Dead Writers – a show about great American writers and where they lived

Tess and Brock dive into the unconventional life of Sarah Orne Jewett by first venturing to Berwick Academy, the school that Jewett attended. As an alum, Jewett was somewhat of a “patron saint”, and there are still students there who read and relate to her wild ways. At Jewett’s house, Tess and Brock are fascinated by her desk due to its unexpected position and discuss Jewett’s lover, Annie Fields.

Marilyn Keith Daily, who works for Historic New England, shares that she became a Jewett fan after starting to work at Jewett’s house which proves that stepping foot in an author’s home can indeed encourage the need to read.

Mentioned:

• A White Heron and Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett
• ”The Angels of Buena Vista” by John Greenleaf Whittier
• The Country of the Pointed Firsby Sarah Orne Jewett

The house:

• Sarah Orne Jewett House and Visiting Center in South Berwick, ME

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. A special thanks to our reader Colleen Doucette.

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.

Tess and Brock explore Nathanial Hawthorne’s childhood home in Raymond, Maine. Hawthorne’s writing colors the house as an idyllic childhood summer home and so it remains. Today, the local community uses the house as a space to come together—like it or not, Hawthorne! Tess and Brock remain persistent in their attempts to reveal the true story of Hawthorne and his house, but Hawthorne manages to keep up his image as a mysterious, and intensely private writer.

Mentioned:

• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Passages from a Relinquished Work (From "Mosses from an Old Manse") by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Wakefieldby Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Dayswork by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel
• Easy A (2010)
• Crazy Stupid Love (2011)

The house:

• Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Boyhood Home in Raymond, ME

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. 

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.

Tess and Brock travel to Wiscasset, ME, to investigate the scene of James Weldon Johnson’s tragic death in a train accident. Author Russell Rymer gives us a glimpse of Johnson's life as a Black poet, diplomat, novelist, and activist—Johnson was a jack of all trades, master of all. Poet C.S. Giscombe discuss Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and finds surprising similarities to the tv cartoon Futurama.

Tess and Brock also meet with Melanie K. Edwards, Johnson’s great grandniece, who gives some insight into what her famous uncle was doing in Maine in the first place.

Mentioned:

• The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
• “We To America” by James Weldon Johnson
• God's Trombones by James Weldon Johnson
• “Listen Lord, A Prayer” by James Weldon Johnson
• “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson
• Negro Mountain by C.S. Giscombe
• American Beach by Russell Rymer
• Futurama (1999)
• Simpsons (1989)

The house:

• James Weldon Johnson Bench in Wiscasset, ME

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. 

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.

Tess and Brock put the spotlight on Edna St. Vincent Millay, the 20th century poet and feminist icon. Millay was notorious for her active “social life” among the NYC art scene during the height of the roaring ‘20s, but Tess and Brock focus on her prolific writing. Poet Gillian Obsorne has admired Millay for her eloquent expression of feminine angst since she first read Millay as a teenager. And as an educator, she sees how it still speaks to young women today.

Whether it’s because of her compelling success story or her well-served, cold disses, Millay is an author who’s easy to fall in love with.

Mentioned:

• “The Ballad of the Harp-weaver and Other Poems” by Edna St Vincent Millay
• “Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies” by Edna St Vincent Millay
• “Sonnet IV” by Edna St Vincent Millay
• “Renascence” by Edna St Vincent Millay
• The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot
• Green Green Green by Gillian Obsorne

The house:

• Millay House Rockland

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. A special thanks to our reader Ella Jones.

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.

Tess and Brock try to get on the same wavelength as Edwin Arlington Robinson, also known as EAR, by visiting his birthplace in Gardiner, ME. To get inside the head of the poet they talk with Richard Russo. Russo and EAR share more similarities than their status as Pulitzer prize winning Maine authors—both of their work focuses on growing up in small towns with big dreams.

Today, EAR may not be the biggest name, but his work remains timeless in its ability to connect to the inner misfit in all of us.

Mentioned:

• “The House on the Hill” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
• “Miniver Cheevy” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
• “Children of the Night” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
• Straight Man by Richard Russo
• Elsewhere by Richard Russo
• Somebody’s Fool by Richard Russo
• Breaking Bad (2008)
• Better Call Saul (2015)
• Colby College Special Robinson Collection

The house:

• The E.A. Robinson House

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. A special thanks to our reader Merrick Meardon.

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.

Tess and Brock get to know Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow, the so-called hometown poet of Portland, ME. To find out whether Longfellow’s fame is justified, Tess and Brock head down to the Wadsworth-Longfellow house in the center of town. Longfellow wrote his first poem and other works in the house, but the house doesn’t just honor him but the whole Longfellow family.

Tess and Brock also talk with Ari Gersen, the owner of Longfellow Books in Portland, and ask what the “aura” of the name does for the shop. Does having a great poet’s name on the door help sell any books?

Mentioned:

• “The Battle of Lowell Pond” by Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
• “The Rainy Day” by Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
• “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
• “The Courtship of Miles Standish” by Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
• “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
• Longfellow Books

The house:

• Wadsworth-Longfellow house in Portland, ME

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. A special thanks to our reader Aidan Sheeran-Hahnel.

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.

Tess and Brock stay close to home while studying Harriet Beecher Stowe, the 19th-century author famous for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Susanna Aston tells the harrowing story of how Stowe harbored fugitive slave John Andrew Jackson, and how one decision can change the course of history.

Mentioned:

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Susanna Ashton
• Cathi Belcher
• Stowe Writers
• Ayaz Muratoglu

The house:

• Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Brunswick, ME

Tess Chakkalakal is the creator, executive producer and host of Dead Writers. Brock Clarke is our writer and co-host.

Lisa Bartfai is the managing producer and executive editor. Our music is composed by Cedric Wilson, who also mixes the show. Ella Jones is our web editorial intern, and Mark Hoffman created our logo. A special thanks to our reader Brian Purnell.

This episode was produced with the generous support of our sponsors Bath Savings and listeners like you.