Eugenia Johnson-Smith

Eugenia Johnson-Smith

Author Eugenia Johnson-Smith believes writers should focus on getting their thoughts down in a first draft and worry about grammar and style later. "Don't be too critical," she says, "because you've got to get the words on the page." Eugenia shares some of the prompts that help her and her students write without pressure or judgment. She also discusses the Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative, including her new role there. About Eugenia Johnson-Smith Eugenia Johnson-Smith [https://positivepowerllc.com/] is the author of Positive Power: 31 Devotions to Help Unleash Your Positive Power [https://www.amazon.com/Positive-Power-Devotions-Unleash-Your/dp/1963264002]. She is a coach, international inspirational/motivational speaker, and freelance writer. Eugenia is the owner and CEO of Positive Power, LLC., Training and Development. Her work has been published in the Kentucky Monthly Magazine, Presbyterians Today Magazine, and she is a columnist for The Lextropolis Magazine. In addition, she has stories in numerous anthologies, and she currently works at the Carnegie Center as the Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative Associate. She teaches several classes at the Carnegie Center, including Free Writing Practice.

Willie Carver Jr.

Think your story doesn't matter? Author Willie Carver Jr. believes that "each of us has a story that can help contribute to the complexity of all of us...." When Willie uses writing prompts to unlock his story, "they're almost always body related." That's because he thinks "the truth of things is already in your body."  On this episode, Willie shares a prompt that will help you discover what your body already knows. He also discusses his new book, Tore All to Pieces [https://with.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/public/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:647155/one?qu=tore+all+to+pieces+willie+carver]; why learning to write is like learning a foreign language; and more. About Willie Carver Jr. Willie Carver Jr. [https://williecarver.com/] is a youth advocate, Kentucky Teacher of the Year,  and the author of Gay Poems for Red States [https://with.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/public/search/results?qu=gay+poems+for+red+states+willie+carver&te=], a recipient of awards from Stonewall, American Library Association, World Pride, Read Appalachia, Whippoorwill, and Book Riot.  His fragmented novel, Tore All to Pieces, was published in March 2026 by the University Press of Kentucky. Willie’s writing has been published in textbooks, anthologies, and journals, including Testament, Discarded, Rural and Outrooted, Appalachian Journal, Southern Humanities, Louisville Review, Another Chicago, Harbor, Smoky Blue Literary, Miracle Monocle, Good River Review, Salvation South, and Gay & Lesbian Review.

Kevin Nance

Poet Kevin Nance uses writing prompts regularly because they "can take you places that you never could have gone any other way." On this episode, Kevin discusses ways to access the part of the brain that author Marilynne Robinson believes is most creative—your "back mind." He also shares a prompt that helps his writing students "tap into their inner angst." About Kevin Nance Kevin Nance is a photographer, arts journalist, and poet in Lexington. He has published widely in newspapers and magazines including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Poets & Writers, and has work in literary journals, including The North American Review, Poet Lore, Willawaw, and Still: The Journal. His four books include Smoke [https://with.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/public/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:646626/ada?qu=kevin+nance&d=ent%3A%2F%2FSD_ILS%2F0%2FSD_ILS%3A646626%7EILS%7E0&h=8], published last year by Accents Publishing. Kevin was recently announced as the new editor of Yearling, the poetry journal of Workhorse Writers.

Shauna M. Morgan

Poet Shauna M. Morgan understands that feeling "weighed down by all of those things happening around us" can make writing even more challenging. For her, it helps to remember "that generations of my forebears created art in times of abject crises and bore witness to what was happening." On this episode, Shauna shares what she calls the "weight prompt." It will help you reflect on the subjects that feel heavy to you as well as the subjects that feel light. About Shauna M. Morgan Shauna M. Morgan [https://shaunammorgan.com/] is a poet-scholar and Associate Professor of creative writing and Africana literature at the University of Kentucky.   Her poetry has appeared in A Gathering Together, Interviewing the Caribbean, and A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia, and her debut collection, Ground Provisions [https://with.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/public/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:645616/one?qu=ground+provisions+shauna+m+morgan], was published by Peepal Tree Press in the United Kingdom.  Shauna tends a small, hopeful provision ground at her home in the East End Artists’ Village in Lexington, and she continues to explore the environmental and cultural linkages between her rural Afro-Indo-Jamaican upbringing and her US-Kentucky life.

Mary Anna Evans

While novelist Mary Anna Evans believes that studying writing is "very valuable," she also advises writers "to go out and live your life." She says that "all experience is useful" in writing. And she should know. Mary Anna's books have drawn on her former engineering career and her interest in archaeology, among other experiences.  Mary Anna's favorite writing prompt will help writers of all backgrounds and genres explore setting. She's successfully used it with fiction and nonfiction students and even environmental architecture students. About Mary Anna Evans Mary Anna Evans [https://maryannaevans.com/] is an award-winning author with a PhD in English literature, a handy background for writing The Dark Library [https://with.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/public/search/results?qu=the+dark+library+mary+anna+evans&te=], the story of a woman menaced by her dead father, a literature professor whose rare book collection holds the secret to escaping him. Her crime fiction has earned recognition including two Oklahoma Book Awards, the Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award, the Mississippi Author Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. In addition to writing crime fiction, she writes about crime fiction, as evidenced by the Edgar, Agatha, Macavity, and HRF Keating Award-nominated Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie, co-edited with J.C. Bernthal. Bloomsbury will publish her Agatha Christie and the 20th Century Woman: Rewriting Female Justice in 2027.