Great Grief

A podcast about loving greatly through grief.


Scalawag knows that for many of us, our grief is simultaneously never news, and the only news. From the mind and lived experience of celebrated jazz artist Nnenna Freelon, Great Grief is a life-honoring outpouring of word, story, and song that plumbs the depths of her own sorrow after the death of her beloved husband, Philip, and her sister, Debbie Irene.


Award-winning Great Grief re-emerges at Scalawag through podcasts and live events as a dynamic space for Black women to indulge our griefs, savor our loves, and mourn in community. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences, topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love.


A new season drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South. Find out more about live events and other ways engage at: https://scalawagmagazine.org/great-grief/


Read a conversation between Nnenna Freelon and Scalawag Arts & Soul Editor-at-Large Alysia Harris about creating a podcast for Black women to engage with their grief: https://scalawagmagazine.org/2023/08/nnenna-freelon-great-grief-podcast/


Read more stories from Scalawag's ongoing engagement with grief & other loves: https://scalawagmagazine.org/southern-grief/


Join the Great Grief Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/greatgriefcommunity