Dead Writers takes listeners inside famous American authors’ homes. Riffing on literature, history, home décor, gardens, and ghosts, Tess Chakkalakal, associate professor of Africana studies and English and director of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, and Brock Clarke, A. Leroy Greason Professor of English, bring great American writers and the books they wrote back from the dead.
The first episode, “Secret Encounter: Harriet Beecher Stowe,” will air on Maine Public Radio at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, July 28, 2024.
Six more episodes will follow, one each week in the same time slot. Following the airing of each installment on Maine Public Radio, the episodes will be available on the and wherever you get your podcasts.
Dead Writers brings classic American authors back to life for a contemporary audience through a podcast series that takes listeners on a tour of literary homes, transporting them inside the houses in which the authors lived and wrote.
The first season is dedicated to Maine’s literary landscape and will highlight such authors as Harriet Beecher Stowe (Brunswick), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Portland), and Nathaniel Hawthorne (Raymond).
Chakkalakal says it was during her decade-long battle to preserve the Harriet Beecher Stowe House that she became fascinated with literary houses and the ways in which people interpreted these homes and used them for various purposes.
“I was surprised by the important role these houses played in bringing people from various backgrounds and experiences together,” says Chakkalakal. “That was quite amazing and interesting to follow as we met the people who worked and visited the houses.”
Using humor and storytelling, Chakkalakal and Clarke structure the first season's seven episodes as a guided conversation–talking to the people who take care of the houses and fellow visitors to give listeners a chance to get inside American literature and introduce these authors to a new generation.
"I hope the listeners will feel that it's like taking a road trip with people you know (that's Tess and me) to visit people you don't know (all the people who work at or visit or live near the writers' homes) and also the people you only think you know (the writers themselves)," said Clarke. "It's like any road trip, full of adventure and surprise, but better, because it's edited to cut out the tedium, the endless silences, the Cheetos dust everywhere, the bickering over the music. Well, some of the bickering."
Chakkalakal has published widely on nineteenth-century African American and American literature. She is the author of (Illinois, 2011) which earned the Robert K. Martin Prize for best book on American literature and "a must read" title designation by Choice. She is coeditor of (Georgia, 2013). She is also coeditor of (West Virginia Press, 2022).
Clarke is the author of five novels, including the bestselling as well as , a collection of essays; and three collections of short stories, the most recent being .
