Loblolly Press: In Conversation
Loblolly Press: In Conversation
Podcast Description
Loblolly Press in Conversation brings you engaging interviews with our writers as they delve into their creative process, share their inspirations, and explore the southern influences that shape their work. Each episode features exclusive readings, offering an intimate glimpse into their stories and poetry. Perfect for readers eager to connect with the voices behind the page.
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Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on contemporary Southern literature, emphasizing creative processes and cultural influences, with episodes highlighting topics such as the emotional impact of life experiences on writing, showcased in discussions with guests like Earl J. Wilcox about his work, The Surfacing of Joy, and the exploration of themes like joy and resilience in writing.
Loblolly Press In Conversation is a literary podcast rooted in the South and reaching beyond. Each episode invites you into deep, thoughtful dialogue with emerging and established writers from our press—on craft, influence, identity, and place. With original readings and intimate interviews, this is a space for readers who want more than the book jacket.
In this episode, we sit down with Robert Busby, author of Bodock, his debut short story collection from Hub City Press. Set in a fictionalized version of his Mississippi hometown, Bodock explores the sharp edges of Southern identity—grappling with masculinity, family, faith, and the quiet violence of becoming.
Busby talks with us about what it means to be a “Southern writer,” how growing up in a dry county shaped his sense of taboo and rebellion, and how religion and myth structure the emotional worlds of his characters. We talk Larry Brown and Brad Watson, rural trauma, class anxiety, and the generational patterns we pass down—intentionally or not.
He also reads from “Fraternal Twins,” a standout story from Bodock that blends dark humor, biblical allusion, and moral reckoning in a scene both devastating and unforgettable.
At the heart of this conversation is a quiet argument: that the South isn’t just a region—it’s a microcosm. And to understand its contradictions is to begin to understand something deeper about American identity.
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Bodock is out now from Hub City Press. We also included Bodock on our Southern Summer Reads List for 2025.
💌 Support the podcast and Loblolly Press at loblollypress.substack.com.
Episode Credits:
🎤 Hosted by: Andrew Mack
📖 Guest: Robert Busby
🎧 Produced by: Loblolly Press
🎶 Intro/Outro Music: Rooftop Sunsets by Alexey Anisimov via Tune Tank
Get full access to Loblolly Press at loblollypress.substack.com/subscribe
Disclaimer
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