When I was five years old, my father became a born-again Christian. It’s not a time I like to remember, because my father embraced a form of evangelicalism which taught that men were ordained by God to be head of the household and that women were inferior. Like many evangelical women, I was taught not…
Everything Else
RUN TOWARDS THE DANGER
I’ve been reading Sarah Polley’s RUN TOWARDS THE DANGER. The title essay feels like it was written for people, who, like me, have experienced a traumatic injury. IN RUN TOWARDS THE DANGER, Polley, who is Canadian, travels to America to consult with a doctor about a concussion which has lingered for four years. He tells…
2022 Interviews
I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but after I was sent to reform school, I didn’t write for a decade. I have a tricky relationship with writing— at the school I was punished for what I wrote in my letters home. They would make me rewrite my letters over and over. I…
Shield Athens in the AJC
Me, my husband, Chris, and a collective of incredible Athenians known as Shield Athens spent the first 6 weeks of the pandemic making face shields for medical workers. We ended up distributing around 2500, free of charge. The incredible Jessica Handler, author of Invisible Sisters and the Magnetic Girl, profiled us in the AJC. Love…
Shield Athens
Sometime after September 11th, I went back to the Delta to visit my grandfather Waters Hicks. My son had been born in August of that year and I wanted my grandfather to meet him. Also, I realize now, that even though I have effectively exiled myself from the Delta, I tend to go back to…
Empty the Pews and Everything Else
A few years back Chrissy Stroop and Lauren O’Neal put out a call to writers to submit essays about their stories of leaving the church. Two amazing things happened. 1. My essay, Fundamentalist, made the cut along with a bunch of incredible essays which were collected in an anthology called Empty the Pews: Stories of…
Sugiuchi Reads about Mississippi for Seat in the Shade 2019
This summer UGA professor Melisa Cahnmann- Taylor invited me to read for her lit series Seat in The Shade. I opened for Georgia via Louisiana rock star poet Jericho Brown. Love seeing him read and especially love how in the discussion part Jericho discussed the influence of the Black church on his performance and writing….
Go Your Own Way Panel at AWP 19
Just finished packing for Portland, where I’m moderating a panel called Go Your Own Way at AWP. Jennifer Baker, Laura C. Brown, Charlie J. Eskew, Amanda Miska, and I will be discussing the different ways people can become writers or have literary careers or make connections in the industry, etc. It’s a panel I would…
Marriage in Mississippi Before Loving- Storycorps Interview
In 1963 my in-laws, Howard and Suzanne Sugiuchi, fell in love in Mississippi. They were unable to marry because Howard was Japanese. Mississippi anti-miscegenation laws prohibited whites from marrying anyone but whites. Howard and Suzanne had to elope to Alabama in order to get married. In October I interviewed them for Storycorps. Our interview was…
Sugiuchi Wins Scholarship to Attend Key West Literary Seminar
Recently I was awarded a Teacher and Librarian Scholarship to attend the Key West Literary Seminar. I’ve always wanted to attend. The press release is below. Sugiuchi Wins Scholarship to Attend Key West Literary Seminar Key West, Florida – Deirdre Sugiuchi, school library media specialist at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary in Athens, Georgia, has been awarded…