2020 – LIVING WRITERS

2020

Eduardo C. Corral

Eduardo C. Corral reads from Guillotine (Graywolf Press 2020). We talk about attentiveness, structuring books, audience and interiority. We also talk about expanding possibilities and French pop songs. Playlist:

poet with his cat

Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar reads poems from Calling A Wolf A Wolf (Alice James Books 2017) and Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf 2021). We talk about technology of language–its limitations and failures–and ways of working to subvert it. We also talk about addiction, country roads and cats. Playlist: Angel Olsen, Creator, Destroyer T Rex, Cosmic Dancer Frank Ocean, Nights …

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author standing by the Black Sea

Natalie Bakopoulos

Natalie Bakopoulos discusses her novel Scorpionfish (Tin House 2020). We talk about first swims, balconies and growing into your writer self. We also talk about Elena Ferrante, identity, gender, and Greece. Download Audio Bonus: For the last quarter of this episode, you’ll hear songs from Natalie’s playlist for Scorpionfish and Living Writers. For the full …

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The writer wears headphones and holds a pink donut with sprinkles

Elizabeth Wason

Elizabeth Wason talks about science writing and her work as managing editor for Resources for the Future, a DC think tank. We talk about getting accessible expert insight and research in front of policymakers. We also talk about writing through editing, about “getting out of the way” in collaboration, and about creating visually compelling composition. …

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Ebony Roberts

Ebony Roberts reads from The Love Prison Made and Unmade: My Story (Amistad 2019). We talk about fathers, fairytales, prisons, resilience and writing memoir.  We talk about Shaka Senghor and his book Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death and Redemption in an American Prison. http://beanball.wcbn.org/rss/Living_Writers/wcbn-living_writers-2020-03-04-170001-EDT.mp3 Download Audio program recorded: 21 Nov 2019; aired 4 March 2020

Michael Dickman

Michael Dickman reads from Days & Days (Knopf 2019). We talk about interconnectedness, structure, place and butterflies.

Catherine Lacey

Catherine Lacey reads from Certain American States: Stories (Picador 2018) in a special Fundraiser 2020 episode of Living Writers. We talk about websites, irresolution, humor, dogs, and her novel Pew out in May 2020. http://beanball.wcbn.org/rss/Living_Writers/wcbn-living_writers-2020-02-19-170001-EST.mp3 Download Audio WCBN Fundraiser 2020: visit www.wcbn.org to pledge on-line

Kristin Hersh, Grant-Lee Phillips and John Doe

While in Ann Arbor, Kristin Hersh, Grant-Lee Phillips, and John Doe talk about their The Exile Follies 2020 tour. We talk about collaboration and process, mystery, and creating experience. We also talk about how music is fearless. http://beanball.wcbn.org/rss/Living_Writers/wcbn-living_writers-2020-02-12-170001-EST.mp3 Download Audio  

John Barr and Dan Murphy

John Barr and Dan Murphy talk about their book Start By Believing: Larry Nassar’s Crimes, the Institutions that Enabled Him, and the Brave Women Who Stopped a Monster (Hachette Books 2020). We talk about investigative reporting, making a book, choosing a narrative arc, and the responsibility of telling this story.   https://umich.box.com/shared/static/00g19rkijka48s7byfkqvs5wfuoyxx88.mp3 Download Audio  

Ilya Kaminsky

Ilya Kaminsky reads from Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press 2019). We talk about language and silence, fabulism, the imagined town of Vasenka with its puppet theater, and poets that inspire. http://beanball.wcbn.org/rss/Living_Writers/wcbn-living_writers-2020-02-05-170001-EST.mp3 Download Audio  

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