On June 16th, 2020, poet, essayist, literary activist, and University of Central Florida MFA Creative Writing alumna Audi Barnes presents the We Have Voices inaugural event: WE HAVE NAMES: Reclaiming Black Bodies, which honored the lives of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd through poetry and prose.

Working Title Podcast brings you a selection of the event’s readings, along with commentary from event co-hosts Audi Barnes and Malcolm Kelly.

Episode Readings

[2:27] Erica Rudnick Macalintal A talented essayist and recent graduate of the University of Central Florida’s MFA program, Erica will soon find a home for her work.

Erica crafted an essay specifically for the We Have Voices reading that explores her blackness. During the reading, Erica shared two photographs of her mother while she read. We encourage our listeners to do the same.

[11:04] Jada A. Reyes A poet, artist, and abolitionist based in Central Florida, Jada’s work can be found in Kissing Dynamite Poetry, on the Working Title Podcast, and in Prolit Magazine.

Jada reads “Against the Police” by Miguel James, and “Having Coffee With You” by Frank O’Hara.

[14:40] Patrick Anderson Jr. A prolific essayist and author, Patrick’s work can be found on Amazon and on his website.

Patrick reads “Black Unicorns,” an essay from his website.

[23:55] Audi Barnes A poet, essayist, and literary activist, Audi is the creator of the WE HAVE VOICES reading series and publishes her work under a pen name.

Audi reads Gregory Pardlo’s poem “Written By Himself,” and her poems “Poplar Trees” and the popular “I Said What I Said.”

Additional Writers Featured at the Event

Melanie Farmer The first winner of the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s Crossover Award in literary nonfiction, Melanie has work is forthcoming in The Tampa Review.

Malcolm Kelly An accomplished spoken word artist and poet, Malcolm uses his voice to offend and upend colonized comfort. His work can be found wherever he takes the stage.

Jasmin Pittman Morrel A freelancing writing coach, workshop facilitator, and former producer for the Movies and Meaning film festival, Jasmin’s work can be found at The Porch where she serves as a writer and editor.

WE HAVE VOICES seeks to de-center the white experience and honor the lives of Black Americans being violently and publicly murdered across the U.S. WE HAVE VOICES has grown from a single reading into a reading series that will continue amplifying the voices of Black Creatives across the country, starting in our home base of Orlando, Florida.

Visit WE-HAVE-VOICES.com for more information about the organization, black owned businesses and organizations to support, and future reading events. Follow WE HAVE VOICES on Twitter and Facebook.

In part 2 of Women in the MFA, we discuss reading and teaching canonical and diverse texts, the emotional labor of women and marginalized groups inherent in workshop, an while as writers we all have the ability to craft characters outside of our own experiences, should we?

In case you missed it, catch up on this topic with How Men Write Women, Part I.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Join us as Nicole Pendleton sits down with MFA in Creative Writing candidates Nicole Balsamo, Audi Barnes, Rebecca Fox, and Becca Rowel. In part one of this two-part episode, the panel dives into the opinions and experiences of women in MFA programs especially as they relate to the way male authors frequently write female characters.

Join the conversation. Send your questions or comments to oped@workingtitlepod.com. Your comments may be used in a future show.

Love through the generations. 

The great love of female friendships. 

The arc of married love through a husband’s tight spiral. 

The beasts we become to love the people we shouldn’t love.

Today’s episode brings works of discovery, loss, and monsters. Joins us as Working Title presents: Love Letters. Featuring Jada Reyes, Kara Delemeester, Lorena Parker Matejowsky, and Sean Glatch.

Join us as we sit down with writer, game designer, and UCF MFA candidate Dez Deshaies to discuss autonarratives and how narrative gaming can inspire creative writing. After we chat with Dez, we’ll listen to 1000 Pigeons, a performance crafted through gaming.

Dez Deshaies is a writer and game designer from Chicago, IL. Recently, his work has been published in Menacing Hedge and exhibited at The Adler Planetarium. He is the series editor of Youth Voices, a compendium of writing by Chicago-area high school students, and he has developed playsets for Fiasco. 

He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from Brown University, and is currently pursuing a MFA in Creative Writing at The University of Central Florida. He is on Instagram and Twitter as @dezdeshaies. Find him at deshaies.org.

Join Nicole Pendleton for the conclusion of her chat with writer and University of Central Florida MFA in Creative Writing candidate, David K. Gibson, affectionately known as “Gib.” In Part II, their conversation includes his current work and the concept of writing as “play,” and where to find Gib and his work online.

David K. Gibson writes fiction, essays, and journalism, and he usually writes them sideways. His work is often experimental in form, and frequently touches on themes of grief and estrangement, souls adrift in a changing world, and oversized root vegetables. He has perhaps read too much Pynchon.

David K. Gibson
https://davidkgibson.com/

Jack Kerouac Project
Kerouac House, Orlando, FL
https://www.kerouacproject.org/

The Allen Ginsberg Project
“Kerouac-Cassidy”

Creative Writing in the Community
Terry Ann Thaxton

Kerouac Karaoke Readings:
Kyle Kubik reads Adam Byko
Madison Brake reads Lauren Gagnon
Constance Owens reads Laura Olhmann
Nicole Pendleton reads David K. Gibson

In this episode, Nicole Pendleton sits down with writer and University of Central Florida MFA in Creative Writing candidate, David K. Gibson, affectionately known as “Gib.” In Part I, their conversation weaves from his reading event project, Kerouac Karaoke, honoring the work of peers, and the potential benefits of literary citizenship and public readings in Orlando and the literary community at large.

David K. Gibson writes fiction, essays, and journalism, and he usually writes them sideways. His work is often experimental in form, and frequently touches on themes of grief and estrangement, souls adrift in a changing world, and oversized root vegetables. He has perhaps read too much Pynchon.

Part II of Kerouac Karaoke with David K. Gibson, available January 19, 2020.

David K. Gibson
https://davidkgibson.com/

Jack Kerouac Project
Kerouac House, Orlando, FL
https://www.kerouacproject.org/

The Allen Ginsberg Project
“Kerouac-Cassidy”

Creative Writing in the Community
Terry Ann Thaxton

Kerouac Karaoke Readings:
Adam Byko reads Sam Harden
Nicole Balsamo reads Becca Rowell
Gib reads Madison Brake
Caitlin Lochner reads Dez Deshaies
Marelize Roets reads W.H. Walker

An unexpected and dangerous guest arrives during a storm, and tries to strike a deal with their host.

A winter freeze brings perceptual and existential clarity, but in Florida such things never last long. 

A 3 A.M. trip down a quiet street during a blizzard yields discoveries old and new.

Join Working Title as we feature audio recordings submitted by writers from the University of Central Florida community—Meg Geren, Dr. Kevin Meehan, and Becca Rowell—on our Winter Solstice Episode. 

Join Working Title as writer and MFA Candidate Becca Rowell sits down with University of Central Florida MFA in Creative Writing Program Director and Poet Terry Ann Thaxton. Thaxton discusses the MFA program at UCF, experimentation and hybridity in writing, Literary Citizenship, tips for writers and MFA students, and failed furniture placement.

Terry Ann Thaxton is a fifth generation Floridian who spent most of her childhood roaming hundreds of acres of natural land surrounding her home. Many of the natural habitats are now gated communities or shopping centers. She still heads out to the woods every couple of days.