PODCAST
Dead Parents Society
by Jamie-Lee Josselyn
Dead Parents Society is a series from the Kelly Writers House about writing about the loss of a parent, hosted by University of Pennsylvania creative writing instructor Jamie-Lee Josselyn. We are particularly interested in emerging writers who experienced their loss at a young age and whose writing and world view have been shaped, at least in part, by this. Our goal is to have frank, open conversation on a topic that many of us learned to be quiet or guarded about.
Episodes
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Episode 24: Stephen Fried on "Dead Fathers Society"
Stephen Fried (@stephen_fried), a journalist, author of many books, and adjunct faculty member at Columbia and Penn joins Jamie-Lee to read and discuss his essay, "Dead Fathers Society," from his 2007 collection Husbandry. Stephen and Jamie-Lee discuss the nature of these respective societies and...
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Episode 23: Michelle Chikaonda on "Song for my Father"
Michelle Chikaonda (@machikaonda), a nonfiction writer from Malawi currently living and working in Philadelphia, joins Jamie-Lee and brilliant pal Izzy Lopez to read and discuss her essay, "Song for My Father" from The Pennsylvania Gazette. Michelle elaborates on the role that faith and music...
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Episode 22: Hope Edelman on The AfterGrief
This episode is the audio recording from a virtual event held at the Kelly Writers House on November 18, 2020, featuring Hope Edelman, author of the new book The AfterGrief, as well as the widely successful and impactful book Motherless Daughters, and seven other nonfiction books. Hope and...
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Episode 21: Taylor Hosking on Covid loss and support from women of color
Taylor Hosking (@Taylor__Hosking), a culture journalist and podcast producer, joins Jamie-Lee to discuss her recent piece from The Guardian about how she turned to fellow women of color after her mother's death from Covid-19. They discuss the recent, ongoing nature of this loss in combination…
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Episode 20: Isabella Simonetti's reflection on writing about loss during a pandemic
Isabella Simonetti, a current student at the University of Pennsylvania and the President of The Daily Pennsylvanian, joins Jamie-Lee for DPS's first Zoom episode. They discuss the writing Isabella has produced in an independent study at Penn about her mother's death from breast cancer, and how…
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Episode 19: Gianna DeMedio on "Sixty-Three" and So Sorry For Your Loss
Gianna DeMedio, host of the podcast and blog So Sorry for Your Loss, joins Jamie-Lee to read and discuss her essay "Sixty-Three," about her discovery that several members of her family died at the same age, as well as the ordinary rituals of grief like a visit to the cemetery. She and Jamie-Lee...
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Episode 18: DPS featured on "Live at the Writers House" on WXPN
This special episode of Dead Parents Society was recorded before a live audience at the Kelly Writers House and aired on WXPN, the public radio station at the University of Pennsylvania, in November 2019. Hosted as always by Jamie-Lee Josselyn, this episode features work by Emily Harnett, Zoe...
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Episode 17: Rachel Levy Lesser on "Hair Pulled Back in a Twilly"
Rachel Levy Lesser, author of Life's Accessories: A Memoir and Fashion Guide, joins Jamie-Lee and Darcy Walker Krause, Executive Director of the Uplift Center for Grieving Children. The three of them discuss an essay from Rachel's new collection called "Hair Pulled Back in a Twilly," which is…
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Episode 16: Molly O'Neill on "Parts of a Life""
Molly O'Neill, a Los Angeles-based yoga instructor, writer, and longtime friend of the Kelly Writers House community reads from her essay "Parts of a Life" from YogaPoetica.com and discusses the piece with Jamie-Lee and DPS brilliant pal Anna Strong Safford. In their conversation, they discuss…
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Episode 15: Solomon Mussing on "Letter to My Father"
Solomon Mussing, who also goes by the name L'Hussen Toure, an alum of the Summer Workshop for Young Writers at the Kelly Writers House, talks with Jamie-Lee about his piece "Letter to My Father," a memoir in the style of direct-address that he wrote to his father, who died by suicide. They…
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Episode 14: Anna Strong Safford on "because my memories"
In our Season 2 premiere, Anna Strong Safford, instructor and curriculum specialist at Penn, joins Jamie-Lee and DPS brilliant pal Molly O'Neill to read and discuss her poem "because my memories" from her manuscript bled. Anna's poem inspires a conversation about the use of earthly (and, indeed,...
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Episode 13: Rebecca Soffer of Modern Loss
Rebecca Soffer, co-author of the book Modern Loss and co-founder of ModernLoss.com, joins Jamie-Lee and others in the Kelly Writers House garden for a live reading and conversation about writing about grief, the community that comes from it, and the various emotions and moods that this writing…
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Episode 12: John Culhane on "Little Mirrors of Mortality"
Slate.com contributor and Widener Law professor John Culhane joins Jamie-Lee and Maya to read and discuss his piece "Little Mirrors of Mortality," which is from the perspective of a parent realizing his mortality in his children's eyes. Our usual perspective is flipped, in a sense, to great…
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Episode 11: Arielle Brousse on "Grief Beach"
Arielle Brousse, author of the TinyLetter "Grief Beach" joins Jamie-Lee, Maya, and Sabrina to discuss how she came to write a weekly letter to friends and others about her difficult year of loss and how the form of a TinyLetter has impacted her writing, her grieving, and her relationships. They...
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Episode 10: Jamie-Lee Josselyn on "When News of a Suicide Comes During Memoir Class"
Bassini Apprentices Maya Arthur and Sabrina Qiao interview Jamie-Lee Josselyn on her essay, "When News of a Suicide Comes During Memoir Class" from LitHub in September 2016. They discuss how personal history and the writing that comes from it converges with and remains separate from the work of a...
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Episode 9: Jess Bergman on "The Difficult Business of Dying"
Jess Bergman (@jesslbergman), Features Editor at Literary Hub, joins Jamie-Lee, Maya, and Sabrina to discuss her essay "The Difficult Business of Dying" from The New Republic in December 2017. In the essay, Jess weaves together her own experience of mourning her father with Caitlin Doughty's book...
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Episode 8: Catherine Ricketts on "Eloquent Limbs" and "Books to be Buried In"
Essayist and songwriter Catherine Ricketts (http://catherinedanaricketts.com/) joins Jamie-Lee, Maya, and Sabrina to discuss her essay "Eloquent Limbs" and her song "Books to be Buried In," which she also performs. Cat, who joined us for our live event in April, discusses how she decides to...
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Episode 7: Victoria Ford on "Elegy for Clitoris"
The poet and essayist Victoria Newton Ford joins Jamie-Lee, Maya, and Sabrina to discuss her poem "Elegy for Clitoris" from Connotation Press. Victoria has said that she writes "to tell the truth, and the truth is often hideous. And though it feels good to write, I don't write to make the reader...
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Episode 6: Scott Gould and Jamie-Lee Josselyn on the pedagogy of writing about difficult experience
Jamie-Lee talks with the writer Scott Gould, who is the director of creative writing at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, about how he approaches working with high school students who are facing difficult personal material, including, but not limited to loss and...
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Episode 5: Jamie-Lee Josselyn and Kristen Martin on Hope Edelman's "Motherless Daughters"
Jamie-Lee Josselyn (@jljosselyn) and Kristen Martin (@kwistent) discuss Hope Edelman's 1994 book Motherless Daughters, which has remained successful in the more than 2 decades since its release. Jamie-Lee and Kristen, whose mothers died from suicide and cancer respectively, discuss the book's…
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Episode 4: Kristen Martin on "Don't Cover Your Eyes"
Sabrina Qiao, Maya Arthur, and Jamie-Lee Josselyn gather with Kristen Martin (@kwistent) to discuss her essay "Don't Cover Your Eyes," from Catapult in 2016. Kristen's essay inspires conversation about how a television show -- in this case, HBO's Six Feet Under -- can help access grief, rather…
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Episode 3: Gabriel Ojeda-Sague on Where Everything Is In Halves
Jamie-Lee Josselyn gathers with Emily Harnett (@therealeharnett) and Maya Arthur (@maya_s_arthur) to discuss Where Everything Is In Halves by Gabriel Ojeda-Sague (@hadeejasouffle) published by Be About It Press. Gabe reads a selection from the chapbook and then joins the conversation about…
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Episode 2: Recorded live from Kelly Writers House
This episode was recorded live at the Kelly Writers House on April 16, 2018 at Dead Parents Society's Beltran Family Teaching Award Program. Jamie-Lee hosts the writers Catherine Ricketts, Seth Laracy, Mingo Reynolds, Isabella Simonetti, and Anna Strong who each read a piece of writing about the...
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Episode 1: Emily Harnett on "When Art Cannot Console Us in Death"
Jamie-Lee Josselyn (@jljosselyn) gathers with Gabriel Ojeda-Sague (@hadeejasouffle) and Sabrina Qiao to discuss "When Art Cannot Console Us in Death" by Emily Harnett (@therealeharnett) from Literary Hub. Emily reads the piece and then joins in on the conversation too, which covers everything…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Dead Parents Society is a series from the Kelly Writers House about writing about the loss of a parent, hosted by University of Pennsylvania creative writing instructor Jamie-Lee Josselyn. We are particularly interested in emerging writers who experienced their loss at a young age and whose writing and world view have been shaped, at least in part, by this. Our goal is to have frank, open conversation on a topic that many of us learned to be quiet or guarded about.
HOSTED BY
Jamie-Lee Josselyn
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Dead Parents Society have?
Dead Parents Society currently has 24 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Dead Parents Society about?
Dead Parents Society is a series from the Kelly Writers House about writing about the loss of a parent, hosted by University of Pennsylvania creative writing instructor Jamie-Lee Josselyn. We are particularly interested in emerging writers who experienced their loss at a young age and whose writing...
How often does Dead Parents Society release new episodes?
Dead Parents Society has 24 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Dead Parents Society?
You can listen to Dead Parents Society on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Dead Parents Society?
Dead Parents Society is created and hosted by Jamie-Lee Josselyn.
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