In 2016, Sean Padraic McCarthy won a Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Fiction/Creative Nonfiction. As he gets ready to publish his debut novel, In the Midst of the Sea on May 1, 2019, we asked him about his new book, the difficult balance of work+life+art, and what's next in his intriguing trajectory as a literary artist. What came first for In the Midst of the … [Read more...]
Interviews
Jodie Michael: Sticking With It
Jodie Michael is a drummer currently studying in the Global Jazz Masters program at Berklee College of Music. ArtSake recently caught up with her to learn more about her experiences as a student and being a jazz instrumentalist. Why drums? Why not drums?! The drums were always an instrument I felt a connection to, prior to making it my career. When I decided to take it up I … [Read more...]
Tracy Strauss: I Just Haven’t Met You Yet
Writer Tracy Strauss is about to publish her debut book, I Just Haven't Met You Yet (Skyhorse Publishing, May 2019), an "open love letter" to her future life partner. It's a memoir about relationships, reckoning with abuse, and finding a way to seen and understood. The book - and its journey to publication - is also a remarkable story of persistence and commitment as an … [Read more...]
Iconoclast of Dance: Adrienne Hawkins
On our podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, choreographer and master teacher Adrienne Hawkins discusses the field of dance – how the making of, and support for, the work has changed over time, its persistent challenges, and its inherent joys. … [Read more...]
Susan Bernhard on Her Debut Novel Winter Loon
In 2014, Susan Bernhard submitted a 23-page section from her novel-in-progress Winter Loon for the Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Fiction/Creative Nonfiction. In May of that year, she learned she was one of the eight prose writers who had received a $10,000 grant. Now, four and a half years later, she's just published Winter Loon, which was an Amazon First Reads … [Read more...]