Another episode of the Redbud Hyphen is up on #Substack and #Spotify! Redbud President @dorinagilmore welcomes author and storyteller Mitali Perkins to chat about writing, storytelling, creativity, and the desire for a more just world.
You won’t want to miss listening to this entire conversation—it’s packed with encouragement and wisdom.
A few of the things Dorina and Mitali discuss:
Confronting shame and vulnerability through art
The gift of flow—escaping time through creativity
Creative flow as survival and sacred practice
The power of stories—making the soul strong
Stories make your soul strong. They strengthen your soul. They make it possible for you to live your own hero's journeys with the virtues that we need, the courage, the hope, the love, the faith that we need to face life's challenges. There's nothing like stories. —Mitali Perkins
When we avoid the gluttony of self-soothing, numbing practices, and we face our own vulnerability, and we allow ourselves to let those emotions, and not just the bad ones, but the good ones too, inform our art, then the art that we make, the stories that we make, have a ring to them of truth that allows another human being to feel seen. —Mitali Perkins
Want to learn from Mitali in person? She will be one of the facilitators at Our Lady of Santa Clara Writing Retreat from July 31 - August 3, 2025. There are a few spots left—reserve yours before it’s gone!
Preorder The Golden Necklace here!
Share in the comments any takeaways or other highlights from this episode or questions about the guild.
More about Mitali Perkins:
Mitali Perkins (mitaliperkins.com) has written many books for young readers, including You Bring the Distant Near (nominated for a National Book Award) and Rickshaw Girl (adapted into a film by Sleeperwave Productions), all of which explore crossing different kinds of borders. She’s also written two nonfiction books for adults, one for readers of children's literature, Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children's Novels to Refresh our Tired Souls, and the other for creatives seeking to bring shalom to a hurting world through art, Just Making: A Guide for Compassionate Creatives. Her upcoming middle grade novel The Golden Necklace: A Darjeeling Tea Mystery releases on October 7, 2025 and is available for pre-order.
She enjoys visiting schools, libraries, and conferences to discuss “books between cultures” and the life-changing power of story. Her goal is to make readers laugh or cry, preferably both, as long as their hearts are widening. She lives and writes in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Redbud Hyphen podcast hosts conversations with writers, agents, editors and publishers about the intersection of culture, faith and writing. We hope you will enjoy listening in on these conversations and learning alongside us.
#redbudwritersguild #podcastingforwriters #christianwriters #writingcommunity #kidlit #storytelling #creativity
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