A LITTLE TOO QUIET: THE FERNDALE LIBRARY PODCAST

Kelly Fordon - 'I Have the Answer'

Kelly Fordon's 'I Have the Answer' came out last year on Wayne State University Press: If you thought the suburbs were boring, think again. Kelly Fordon’s I Have the Answer artfully mixes the fabulist with the workaday and illuminates relationships and characters with crisp, elegant prose and dark wit. The stories in Fordon’s latest collection are disquieting, humorous, and thought-provoking. They might catch you off guard, but are always infused with deep humanity and tenderness. Kelly Fordon is the author of an award-winning short story collection, Garden for the Blind (Wayne State University Press, 2015); a poetry chapbook, The Witness, which won the Eric Hoffer Award for the Chapbook; and a poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House.

https://kellyfordon.com/ 

Sanjena Sathian - 'Gold Diggers'

Today on the podcast, we're chatting with Sanjena Sathian, author of 'Gold Diggers,' a brilliant magical realist coming-of-age story, skewering the model minority myth to tell a hilarious and moving story about immigrant identity, community, and the underside of ambition. It's also about two teenagers stealing golden items from their community to create an elixir that ignites their untapped ambitions. This debut novel by a rising new literary talent has already been tapped for adaptation to television, executive produced by Mindy Kaling. More info: https://www.sanjena.com/ 

 

Oscars Recap: Film Talk with Brendan Kredell | Assc Prof of Cinema Studies

We're talking about the Oscars today, but we're bringing in an academic perspective with Brendan Kredell, a local film buff and an associate professor of film studies at Oakland University. We're responding to, and discussing the ceremony from last Sunday as well as pondering the loss of the opportunity to experience these films in a theater setting. That, as well as the ins and outs of major global film festivals, the lasting "legacy" of Oscar winners, and especially the legacy of such an actor as the late Chadwick Boseman. 

Julie Carrick Dalton - 'Waiting for the Night Song'

Julie Carrick Dalton's debut novel, Waiting for the Night Song, is an exploration of the vagaries of friendship, a love song to the natural world, a call to fight for what we believe in, and a reminder that the truth will always rise. Cadie Kessler has spent decades trying to cover up one truth. One moment. But deep down, didn’t she always know her secret would surface?

 

Julie is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis. Mom to four kids and two dogs, Julie is a passionate skier, hiker, and kayaker. She also owns and operates an organic farm. Please excuse her dirty fingernails. https://juliecarrickdalton.com/books/ 

 

Diane DeCillis - 'When The Heart Needs a Stunt Double'

Who wouldn’t want a metaphorical stunt double to take the perilous fall that comes with the pain of loss or profound disappointment? The poems in When the Heart Needs a Stunt Double by Diane DeCillis consider resourceful ways in which we become our own stunt double and explore through a poet’s eyes the anatomy of the mind, body, and soul.  WSU PRESS. 

Diane DeCillis is the author of Strings Attached (Wayne State University Press, 2014), winner of the Michigan Notable Book Award and the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award, and a finalist for the Forward INDIES Award. Her poems, stories, and essays have appeared in numerous journals. 

 

Joy Gaines-Friedler - Poetry Readings & Conversation

A multiple Pushcart Nominee, Joy’s work has won numerous awards and is published in over 100 literary magazines and journals including Poetica, Ekphrasis, Poetry East, The Kentucky Review, RATTLE, The Patterson Review, and others. Her work is also included in the stunning anthology, Michigan in Poetry in Michigan, and, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Jewish American Poetry.

Twenty years a professional photographer Joy sees poetry as a natural extension of the photographic art form: both use images, contrast, tensions, a kind of rhythm, and tone to convey what language alone, cannot.  http://www.joygainesfriedler.com/