Ben Ratliff is the author of Every Song Ever and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening (Graywolf Press, 2025) was longlisted for the National Book Award, and the 2026 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. A former music critic for the New York Times, he lives in New York City and teaches at NYU.

Listening Recommendations:

Cara Lise Coverdale, A Series of Actions in A Sphere of Forever
Ishmael Rivera, Lo Ultimo in La Avenida

Book Recommendations:

Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume 1-3
Samuel R Delaney, The Motion of Light and Water

Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers.

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Ben Ratliff, "Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening" (Graywolf Press, 2025)