A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts. These exercises can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing.
Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
Listen to Episode 55
Think your story doesn’t matter? Author Willie Carver Jr. believes that “each of us has a story that can help contribute to the complexity of all of us….”
When Willie uses writing prompts to unlock his story, “they’re almost always body related.” That’s because he thinks “the truth of things is already in your body.”
On this episode, Willie shares a prompt that will help you discover what your body already knows. He also discusses his new book, Tore All to Pieces; why learning to write is like learning a foreign language; and more. Listen below!
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About Willie Carver Jr.
Willie Carver Jr. is a youth advocate, Kentucky Teacher of the Year, and the author of Gay Poems for Red States, a recipient of awards from Stonewall, American Library Association, World Pride, Read Appalachia, Whippoorwill, and Book Riot.
His fragmented novel, Tore All to Pieces, was published in March 2026 by the University Press of Kentucky.
Willie’s writing has been published in textbooks, anthologies, and journals, including Testament, Discarded, Rural and Outrooted, Appalachian Journal, Southern Humanities, Louisville Review, Another Chicago, Harbor, Smoky Blue Literary, Miracle Monocle, Good River Review, Salvation South, and Gay & Lesbian Review.