Okie Bookcast
The Okie Bookcast is dedicated to helping curious readers like you find your next great read by connecting you to Oklahoma authors and stories. The show features monthly interviews with contributors to the reading life of Oklahoma - it might be an author, publisher, librarian, reader, bookseller, or other figure. In addition to interviews, the show has a monthly book conversation full of reviews and recommendations. New episodes drop on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Connect with Okie Bookcast on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok - @okiebookcast.
Okie Bookcast
Historical Fiction with Award-Winning Oklahoma Author, Rilla Askew
My guest for Chapter 30 of the Bookcast is Rilla Askew.
Rilla is the author of five novels, a book of stories, and a collection of creative nonfiction, MOST AMERICAN: NOTES FROM A WOUNDED PLACE, which was long-listed for the PEN/America Award for the Art of the Essay. She’s a PEN/Faulkner finalist, recipient of the Western Heritage Award, Oklahoma Book Award, and a 2009 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her novel about the Tulsa Race Massacre, FIRE IN BEULAH, received the American Book Award in 2002. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in AGNI, Tin House, World Literature Today, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and elsewhere. In addition to writing, Rilla currently teaches creative writing in the English Department at the University of Oklahoma.
Her latest novel, PRIZE FOR THE FIRE, published by OU Press, is about the Early Modern English martyr Anne Askew.
In our conversation we talk about Prize for the Fire and about the challenges of writing a historical fiction biography. We also discuss the themes of strong women in difficult circumstances and religion across all of Rilla’s work. Finally, Rilla provides some incredible advice for emerging authors that I think you’ll find really encouraging.
E. Joe Brown provides our review for this chapter. Joe’s latest novel "A Cowboy's Destiny" released in August and has made several best seller lists in Oklahoma. In support of the book, he launched three book signing tours across Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico this fall. Joe has been a guest on several radio programs in Oklahoma and New Mexico, most recently appearing on the LA Talk Radio program Rendezvous with The Writer.
Joe is reviewing Chandler is Dead by Robert D. Kidera.
Mentioned on the Show:
Nimrod International Journal
Fire in Beulah - Rilla Askew
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
Strange Business - Rilla Askew
The Mercy Seat - Rilla Askew
The Hummingbird's Daughter - Luis Alberto Urrea
Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc - Katherine J. Chen
A Cowboy's Destiny - E. Joe Brown
Chandler is Dead - Robert D. Kidera
Music by JuliusH
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