Voices from the Sky: A Companion Podcast to Sky Island Journal

"If I'd Known You Were Coming..." by Jeremy Dixon (Issue 22 Flash Fiction Feature)

We recently published Issue 22 of Sky island Journal [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-22-fall-2022/], and we're offering a trio of special features of brand new works from that issue! You will get a sampling of the world-class poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction included in Issue 22 [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-22-fall-2022/], and hear from a few of the writers and poets themselves! I am honored to introduce you to Jeremy Dixon, who took time to speak with me recently about his flash fiction piece, "If I'd Known You Were Coming...”   Here is a brief bio: Jeremy Dixon lives near the Yorkshire coast in the United Kingdom where he works as a builder. Having always been a passionate amateur, he's now trying to take his writing more seriously, recently graduating with a B.A in English Literature and Creative Writing from The Open University. He teaches creative writing night classes and has been published in the Glittery Literary Anthology Four. Read this episode’s featured piece, “If I'd Known You Were Coming...” and all the incredible works of Issue 22 (Fall 2022) for free at skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/]. Issue 23 goes live on Saturday, January 21st! You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/]

"Our Wondrous Monsters" by Jonathan Odell (Issue 22 Creative Nonfiction Feature)

We just recently published Issue 22 of Sky island Journal [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-22-fall-2022/], and we're offering a trio of special features of brand new works from that issue! You will get a sampling of the world-class poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction included in Issue 22 [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-22-fall-2022/], and hear from a few of the writers and poets themselves! I am honored to introduce you to Jonathan Odell, who took time to speak with me recently about his creative nonfiction piece, “Our Wondrous Monsters.”   Here is a brief bio: Jonathan Odell is author of three novels. His first, The View from Delphi, (Macadam Cage 2004) deals with the struggle for equality in pre-civil rights Mississippi, his home state. In 2012, Random House published his second, The Healing, which explores the power of a story to free a people, set on a slave plantation in the Mississippi Delta. A third novel, Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League, was released by Maiden Lane Press, February 2015. His essays appear in various publications including New York Times, Commonweal, The Bitter Southerner, Minnesota Monthly, Salon, and Alternet. Odell presently lives in Minnesota with his husband. You can view more of his work at his website: http://www.jonathanodell.net [http://www.jonathanodell.net] Read this episode’s featured piece, “Our Wondrous Monsters,” and all the incredible works of Issue 22 (Fall 2022) for free at skyislandjournal.com  [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/]

"After the Bombs Fall" by Shannon Huffman Polson (Issue 22 Poetry Feature)

This past Saturday we published Issue 22 of Sky island Journal [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-22-fall-2022/], and the next three episodes are special features of brand new works from that issue! You will get a sampling of the world-class poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction included in Issue 22 [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-22-fall-2022/], and hear from a few of the writers and poets themselves! First up, I am honored to introduce you to Shannon Huffman Polson. Shannon took time to speak with me recently about her poem, “After the Bombs Fall.”   Here is a brief bio: Shannon Huffman Polson writes in all genres, wrestling to find beauty in a broken world. Her poetry is published in Emerge Journal, War, Literature and the Arts, and The Wrath Bearing Tree; her essays appear in Riverteeth, The Utne Reader, Ruminate and more; her books include North of Hope: A Daughter’s Arctic Journey, and The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male Dominated Organization in the World, published by Harvard Business Review Press in September 2020, and winner of the Axiom Business Book Award in 2021 - her writings about business and leadership have been featured in Business Insider, Psychology Today, Newsweek, and Forbes Magazine, among others, . Shannon has also published a book of essays, The Way the Wild Gets Inside. She and her family currently live in France. You can view more of her work at her website: https://shannonpolson.com [https://shannonpolson.com] Read this episode’s featured piece, “After the Bombs Fall,” and all the incredible works of Issue 22 (Fall 2022) for free at skyislandjournal.com  [https://www.skyislandjournal.com] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/]

"To Dance" by Ifeoma Nnewuihe: A Narrative about Movement

Enjoy part five of our six-part series in Season 2 of Voices from the Sky! This week, we welcome Ifeoma Nnewuihe, who in our last episode introduced us to her transformative creative nonfiction piece, "To Dance," which was originally published in Issue 12 (Spring 2020) of Sky Island Journal. [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-12-spring-2020/] Ifeoma Nnewuihe is a writer and visual artist living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. Ifeoma has a Master of Arts degree in Literature from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her works have been published in The Jellyfish Review, The Kalahari Review, Irin Journal, and Green Black Tales, amongst others. She is the winner of the April 2019 Loose Conversation "Everyone Has A Story" Literary Commission, the 2018 Paula Chinwe Okafor Prize for Creative Nonfiction, and she was longlisted for the 2018 Writivism Short Story Prize. In this episode, she recalls her love of words and storytelling, how she gets into the flow of writing, and how we can savor this experience of being alive by seeing all movement as dance. Here is the Derek Walcott poem, "Love After Love," that  Ifeoma references: https://allpoetry.com/love-after-love [https://allpoetry.com/love-after-love] This is the Mary Oliver poem, "I Worried," [https://med.umn.edu/cfam/artistic-antidote/center-art-medicine-artistic-antidote-archive/i-worried-poem-mary-oliver] that Ifeoma mentions as well: Join us next week as we feature another one of our favorite pieces and writers from Sky Island Journal. You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/]

Intro to Ifeoma Nnewuihe & "To Dance" (Creative Nonfiction)

Welcome back to part five of our six-part series in Season 2 of Voices from the Sky! This week, we welcome Ifeoma Nnewuihe who will introduce us to her inspiring creative nonfiction piece, "To Dance," which was originally published in Issue 12 (Spring 2020) of Sky Island Journal. [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-12-spring-2020/] Ifeoma Nnewuihe is a writer and visual artist living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. Ifeoma has a Master of Arts degree in Literature from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her works have been published in The Jellyfish Review, The Kalahari Review, Irin Journal, and Green Black Tales, amongst others. She is the winner of the April 2019 Loose Conversation "Everyone Has A Story" Literary Commission, the 2018 Paula Chinwe Okafor Prize for Creative Nonfiction, and she was longlisted for the 2018 Writivism Short Story Prize. In this episode, Jessica delivers a reading of her creative nonfiction narrative, "To Dance," and will be back in the next episode to take us inside her head and heart as we explore the piece more deeply. You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/] You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com [https://www.skyislandjournal.com/]