Arts & Letters

On this episode Arts & Letters, we journey into the world of dreams and psychoanalysis with professor Elissa Marder. An expert in Freud and his Interpretation of Dreams, Marder serves as Chair of the Department of French and Italian and Interim Director of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program at Emory University.  

The show airs Friday, June 22 at 7:00pm cst and Sunday, June 24 at 9:00pm on KUAR and affliated stations.

“…the dream, which separates things and breaks them down, creates the new.” Charles Baudelaire

In this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with musicians and authors, Kelly and Donna Mulhollan about Kelly's book, True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley.

Kelly Mulhollan has collected a number of hand-crafted instruments and documented Ed Stilley’s life and work in the book, giving us a glimpse into a singular life of austere devotion. 

Born in the 1930, Ed Stilley is a farmer in Hogscald Hollow, Arkansas. In 1979, while plowing his field, Stilley was overcome with what felt like a heart attack.

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with Northeast Arkansas Delta writer Talya Tate Boerner. Her novel The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, published by Southern Yellow Pine Press, focuses on the Abbott family, torn apart by illness, who find the strength in salvation that comes with facing down one's demons.  

This episode will air Friday May 25 at 7 pm (CST) and Sunday May 27 at 9 pm (CST)  on KUAR 89.1.  

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with novelist Luis Urrea The House of Broken Angels, published by Little Brown, is a meditation on life and death. Two brothers, Big Angel and Little Angel grapple with "the duties of those who grow old together and share the same grave had not been fulfilled" (from poet Issa).

Urrea says, "Big Angel was late to his own mother's funeral.  What kind of Mexican did that?"

This episode will air Friday May 11 at 7 pm (CST) and Sunday May 13 at 9 pm (CST)  on KUAR 89.1. 

In this episode we speak with comic book creator and illustrator Gustav Carlson. His book series Eve of the Ozarks Girl & Goat follows the adventures of Eve, her Pa, and her best friend-- a silent goat Hieronymus.

Together, they fight the one-horned elk to save the bluff, try to cheer up the sad sap, and stop the thunderbird from making so much noise. Eve's father, Pa Duncan, can do no more than to shake his head, play his fiddle, and ground Eve when warranted. 

They passed her between branches.

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with the Miller Brothers--Josh and Miles--and producer Kathryn Tucker and cinematographer Gabe Mayhan.

The team discusses the trials and tribulations of making quality independent films in the mid-south. This includes conversations about script writing, directing, producing and cinematography.

This episode airs on Friday, April 13 at 7 pm CST and on Sunday, April 15 at 9 pm CST on KUAR 89.1. 

Gotta Catch That Train: The History of The Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas

This program will air on Friday, March 23 at 7 p.m. CST and Sunday, March 25 at 9 p.m. CST on KUAR. 

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with reporter, KUAR news director,  photographer, and writer Michael Hibblen about his independent project of chronicling the Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas. We also hear from former Rock Island employees, Joe Rook, L.T. Walker, and Guy Winters, he has interviewed over the years and railroad historian, Bill Pollard. 

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with creative writing professor John Vanderslice. His book The Last Days of Oscar Wilde, published by Burlesque Press, is a glimpse into the notorious life of the writer and the friends who filled his last days.

Vanderslice writes about Wilde's lesser known years: his book is a fictional account of 1898--1900, which takes up after the scandal, after the trial, and after his poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with memoirist Michelle Kuo.

Reading With Patrick, published by Random House, is about a teacher, a student, and a life-changing friendship.

This episode “The Delta, Full of Stars” chronicles Kuo’s story of moving to Helena, Arkansas for Teach for America to work at an alternative school, Stars Academy School.

Listen to the episode:

On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with writer Stewart O'Nan about his historical novel, West of Sunset. 

Published by Viking, the novel is a fictional account, beginning in 1937, of the last three years of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's life.

It weaves a tale of his notorious romp through Hollywood; his affair with gossip columnist, Sheilah Graham; his attempts to salvage his writing career; and whatever was left of his marriage to Zelda, locked away in an asylum.

O'Nan writes:

“Dearest Heart,