Ep 437: Hannah Grieco
We're joined by Hannah Grieco (writer, editor, recent MFA finisher) to discuss the 2021 novel Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder, and its depiction of an overworked mother gone feral.
Ep 436: Athena Dixon
We're joined by Athena Dixon (The Loneliness Files, Tin House Books) to talk about a famous novel she hated when she was first made to read it, and why it spoke to her so much more strongly when she revisited it years later.
Ep 435: Adam O’Fallon Price
Author Adam O'Fallon Price (The Hotel Neversink) returns to talk about a great--if tough to categorize--Don Carpenter novel, Hard Rain Falling. We talk about the novel's many plot swerves, and the depth and surprise in its portrayal of complicated men. Plus: an update on Tom's fancy "white glove service" desk from West Elm.
Ep 434: Jaime Green
Our guest this week is the series editor for The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and author of the book The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos. She had us read an Ursula LeGuin novella about a "generation ship," a science fiction trope involving humans traversing the universe in search of a new planetary home. Did she pick this specifically to troll Mike, who is on the record as a sci fi skeptic? It's entirely possible!
Ep 433: James Hynes
We're joined by novelist James Hynes (Sparrow, The Lecturer's Tale, Next) to talk historical fiction. What are we looking for when we read a historical novel, and how is that different from what we want from actual history? How can writers put themselves inside the consciousness of someone living in a different time and place?
Ep 432: Dan McQuade
We're talking YA sports books with Defector Media editor/co-owner Dan McQuade, who gave us two classics of the genre to read.
Ep 431: Nick Farriella
We're always happy for an excuse to revisit the work of Denis Johnson, so when this week's guest said he wanted to discuss Johnson's novel Angels, we were all in. We talk to Nick about being a self-taught writer, the fine line between funny and sad, and why Johnson's portrayals of substance abuse and mental health struggles spoke to him.
Ep 430: Chill Subs
We talk with the creators of Chill Subs, an online portal for all things literary publishing, about the state of lit mags, why finding places to submit your work is such a chore, and why they created a site that attempts to make it easier. Karina Kupp and Benjamin Davis joined us from Poland and Georgia, respectively, to chat about their own experiences in the lit world, and their ambitious plans for Chill Subs.
Ep 429: Edan Lepucki
We're joined by New York Times bestselling author Edan Lepucki, whose newest novel, Time's Mouth, is out now from Penguin Random House. We talk about her recent love of Larry McMurtry, why she'll never publish a short story collection, and why people need to get over their prudishness when it comes to literary depictions of sex.
Ep 428: Joseph Earl Thomas
We're joined by the author of SINK to talk about difficult memoirs, how various kinds of privilege play out in workshop, and why he likes writing that forces you to get a little lost.
Ep 427: Mark O’Connell
We're joined by Irish author Mark O'Connell (A Thread of Violence, Notes from an Apocalypse, and To Be a Machine, which won the 2019 Rooney Prize for Irish literature) to discuss a John Banville novel, The Book of Evidence, a fictionalized account of a famous Irish murder. O'Connell's newest book is actually a nonfiction exploration of that same murder, which took place in the early 80s and made headlines around the country, in part because the murderer was a well-known Dublin socialite.
Ep 426: Sebastian Castillo
We’re joined by the author of three books—most recently, Salmon—to talk about a very strange, and strangely funny, novella.
Ep 425: Libby Cudmore
We're joined by Libby Cudmore--author of the "hipster mystery" novel The Big Rewind--to talk about her experiments in flash fiction, her relationship to genre, and why she loves Dave Housley's LOONEY.
Ep 424: Sarah Anne Strickley
We're joined by fiction writer Sarah Anne Strickley (Incendiary Devices) to talk about what it's like to be one half of a literary power couple. Plus a strange Brian Evenson novella, Sarah's path toward weirdness in her own fiction, and whether the Iowa Writers Workshop will live inside our heads forever.
Ep 423: Great Place Books
We're joined by the founding editors of Great Place Books--Emily Adrian and Alex Higley--to talk about why they started a new press, and the kinds of books they're hoping to publish. We also discuss Rivka Galchen's short story, "How I Became a Vet," from a recent issue of The New Yorker.
Episode 422: Nic Brown
We're joined by Nic Brown, author of several books, most recently the memoir Bang Bang Crash, about his life as a rock drummer. Nic was also a grad school classmate of ours at the Iowa Writers Workshop, so we decided to revisit Stop-Time, the famous memoir by Frank Conroy, who was in his final years of running the program when we were students there.
Episode 421: John Cotter
We're joined by John Cotter, author of the memoir Losing Music, out this week from Milkweed Editions. The book is about an incurable inner-ear disorder that came on suddenly, and inexplicably, and how John has had to reckon with the gradual loss of his hearing, and the host of other issues that brings with it. John picked a famous Maxine Hong Kingston essay for us to read, one that offers an interesting model for writing about what we don't know.
Episode 420: Christopher Gonzalez
Return guest Christopher Gonzalez (I'm Not Hungry But I Could Eat) joins us to talk about the difference between gay stories and queer stories, writing long, and how not to be a creepy weirdo on Twitter.
Episode 419: Laura McGrath
We're joined by fan favorite Laura McGrath, who is back on the show to help us understood the cultural phenomenon that is Colleen Hoover. McGrath, our colleague at Temple University, studies the business of literature--and teaches a class on best-sellers--but she hadn't read any Hoover until we forced her to do it for the podcast. So we hope you're appreciative, listeners!
Episode 418: Art Taylor
We’re joined by the short story writer Art Taylor—winner of multiple Agatha awards, and author of two collections—to discuss an unconventionally structured story by Joyce Carol Oates. Art also teaches creative writing at George Mason University in Virginia, and we spend some time talking about how we approach structure with our students.