRON!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: @hoodooplants

Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas

DONATE

Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas

Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas

This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.

Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

Next Episode

Ep 42: Where We Been At

After an extended hiatus, we're back. While Dani moved away from Mississippi, Leah moved back so we talk about loving, leaving, and returning to Mississippi. Dani visited Senegal, and Leah is publishing a book.

RESOURCES