Susannah Felts

Nashville

Writer, Editor, Teacher at Freelance

Fic & essays in @lithub, @vol1brooklyn, @catapultstory, @longreads, @guernicamag, @oxfordamerican, @wigleaf. Cofounder of @porchtn, a literary center. she/her

Articles

Finding a Friend Beneath the Poetree

1 month ago | chapter16.org | Julie Danielson |Susannah Felts |Davis Shoulders |Mary Emily Butt

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: This interview originally appeared on March 21, 2019. ***Can you love a tree so much that it loves you back? Sylvia, the young protagonist of Shauna LaVoy Reynolds’s Poetree, is convinced it’s possible and attaches an original ode to spring around the trunk of her favorite birch. When she receives a poem in return, it puts a lift in her step to know the tree has written back.
Crystal Wilkinson on ‘Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts’

Oct 16, 2024 | nashvillescene.com | Susannah Felts

Hailing from Indian Creek, Ky., Crystal Wilkinson is the author of three works of fiction, a collection of poetry and now, a culinary memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes From Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. A banquet of voices, memories, imagination and archival photographs, the new book features dimensions of all Wilkinson’s prior works, each of them rich in sense of place. A former poet laureate of Kentucky, Wilkinson answered questions by email.
Quietly Determined

Sep 15, 2024 | chapter16.org | Susannah Felts

Lizzie Craig, the quiet, determined young woman at the heart of Margot Livesey’s The Road to Belhaven, discovers at age 10 that she possesses powers of clairvoyance. When her grandmother Flora, unaware of Lizzie’s gift of second sight, tells her that to attempt to know the future is “the devil tempting us,” Lizzie learns to keep quiet about her “pictures,” as she calls them, even as they guide her way.
She’s on the Bird

Apr 22, 2024 | chapter16.org | Susannah Felts

Amy Tan, a devoted backyard birdwatcher, frequently has questions for her avian visitors, some answerable, some not. For example: Are they fleeing fires north of where she lives in Sausalito, California, and taking refuge in her backyard? Do birds frown? Do certain goldfinch movements signal an impending attack of another finch? Why are certain birds feeding in certain locations, in certain ways — is it a dominance ritual, or just their mood?
Review: Crystal Wilkinson on her new culinary memoir, ‘Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts’

Feb 24, 2024 | timesfreepress.com | Susannah Felts

Advertisement Advertisement Review: Crystal Wilkinson on her new culinary memoir, ‘Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts’ Today at 12:00 p.m. by Susannah Felts / Chapter16.org Photo by Carsen Bryant / Crystal Wilkinson "PRAISESONG FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS: STORIES AND RECIPES FROM FIVE GENERATIONS OF BLACK COUNTRY COOKS" by Crystal Wilkinson (Clarkson Potter, 256 pages, $30).
Honoring Grief, History, and Family

Jan 30, 2024 | chapter16.org | Susannah Felts

Hailing from Indian Creek, Kentucky, Crystal Wilkinson is the author of three works of fiction, a collection of poetry, and now, a culinary memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. A banquet of voices, memories, imagination, and archival photographs, the new book features dimensions of all Wilkinson’s prior works, each of them rich in sense of place.
Book review of Breathe by Jean Hall

Jan 16, 2024 | bookpage.com | Susannah Felts

Last year I told everyone who would listen about a book I was reading—Breath by James Nestor—and how radically it had impacted my thinking. Most of us breathe poorly, and it’s a real problem. Another excellent, easy-to-browse resource to get your breathing back on track is Jean Hall’s Breathe: Simple Breathing Techniques for a Calmer, Happier Life. You might think of it as the “now do this” counterpart to Nestor’s researched narrative.
Book review of 1000 Words by Jami Attenberg

Jan 8, 2024 | bookpage.com | Susannah Felts

If you want to write a book, you need to know the name Jami Attenberg. A bestselling novelist and memoirist, Attenberg has gathered more than 30,000 followers for her #1000wordsofsummer project over the past several years. It’s a two-week online accountability sprint, during which she sends quick pep talks—her own and those of author friends—to motivate legions of fellow scribes, who in turn lift each other up online.
Book review of Black TV by Bethonie Butler

Dec 25, 2023 | bookpage.com | Susannah Felts

“I’m rooting for, uhmmm, everybody Black,” said actor/writer/producer and “Insecure” creator Issa Rae at the 2017 Emmy Awards.
The Natural Home Wheel of the Year

Dec 17, 2023 | bookpage.com | Susannah Felts

As I’ve become interested in observing pagan holidays, or sabbats, such as Yule and Mabon, Raechel Henderson’s The Natural Home Wheel of the Year: Crafting, Cooking, Decorating & Magic for Every Sabbat feels right on time. “The sabbats give us a new station roughly every 45 days, at which we can pause and notice the world around us,” she writes.