Craft: Exploring Creativity

Desiree Cooper, a 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, is the editor of the 2026 anthology Black Summers: Growing Up in Urban Outdoors.

She started the anthology after discovering the forgotten civil rights story of Sarah Ray, a black teenager who was removed from the segregated Boblo Boats in Detroit, but won a U.S. Supreme Court case in 1948, granting African American families the right to be on the boats. This enabled a cherished Detroit summer tradition tied to Boblo Island in the Detroit River. Cooper recruited 28 Detroit writers, including teenagers, to reflect on summertime “urban outdoors” experiences and how race shapes them, including surprises like Detroit’s “swimmobiles,” shipping-container pools filled with hydrant water that replaced traditional pools when recreation resources declined.

Cooper discusses childhood joy, persistent racism, parents’ efforts, and redefining city nature as sanctuary, as well as describing her flash fiction collection Know the Mother, very short stories about women and expectations of motherhood.

Cooper will appear with the Columbus Library Author series on August 15 at the Driving Park branch

City of Dublin events director Alison LeRoy joins Craft to tell us about the Dublin Irish Festival, returning July 31–August 2 at Coffman Park. Running since 1988, it’s one of the world’s largest Irish festivals, with activities that often surprise first-timers.

Family highlights include an area featuring seven Irish dog breeds with presentations and opportunities to meet the dogs; a 10th-century Brian Boru reenactment area with traditional games, weaving, costumes, and photos; and Irish bog ponies! The festival also features demonstrations of sheep (and sometimes geese or duck) herding by dogs, Highland Games like the caber toss and stone lifting, and a Thursday 5K in Downtown Dublin that ends with a street party. On Sunday, Aug. 3, donations for the Dublin Food Pantry are collected at festival gates, with free admission from 9:30–11:00 a.m. for contributors.

And finally, you’ll learn WHY the Dublin Irish Festival is held during the high heat of Ohio summer.

Central Ohio author Erik John Slangerup grew up in the 1980’s, what he recalls as “a magical time, before cell phones or the internet.”

But it was also a time when mutant insects and terrible monsters roamed the land…on TV. His love (and fear) of monster movies inspired his writing and resulted in his books usually having a monsters, robots, or spaceships.

Listen in to hear Erik and host Doug Dangler compare stories of the ’80, when packs of feral children on bikes solved (or created) mysteries.

Then, pick up the Far-Flung Falls series and the upcoming The Intergalactics (releasing in September) for more thrilling adventures.

Our video interview is also available

Erik John Slangerup will appear at the Columbus, Ohio Book Festival July 11–12.

With publications ranging from fantasy to science fiction to mystery and novels to short stories to comics, Sarah Gailey has been honored with multiple writing awards and nominations.

Gailey describes their latest, Make Me Better, as their hardest, taking six years of full rewrites. It’s not surprising, given the challenging subject matter, grief, and the lengths people will go to to avoid exposing themselves to it.

Gailey is a “fan of the human condition,” who embraces the full range of being alive, including pain and sorrow. We had a great conversation about the ways people struggle with sadness and grief. So listen in and then see Gailey at the Columbus Library Book Festival on July 11–12.

While researching his book, Black Patriots: Recovering a Lost History of the American Revolution, Patrick S. Poole was surprised to find dozens of Black Patriots, including Salem Poor, Peter Salem, James Arcule, and Prince Estabrook, a slave wounded at Lexington who served until 1783. He also uncovered 750 Black patriot pension applications from the 1818 Pension Act, which provide firsthand affidavits of service, and notes Black soldiers appeared in nearly every major battle, sometimes up to 10% of troops, including more than 700 listed in Washington’s army after Monmouth.

Hear more about this amazing and virtually unknown history at his Columbus Library talk.

The Central Ohio Folk Festival will be held June 6–7 at Bank Run Metro Park. Folk singer Bill Cohen has been part of the event for many years, and he joined Craft to discuss the festival and play excerpts of the kind of music festival goers can expect to hear. Kids are welcome, with a dedicated children’s area offering performances, crafts, and an “instrument petting zoo” to spark interest in music. If you enjoy singing, jamming on instruments or just listening to bluegrass, blues, Celtic, and Americana, this is the event for you.

Our interview is also available on YouTube.

Novelist Steven Rowley has written five books including Lily and the Octopus, The Editor, The Guncle, and its sequel The Guncle Abroad. His work has been published in 20 languages, and he received the 2023 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

After all that, Rowley is back as a finalist for the 2026 Thurber Prize! We talked about how he learned he was a finalist for each prize, each time calling his agent. However, this time he feels an added pressure due to the book being a follow-up to his previous award winner.

Rowley sees his craft as a deliberate balance of heart and humor. He explores grief and resilience using comedy, carefully cutting or adding jokes to keep scenes from becoming too jokey or too dark. We also discussed the undervaluation of comedy and how hard it is to write.

Get your tickets to see Steven Rowley and the other finalists at the May 7, 2026 Thurber House awards!

Alison Espach‘s novel The Wedding People was not only a New York Times bestseller and Best Book of the Year pick but it granted her finalist status for the 2026 Thurber Prize for American Humor. During our talk, she described learning of the nomination via an excited text from her agent during maternity leave and she schools me on how to tell if something is funny (does it amuse you?)

But Espach also looks to other authors for examples of great humor, like Lorrie Moore’s Self-Help and Madeleine Gray’s Green Dot, both of which made her laugh out loud.

Listen in to learn more about how Espach was able to turn a “ soul crushing” job in market research into the Audible Original In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People. In this, she imagines the dead as chatty and obsessive, derailing strict product questions with their unresolved life stories.

Get your tickets to see Alison Espach and the other finalists at the May 7, 2026 Thurber House awards!

Singer-songwriter John Gorka knows how to write songs. But he wasn’t always so disciplined about it. Listen in as he describes what changes he made that has allowed him to be a prolific and insightful songwriter.

Then, check him out on April 11 with Six String Concerts, a venue staffed by people Gorka praises as “the best presenters,” a sentiment I share.

My favorite part of this interview was that Gorka legitimately seems to enjoy songwriting, particularly the creative “middle” when a song is taking shape. As he sings,

My favorite place to be is in the middle of a song.

When it isn’t completely right, but it’s not hopelessly wrong

For a lot of writers, their craft seems like more of a chore than a delight, but Gorka finds it enjoyable. Very cool.

Check out his appearance with Six String Concerts on April 11 and let me know what you think!