I’m truly honored to share this episode with Summer Brenner, fiction writer, poet, and the oldest guest on the show (Summer turned 80 this year)!
In this episode, we step back in time to the 1950s through her memoir, DUST. We discuss her encounters with racism and being Jewish in the South, caring for her brother who suffered from schizophrenia, dealing with her father’s suicide, other complexities with her family, and her thoughts on writing for over fifty years.
As I said on the show, this episode was as meaningful as I hoped it would be, and I hope you find it as meaningful too.
Show highlights
00:00 – Introduction
02:08 – Summer on turning 80
03:33 – On discovering writing and poetry
7:15 – On freedom and happiness
09:25 – Looking back after fifty years of writing
11:47 – The impact of encountering racism on her life and her writing
17:05 – On her father and his influence on her writing
21:28 – On leaving to live and caring for her brother later in life
30:36 – The hardest part of the book to write
34:33 – Writing about family complexities and the family’s response
42:08 – On being a multidisciplinary artist and finding fulfillment
46:17 – Her secret to staying on the journey of the art
_____________________
Listen on Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/journey-of-the-art
_____________________
Guest’s links
Visit Summer’s website: http://summerbrenner.com
_____________________
Host’s links
Find out more about the show: https://www.journeyoftheart.com/
Follow Journey of the Art on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeyoftheartpod/
Book a one-on-one with Lola: https://wordcaps.com/coaching/