An artist with a local connection will be featured on the beloved radio hour.

“The Moth Radio Hour” is one of the oldest and most recognizable in the audio–only field. The program, known for its storytelling format, is coming to The Fargo Theater main stage November 14 and will feature stories from a wide range of speakers from diverse backgrounds. 

“The Moth is true stories, told live and without notes.” According to the Facebook events page. One of the speakers actually grew up in Grand Forks, James Mattson, an assistant professor of English at Murray State University in Kentucky. 

Mattson is known for his book “The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves” a novel about a Gay teen who experienced bullying and eventually commits suicide after killing his bully. The book was even featured on an NPR review.             

Mattson is not coming to Fargo in order to talk about his book. “Mostly I’m going to be talking about reuniting with my birth family in Korea,” Mattson said “and you know, the things that lead up to that reuniting.” 

Mattson adopted parents still live in North Dakota so he said he visits the area at least twice a year.

“I was just there this summer. I did two events. I did an event in Fargo at Zandbroz and then I did an event at Archives Coffee House in Grand Forks.” Mattson said.

Mattson said “The Moth” emailed him out of the blue to do this event and he does not know how they selected him to speak in Fargo. He expressed excitement over being able to speak at a Moth taping. “It’s a very exciting event for me,” Mattson said, “I mean, I’m thrilled that they want me to do it.”

The moth is well known as a podcast but it is also broadcasted on 470 radio stations to more than 1 million listeners a week, according to the Facebook events page. 

Doors open for the taping at 6:30 and tickets are available through Jade Presents.