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Finding Home in Fiction: Arlon Jay Staggs on Magical Realism & Southern Storytelling (E182)
Description
In today’s episode, I am chatting with Arlon Jay Staggs. Arlon is a native of Florence, Alabama, and a Southern storyteller with deep roots, a sharp sense of humor, and a heart for connection. His novel Leta Pearl’s Love Biscuits is his debut work of fiction. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside, a JD from the Mississippi College School of Law, and is an adjunct English professor at Northwest Florida State College. Arlon divides his time between Santa Rosa Beach, Florida and San Diego, California.
Episode Highlights:
- The challenges and joys of weaving magical realism into contemporary Southern fiction.
- Arlon’s favorite character to write and why that character surprised him.
- What he discovered about himself while writing Leta Pearl’s Love Biscuits.
- The theme of “coming home” and how this novel became a love letter to the South.
- How sports can function as a powerful (and underused!) literary device.
- His transition into teaching English at the college level and how it differs from his MFA program.
- Why, as an author, reading for pure pleasure now feels like a double-edged sword.
Connect with Arlon:
Books and authors mentioned in the episode:
- Jesmyn Ward books
- Double Fault by Lionel Shriver
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Untamed by Will Harlan
- Southern by Design by Grace Helena Walz
Book Flight
- The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
- The Motion of the Body through Space - Lionel Shriver
- The Resisters by Gish Jen
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Three books. One common theme.
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