This week on The Write Question, host Lauren Korn speaks with poet, author, and educator Maya Jewell Zeller about her memoir-in-essays, Raised by Ferns (Porphyry Press). Of this book, Kathryn Neurnberger says, “Zeller shows readers what it means to belong to an earth that is always moving beneath our feet, terrifying in her unpredictable changing, but also springing forth new berries and fish and fiddlehead ferns that can sustain a family through this day and the next. A thoughtful consideration of the myriad forms childhood poverty can take and the impacts it can have, this is also a memoir about learning to love the wildly reckless, confused, and brave child she once was.”
This conversation has been edited for time.
Maya will be touring Raised by Ferns around Montana!
March 16, 2026, at 7 p.m.: Fact & Fiction Books in Missoula
March 17, at 5:30 p.m.: In conversation with Jamie Ford at the Great Falls Public Library, in partnership with Cassiopeia Books
March 18, at 6 p.m.: Reading with Henrietta Goodman at This House of Books in Billings
March 19, at 7 p.m.: Reading with Henrietta Goodman at Elk River Books in Livingston
March 20, at 7 p.m.: Reading with Henrietta Goodman at The Clark Chateau in Butte
About Maya:
Maya Jewell Zeller is a multi-genre author of several books and collaborations, most recently Raised by Ferns (Porphyry Press, March 2026); The Wonder of Mushrooms (AdventureKEEN, fall 2025); out takes/ glove box, selected by Eduardo Corral as winner of the 2022 New American Poetry Prize; and the co-authored textbook (with Kathryn Nuernberger) Advanced Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2024). Maya’s prose appears widely, and her essay, “Scavenger Panorama,” was honored by Vivian Gornick as a Notable in Best American Essays 2023. Maya is Professor of English for Central Washington University, and Affiliate Faculty of Poetry and Nature Writing for Western Colorado University’s low-residency MFA program. Maya lives in the Pacific Northwest with her children, their two tuxedo cats, and an ever-expanding library.
Mentioned in this episode:
This TWQ conversation between Lauren, Maya, and Sharma Shields
“Tobacco” by Melissa Kwasny, as referenced in “Landscape Anxiety” by Maya Jewell Zeller (River Styx)
“Salvage aesthetic,” and the poets Mita Mahato and Inger Christensen
Maya Jewell Zeller recommends:
Held: Essays in Belonging by Kathryn Nuernberger (Sarabande Books)
The Serious World by Laura Read (BOA Editions)
Wild Milk by Sabrina Orah Mark (Dorothy, a publishing project)
Arctic Play by Mita Mahato (Third Thing Press)
The Laughter by Sonora Jha (HarperCollins)
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford (Atria Books); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Jamie here!
Alphabet by Inger Christensen, translated by Susanna Nied (New Directions Publishing)
Elita by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum (Triquarterly Books)
Lauren Korn recommends:
Raised by Ferns (Porphyry Press) and out takes/ glove box (New American Press) by Maya Jewell Zeller
Evergreen: Grim Tales & Verses from the Gloomy Northwest edited by Maya Jewell Zeller and Sharma Shields (Scablands Books)
Spinning Tea Cups: A Mythical American Memoir by Alexandra Teague (Oregon State University Press); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Alexandra here!
The poetry of Melissa Kwasny; listen to Lauren’s conversation with Melissa, re: The Cloud Path (Milkweed Editions) here!
And Other Bodiless Powers by Sarah Aronson (New American Press)
Rue (BOA Editions) and The Witch of Eye (Sarabande Books) by Kathryn Nuernberger
Depth Control (Unsolicited Press) and Woman House (University of Massachusetts Press) by Lauren Westerfield
Picture books are a lyrical tether in many of Maya’s essays. Lauren loves picture books! She recommends:
Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny (illustrated by Clement Herd) and Little Fur Family (illustrated by Garth Williams) by Margaret Wise Brown (Harper Collins)
The Wildest One and The Littlest Family’s Big Day by Emily Winfield Martin (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Little Witch Hazel by Phoebe Wahl (Tundra Books); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Phoebe and children’s programming host Vicki Chaney here!
A Place Just For Me by Loredana Baldinucci, illustrated by Melinda Berti (Greystone Kids)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, co-producer, editor, and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Fact & Fiction, an independent bookstore located in the heart of downtown Missoula, Montana, providing books for all ages and supporting the literary community in Montana and beyond. More information can be found at factandfictionbooks.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
