From the archive: 2011 Carl Phillips reads from Double Shadow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011). We also hear poems from The Rest of Love, Riding Westward, and A Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems 1986-2006. We talk about Dickinson, Cape Cod, the influences of the Ancient Greeks, the lyric, love, and how poems are like prayers. …
From the archive: 2009 Lorrie Moore reads from her novel A Gate at the Stairs (Knopf 2009). We talk about the music of writing within the novel and the short story. We also talk about being part of a community–and writing about loss–our collective and individual sorrows–our awkwardness and joy. And a few words about …
From the archive: 2012 Philip Levine talks about writing every day. We also talk about Aunt Belle, Spain, anarchism, Larry Levis, pianist Bill Evans, Detroit, and Adrienne Rich. Books on the table with us: NEWS OF THE WORLD (2009), BREATH (2004), THE SIMPLE TRUTH (1994), WHAT WORK IS (1991) and NEW SELECTED POEMS (1991) https://umich.box.com/shared/static/daamyvwp3bxjd7p47v6r26u3bc7ab9j8.mp3 …
From the archive: 2010 ZZ Packer reads from Buffalo Soldiers, her novel-in-progress. We talk about Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (Riverhead Books 2003) and about sending stories out into the world–and how much work it actually takes to have someone say that your prose is “effortless.” We also talk about politics, revision, and what “Sometimes You Get …
From the archive: 2012 David Mitchell reads from his novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House Trade paperback 2011). We talk about “word nerdery” and future novels circling one’s head like planes in a holding pattern. We also talk about Dejima, Cloud Atlas and how music means everything, or close to it. …
From the archive: 2017 Rest in power, John. Join us for a special program featuring a conversation with Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell about their trilogy MARCH. We also hear stories and memories from people who marched with Congressman John Lewis on Edmund Pettus Bridge March 7, 1965. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/fkpg6zvkegr5jgef790z4rb9zz62499t.mp3 Download …
MARCH: Congressman John Lewis with Andew Aydin and Nate Powell Read More »
From the archive: 2008 Deborah Eisenberg reads from her latest collection of short stories Twilight of the Superheroes (Picador 2007). We talk about the glories of the short story–and plays and politics. We talk about public life, fiction and privacy. We also talk about empathy in fiction and economy of language. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/skt79ug7qchyd0n7s9nd0nw451zt1qxw.mp3 Download Audio Photo credit: …
From the archive: 2015 Poet Jean Valentine reads from Break the Glass and Shirt In Heaven (Copper Canyon Press). We talk about memory, elegy, music and dreaming. Take heart. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/i56bxlhpmjr9i15j1pvi5g701m4npi6v.wav Download Audio For more about the author, click here! Original airdate: April 22, 2015
From the archive: 2013 A. Van Jordan reads poems from The Cineaste (W. W. Norton & Company 2014). We talk about the love of film, family, and organists. We talk about disappearing and emerging in stories. We also have a drum roll! https://umich.box.com/shared/static/3foponvwadxgr4vpvezn8xkn7x8yqrcy.mp3 Download Audio Original airdate: May 15, 2013
From the archive: 2008 Amy Hempel reads from The Collected Stories (Scribner 2007). We talk about writing short shorts and writing prose poems–and about having that first line–how it shows you the way to the story. We hear a poem called “Sing to It.” And we talk about dogs. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/kq6s3tjl3b34aee1cizeuee4k88bqaby.mp3 Download Audio Original airdate: December 3, …
