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

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Listen on Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/journey-of-the-art

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Guest’s links

Buy DUST: https://www.amazon.com/Dust-Summer-Brenner/dp/1959556460/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=uPJ8A&content-id=amzn1.sym.a7785aa2-ac28-4769-b3eb-cff7b9738627&pf_rd_p=a7785aa2-ac28-4769-b3eb-cff7b9738627&pf_rd_r=140-8988532-3141708&pd_rd_wg=OtiJq&pd_rd_r=29f6d760-a810-4611-8e6f-4baae3cfc550&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

Visit Summer’s website: http://summerbrenner.com

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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/