fiction/non/fiction S3 Ep. 17: Poetry, Prose, and the Climate Crisis: John Freeman and Tahmima Anam on Public Space and Global Inequality
In this episode, poet and editor John Freeman talks to Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about his second collection of poetry, The Park. Freeman discusses who finds public space a source of connection, relaxation, and recreation, and who is excluded. Then Ganeshananthan, Terrell, and Freeman are joined by acclaimed Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam, who has written extensively about climate change and whose fable appears in Freeman’s new anthology, Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World. The four discuss global inequality, the climate crisis, and resilience.
To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.
This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.
Guests:
Selected readings for the episode:
- Freeman’s
- The Park
- Maps
- Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World
- Selections: “Unfinished,” “The Sacrifice,” “Open All Night”
- Tales of Two Cities: The Best and Worst of Times in Today’s New York
- Tales of Two Americas: Stories in of Inequality in a Divided Nation
- “The Unfortunate Place” in Tales of Two Planets
- Tahmima Anam on how Bangladesh is succumbing to global warming in The Guardian (2007)
- A Burst of Energy in Bangladesh in the New York Times (2016)
- A Golden Age
- The Good Muslim
- The Bones of Grace
Others:
- The Recovering by Leslie Jamison
- “The Funniest Shit You Ever Heard” by Lina Mounzer in Tales of Two Planets
- Jennifer 8. Lee's post on Instagram showing "circular human parking spots at Domino Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn"
- Bill McKibben
- Gold Fame Citrus: A Novel by Claire Vaye Watkins
- Fiction/Non/Fiction interview with Emily Raboteau and Omar El Akkad
- Fiction/Non/Fiction interview with Juliana Spahr and Nathaniel Rich
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