In this episode, Kim Baldwin sits down with Destiny O. Birdsong, a Louisiana-born poet, fiction writer, and essayist. She is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, Jack Jones Literary Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, and MacDowell. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she earned both her MFA and PhD from Vanderbilt University. Her debut poetry collection, Negotiations, was published by Tin House Books in October 2020, and was longlisted for the 2021 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection. Her debut novel is forthcoming from Grand Central in 2022.

Join us for a conversation about rejections and what they make room for, rudeness disguised as rigor, and navigating the medical system as a Black woman.

Find Destiny on Twitter, Instagram, and at destinybirdsong.com. Copies of Negotiations are available at Parnassus Books, The Bookshop, and at bookshop.org.