Keep the Channel Open - Episode 153: Jennifer Baker

Episode 153: Jennifer Baker

08/28/24 • 74 min

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Writer, editor, and podcaster Jennifer Baker’s debut YA novel, Forgive Me Not, imagines a near-future America in which the juvenile criminal justice system has been “reformed” to allow young people to undergo grueling Trials instead of incarceration. It’s an incisive and powerful story about carceral justice, as well as a moving coming-of-age and family story. In our conversation we talked about writing about serious topics for younger readers, how she approached writing her characters, and why it was important for her to focus on systems rather than individual innocence or guilt. Then for the second segment we talked about finding inspiration in other art forms.

(Recorded April 3, 2024.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

(Recorded April 3, 2024.)

SUBSCRIBE:

Support:

Support our Patreon | Review on Apple Podcasts | Review on Podchaser

Connect:

Email | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Show Notes:

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Previous Episode

Episode 152: Rachel Lyon

Writer Rachel Lyon returns to the show to discuss her latest novel, Fruit of the Dead, a contemporary retelling of the Persephone myth in which a young woman is seduced by wealth and privilege in a story about addiction, class, sexual assault, and power. In our conversation, we talked about how malleable identity can be during adolescence and how that informed how she wrote the character of Cory, how family members do and don’t see each other, and why it was important for the characters in this story to have agency. Then for the second segment we talked about stages of life.

(Recorded June 28, 2024.)

Subscribe:

Support:

Support our Patreon | Review on Apple Podcasts | Review on Podchaser

Connect:

Email | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Show Notes:

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Next Episode

Episode 154: Rachel Edelman

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In the opening poem of Rachel Edelman’s debut collection, Dear Memphis, the speaker returns to their home city after a long time away, traversing a landscape that is both familiar and foreign, a place to which she belongs but also doesn’t. Over the course of the collection, Edelman asks questions about heritage and inheritance; about exile, diaspora, and migration; about home; about marginalization and privilege, oppression and complicity. In our conversation, we talked about acts of care, the importance of self-criticality, what poems do, and the necessary and the possible. Then for the second segment, we talked about corresponding via hand-written letters.

(Recorded June 28, 2024)

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