351: The Education of a Writer — Interview with Sophfronia Scott

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sophfronia Scott.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sophfronia is a novelist and essayist whose work has appeared in Time, People, O: The Oprah Magazine, as well as many other outlets. Her first novel,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">All I Need to Get By</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards and Sophfronia was hailed by Henry Louis Gates Jr. as "one of the best writers of her generation."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She is a prolific writer whose work spans both fiction and nonfiction, and her other books include</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unforgivable Love</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Love's Long Line</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, which she co-wrote with her son Tain. Her essays “The Legs On Which I Move” and “Why I Didn’t Go to the Firehouse” are listed in the Best American Essays series. Her next book is</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and is out now from Broadleaf Books.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The recipient of a 2020 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, Sophfronia holds degrees from Harvard and the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently director of Alma College’s MFA in Creative Writing, which is a low-residency grad program based in Alma, Michigan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This interview is a little bit of a departure from our usual subject matter of authors talking about their latest books and instead Sophfronia and I will be doing a deep dive on MFA pedagogy. As you