Welcome to Twice 5 Miles Radio. I'm your host, James Navé. My guest today is Orison Books publisher and poet Luke Hankins. Luke is based in Asheville and has published over 50 books since 2017. I'll let Luke tell you why he started Orison Books. 

"I founded Orison Books with the conviction that there is no time when the metaphysical or spiritual impulse is irrelevant to a culture. But our culture risks forgetting the indispensable place of beauty and the human drive for transcendence, which are tightly wrapped together. Every religious and spiritual tradition values beauty as a man of communing with God or the realm of the spirit, whatever vision of it that particular tradition holds.” 

Enjoy the show.

Beauty and Transcendence with Orison Books Publisher and poet Luke Hankins

Provocative Conversations from Twice 5 Miles Radio is a podcast devoted to candid, often surprising exchanges with artists, thinkers, and cultural instigators who speak from the core. Each episode dives beneath the surface to explore the stories and questions that shape our lives.

I’m James Navé—poet, storyteller, educator, and longtime creative collaborator. With an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and decades of teaching experience across the globe, I help writers and performers tap into their authentic voices through public speaking, creative writing, and the Imaginative Storm method, which I co-developed with Allegra Huston.

My most recent book, 100 Days: A Poetic Memoir After Cancer (3: A Taos Press), documents a hundred days of healing and poetic reckoning. I’m also co-author of Write What You Don’t Know and How to Read for an Audience—practical guides for anyone seeking to speak and write with more truth and power.

I’ve directed festivals, hosted literary salons, taught with Julia Cameron, and memorized over 600 poems. I still believe in the power of a well-told story, the light through stained glass, and the open road with nothing but a podcast and a windshield full of stars.

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