Hear-Tell

In this episode, we talk to Ashley Fantz about her transition from an senior investigative reporter at CNN to writer, reporter and host of two hit podcasts.  Ashley graduated with her MFA from UGA in 2024 and has more than 20 years of experience as a reporter, writing and voicing multimedia stories at CNN, where she won two Peabody Awards, an Eppy and numerous other awards.

But in 2021, facing burn-out and a rapidly changing media landscape, she made the jump to podcasting. Her first podcast, “Suspect: Vanished in the Snow,” jumped quickly to number one on Apple charts. She followed that, with the multi-episodic podcast, “Body Brokers,” whose performance online was equally impressive.

In this episode, Laurie Hertzel, a distinguished professor of practice in the University of Georgia’s MFA Narrative Nonfiction program, interviewed Emily Strasser about her book, “Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning With a Hidden History.”

Emily visited Athens in January to speak to our MFA students during their winter residency. In this conversation, she discussed  her 10 years of research and writing about her grandfather’s role in developing the atomic bomb while a scientist in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home to the top-secret Manhattan Project. She also talked about her growth as a journalist while weaving together family secrets into a narrative that explores the long-term impact of nuclear weapons.

In this episode, renowned speaker, nationally acclaimed educator and former debate coach at Harvard University, Brandon P. Fleming discusses his memoir,  “MisEducated,” (Hachette, 2021).  

Brandon, who earned his MFA in 2021 and worked primarily with the program’s mentor Pat Thomas, shares the inspirational story of his transformation from a delinquent, drug-dealing dropout to an award-winning Harvard educator  – all by the age of 27.  

 In this show, Brandon talks about how and why it’s so important to tell the truth when writing a memoir, as well as the best way to navigate family members who not only question why you’re sharing the story but also may not appear in the best light.    

More on Brandon here:  https://bpfleming.com/about-me/

In this episode, Shannon McCaffrey (MFA ‘23) and Jan Winburn, Distinguished Professor of Practice, discuss the challenges Shannon ran into while reporting and writing, “Sanctuary,” the love story between a woman named Carol and an elephant named Tarra and their 50- year bond that was published earlier this year in Atavist Magazine.  Shannon’s article was described as “lyrical” by Sunday Longform, in part, because of the many beautifully constructed scenes contained in the narrative, as well as the emotion she was able to evoke from her main character.

Shannon has worked as a journalist for over 20 years and is currently a senior editor at The Atlanta Journal Constitution.  Jan Winburn has spent more than four decades at local, national and global news outlets, working as a narrative editor, writing coach and investigative editor.

Mississippi writer and poet Beth Ann Fennelly, author of the genre-bending Heating and Cooling, spoke at the nonfiction program’s residency in January 2023. She asked students to explore the art of micro-memoir. “What should we do when we can’t figure out how or where to start our story?” she asked. The answer? Start small. Precisely because they are so small, hummingbirds can do things other birds can’t do. In this episode of Hear-Tell, we delve into the art of writing short. You’ll hear Fennelly, Grady’s new MFA program director, Moni Basu and two MFA students, Beth Burch and Colin Donohue read the micro-memoirs that evolved from a writing session led by Fennelly. In the second half of the show, Basu, who took over the program after the death of her best friend and former program director, Valerie Boyd, discusses how starting small can help us to think big.

This episode is hosted by Josina Guess (MFA ’23), produced by Diana Keough (MFA ’21), and edited by Amy Pedulla, a current student in the program.