fiction/non/fiction S3 Ep. 15: Poetry, Blackness, and Friendship: Danez Smith on Language, Connection, and 'Homie'
In this episode, acclaimed poet Danez Smith discusses the role friendship plays in their most recent collection of poetry, Homie. Smith talks to Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the isolating effect COVID-19 has had on black communities, using space on the page inventively, and writing about money. This episode is presented in conjunction with the Loft Literary Center’s literary festival, Wordplay, which this year is a virtual event.
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This episode was produced by Andrea Tudhope. This week's sponsor is the University of Colorado's Master of Arts in Journalism Entrepreneurship program. Learn more at ce.colorado.edu/tellthestory to invent your future in journalism today.
Poetry, Blackness, and Friendship: Danez Smith on Language, Connection, and ‘Homie’ from The Virtual Book Channel on Vimeo.
Guests:
Selected readings for the episode:
- Homie
- Don’t Call Us Dead
- Two Poems
- what was said on the bus stop: a new poem by Danez Smith
- my president
- VS podcast, from the Poetry Foundation, hosted by Danez Smith and Franny Choi
Others
- Corona Correspondences: #28 by Danielle Evans (The Sewanee Review)
- Review: ‘Homie,’ a Book of Poems That Produces Shocking New Vibrations by Pahrul Sehgal
- Frank O’Hara
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Angel Nafis
- Hieu Minh Nguyen
- Douglas Kearney
- 1977: Poem for Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer by June Jordan
- Recordings of June Jordan from Harvard Library Digitized recordings and more digitized recordings
- ‘Feet’ and ‘Spoon’ from Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
- Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano
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