S2 E11 – Bren McClain –A Secret Shared, Maternal Love & A Pilgrimage to the Page

Literary Latte Podcast with Lynda Bouchard

A Secret is shared. A Story is born. Read the first paragraph of ‘One Good Mama Bone’ by Bren McClain and you’ll know why the late Pat Conroy wanted this stunning debut novel for his imprint (Story River Books). It’s Southern to the core. It’s about motherhood. It’s beautifully written. Bren’s writing is distinguished by a sophisticated and detailed portrayal of the day-to-day realities of rural poverty and an authentic sense of time and place that marks the best southern fiction.

Award-winning novelist Bren McClain talks with Lynda about meeting Pat Conroy and how it changed her life. She shares the way this story came to her and how she eventually found the missing piece that made the story work. Bren explains the risk of keeping your characters ‘safe,’ and the way a teacher’s belief in her writing kept her on the path to completing her award winning novel, ‘One Good Mama Bone.’

‘One Good Mama Bone’, was named a Great Group Reads 2017 Selection by the Women’s National Book Association, was chosen as a 2017 Okra pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and is winner of the 2017 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction.

Bren is at work on her next novel (working title: ‘Took’) which won the 2016 William Faulkner –William Wisdom Novel-in-Progress award. Bren was born and raised in Anderson, South Carolina, on beef cattle and grain farm and now makes her home on 100 acres outside of Nashville, Tennessee. https://www.brenmcclain.com/

• NOTE: Bren and Lynda kept the conversation going. Be sure and meet us back here in November. Bren is Literary Latte’s season finale’ guest. You won’t want to miss it.

This Week’s Sponsors:

McIntosh Book Shoppe

Buy the Book : https://www.amazon.com/Good-Mama-Story-River-Books/dp/1611177464