The Life and Short Stories of Diane Oliver (Part One)

Ursa Short Fiction

Content advisory: This episode contains a mention of a racist slur.

Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton's two-part book club discussion on the life and work of Diane Oliver, who published six short stories before her life was tragically cut short in May 1966 at the age of 22.

Oliver was just a month away from graduating from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop when she was killed in a motorcycle accident in Iowa City, Iowa.

Philyaw and Walton first discovered Oliver’s stories from writer Michael A. Gonzales, who wrote an essay about Oliver for The Bitter Southerner. In part one of Ursa’s book club episode, they go in-depth on four of Oliver’s short stories: “Key to the City,” “Health Service,” “Traffic Jam,” and “Neighbors.”

Full episode transcript.

Episode Links and Reading List:

• The Short Stories and Too-Short Life of Diane Oliver (Michael A. Gonzales, The Bitter Southerner, 2022)
• “Key to the City” (Red Clay Reader II, 1965)
• “Health Service” (Negro Digest, November 1965)
• “Traffic Jam” (Negro Digest, July 1966)
• “Neighbors” (The Sewanee Review, 1966)
• Diane Oliver obituary (Jet, 1966)

More from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton:

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

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