This State of Literature 3 comes to you from the ladies of the Summerbooks podcast, Renee Nicholson and Natalie Sypolt, in which they discuss their work on the podcast, why they do it, what it means to talk about literature in such a format, and more. We are very excited to bring you this podcast edition of This State of Literature:

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SummerBooks, the literary podcast, is a discussion of one book by two reader/writers: Natalie Sypolt and Renée Nicholson.

Natalie Sypolt lives and writes in West Virginia. She received her MFA in fiction from West Virginia University in 2005 and currently teaches writing at WVU. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in literary journals including Glimmer Train, Kenyon Review Online, Willow Springs Review, Flashquake, and others. Natalie’s writing has received several awards, including the 2009 West Virginia Fiction Award from Shepherd University, judged by Silas House and the 2009 Betty Gabehart Prize. She is also the winner of the 2012 Glimmer Train New Writers Contest. Natalie serves as a literary editor for the Anthology of Appalachian Writers.

Renée K. Nicholson lives in Morgantown, WV, splitting her artistic pursuits between writing and dance. Renée earned teaching certification through American Ballet Theatre and an MFA in Creative Writing at West Virginia University. She serves as Assistant Director of the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop. Her writing has appeared in Switchback, Blue Lyra Review, Dossier, Mid American Review, Perigee: A Journal of the Arts, Paste, Poets & Writers, The Superstition Review, The Gettysburg Review and other literary publications and anthologies. She earned a Special Mention from the Pushcart Prizes, and is a book reviewer at Los Angeles Review. Renée was the 2011 Emerging Writer in Residence at Penn State-Altoona. Her website is http://www.reneenicholson.com.