58 - Dante's Old South Radio Show (February 2024)

February 2024 Dante’s Old South Autumn Nicholas: (she/he/they/them) Autumn Nicholas is a gifted songwriter and performer who has amazed audiences around the country. Autumn is one of Music Forward Foundation's Emerging LGBTQ+ Artists for 2023 and one of Nashville Scene’s Country Music Almanac 2024 Artists to Watch. www.autumnnicholas.com Emily Strasser’s first book, Half-Life of a Secret, is a deeply researched memoir that traces her journey to reckon with the toxic legacies of secrecy of her grandfather’s work building nuclear weapons in the atomic city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Emily’s work has appeared in Catapult, Ploughshares, Guernica, Colorado Review, The Bitter Southerner, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Gulf Coast, among others. She was also the presenter of the 2020 BBC podcast “The Bomb.” www.emilystrasser.com Kayla Lookinghorse stands apart from other designers because of her hunkpapa/Itazipco Lakota/Dakota heritage and the way it is artfully woven into her designs. K. Lookinghorse is a contemporary brand that honors the designer’s heritage with an aesthetic specific to her tiospaye (family). Her signature symbols, three lines Horizontal pays homage to the past, present and future. As a mother, designer, artist, and tribal citizen, Kayla Lookinghorse has forged her own path by creating iconic printed dresses and signature jackets which are the cornerstone of the K.lookinghorse brand. Working toward bridging the gap and creating space for Authentic-Inspired Native design, not Native-Inspired. From her creations to your closest shop, her collections naturally empower through storytelling and design. www.klookinghorse.com Wilder Adkins is a folk musician, dad, librarian, and gardener from Birmingham, AL. He loves the weight of handmade quilts, and his songs are kind of heavy and comfortable like that. In late summer he can be found every day out by the fig tree scaring away the birds and looking for ripe fruit (for making jam). In winter, he retreats into a cave to sleep for three months and process all that he’s learned that year. He’s friendly, but you might have to speak to him first. His songs call on an array of influences but frequently touch on the topics of Hope & Sorrow, Faith & Doubt, and sometimes flowers. www.wilderadkins.com Ellen Bass’s poetry collections include Indigo, Like a Beggar, The Human Line, and Mules of Love. Among her awards are Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and The NEA, The Lambda Literary Award, and four Pushcart Prizes. With Florence Howe, she co-edited the first major anthology of women’s poetry, No More Masks! and she co-authored the groundbreaking, The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth—and Their Allies. A Chancellor Emerita of the Academy of American Poets, Bass founded poetry workshops at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Santa Cruz jails, and teaches in Pacific University’s MFA program.  www.ellenbass.com Special Thanks Goes to: Lucid House Press: www.lucidhousepublishing.com UCLA Extension Writing Program: www.uclaextension.edu The Crown: www.thecrownbrasstown.com Mercer University Press: www.mupress.org The Red Phone Booth: www.redphonebooth.com The host, Clifford Brooks’, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, Athena Departs, and Old Gods are available everywhere books are sold. His chapbook, Exiles of Eden, is only available through his website: www.cliffbrooks.com/how-to-order Check out his Teachable courses on thriving with autism and creative writing as a profession here: brooks-sessions.teachable.com/p/the-working-writer