On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney about her collection Joy Is My Middle Name. Muldrow calls the collection loving, tender, and hilarious. 

Growing up in Connecticut, Debevec-McKenney developed a fascination with the US presidents from a young age. She dove into the study of American history as a path to self-discovery. Now, it’s her goal of visiting all 40 of the deceased presidents’ graves. Debevec-McKenney and Muldrow challenge the hagiography of presidents, focusing on LBJ and civil rights legislation.

They also talk about the work of being a writer, how poetry is legally fiction, finding new and better reasons to cry, service work, and taking a moment to enjoy talking about politics on the day after significant elections across the country. Debevec-McKenney also reads her poetry and recommends the writing of Diane Seuss.

Sasha Debevec-McKenney’s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Review of Books, and Yale Review. She was the 2020–2021 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and a 2023-2025 Creative Writing Fellow at Emory University. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut.

Featured image of the cover of Joy Is My Middle Name by Sasha Debevec-McKenney.

The post Crying For Joy with Poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.