#19: David Dark 2016

Today’s episode features David Dark talking about “attention collections” at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Attention collections are memories, fears, even playful obsessions - anything that has left a deep impression on us. David encourages writers to examine these things in service of the question: What do I have in me that may be of use to someone else? David is the author of several books including The Gospel According to America and, most recently, Life’s Too Short to Pretend You’re Not Religious. And he teaches at both Belmont University and the Tennessee Prison for Women Charles Bass Correctional Facility. Sara Zarr was at the session in 2016 and joins me here to discuss why she appreciates David’s own collection of attention. Sara is the author of five novels for young adults, most recently The Lucy Variation. Her first book, Story of a Girl, was a National Book Award finalist and was recently made into a TV movie starring Kevin Bacon.Many thanks to David Dark. You can learn more about him at daviddark.org, and catch him on Twitter, @DavidDark, where he regularly comments on politics, pop culture, #liturgy. Thanks also to Sara Zarr. You can learn more about her at sarazarr.com. She’s also on Twitter, @sarazarrbooks.