SoundPages Podcast

Maiah A Merino’s project for the 2026 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems that, in her own words “explores systemic contracts and agreements we have with those in our families as well as other societal...

Rasheena Fountain’s project for the 2026 Jack Straw Writers Program is a series of poems that represent her relationship with her place, history, and her relearning of those relationships. In her conversation with...

Ruth Marie Tomlinson‘s project for the 2026 Jack Straw Writers Program is a long-form non-fiction manuscript that delves into the river routes from Seattle, WA to Two Dot, Montana, and imagines what it would be...

Gabriella Garcia‘s project for the 2026 Jack Straw Writers Program is a series of poems, each overlaid on maps of rivers and mountains where the poems take place. In her conversation with curator Claudia Castro...

Jason Prokowiew’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a braided memoir about his Russian father’s adoption by the Nazis who murdered his family at the start of World War II, and the trauma he carried into...

Makayla Danielle Gay’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a series of poetry collages that combine poetry with archival film from her family. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they...

Mia Tong’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a mythology-inspired Young Adult adventure duology. The story revolves around a young adult named Vana, her caretaker who contracts an illness, and Vana’s...

Mateo Bracken’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a manuscript of Auburn, Washington’s settler colonial history in verse. In his conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss where he turned...

Connor Watkins-Xu’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a book of poems covering themes of trauma, depression, and struggling with faith, which he hopes will “carry emotions and revelation.” In his...

Hillary Behrman’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a novel called All Over the Place and a collection of short stories called Lake Effect that explore human care and intimacy in a world that breeds...

Nhatt Nichols’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a non-fiction graphic novel about the history of the Białowieża Forest, a World Heritage Area that sits between Poland and Belarus, and how the forest...

Sigrun Susan Lane’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems about her immigrant family and their origins in Iceland. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they discuss...

Jenny Harrington Lill’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a memoir about her late son, Ewan, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2018. In her conversation with...

Asha Dore’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is an autoethnography titled Gravity that focuses on weird crime in Florida, class, and neurodivergence. In her conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they...

Bill Hollands’s project for the 2025 Jack Straw Writers Program is a collection of poems that incorporate pop culture elements from his childhood. In his conversation with curator Kathleen Alcalá, they talk about the...