The Lives of Writers

Michael talks with Diane Exavier about growing up and living in Flatbush, playwriting and participatory theater, writing through grief and about family, books as events, poems as integers, and why her book cover matches her walls.Diane Exavier is a writer, theatermaker, and educator who creates performances, public programs, and games that invite audiences to participate in a theater that rejects passive reception. She is the author of book THE MATH OF ST. FELIX (The 3rd Thing, 2021). Find more at dianeexavier.livePodcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Travis Cravey about his foot getting run over and then starting to write, his flash fiction collection MANIFOLD, parachute stories, his first car and his current car, authenticity in writing, and more.Travis Cravey is a mechanic and maintenance main from Southern Pennsylvania. He's the author of the flash fiction collection Manifold  (ELJ, 2021) and an editor for Malarkey Books. You can follow him on twitter: @TravisCravey.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Mike Nagel about getting into literature and writing, acknowledging artifice in an essay, accessing literature's unique qualities, the very first Autofocus book DUPLEX, turning the mundane absurd, pandemic drinking, accidentally writing a book, writing between genres and lengths, the wonderful uselessness of literature, and much more.Mike Nagel is the author of Duplex (Autofocus Books, 2022). His essays have appeared in apt, Hobart, Split Lip, Salt Hill, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere around the internet. He lives in Plano, Texas.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Zac Smith about burning out on linguistics, getting into writing, writing in collaboration, his poetry collection 50 BARN POEMS, poems as jokes/jokes as poems, his story collection EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY FINE, deadpan humor, sentence energy, performing first person, the fine lines of gimmicks, and more.Zac Smith is the author of EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY FINE (Muumuu House, 2021) and 50 BARN POEMS (Clash Books, 2019). His writing has been published by Hobart, X-Ray, Maudlin House, New World Writing, Wigleaf, Bending Genres, and other magazines.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Francesca Kritikos about refinding an identity in the daily grind, her forthcoming collection Exercise in Desire, the influence of pop music, punctuation, short vs. long poems, writing about the body, and more.Francesca Kritikos is a Greek-American writer and editor based in Chicago. She is the author of the poetry collection Exercise in Desire (forthcoming from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press) and the chapbooks It Felt Like Worship (Sad Spell Press, 2017) and Animals Don't Go to Hell (Bottlecap Press, 2021). You can find links to her various works on Instagram: @fmkrit.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Chris Gonzalez about early reading and writing experiences, his story collection I'M NOT HUNGRY BUT I COULD EAT, narrators and characters in the same world, determining POV, ordering a collection, changing forms, therapy as a useful part of the writing process, and more.Chris Gonzalez is a queer Puerto Rican writer living in New York. He is the author of the short story collection I’m Not Hungry but I Could Eat (SFWP, 2021). His writing appears in the Nation, Catapult, the Millions, Little Fiction, the Forge, Lunch Ticket, Cosmonauts Avenue, and elsewhere. He currently serves as fiction editor at Barrelhouse.  Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Sebastian Castillo about having fun writing, impatience as a reader, first person, his books, form as plot, blurring the personal and fictional, modification as a digital writing process, Twitter, a new collection, and more.Sebastian Castillo is the author of Not I (Word West Press) and 49 Venezuelan Novels (Bottlecap Press).Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Sarah Minor about her visual and installation art, her collection of visual essays Bright Archive (Rescue Press), the process of making mixed media literature, her newest book Slim Confessions (Noemi Press), the importance of tension rather than plot in creative non-fiction work, and more.Sarah Minor is a writer, interdisciplinary artist, and the author of the The Persistence of The Bonyleg: Annotated (Essay Press, 2016), Bright Archive (Rescue Press, 2020), and most recently Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit (Noemi Press, 2021). In addition to curating the visual essays at Essay Daily and video essays at TriQuarterly Review, she is currently teaching writing at the University of Iowa.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Michael talks with Jim Reese about teaching writing at a prison, teaching writing at a college, the midwest, his first collection of essays Bone Chalk,  the ways working in poetry previously helped or didn't help him in prose, and more.Jim Reese is a writer and teacher from the midwest. He’s the author of the essay collection Bone Chalk and three previous collections of poems. A fourth collection, Dancing Room Only, is forthcoming from New York Quarterly Books.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet. 

Michael talks with Brain Oliu about his path to writing, pro wrestling storytelling, the process of writing Body Drop: Notes on Fandom and Pain in Professional Wrestling, confession in creative non-fiction, the strange shame around being an adult pro wrestling fan, the influence of it on our culture, and more.Brian Oliu is a writer and writing instructor at the University of Alabama. He’s the co-author of Enter Your Initials for Record Keeping (Uncaany Valley) and What Shot Did You Ever Take? (The Hunger Press), and the solo author of several more books, including Leave Luck to Heaven (Uncaany Valley) and, most recently, Body Drop: Notes on Fandom and Pain in Professional Wrestling (UNC Press). Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.