The Laughing Couple Spin Native American Stories & Sketch Dreams

We were joined in the studio Oct. 7 by Laughing Couple Interactive Storytelling, featuring storyteller Carolyn Hunt and visual artist Rick Hunt.Together, they share tales in the Native Northeast Woodland Tradition with Rick creating spontaneous, improvisational murals as Carolyn shares the stories from memory, often improvising along the way.

For this visit, Carolyn brought an original story, told in in the style of Native American storytelling, that she says came to her in a dream in its finished form. As she read the story on WRUV, Rick pulled out a pen and began sketching away, producing the sketches you see below. It was a fun and dynamic visit.

Listen to the show here.

 

Rick sketches while Carolyn reads her original story

 

From their website:

The name of Laughing Couple was given to Rick and Carolyn by an Incan boy, named Joey, whom they befriended while attending a Powwow. The name stuck and became their “identity”. This name naturally carried forward when Rick and Carolyn began their storytelling venture in earnest.

 

The Laughing Couple and Daddo

 

When asked how they came about doing Native American storytelling together, the reply is always “This is the path the Creator has set us upon”. Both Rick and Carolyn feel that the stories and artwork they create goes far beyond simple entertainment. “This is a way for us to reach people who would not otherwise be exposed to our culture. We feel that we are not only representing and honoring our ancestors, but that we are also respecting and honoring our people as a “modern” entity”. The storytelling and artwork provide a friendly avenue for us to introduce the dominant culture to who we are and what we are.”

Rick’s background includes art studies at Franconia College, Massachusetts College of Art and Lesley College.  Carolyn also has an art education from Western New Mexico University, Franklin Pierce University and Keene State University.

The pair reside in Littleton, N.H., but regularly perform in Vermont.

In addition, Laughing Couple offers workshops in drawing and/or storytelling, as well as Artist In Residency programs.  A sampling of their venues includes schools, colleges, civic organizations, cultural programs, museums and two separate projects with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.  For more information, visit us atwww.laughingcouple.com or on Facebook.

Ben Aleshire invites readers into The Salon

Ben Aleshire, who earlier this year launched the local literary magazine The Salon, dropped by to give us a peak into the just-released second issue and to read some of his own poetry.

Click here to listen to the show.

Ben is a Burlington artist who grew up in the small Vermont hamlet of Wallingford. His poetry has recently appeared in Seven Days. Ben has traveled and photographed in 15 countries around the world, and exhibited throughout Vermont. Also an actor and musician, Ben has performed with the Bread & Puppet Theatre in Glover, VT, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennesee with Burlington’s Unbearable Light Cabaret, and toured in central America with the Mexican Circus, Cabaret Capricho.

Philip Baruth explores Politix of the Future

For our first live show of the year, we welcomed back our first guest ever, novelist Philip Baruth. In the midst of the political season, Philip took us back 1993’s The X President, a book-length satire that follows the desperate attempts of Bill Clinton, age 109, to re-write his historical legacy. The New York Times selected The X President as a Notable Book of 2003; the Washington Post described Philip and a small handful of others as “the newer new generation” of up-and-coming writers.

Philip’s most recent novel is The Brothers Boswell, a literary thriller that traces the famous friendship between James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, author of the first modern dictionary. The Washington Post selected Brothers Boswell as one of the Best Books of 2009.

Click here to listen to the show.

WRUVwriters: Summer 2010 Edition

During the summer, we air plenty of our most recent audio segments of Vermont WRiterliness. Check in at 90.1 Burlington at 10 a.m. each Thursday. You’ll love it.

Our new year starts Thursday, Sept. 16, when we’ll be joined again by our very first guest, Philip Baruth.

Chris Bohjalian reads from his new novel, “Secrets of Eden”

Esteemed Vermont author Chris Bohjalian rounded out our year  May 20, when he joined us in the studio to read from his brand new novel, Secrets of Eden.

Listen to the show.

Visit the author’s website.

Bohjalian’s other novels include the New York Times bestsellers, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before You Know Kindness, The Law of Similars and Midwives.

Chris won the New England Book Award in 2002, and his novel, Midwives, was a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, a Publishers Weekly “Best Book,” and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. His work has been translated into over 25 languages and twice become movies (“Midwives” and “Past the Bleachers”).

He has written for a wide variety of magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and theBoston Globe Sunday Magazine, and has been a Sunday columnist for Gannett’s Burlington Free Presssince 1992. Chris graduated from Amherst College, and lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.

Author Marc Estrin Probes the Issue of Anti-Semitism

Marc Estrin, co-founder and first coordinator of the Burlington Peace and Justice Center, has been engaged lately in thinking about some of the most recent manifestations of anti-Semitism: often from ultra-right Jews who target centrist rabbis and anyone who criticizes Israel. His musings led him to bring to the studio his 2005 book The Education of Arnold Hitler. He reads from the book and even shares his original, darker ending for this story about history, identity and anti-Semitism.

Listen to the show.

Read an excerpt from The Education of Arnold Hitler.

Visit Estrin’s website.

Marc Estrin is a writer and activist, living in Burlington.  His novels, Insect Dreams, The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, The Education of Arnold Hitler, Golem Song, and The Lamentations of Julius Marantz have won critical acclaim.  Insect Dreams was recently published in German by Parthas Verlag, Berlin. His memoir, Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer) won a 2004 theater book of the year award. Two novels, The Annotated Nose, and Skulk appeared in November 2008, and The Good Doctor Guillotin in September 2009. His Tsim-Tsum is forthcoming from Spuyten Duyvil Books. He is currently working on a novel about the dead Tchaikovsky. He helped found and was the first coordinator of the Burlington Peace and Justice Center, working on anti-war campaigns, and most recently has stood for more than eight years in all weather with a Monday-through-Friday peace vigil in Burlington.

UVM Students Present Their Polished Poetry

The University of Vermont

Throughout the semester, these 15 poets have been writing and revising their work in the advanced poetry class of Professor Isaac Cates. In this rapid-fire radio jam session, the poets proudly present their work. It’s worth a listen!

Listen to the show.

Professor Cates gave listeners some great tips about how to jump-start the poet inside. Check out those tips and the rest of the syllabus here.

Poet David Cavanagh rips rhymes and jamz jazz

Poet David Cavanagh

David Cavanagh joined us in the studio April 15 to share his poetry, both raw and with a soundtrack.

Cavanagh has done amazing work with PoJazz, a poetry/jazz group featuring Vermont poets and musicians. He works with the musicians as they work with him. And the poetry is pretty phenomenal to begin with.

Listen to the show.

Read poems from the show.

Hear PoJazz and other audio clips of Cavanagh’s poetry.

Visit Cavanagh’s Web site.

Cavanagh’s books of poems include Falling Body and The Middleman, both published by Salmon Poetry of Ireland.

David’s poems have appeared in leading journals in Canada, Ireland, the U.S., the U.K, and in several anthologies.  He has also given dozens of popular readings in Vermont and Canada, including last September’s Burlington Book Fest and the Painted Word Series at the Fleming Museum.

He performs with the poetry/jazz group, PoJazz, and appears on the group’s CD, Last Days. David has taught poetry and Canadian literature at a number of colleges in Vermont and Ontario.

A native of Montreal with dual Canadian/American citizenship, he has lived in Burlington since 1982.  His day job is co-director of the External Degree Program at Johnson State College.

Sarah Dillard & Amy Huntington Speak to Kid Readers and Adult Writers

Sarah Dillard and Amy Huntington, two Vermont writers and illustrators of childrens literature, joined us in the studio April 8 to share their work and provide insight into the world of writing for children.

Listen to the show.

See Sarah Dillard’s illustrations.

See Amy Huntington’s illustrations.

Sarah Dillard

Dillard has made her name as an illustrator of children’s books, but she’ll read from her 2009 book, which she wrote and illustrated: Perfectly Arugula.

For a special treat, listen to a full cast read Perfectly Arugula here.

Amy Huntington

Huntington likewise does both illustrations and stories. Ladybug Magazine published her first illustrated story in 1996. She will read from One Monday, her first picture book, which was published by Orchard Books (Scholastic Inc.) in 2001.

Live from the Painted Word: Issac Cates and Abby Paige

Issac Cates, UVM prof & poet

In a special on-site recording, Writers@WRUV traveled across campus to the Fleming Museum on March 31, 2010, to record Isaac Cates and Abby Paige, the night’s featured speakers at the Painted Word Poetry Series, a monthly event sponsored by Major Jackson.

Listen to the show here. It’s a great one

Abby Paige, Montreal poet & performer