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: Benjamin Biolay, Comment est ta peine? Julien Doré, Le lac Benjamin Biolay, Padam Christine and the Queens, La marcheuse Juliette Armanet, A la Folie
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 …
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 …
From the archive: 2007 Phillip Crymble reads from Wide Boy (Lapwing Publications 2007). We talk about pop culture, humor, Simon Armitage, and Shaman Drum. Download Audio
From the archive: 2015 Alison Bechdel talks about her books The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, and Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama all published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. We talk about drawing and immediacy – and the self as character – and family. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/alobpgc2m5hj4gubpjwftlmn78n5oimg.wav Download Audio For …
From the archive: 2010 Kazim Ali reads from Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities (Wesleyan University Press 2009). We talk about gender theory, Yoko Ono, and blurring genre. We also talk about the geography of emotion and the past. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/r41w04kqdpyu1qv1fga5k7x9f84genxo.mp3 Download Audio Original airdate: October 13, 2010 Recording date: October 7, 2010 Photo credit: press kit
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
Rion Amilcar Scott reads from The World Doesn’t Require You: Stories (Liveright Publishing Corporation/W.W.Norton & Company 2019). We talk about narrative forms, beautiful lines and building a world. We also talk about imagination, characters, and Cross River. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/l7rkdqd76w1x8ndjmxbp8kpst4qgbrut.mp3 Download Audio
Carmen Bugan reads from Lilies from America: New & Selected Poems (Shearsman Books UK 2019). We talk about narrative poems, memoir, and recording a documentary. We also talk about resistance, reclaiming your story, and planting a garden. https://umich.box.com/shared/static/vlqroxuzhb4ceffqzz990l431yll5mag.mp3 Download Audio
Guest host Amanda Uhle speaks with Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game (HMH, 2019) about keeping our parents’ secrets, the art of memoir writing, and gourmet meals by the sea. Brodeur co-founded the fiction magazine Zoetrope: All-Story with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, was an editor at Harcourt, and currently serves as Executive Director of Aspen Words, a …
