The U is Silent; We Aren’t-Episode 11
Tangleroot: Author Kalela Williams on History, Healing, & Heritage
What we bury still speaks. Author Kalela Williams takes us on her literary journey through memory, place, and identity—from a childhood encounter with hidden histories to her debut novel Tangleroot. She shares how unearthing untold stories of enslaved people shaped her voice, and how storytelling fosters empathy, connection, and healing. Through both prose and poetry, she makes the case for literature and literacy as tools that open up the world—for everyone.
About This Podcast
The U may be silent, but Staunton has a lot to say. Join Visit Staunton as we sit down with inspiring individuals at the top of their craft. We’re chatting about what drives their passion, the actions behind the impact, and a little about the place where they’re making it all happen.
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TRANSCRIPT
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the You Is Silent, We Aren’t podcast here in Staunton, Virginia. We are so happy to have you and I am so excited for this episode. It was one when we were creatively thinking of this podcast and what it would look like and who would be on it. This particular guest was towards the top of the list. So I’m so happy you can join us today. Please welcome Kalela Williams.
8 sec.
author and like a lot of stuff, actually creator, artist, many, many things. But thank you so much for joining us here today. Thank you. Absolutely. Yes. So I am so excited to dive into your story because as I mentioned, there’s a lot that you are involved in, especially in the literary world. And you’ve worked in so many different aspects when it comes to literature and you’ve had such a journey. So I know this is like a broadcast
35 sec.
question, but can you tell us a little bit about your journey, your work and, and what, what you are now, now in and focusing on? Yeah. Um, so I’ve, I’ve had a long journey as, um, as an author. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Um, really my whole life, most of it, at least since I could read or since I knew that being a writer was a thing. Um,
1 min. 2 sec.
And I started writing Tangleroot in, oh gosh, was it 2004, 2005, something like that. I started writing it a long time ago. It was an idea that I had when I was living here in Virginia. And I…
1 min. 25 sec.
kind of nurtured it and worked on it and worked on it. And then in 2011, I tried getting a publisher and I wasn’t successful. So that was a real downer. That was really, really hard because I’d worked so much on this manuscript and I’d done so much research. And then I tried again in 2020, I started rewriting it. And I took a few years doing that. And then
1 min. 42 sec.
I looked for an agent, a literary agent, and that worked out very quickly. And finding a publisher worked out very quickly. And so now it’s here, Tangleroot. So I’m really excited. It’s beautiful. Thank you. We were talking a second ago. It is just one of the most gorgeous book covers and so fitting for the story itself. Something you said a second ago jumped out to me because I always remember the first book I learned how to read on my own, Cinderella. And…
2 min. 8 sec.
So when you, because you mentioned that you’d wanted to be an author from the time you could really read, do you remember that moment that you connected that real people write these books? Because I know that like that took me a little bit. You would just think, oh, this thing’s just created when you’re a young kid. But do you remember that moment? You know, it came in, it came in fits and starts. I always knew that there were people who were authors. And it’s kind of what you’re saying. It’s
2 min. 36 sec.
It’s, oh, it’s, they exist in the world. They are out there, but I don’t know anyone who is, and I don’t know anyone. And that’s not an actual job that real people do. It’s sort of like, it’s almost like a celebrity. It’s like these people who exist on this other planet. It’s like magical, mythical things. Yeah, yeah. And then when I was in, gosh, it was sometime when I was in middle school, but my mother, I grew up in Atlanta, and my mom…
2 min. 59 sec.
I found out that there was going to be a literary reading at Georgia State University and it was all the way across town. But it was one of her students, my mom was a teacher, one of her students had an uncle who had published a book. And so she dragged us all the way across town and took me over and she marched me up to this guy during the book signing and she said, my daughter is going to be an author.
3 min. 26 sec.
That’s amazing. And that’s when I realized, oh my gosh, this person who is signing books, I’d never been to a book signing before and I’d never experienced anything like this. And for her to just have this conviction, it was like, oh, okay. Yeah. And what an amazing thing about your mom to like recognize.
3 min. 47 sec.
that in you so much. She recognized it from a much earlier age. My siblings and I, I have a brother and a sister. And growing up with them, my sister was into art and my brother was into music and computers. And so she would nurture all of us in our own little special ways. And for me, it was always composition books, making sure I had a steady supply of composition books.
4 min. 7 sec.
Yep. Yeah. Sharp and pencil. Yeah, that’s right. Do you still tend to take physical notes? You know, I do keep a notepad in my purse at all times. And there are times when I’m, I was at an event yesterday and I was just kind of scribbling because I had these ideas that it brought up. But most of the time when I’m writing, I actually, now I use my laptop a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
4 min. 30 sec.
Talking about your writing, and I know it’s been such a journey, how would you describe the heart of your writing or what you’re interested in? Are there any particular themes or inspirations that you feel like you’re most drawn to now? Yeah.
4 min. 54 sec.
So I’ve always been into history. I love history. I want to say I love U.S. history, and that’s mostly my favorite, I guess, or what fascinates me the most. But I would say that that depends. I mean, I just finished a book about an Antarctic exploration, and I was just so excited. But
5 min. 8 sec.
Yeah, I mean, I would say it’s history. I would say that it’s African American history, black history, diaspora history. But it’s how it factors into the present. And that’s exactly what we have in Tangleroot is this idea of history bubbling up, coming up to the surface, never leaving us. You know, the past is never past, as William Faulkner said, an iteration of, I’m paraphrasing, of course, but history.
5 min. 32 sec.
But this idea of how history can abut the present and what it says about us and what we say about it is really fascinating to me. Yeah. Yeah.
5 min. 59 sec.
And I’m curious, too, because I know something we have talked about is how you’re also inspired, one, by events happening, but also the space you’re in. You grew up in Atlanta. I know you’ve lived in several larger cities. And now you’re in what was defined as a small town, right? What’s that been like from an artist and an author standpoint, going from living a lot of your life in metropolitan larger areas to now being in a small town and creative
6 min. 10 sec.
And so I guess from one, what that just process has been like, and also, do you feel like it inspires your work in a different way or at all being in a different surrounding? I think it does. I mean, I think that one of the things about Tangleroot is that we have this person who is moving from Boston to a fictional town in central Virginia, and she is not at all impressed. She’s in a small town herself. Mm-hmm.
6 min. 39 sec.
And she’s learning a lot of small town ways. You can’t walk down the street without running into someone you know. You just can’t count on it. So if you’re looking, you know, you’re wearing sweats and whatever, mismatched socks, you know, you just can’t do those kinds of things and think, oh, yeah, I won’t run into anybody because you will. But I think that that’s part of the charm is that it’s not even the charm to me. It’s almost.
7 min. 7 sec.
it almost to me feels like the necessities, the necessity of community for me. Now I’m not saying that this is the only way to find that, of course, I found community in larger cities too. I lived in Philadelphia for 10 years, or more than 10 years. I grew up in Atlanta, as you mentioned.
7 min. 32 sec.
So I mean, it’s just that it’s a different place. It’s a more communal space here. I feel more nurtured as an artist, as an author, as a creator, as someone who produces programs, public programs. I feel like there are people here who embrace it
7 min. 48 sec.
in a way that I haven’t found in other places. And I know that part of it’s Staunton itself. That Staunton charm. Yeah, Staunton is special. So I know that I couldn’t find this in any other, in every other small town. But it’s to say that Staunton is a special town. Yeah, you said that you feel very nurtured. What did you mean by that? Or why do you think that is? I feel nurtured because that I feel like
8 min. 14 sec.
We are in a very small community. Like I said, you run into people you know. Even if you don’t know them, you see the same faces over and over again. You may not know someone’s name, but you know their face. Or you may have just met them. Mm-hmm.
8 min. 41 sec.
Sometimes I might be at Crucible or at a wine bar and there’s someone passing through or something and you can talk to them even though they don’t live here. In any other place, you don’t talk to strangers. I never talked to strangers in Philadelphia. You’d get punched in the face. It’s not something you do. But here, the culture –
8 min. 57 sec.
is that you connect with people and that you learn from other people and that you experience the lives of other people by being in conversation with them. That is just baked into what Staunton is.
9 min. 18 sec.
It makes me think a couple of weeks ago, of course, Shop and Dine Out has started here in Staunton. And it’s one of our favorite things that happens where every weekend the main street here becomes pedestrian only. And, you know, restaurants come out. You can eat on the street. You can play on the street. My son was playing with a game outside. And this beautiful woman, we just crossed paths and she was giggling at him. And her name was Donna. Yeah.
9 min. 35 sec.
and she had these beautiful brooches on her hat. And I just happened to acknowledge, I’m like, oh, these are so stunning. I thought it was all one hat. And apparently she told me this whole story about how she collects brooches. And she started when she was in her cancer treatment. And there was an angel that she collected. And from there, like she has different seasonal
10 min.
ones. And so she saw her hat and was like, I can start decorating these for each holiday and season. And it was such a beautiful point of what she shared that brought her joy. And she was just such a beautiful woman and beautiful spirit and lives just outside of town. And she was on her way to get a pint of ice cream. Oh, my gosh. And we talked for a good while and just shared so much. And then we went our separate ways. And my husband was like, oh, who was that? I’m like, that’s Donna. Yeah.
10 min. 21 sec.
And like, that’s what I love. And I think sometimes it can be intimidating. And maybe that’s not for everybody. And that’s okay. But I think what I found here is that, like you said, those moments where you do talk with people and connect with people, like it quickly becomes more than the small talk. It’s like,
10 min. 49 sec.
People are ready to show you who they are. I love the moment. That’s Donna. That’s Donna. Never met, but now we have. That’s Donna. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s talk about Tangleroot. It’s been such an incredible journey for you. I’m imagining. I know you mentioned you started in 2002? 2004, 2005. 2004, early there. Okay. So between there and 2020, can you tell us about the book? Yeah.
11 min. 8 sec.
Yeah, yeah. So again, so we’ve got this young woman, Noni, who’s 17 years old, moving from Boston to a small town in Virginia called Magnolia. And she’s moving with her mom, who she does not get along with. Her mom is a perfectionist. Her mom has taken a job as a college president. And they’re moving into the house that their enslaved ancestor built, physically foremaned the construction of. And what she discovers while she’s there, she discovers the cemetery. Right.
11 min. 33 sec.
of the enslavers family who lived in this home. And she discovers the grave of a young woman who was her age when she died and had her own first name, her own given name. So Noni feels this sort of connection with her. And this young woman was buried with a baby. And so Noni wants to know more about this young woman who maybe she defied her parents. She doesn’t know. And so she starts on this deep dive of research
12 min. 2 sec.
trying to find out about this young woman named Sophie and what she ends up discovering. She does discover more about Sophie’s life, but she also discovers about her own life, her own history, the history of this town and things that she never knew. So there’s a whole Pandora’s box of family secrets, a town secrets. And so,
12 min. 29 sec.
so many things that she has never known. And so it’s a mystery. It’s a historical story. We do hear Sophie’s voice in this story. I mean, we hear some of the voices of the enslaved people who lived at Tangleroot, which is the name of the plantation. So we hear a lot of stories
12 min. 49 sec.
We hear from a lot of people who lived here. And of course, we hear about Noni’s journey in reconnecting with her mother and finding a space where she and her mother can come together. That’s amazing.
13 min. 8 sec.
Was it intentional? Because I know when you started, you were still at Atlanta or Philly at that point? I was in – gosh, when I started, actually, I was in my first iteration. So I lived in Virginia before I moved to Philly. Okay. That’s what I was going to ask is how Virginia ended up being a character in some ways. It is. Yeah. Absolutely. So I was living in Virginia when I started this book. I was –
13 min. 21 sec.
I had graduated from Mary Washington. It was then Mary Washington College, University of Mary Washington now. So I graduated from Mary Wash. I moved back to Atlanta for a little bit, came back to Virginia. And that’s when I started this story. I was working for an organization where I had to drive around a lot. I was living in Charlottesville and I was driving everywhere to all these different places to meet with volunteers. And so the
13 min. 45 sec.
the town of Magnolia was, was, was sort of an amalgamation of, of many of the places where I, where I visited. And, and while I was driving, you know, sometimes you’d have long meetings, long stretches of time between meeting with volunteers. You had to kill time. And so sometimes I would just sightsee, I would just drive around,
14 min. 9 sec.
you know, look at old houses. I would, I would occasionally find these hidden away cemeteries and, and that somewhere there. And I don’t remember the precise one or where it was or what. And I think it was a slow build, but somewhere there was the story of Tangleroot part of it because the other part of Tangleroot began in Atlanta and,
14 min. 25 sec.
when I was only 13 years old and I first visited a cemetery of enslaved people, which was, there’s no graveyards. I mean, there’s no gravestones. There were no, there was nothing to mark the graves. Yeah, except some random rocks that were pulled over and placed there.
14 min. 46 sec.
but they didn’t have names, they didn’t have dates. And so that experience when I was a kid, and then the experience of being in Central Virginia as a younger adult, driving around, seeing this landscape, meeting people was what created the place in Tangleroot. That’s so beautiful. Thank you. When you were writing it, I guess knowing that the idea was originally sparked from a moment and a core memory that was created when you were 13. Yeah.
15 min. 5 sec.
Did at times, did it take you back reminiscence to different points of your life?
15 min. 36 sec.
When writing it? Yeah. Well, I know we’ve talked a little bit about this before, is that this book in particular really has been on a journey with you throughout your own life. So the initial spark happened at 13, and then you started writing it around 2004, kind of went away from it for a little bit through different iterations, came back to it in 2020. And then, of course, after selling it, still having to go through the editing process to a different level of it.
15 min. 41 sec.
I imagine that you had experienced several different versions of yourself during that. Yeah. And your own skill itself also continued to develop. As you were editing and rewriting and revisiting, do you feel at all that the different versions that you were coming in with of yourself, do you feel like that impacted the final product that we have now? It’s such an interesting question. And I don’t know that anyone’s ever asked me that. And I think, yes, I think that…
16 min. 10 sec.
I think that this book has followed me through different points in my life, through say being a very young adult work, you know, first being in the workforce. I mean, you know, and that’s, that’s outside of being 13 years old, but, but being a very young adult into somebody who was more established and sort of building a career and, and, and figuring out what their life might look like. And then and then, you know,
16 min. 39 sec.
12 years later or 13 years later into, um, outside of any semblance of young adulthood at an undisclosed age, um, at the undisclosed age that I am right now. Um, and so, um,
17 min. 8 sec.
And so it has really followed me throughout my adult life in a lot of ways. And during that time, a lot has changed. I lost my mom in 2012, and that was right after I had tried to get Tangleroot published and had not been successful. So that was a very devastating moment in my personal history. And it was a moment that it was a time when,
17 min. 25 sec.
That, yeah, it changes you, you know, it changes, it changes things. It changes how you look at the world. It strengthens and yet, and yet it fractures. And so, um, and that’s something that I will forever be affected by. Um,
17 min. 52 sec.
And as a writer, of course, you grow stronger, you have more experiences, you have more ways of looking at your experiences, the ones that you’ve accumulated more recently, as well as the ones that you accumulated in the past. Just as a person, you grow, you know, this is getting older, right? And…
18 min. 9 sec.
And I think that, yeah, both as a writer and as a person, that change has found itself into writing Tangleroot. Case in point, Noni has to discover her own mistakes more closely. And that was never a part of the original manuscript. Oh, okay. But she discovers some of her own biases, some of her own ways of looking at the world and that they’re narrow. Yeah.
18 min. 28 sec.
And, and she discovers that she needs to widen her view. And I don’t, I don’t know that I could have really come to that when I was, when I was a bit younger, first working on this. So yeah. That’s amazing. Beautiful. And, and when you share your own story and the story of Tangleroot, you’re so eloquent and something that I’m interested in, sometimes artists will share that when it comes to creating the work.
18 min. 52 sec.
They’re all in, unstoppable. But sometimes it gets intimidating when it then comes to the next phase of sharing it. And I know that’s how I first met you was you were giving a presentation and a talk at Creative Mornings. And you’ve done book panels and book readings and presentations and really kind of been on a circuit. But I know you’re also familiar with talking and doing podcasts and different…
19 min. 19 sec.
I guess, does that ever… Does it ever feel intimidating or is it kind of just a natural extension to you from going in the world of creating this very… I’m sure it becomes personal, you know, because you’re so in… But then going to the step of sharing it with the public. What’s that like? Yeah, I…
19 min. 45 sec.
I’m excited about I’m excited about sharing this book I’m an extrovert I get energy from other people I need it I’m like an energy vampire I need energy from other people you know and but I think
20 min. 1 sec.
the thing too is that I’ve been working in literary public programming for a long time. So I’ve worked for the Free Library of Philadelphia doing literary programs there. I’ve met lots of authors. I’ve met lots of different creators, different types of creators. I have worked for Furious Flower Poetry Center at JMU. And now, of course, I’m with Virginia Humanities. And you just came off Festival of the Book, which is like a massive,
20 min. 17 sec.
Yes, a massive influx of authors. Yes. Yeah. So, I mean, I’ve been in positions where I’ve interviewed authors so many times. And that’s a process in and of itself. You know, my first interview wasn’t all that great. And, you know, and then you learn. But, you know…
20 min. 43 sec.
Yeah, I mean, I guess it’s always been, I want to say it’s always been natural, but it hasn’t because when I was in high school, I was a theater kid. And I was never a good theater kid. I don’t believe that. No, I was not. I was, I was always, and then I was always a member of the ensemble cast. You know, it was, it was always that. I could break out the munchkin dance right now from the whiz. Okay, dust with a good time. Yeah.
21 min. 1 sec.
But I was put in theater. My mom encouraged me to go into theater because, you know, first of all, I went to a magnet school for performing arts and visual arts. But second of all, because it was a good cure for shyness. The other thing was 4-H. I was in 4-H and we had to do a lot of presentations and public speaking. And that was something I just had to get comfortable with. No, I’m not saying that everybody who was in 4-H or theater is comfortable with it.
21 min. 28 sec.
But, um, but I think that this was just something that this was just part of my life. And, um, and I, and I think it helped me find my comfort zone in sharing because, you know, you write a book so that people can read it. Um, and you interview authors so that people can, so that you can help amplify what they’re talking about, what their book is about. So, um,
21 min. 56 sec.
So, so that’s the, that’s the, that’s why you do what you do. My partner has founded a theater company here in Staunton, the Off Center. And, and I was part of one of his productions back in December. And it was, it was just this joy of, oh, I’m a theater kid again. My gosh, here I am. It never leaves you. Yeah, it really doesn’t. And it’s this, it’s this, it’s, it’s, it really doesn’t leave you. And so, yeah.
22 min. 19 sec.
So it’s just really fun sharing, sharing, sharing creativity. Yeah, I am. A lot of my life has spent and my background has been in theater. And I always say, yes, it’s certainly it’s what brought me out of my shell and my shyness. But I think it also as a human experience.
22 min. 43 sec.
It gave me confidence in owning my actions and my decisions because that’s what you do on stage or behind the stage or whatever it is, is you have to take full ownership of your actions, your decisions and how you interact to make somebody else look better, sound better and just the whole thing. So I am a firm believer. I’m like theater just makes the world better. It does. Absolutely.
23 min. 3 sec.
It does. It really does. And I learned so much, even as being a theater kid, you know, even working back, you know, backstage working as a stage manager, you know, just in high school theater. A lot of what I did then is so applicable to my job now, like you would never believe it. Is it funny? Yes.
23 min. 23 sec.
yeah well I um I’m very appreciative to you because I made a special request during this um there’s a poem in between in particular of yours um braiding hair that just like it’s just struck me um every time I’ve read it and so I would love to chat about it in a little bit but if you wouldn’t mind would you mind sharing it absolutely reading it with us today yeah absolutely I sure will braiding hair
23 min. 41 sec.
Sunday nights, my mother braided hair when I was a girl. We’d sit in front of the television, she on the sofa, I on the carpet. Beside me, a brush, a jar of water, a wide-toothed comb. I would pull my head away, and she would tilt it back into place, her fingers moving patiently, lengths of tight curls crossing over themselves.
24 min. 8 sec.
My grandmother once did the same, and her mother too, on a hardwood floor by the dim light of a candle. Someday a woman I have yet to know will braid my thin white hair gently with crumpled skinned hands. She will be my daughter, so much older then, but who once sat between my knees, my hands like weavers in the thick black fabric of her hair.
24 min. 31 sec.
It does not end nor change this line of women braiding hair quickly, but carefully, nimbly, like women quilting hours of cornrows, plaits, twists, an art as brief to complete as girlhood. See, I tell you every time and it’s a beautiful, like it’s a great emotional reaction for me every time. And it’s why I asked you to read it is I think it’s something that’s so
24 min. 53 sec.
special in your writing and just, I think, literature in general, um,
25 min. 20 sec.
I don’t, I, even though it’s about a different experience, right. And an indifferent connection. I shared with you before that it reminds me so much of my relationship with my mom, because every time, I mean, for years, when she would get ready for work and put her makeup on, I would sit right behind her on the bed and I would talk and talk.
25 min. 27 sec.
And talk. And, and that’s where, um, I could share all my problems or all my joys and all my celebrations and hear her solutions or even just her ear, just her listening ear. Sometimes I would talk and there would be like no room for it and other times it would. But, um, so much of my relationship with my mom and what shaped me as a young girl and a young woman, as you say, um,
25 min. 51 sec.
I relate back to that time sitting behind my mom. I could get so emotional talking about this, just putting her makeup on. And that poem reminded me so much of that. And so just the work that you do and the way that you were able to capture those real feelings of a lot of girlhood, right? And also how we pass down things that seem trivial.
26 min. 18 sec.
every day and maybe not much, but it’s part of our body and part of our physical set and hair and the meaning of that. Do you want to share anything on writing that or what brought you to this particular story? Well, the first thing I want to say is that what you were talking about is the very heart of literature and what it can do and how it can bring us together and how books
26 min. 43 sec.
and writing and stories can bring us together because no matter how disparate our experiences are,
27 min. 7 sec.
there is a point of connection that we can all come to. And that, that’s really what, what you’re, what you’re talking about is really what, why we write. It’s the why of it all. And why we share. Yes, that is exactly it. And so, so I just want to say that that, what a beautiful story of you and your mother and you’re growing up and you’re, and you’re,
27 min. 15 sec.
connection with your mother and your connection with yourself, right? So first of all, I want to just give some room for that because that’s incredible. And that’s the power of literature, right? That is it right there. And so that’s what we want as writers and that’s what we want as readers. And so that’s why sharing is so important. But yeah, I mean, this story, this poem I wrote
27 min. 41 sec.
Oh, I don’t remember, but I will say that it was sadly, it was published in, it was published in Wild Goose Review very shortly after my mom passed away. About a month after my mom passed away was when it was actually published. I had submitted it well before then, you know, I would say a few months before then, and then I knew it was slated to, to, to, to.
28 min. 9 sec.
to be a part of that literary magazine. But, but unfortunately that was, so it was during a, during a tough time. And it was during a point in my life where I wasn’t sure where my life would take me 2012. I mean, I was, you know, I, I wasn’t sure I didn’t know if I would be a mother, if I wouldn’t, and I’m not, I don’t have children, but, but I, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure where my life would go. And so,
28 min. 28 sec.
What I wanted to cling to was a sense of continuity, a sense of these things always happen, no matter mothers and daughters, you know, this experience of braiding hair and having your hair braided. And when I thought about that long line of my mother and what she had experienced and this sort of mundane everyday thing that was…
28 min. 55 sec.
thousands maybe of years old, this act of braiding hair that goes back so far, that goes back so far. It was incredible. And we can think about these things in so many of our mundane actions, cooking a meal and enjoying it with our family. How many times has that happened throughout history? How many times? Pouring a cup of coffee. Pouring a cup of coffee. Yeah.
29 min. 19 sec.
Just all these things, these experiences that we have with our families and with our friends, and that this has been a part of human history. This is woven into the tapestry of human history. And this idea of fabric was something that I really wanted to imbue in this poem because it is a fabric. It is part of our fabric, part of our human fabric.
29 min. 47 sec.
Yeah, something that you mentioned a minute ago, I’d love to expand on, especially because so many facets of your life revolve around literature and literary and many different outlets of bringing it to people, of creating it, of educating, of exploring. And I have my own thoughts on it, too. But what role do you think literature and literacy plays in making the world a better place?
30 min. 13 sec.
I think empathy is at the core of where literature and literacy make the world a better place. I think that we are, you know, as human beings, we possess empathy, all of us. It’s there.
30 min. 44 sec.
we can try to cover it up, we can bury it, whatever, but it’s there. It’s there. And I think that sharing stories, whether those stories are the form of poetry, whether it’s nonfiction, like that riveting Antarctic exploration book that I just finished.
30 min. 58 sec.
whatever, I’ve never been to Antarctica and I probably never will go. Uh, but, and I certainly wouldn’t experience, you know, being trapped there. Um, after my ship broke apart in the ice, uh, I don’t want to experience that eating seals and I don’t want to do that. But, but this is to say that, that no matter what our, where our experiences take us,
31 min. 14 sec.
It’s the written word that brings us together. And there is something very human about that. We are the only animals that write. We’re not the only animals that move, that use tools. Other animals use tools. But we are the only animals that write. My cat ain’t gonna write me a poem. I don’t know about that. If one of my cats wrote a poem, it would, you know, more treats, now.
31 min. 36 sec.
I feel like that would just be it now.
32 min.
is centered on the written word. And we’ve been writing in some form or another or sharing stories in some form or another for thousands. I mean, since we’ve probably discovered language, we’ve been sharing stories. Yeah. You said something once before that struck me when we’ve had a conversation before. You said…
32 min. 20 sec.
for you and others, a lot of times literature provides a way in or a way out depending on what you need in that moment. That’s right. Yes. That, that is what I believe. I believe that books provide a way in and books provide a way out. Books can bring us into ourselves,
32 min. 42 sec.
They can bring us closer to ourselves, closer to other people, closer to our families, our friends, strangers. But they can also be a way out. When I think about what education, for instance, has historically done, you know, when I think about the African-American diaspora and what education has been able to do.
32 min. 59 sec.
is it’s astounding. And, and when I think now for everybody about the skills of critical thinking, that’s what books teach us. They teach us critical thinking. That is what we need. We need to be able to question and we need to be able to find our own answers. Otherwise, where are we? We’re lost. We’re drift. And that is, and in some ways books can help us out of our own narrow way of thinking sometimes. And so that is, um,
33 min. 17 sec.
That’s the crux of what books do. Absolutely. Preach it. I could have said it better. All right, I’m going to ask for a little advice, especially for those listening in. So we talked about going from a large city and now creating a smaller town. What advice would you give to an author or a writer that maybe lives in a small town or a more rural area, but they want to share their work?
33 min. 45 sec.
beyond and on a broader scale and level, what advice would you give? Yeah. I mean, I would say it’s always important to make connections. It’s always important to talk to folks. Here is just a great place to do it. People are willing to talk. They want to talk to you. They want to connect with you. As we talked about earlier, I mean, this is a small town of people who want to engage. So I think making connections is really important. And I
34 min. 14 sec.
What I love about Staunton is that I love taking long walks. Yeah, me too. I love it. It’s just great. It’s just these are my thinking walks, whether I’m walking down Beverly Street and, you know, talking to people who I see and, oh, hello, hello, hello. Or I might just go to Thorn Rose and walk there and I don’t talk to anybody because they’re all dead. Whatever.
34 min. 41 sec.
True. Sometimes I talk aloud to myself. That’s where a lot of my ideas, you know, I’ll run some ideas. If you see me through walking through Thorn Rose talking to myself, don’t interrupt. Exactly. Get the line out for the next book. Exactly. So I would say this, this, this, this ability to make connections outwardly and inwardly in a small town in a small place is really the joy and the beauty of being here. Yeah.
35 min. 5 sec.
Yeah, I love it so much. Coming up, is there anything in particular you have of focus that you’re working on or you would like to share with people? You know, I’m just, I’m working through some ideas, some more writing ideas, recovering from the festival. Can you share real quick?
35 min. 33 sec.
what the festival of the books is? Sure, sure. So my work is with Virginia Humanities, which is our state’s humanities council. And specifically, I direct the Virginia Center for the Book.
35 min. 51 sec.
which is a center that’s all about books. And one of our flagship events is a festival that we do each year. And we also do some year round literary programs. We’ve done some programs here in Staunton that have been exciting. So we’re, and we’re looking to do more year round programs across the state of Virginia as we look forward to the future. So we’re really looking to do more outside of Charlottesville which is where Virginia Humanities is based.
36 min. 6 sec.
into, into the state, into the rest of the state. Some of my, my most prized programs have been outside of Charlottesville, whether it’s Lovingston, whether it’s here in Staunton, whether it’s Grundy, Virginia, all the way in Southwest Virginia. You know, Grundy is awesome. Yeah. They are awesome. They’re, they’re a library out there, man. They’re so awesome. So, I mean, getting around the state to me is really exciting. Yeah. So if people are listening,
36 min. 35 sec.
If you’ve got a program you want to speak to, maybe you’ll collaborate on. Yeah. Layla, thank you so much for your time today and your insight and your words and your work and everything that you guys are doing. I think…
37 min. 4 sec.
I think literacy and access to literature and books and words in general are the great equalizer of humanity. Not to be like too broad with it, but I do. I think I think access to literacy is is the it’s the key gateway to knowledge. And the more knowledgeable you are, the better our world is in many, many ways. So thank you for the work that you are doing.
37 min. 17 sec.
Thank you guys so much for listening in to another episode of The U is Silent. We aren’t. We most certainly aren’t over here. If you guys like what you heard, please give us a great review. Hit five stars. Share the word. Share the podcast. And continue to listen in. Kalela, anything you want to share? How can people keep up with you? Buy your book?
37 min. 41 sec.
How can they get to you? Sure. KalelaWilliams.com is my website. And you can also look up Virginia Humanities. I’m always there too. Fantastic. Pick up this book. It’s incredible. Tangleroot, Kalela. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. See you guys soon.
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