Jayne Anne Phillips, author of SMALL TOWN GIRLS

About this episode

Jayne Anne Phillips discusses her latest memoir-in-essays, SMALL TOWN GIRLS, and her experiences as a writer.

Jayne Anne Phillips has been on the podcast at least three times. First in 2000, with her novel MotherKind. Again in 2014 with Quiet Dell, and the last time in 2023 with Night Watch, before it was announced as the Pulitzer Prize winner. Raymond Carver pronounced her first story collection Black Tickets “stories unlike any in our literature…a crooked beauty” and established Jayne Anne as a writer “in love with the American language.” She published that collection in 1979 when she was only 26. She was praised by Nadine Gordimer as “the best short story writer since Eudora Welty” and Black Tickets has since become a classic of the short story genre. She’s also the author of Machine Dreams, Fast Lanes, Shelter, Lark and Termite, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2009. Her latest memoir-in-essays, Small Town Girls, is comprised of 22 pieces tackling everything from the profoundly personal to the historical and sociological. We learn the backstory behind the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys and the long and complicated history of West Virginia. We learn about Jayne Anne’s close relationship with her mother, her experiences with religion, abortion, a mass…

People in this episode

Hosts: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Marrie Stone

Guest: Jayne Anne Phillips

Topics covered

• writing
• memoir
• American literature
• personal experiences
• historical context
• short stories

Keywords

• Jayne Anne Phillips
• SMALL TOWN GIRLS
• memoir
• writing
• American literature
• short stories
• Black Tickets
• Pulitzer Prize

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: SMALL TOWN GIRLS, MotherKind, Quiet Dell, Night Watch, Black Tickets, Machine Dreams, Fast Lanes, Shelter, Lark and Termite

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