Kyoko Mori & Abi Newhouse

For the third episode of Awakeners, Lena interviewed nonfiction writers Kyoko Mori and Abi Newhouse over shortbread and coffee in Kyoko’s apartment in Washington, D.C.

Kyoko advised Abi’s MFA thesis in nonfiction at George Mason University, a collection of essays about growing up Mormon. Abi hadn’t yet officially left the Church when she initially drafted those essays; now, five years later, she and Kyoko reflect on what the writing was telling her and how to write with nuance about a culture you needed to leave behind. Bonus: Kyoko recalls a hilarious piece of advice from the one and only Raymond Carver.

In the second half of the episode, Abi shares an excerpt from two very different drafts of the same essay, and Kyoko shares an excerpt about her own grad school experience from her newest book, CAT AND BIRD.

“There was a time when I thought I could come to grad school and not let anyone know about my past.” –Abi Newhouse

“I think I do try to get my students to listen to what their writing is already telling them about what they really want. But I try to do it in service to their writing, not to their life. —Kyoko Mori

Kyoko Mori’s new nonfiction book, CAT & BIRD, was published in March 2024 by Belt Publishing. She is the author of 3 other nonfiction books (The Dream of Water; Polite Lies; Yarn) and 4 novels (Shizuko’s Daughter; One Bird; Stone Field, True Arrow; Barn Cat). Her essays and stories have appeared in The Best American Essays, Harvard Review, The American Scholar, Colorado Review, Conjunctions, and others.  She teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at George Mason University and the Low-Residency MFA Program at Lesley University.  Kyoko lives in Washington, DC with her cats, Miles and Jackson.

Abi Newhouse is a writer, podcast producer, and the programs coordinator for Washington DC literary nonprofit, The Inner Loop. A graduate of George Mason University's MFA program in creative nonfiction, her work can be found in The Rumpus, The American Scholar, and The Hunger Journal, among others. She has taught rhetoric and literature at George Mason University and American University. 

More Abi Newhouse: abinewhouse.com and abinewhouse.substack.com

More Kyoko Mori: https://kyokomori.com/

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Raymond Carver

Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge