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The Chills at Will Podcast is a celebration of the visceral beauty of literature. This beauty will be examined through close reads of phrases and lines and passages from fiction and nonfiction that thrills the reader, so much so that he wants to read again and again to replicate that thrill. Each episode will focus on a different theme, such as "The Power of Flashback," "Understatement," "Cats in the Cradle," and "Chills at Will: Origin Story."
Episodes
Monday Dec 07, 2020
Monday Dec 07, 2020
Show Notes and Links to Kai Adia’s Work
The Depths of Anima-buy Kai’s poetry collection!
Talking Points/Authors/Books Mentioned and Allusions Referenced During the Episode:
Kai talks about the beautiful diversity and vibrancy of LA, and how growing up in LA has informed her writing-at about 2:20
Kai talks about her parents’ encouraging her artistic and cultural experiences through trips to museums and being artists themselves-at about 3:10
Kai talks about “art” in her life-its meanings, its iterations, and some artists who have inspired her-at about 4:30
Kai talks about her artistry in terms of visual arts/fine arts/writing-at about 6:00
Kai talks about gravitating towards science-fiction and fantasy and surrealism in arts of all types, and her gradual shift to-about 7:15
Pete and Kai talks unibrows and the genius of Frida Kahlo-at about 8:35
Kai talks about reading inside and outside of school in finding great works of literature-at about 9:15
Kai talks about discovering the wondrous Octavia Butler in middle school, first through Fledgling, and how Kai herself came to discover through reading Butler’s works that she “had many stories inside of [her]-at about 10:15
Kai shouts out Cathy’s Key, a fun text in Kai’s life-at about 11:15
Shout out to the great Lynell George and her recent portrait of Octavia Butler, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler-at about 12:00
Kai continues to talk about the “chills at will” that come from Octavia Butler, who “can take you so many places” and what is now known as Afrofuturism; Kai loves how she could “imagine the story with a person that looked like [me].”-at about 13:30
Kai talks about the tender and beautiful and complex sci-fi of Tracey K. Smith, especially Life on Mars-at about 15:15
Kai talks about Afrofuturism and its meanings and its connections to the arts of all types-at about 16:30
Pete asks Kai to convince him, a sci-fi dissenter, that sci-fi is worth reading; and she succeeds!-at about 18:10
Kai references Lovecraft Country and The Watchmen as examples of the vast array of themes available in a more open-ended view of science fiction’s possibilities-at about 21:00
Kai explains the sci-fi power of the two shows above and Get Out’s (perhaps tangential) link to sci-fi/Afrofuturism/speculative fiction-at about 22:10
Pete and Kai talk Get Out and Star Wars and allegory and Lovecraft Country and their thematic/genre-based flexibility-at about 23:50
Kai shouts out the chill-inducing and weird and original writing of Haruki Murakami, especially Norwegian Wood-at around 26:00
Kai cites the tremendous work of Tomi Adeyemi, especially Children of Blood and Bone, and Laney Taylor’s work, like Strange the Dreamer, which deals with intergenerational trauma-at around 27:40
Kai talks about the wonderful writing of N.K. Jemisin and her “fun” book from the disastrous 2020, The City We Became
Kai talks about Writegirl, the incredible LA-based organization which both Pete and Kai have great experiences with-at around 30:40
Kai talks about the importance of the mentorship and female-centric ethic of Writegirl and how it opened so many possibilities in her mind-at around 38:10
Pete asks about the meaning of The Depths of Anima, Kai’s poetry collection-at around 40:50
Kai talks about the poetry collection, including its history as a set of ideas and its construction, including the culture of the “zine,” as she experienced at Claremont-at around 43:00
Kai talks about balancing the solitude needed to write well with the idea of workshopping and sharing work in social situations-at around 44:20
Kai talks about the importance of a writing “safe space” that she learned throughout her life, particularly with Writegirl-at around 45:25
Pete asks Kai if she has a target audience, and if so, who?-at around 48:00
Kai talks about some of the positive feedback she has received about her poetry collection, including from the great Keren Taylor, the founder of Writegirl, and Nia McAllister, dynamic poet and museum professional-at around 49:50
Kai reads from her poetry collection, The Depths of Anima-at around 52:25
Pete talks about cenotes with connection to Jean Guerrero’s incredible work, Crux-at about 59:00
Kai talks about the challenges and triumphs of being a writer in 2020-at about 1:01:20
Kai talks about future projects for her and Bee Infinite Publishing, which she co founded, including challenging future writers to add to an upcoming anthology from the lens of “What kind of future do you want for our world?”-at about 1:04:15
If you have enjoyed The Chills at Will Podcast, pause your podcast player right now, and go to Apple Podcasts to leave me a nice review.
You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Spotify and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1.
This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.
The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.
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