One True Podcast

We welcome prolific scholar Don Daiker to help us celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Nick Adams Stories. We discuss the volume’s impact and legacy, Philip Young’s controversial editorial decisions, the sequencing, and the characterization of Nick himself, in all of his various phases. Which stories does Daiker consider underrated? Is Dr. Adams unjustly criticized as cold and unloving? What is the role of “The Last Good Country,” the longest story in the volume? Is “Big Two-Hearted River” ultimately affirmative or tragic? We tackle these issues and much, much more as we examine The Nick Adams Stories with its most enthusiastic advocate and its shrewdest analyst.

Joshua Ferris, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his novel Then We Came to the End, joins us to discuss his one true sentence from The Sun Also Rises.

One hundred years ago, in September 1922, Turkish forces torched the port city of Smyrna in a hellish episode towards the end of the Greco-Turkish War. The ensuing evacuation, with its chaos and grisly violence, inspired Hemingway’s journalism as well as his short fiction. Hemingway’s most enduring effort to capture this atrocity is "On the Quai at Smyrna," which would become the first story in his collection In Our Time. This masterpiece of irony with its memorable narrative voice has intrigued readers, even as its historical basis has been less discussed, especially by American readers. To help us penetrate this puzzling narrative, we are joined by Hariclea Zengos, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of English at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Prof. Zengos guides us through the tragic historical roots of “On the Quai at Smyrna” as well as the story’s structure, voice, its unforgettable imagery, and its devastating opening and closing lines.

We are asking the entire One True Podcast community to contribute to the Hurricane Ian relief effort. Our production studios are in Fort Myers, Florida, which took the brunt of the storm, so we want to do anything we can to lend a hand. This episode honors the recovery effort by urging our listeners to go to www.communitycooperative.com and give generously to provide direct help to those who suffered from the hurricane. Fittingly, we will devote this One True Fundraiser to a lively discussion of Hemingway’s hardboiled short story, “After the Storm,” set in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane of 1919. A man is choked and another guy gets his arm muscle slashed in just the first paragraph! To sort out all the action, we are joined by our friend and first-ever guest, Kirk Curnutt, who lends his expertise on Hemingway and Key West history and culture.We hope you’ll enjoy the three-way discussion and we also hope you’ll donate to www.communitycooperative.com to help the recovery! Thank you!

Kawai Strong Washburn, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his novel Sharks in the Time of Saviors, joins us to discuss his one true sentence from "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place."

Timothy Christian, author of Hemingway's Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway, joins us for a conversation about Hemingway's fourth and final wife. Our wide-ranging interview covers Mary's life before, during, and after Hemingway. We explore Mary's family, her early life and education, including her impressive career as a journalist. We cover her first encounter with Hemingway in London during World War II, the development of their sometimes-volatile relationship, and her crucial role in shaping Hemingway's legacy and her own. Christian expertly guides us through the true history behind the story of Hemingway's widow.

One True Podcast examines the deadly category 5 hurricane that ravaged the Florida Keys over Labor Day weekend in 1935, both from a historical perspective and a fictional treatment. We first hear from historian Thomas Neil Knowles, author of Category 5: The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, who describes the deadly weather system, its devastating toll on the veterans stationed along the Keys, the bureaucratic inefficiencies, and its legacy. Next, we are joined by Erika Robuck, award-winning author of Hemingway’s Girl, which uses the 1935 hurricane as a historical touchstone. She discusses her approach to fictionalizing Hemingway, how she researched the hurricane, her visits to the Keys, and a remarkable note she received from the housekeeper of the Hemingway house in Key West. This episode also features a reading from Hemingway’s scathing essay “Who Murdered the Vets?” performed by Benjamin Bravard. 

Billy Collins, the author of numerous collections of poetry and the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003 , shares his one true sentence from "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place."

In this live interview from the 19th Biennial Hemingway Society Conference in Sheridan, Wyoming, we talk with John Sutton and Chris Warren about Hemingway's summers spent in Wyoming and Montana and how his experiences in the American West left their mark on his stories and novels.John Sutton is the director of the NEH “Creating Humanities Communities along Wyoming's Hemingway Highway” Grant project. Chris Warren is the author of Ernest Hemingway in the Yellowstone High Country.During this interview, we explore the lack of critical attention on Hemingway's time in this part of the U.S.; friendships he made (and the friends he invited) out west; his likening of Wyoming to Spain, and Spain to Africa; key locations, such as Spear-O-Wigwam, L Bar T,  Pilot, Index, and much more; and, of course, numerous novels and stories, including A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, "The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio," and "A Man of the World."  

Craig Johnson, author of the widely celebrated Longmire series, shares his one true sentence from "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."