Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Writer Podcast) features Arini Vlotman

Arini advises she "a romance fanatic, book worm, book hoarder and writer. Writers are my superheroes; readers are my tribe. I’m a people’s person and a wordy nerd so I can find comfort in almost any space but there is nothing quite like being at home with my husband, son and fur babies.Living in Johannesburg, South Africa has given me a slightly quirky world view- we laugh at ourselves all the time here so sometimes my sense of humor doesn’t translate into my words. Be kind, I think I’m funny!One my favourite hobbies is Fangirling (is that a thing?). Musicians, books, movies or obscure characters, when I find something that I love I delve into that world like Harry Potter diving into the Whomping Willow."

Her debut novel is "Pretty Average".

More details can be found at: https://arinivlotman.co.za/

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Poetry Podcast) features the wonderful M. L. Liebler. M. L. Liebler is an internationally known & widely published Detroit poet, university professor, literary arts activist and arts organizer.

He was named The 2017-2018 Murray E. Jackson Scholar in the Arts Award at Wayne State University. Liebler is the author of 15 books and chapbooks including the Award winning Wide Awake in Someone Else's Dream (Wayne State University Press 2008) featuring poems written in and about Russia, Israel, Germany, Alaska and Detroit. Wide Awake won both The Paterson Poetry Prize for Literary Excellenceand The American Indie Book Award for 2009.

In 2005, he was named St. Clair Shores (his hometown) first Poet Laureate. Liebler has read and performed his work in Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Russia, China, France, UK, Macao, Italy, Germany, Spain, Finland and most of the 50 States.

M.L. Liebler has taught English, Creative Writing, American Studies, Labor Studies and World Literature at Wayne State University in Detroit since 1980, and he is the founding director of both The National Writer's Voice Project in Detroit and the Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers Literary Arts Organization. He was selected as Best Detroit Poet by The Detroit Free Press & Detroit's Metro Time. Liebler became the Co-Editor In 2010, he received The Barnes & Noble Poets & Writers Writers for Writers Award with Maxine Hong Kingston & Junot Diaz.

In 2011, his groundbreaking anthology Working Words: Punching the Clock & Kicking Out the James (Coffee House Press) was given a 2011 Library of Michigan Notable Book Award. In 2017, Liebler received a total of 4 Library of Michigan Notable Book Awards for both his new collection of poems entitled I Want to Be Once (Wayne State University Press / Made in Michigan Series) and for Heaven Was Detroit: An Anthology of Detroit Music Essays from Jazz to Hiphop (The Wayne State University Press Painted Turtle Series) Editor. Bob Seger's House: An Anthology of Michigan Short Stories (Co-Editor with Mike Delp). Both Heaven Was Detroit and Bob Seger's House are Finalist for the prestigious Forward Book Awards.

2020 saw the release of RESPECT: Poets on Detroit Music edited by M. L. Liebler & Jim Daniels (Michigan State University Press 2020). RESPECT just received both a 2021 Tillie Olsen Award & 2021 Library of Michigan Notable Book Award. In September 2020, M. L. was awarded the Michigan Humanities Champion of the Year.

Liebler received a Wayne State University Distinguished Scholar Award for 2024-2026. He curretly directs The WSU Humanities Commons and The Detroit Writers' Guild. M.L. Liebler

Latest Spoken Label (Poetry Podcast) is a various artist Poetry Podcast

co-hosted with ML Liebler (whose own podcast will follow next) features

some student and a fellow young creative writing faculty member.

Writers featured are:

Alexis Ball is a 20-year-old English and creative writing student at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. They are passionate about poetry and have been writing since they learned the alphabet. Alexis hopes to one day work for an editing and publishing company and possibly become a college professor later in life.

Nicholas Lowengruber I've been writing poetry since 2016 after reading an excerpt from Walden, but I didn't really know what I was doing until studying under poets at Wayne State University like ML and Robert Laidler. One of my biggest regrets so far is ever reading Ezra Pound; I how I wanted to be him growing up (except without being a fascist), and I still need to take time before I learn to appreciate the respect for imagery and the capability to take an object and look at it through many different lenses that Pound instilled in me. I'm wrapping up my third year at Wayne State University, double majoring in Philosophy and English; thinking too much is a curse, and I'm learning to work with it. Regarding my more current work, I'm an e.e. cummings devotee and continuing to learn to make poetry weird, turning towards the Language movement. Currently pondering Eve's morally questionable decision to leave Caleb trapped at the end of Ex Machina after everything that they went through.

young creative writing faculty member Robert Laidler.

Email address for each of the writers are:

mlliebler@aol.com, (ML Liebler)

Rtlaidle@wayne.edu,

hg8410@wayne.edu (Nick),

alexis.ball@wayne.edu