Imagine, if you will, Flannery O’Connor and the ghost of Hank Williams having an affair that results in the birth of an illegitimate child . . . . I have seen Minton Sparks. And if she’s not the ghost child of the woman who wrote Wise Blood and the man who sang ‘I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive,’ then cotton doesn’t grow in a cotton field. –Marshall Chapman, Garden &Gun Magazine
Minton Sparks is a wildly original poet, performance artist, novelist, teacher, and essayist born in a Tennessee college town and raised among her Southern family in and around Arkansas. She earned degrees from the University of the South and Vanderbilt University. Her appearances range from the prestigious Jonesborough National Storytelling Festival all the way to the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Minton’s books, Desperate Ransom and White Lightning, and her writing have received wide acclaim from NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered and BBC’s Bob Harris Show. Her performances have enthralled audiences across the United States and Europe. Her DVD, Open Casket, and four CD’s, which feature blues sensation Keb Mo’, the legendary Waylon Jennings, and the internationally acclaimed Irish songstress Maura O’Connell, are sought after worldwide. Her new record Where Humans End and Birds Begin will be released in March of 2020. She has opened for Ben Folds, John Prine, Jacob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, The Punch Brothers, and most recently The Indigo Girls.
The Fellowship of Southern Writers presented Minton with their first-ever Spoken-Word Award.
In addition to writing and performing, Minton founded the Nashville Writing and Performance Institute. She also teaches a writing/performance workshop, Creating Your Story, at universities and professional organizations across the country. Minton’s year-long Soul Quest workshop is a brand new offering and a game changer for creatives who want to dive into their story.
When Minton is not performing and teaching, she lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, two children, and their dog, Max