Movers & Thinkers #21: Writing About Life, Death And Grief In The South

Margaret Renkl is a Nashville writer perhaps best known for her regular columns in the New York Times. “Late Migrations” is her debut book, and it’s part-essay collection on coming of age and aging in the South, and part-observations of nature.

Margaret began writing the book after the death of her mother, in an effort to process her grief. “If I forced myself to see this rat snake coming out of the chickadee nest box and the crow stealing the cardinal’s babies … then I would stop feeling so singled out for suffering,” she says.

In this poignant and powerful episode, Margaret talks to WPLN’s Emily Siner about documenting complicated families, grieving with animals, and writing a book in 15 minutes.

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