Piece image

Poet, Essayist and Acediac Kathleen Norris

Series: New Letters on the Air
From: New Letters on the Air
Length: 00:29:00

A forgotten word makes a comeback in the book ACEDIA & ME, by poet and essayist Kathleen Norris. She examines the origin of acedia--a kind of emotional sloth--and weaves personal experiences with the feeling, once one of the "eight bad thoughts" that became the seven deadly sins. Read the full description.
${title}
To hear the full audio, sign up for a free PRX account or log in.

Also in the New Letters on the Air series

Caption: James Richardson

Poet and aphorist James Richardson (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Poet James Richardson has called himself an "accidental aphorist," but his well-crafted works are no accident. He reads from his 2010 book, BY THE NUMBERS: POEMS AND ...
Caption: Peggy Shumaker

Alaska's State Writer Laureate, 2010-2012, Peggy Shumaker (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Peggy Shumaker, Alaska's State Writer Laureate, 2010-2012, is adept at capturing the beauty of landscapes, both internal and external. She reads from her poetry collection ...
Caption: Lorraine Lopez

PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist Lorraine Lopez (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Fiction writer Lorraine Lopez was a 2010 finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, with her collection HOMICIDE SURVIVORS PICNIC AND OTHER STORIES. She's also published three ...
Caption: Michelle Boisseau

Poet Michelle Boisseau (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Poet Michelle Boisseau talks about her collection A SUNDAY IN GOD-YEARS, which examines borders between black and white, free and slave, living and dead, and wrestles with ...
Caption: Robert Bly

National Book Award-winning poet and translator, Robert Bly (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Esteemed poet and translator, Robert Bly, is joined by sitarist David Whetstone in this public reading for the Midwest Poets Series. Bly reads a variety of poems, including ...
Caption: Wayne Miller

Poet, editor, and translator, Wayne Miller (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Poet and editor Wayne Miller reads from his 2011 collection, THE CITY, OUR CITY, and discusses the art of translation. Miller also shares poems from his 2006 book, ONLY THE ...
Caption: Sapphire

Poet and fiction writer, Sapphire (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Poet and fiction writer Sapphire, best-known for her novel PUSH, which became the award-winning film PRECIOUS, reads from her 2011 novel, THE KID, which follows the son of ...
Piece image

When She Named Fire (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

The title our Clarion Award-winning show, "WHEN SHE NAMED FIRE," is taken from an anthology of contemporary poetry by American women. Edited by poet Andrea Hollander Budy, ...
Caption: Mariko Nagai

Japanese poet and fiction writer, Mariko Nagai (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Japanese poet and fiction writer Mariko Nagai draws from history and personal experience to explore different types of love and desire, and to depict characters facing ...
Caption: William Trowbridge

Missouri poet William Trowbridge (00:29:00)
From: New Letters on the Air

Unafraid of incorporating pop culture in his work, poet William Trowbridge, the author of five poetry collections, including THE COMPLETE BOOK OF KONG, shares poems from his ...

Piece Description

"Acedia" was a once-common notion--one of the "eight bad thoughts"--but it was folded into sloth as one of the seven deadly sins and vanished from common use.  Poet Kathleen Norris, author of DAKOTA: A SPIRITUAL GEOGRAPHY and THE CLOISTER WALK, spent time researching acedia, the state of not caring about anything. She describes her own struggle with this negative emotion that differs from depression and explores the word in her newest non-fiction book, "Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life."

Broadcast History

This program originally uplinked to PRSS' Content Depot on June 25, 2010 for delivery to member stations.

Timing and Cues

PROMO: On the next New Letters on the Air... you may not know it, but at one time or another in your life, you’ve probably suffered from acedia [uh-SEED-ee-uh]. It’s a kind of emotional sloth that causes a state of listless uncaring. Poet and nonfiction writer Kathleen Norris re-discovers this ancient concept and intertwines it with memoir in her book ACEDIA & ME: A MARRIAGE, MONKS AND A WRITER'S LIFE...next time on NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR.
UPLINK DATE: 06/25/2010
PROGRAM LENGTH: 29:00 minutes
INCUE: (music) "Poet Kathleen Norris is best known for her creative non-fiction..."
OUTCUE: "...I'm Angela Elam for NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR."

Music: Studio Cutz: "Invitation" from Studio Cutz: Classical Guitar

Musical Works

Title Artist Album Label Year Length
Invitation Studio Cutz Production Library Light and Bright Classical Guitar. Studio Cutz 00:00

Additional Credits

New Letters on the Air is a production of the quarterly literary magazine, New Letters, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Partial financial support comes from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

Related Website

http://www.newletters.org/radio