In the Atelier is a creativity podcast for writers & artists that explores the life of the imagination. Each installment brings you real talk on subjects like the highs & lows of making art, inspiring works of literature & cinema, and the value & valor of staying true to your own creative vision. Produced by the award-winning literary press Atelier26 Books; hosted by author, publisher, & teacher M. Allen Cunningham.
Answering 10 Questions About Atelier26 Books & Small Publishing
ANSWERING 10 QUESTIONS ABOUT ATELIER26 BOOKS & SMALL PUBLISHING: Atelier26 publisher M. Allen Cunningham was recently invited to respond to 10 questions about independent publishing from a group of students at a distinguished private college. What are the advantages, for a writer, in publishing with a small press rather than a mainstream publisher? Besides size, what differentiates a small press from a larger house? What made you want to start Atelier26? How do you balance your work as a writer and your work as a publisher? In this recording, Cunningham gives open and thoughtful replies to these questions and more. You won't often hear an editor or publisher speak this frankly.
27 Mar 2023
ATELIER VISIT: Writer Ann Stinson
ATELIER VISIT WITH WRITER ANN STINSON: Recently we listened back through all of our ATELIER VISIT installments and, wow, it's a series just too damn good to leave scattered and languishing in the depths of our episode archives. So, for your pleasure, dear listener, we're gathering all these episodes together and running them back to back. These aren't interviews -- they're more intimate and creative than that -- and they're all unique in form and focus. Each is an atmospheric journey into the brilliant imaginative mind, process, and working environment of an artist sure to inspire you. You're welcome!
ANN STINSON is the author of the memoir The Ground at My Feet: Sustaining a Family and a Forest (Oregon State University Press, 2021), a Finalist for the 2023 Oregon Book Award. In this visit, she takes us outside, amid the trees of her family's forest in southwest Washington. In her writing, Stinson veers away from the narcissistic conventions of contemporary memoir to give us a book that is brilliantly capacious in spirit and form. Deeply personal, attuned to the big issues, and yet lastingly artful, The Ground at My Feet is an emotionally resonant family portrait and also a deliciously complex journey through time, strata, and culture. It's a nature book for the jaded urbanite, a grief report for the saccharine-allergic, and an account of transformational forest stewardship imbued with reverence and realism. Mentioned in this episode: the Cowlitz River; Mt. Rainier; the Columbia River; Douglas Firs; saw-whet owl; the stories of the forest; Richard Powers's book The Overstory; tree stumps and tree rings; the Cowlitz tribe; being alive to the possibilities of the future and the past; understanding the past anew; Thas-e-muth; Simon Plamondon; the literary utility of coat pockets; Rite in the Rain notebook; walking a trail for 50 years; Himalayan Blackberry; losing oneself to one's work; listening to the land. Music: "Walking in Forests" by Ben Winwood; "Godnattsaga" by Beneath the Mountain; "Empty Beaches" by Paper Planes (All music used courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)
20 Mar 2023
ATELIER VISIT: Filmmaker & Pixar Screenwriter Jason Headley
ATELIER VISIT WITH FILMMAKER & PIXAR SCREENWRITER JASON HEADLEY: Recently we listened back through all of our ATELIER VISIT installments and, wow, it's a series just too damn good to leave scattered and languishing in the depths of our episode archives. So, for your pleasure, dear listener, we're gathering all these episodes together and running them back to back. These aren't interviews -- they're more intimate and creative than that -- and they're all unique in form and focus. Each is an atmospheric journey into the brilliant imaginative mind, process, and working environment of an artist sure to inspire you. You're welcome!
Jason Headley is the writer and director of the feature film A Bad Idea Gone Wrong (https://jasonheadley.com/ABIGW.html), which won a Special Jury Prize at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and which you can view online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDNHAv-YvZU). Headley also wrote Pixar's feature films Lightyear (https://jasonheadley.com/LY.html) (2022) and Onward (https://jasonheadley.com/ON.html) (2020). Headley's short film work has been featured by NBC’s Today Show, Sundance TV, and the TED conference. He created the viral short film It’s Not About the Nail (https://jasonheadley.com/INATN.html), in which he also acted, and also created the viral short film F*ck That: an Honest Meditation (https://jasonheadley.com/FT.html), and the accompanying F*ck That book (https://bookshop.org/books/f-ck-that-an-honest-meditation/9781101907238) and F*ck That app (https://apps.apple.com/app/id1059195733). But these are only few of his projects. You can find out more about them and many others at jasonheadley.com (https://jasonheadley.com/).
Mentioned in this episode: purposeful emptiness; letting the story be the distraction; West Virginia; Green Bay Packers; yard sales in San Francisco; an old man and his microwave; not adorning the inoperative; Pixar's "Onward"; cake then icing; getting the reason right; getting down in the rhubarb; perspective versus intention; weirdly angled notions; keeping it simple; Headley's film "A Bad Idea Gone Wrong"; being stuck in one's own life; South by Southwest Film Festival; South by Southwest Special Jury Prize for "A Bad Idea Gone Wrong"; hot buttered chaos; being a night person; Pixar working hours; making use of the day; the guilt of not writing; story-building and cards; Pixar telecommuting; Mural digital workspace; extra wide monitors; the incredible power of procrastination; kicking one's own ass; getting the document open; tinkering; just sort of doing it; writing versus surgery; existentialism; narcissism; fear of failure; guitar playing; joyous noise; pork parts.
Music: "Working the Fields" by James Paul Mitchell; "In Awe" by Evolv; "Reborn" by Swirling Ship; "Cold (instrumental)" by Anthony Lazaro; "Make Me Mad (instrumental)" by Ofrin (All music used courtesy of the artists through a licensing agreement with Artlist)
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