Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchJamila Ahmed, "Every Rising Sun: A Novel" (Henry Holt, 2023)
Episode 361
Jamila Ahmed's novel, Every Rising Sun (Henry Holt, 2023) is a clever take on One Thousand and One Nights. Traveling through lush courtyards, perilou…
2 years, 8 months ago
Christopher Merrill, "On the Road to Lviv" (Arrowsmith Press, 2023)
Episode 27
Prismatic and polysemous, On the Road to Lviv (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) invites us on an odyssey across Ukraine in the hour of war. "This chronicle/ T…
2 years, 8 months ago
Caroline O'Donoghue, "The Rachel Incident" (Knopf, 2023)
Episode 102
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it's love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon …
2 years, 8 months ago
Eileen Myles, "Pathetic Literature" (Grove Press, 2022)
Episode 135
“Literature is pathetic.” So claims Eileen Myles in their provocative and robust introduction to Pathetic Literature (Grove Press, 2022), a breathtak…
2 years, 8 months ago
B. Pladek, "Dry Land" (U Wisconsin Press, 2023)
Episode 360
Today I talked to Ben Pladek about his novel Dry Land (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023).
Rand Brandt, a forester in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, …
2 years, 8 months ago
Viet Thanh Nguyen, "A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023)
Episode 1362
With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism, in A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023), Viet Than…
2 years, 8 months ago
Hilary Leichter, "Terrace Story" (Ecco, 2023)
Episode 101
Annie, Edward, and their young daughter, Rose, live in a cramped apartment. One night, without warning, they find a beautiful terrace hidden in their…
2 years, 9 months ago
Jake Lancaster, “Grace’s Folly," The Common Magazine (2023)
Episode 51
Jake Lancaster speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Grace’s Folly,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Jake talks a…
2 years, 9 months ago
Jessica Hendry Nelson, "Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief" (U Georgia Press, 2023)
Episode 359
Jessica Hendry Nelson, Joy Rides through the Tunnel of Grief (University of Georgia Press, 2023) is a compelling memoir in essays. When Nelson's fath…
2 years, 9 months ago
Chelsea T. Hicks, "A Calm and Normal Heart: Stories" (The Unnamed Press, 2022)
Episode 183
Today’s book is A Calm and Normal Heart: Stories (The Unnamed Press, 2022) by Chelsea T. Hicks. The heroes of A Calm and Normal Heart are modern-day …
2 years, 9 months ago