1storypod

JERSEY CITY / NYC — Bud Smith is the author of Teenager, out now from Vintage. He is also the author of Double Bird (2018), Work (2017), Calm Face (2016), F250 (2014), and Tollbooth (2013), among other books. He is also a good friend. This convo is from 9 May 2022, 2 nights ago, the night before his novel Teenager dropped. Bless. TEENAGER: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/679124/teenager-by-bud-smith/ 1 min - pod start 5 min - “the New Jersey devil” 9 min - Don Quixote / picaresque 24 min - should novels be educational 28 min - “reading as prayer/meditation” 30 min - on working on Teenager w Gian 57 min - on how Teenager ended up where it did 1 hr 1 min - on Bud’s day job 1hr 15 min - on Salinger 1 hr 33 min - on Gordon Lish / carver / ford Sean Thor Conroe is the author of Fuccboi: A Novel: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/sean-thor-conroe/fuccboi/9780316394819/

COLLEGE PARK MD — Jordan Castro is the editor of New York Tyrant Magazine and the author of The Novelist, forthcoming from Soft Skull in 2022. We spoke this past Sunday, 13 June 2021, at his spot in Maryland after I drove down from NYC to hang with him a couple days. Jordan and I got especially close over the past couple months after losing our friend, the editor and publisher Gian DiTrapano. Jordan also helped me a lot in the aftermath of the passing my girlfriend, the writer Kyra Baldwin, not long before the passing of Gian this past March.

OXFORD, MS / NYC — Nico Walker is the author of the novel Cherry (Knopf, 2018). He was born in Georgia and grew up in Las Vegas and Cleveland. He served as a medic in the Iraq war. And worked with the late Gian DiTrapano on Cherry while in prison in the mid 2010s. Here is a recent piece he wrote on Gian: https://www.bookforum.com/culture/giancarlo-ditrapano-1974-2021-24463 Recent collection on Gian in Muumuu House I contributed to: http://muumuuhouse.com/gian.11may2021.html Lit hub article I mentioned on Cherry’s covers: https://lithub.com/the-trouble-with-designing-a-book-when-its-author-is-in-jail/ POD CONTENTS 7 min - pod start 10 min - Gian’s biggest grievance w the game 17 min - expert talk / literary pedantry 21 min - stuff people read in prison to entertain themselves 24 min - the elitism of Literature and linguistic classism 27 min - books were initially about the democratization of thought 29 min - Lazarillo de Tormez 30 min - Canterbury tales 33 min - Don Quixote / Battle of Lepanto (1571) 38 min - parallel between Cervantes and Nico 41 min - McClanahan / we just do what we see on TV 41.5 min - the solution to the big house / indie divide 42 min - Nico’s experience w Gian v. Knopf 50 min - are you gonna put the work in 51 min - no one does anything alone 54 min - Marie Calloway 59 min - if no backlash is an artwork doing anything 1 hr 1 min - what is to be done 1 hr 3 min - the difficulty / importance of dialogue 1 hr 7 min - we say who we are through our speech 1 hr 10 min - flannery O’Connor / *James Joyce quote correction - "I am a creature driven and derided by vanity" 1 hr 13 min - Hill William 1 hr 20 min - infallible narrators 1 hr 23 min - how to keep going when shit gets more fucked than you ever coulda imagined 1 hr 24 min - tear the bandaid off .. just say it 1 hr 28 min - on war 1 hr 35 min - the contradictions of war 1 hr 40 min - Nico’s day to day now / Rachael Rabbit White http://1storyhaus.com/index.html

TORONTO / NYC — Brad Phillips is a writer and artist from Toronto. He is the author of Essays and Fictions (Tyrant, 2018). I enjoyed this book a lot. I felt it was courageous, funny, intimate, deceptively sweet, and formally inventive. Here is a link to the book: https://www.nytyrant.com/products/essays-and-fictions-by-brad-phillips . Here is a link to the recent story he published on Muumuu House that we reference: http://muumuuhouse.com/bp.03feb2021.html . Here is a link to a NYT thing shouting out his instagram (https://www.instagram.com/brad___phillips/?hl=en ): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/arts/design/artists-instagram-coronavirus.html POD CONTENTS: 2 min - pod start / how Brad prepped for this pod 7 min - how Brad started painting / doing the art 10 min - how Brad feels about Essays and Fictions now 13 min - “Death is the sanction of everything that the storyteller can tell.” - Benjamin 15 min - “Write from the end of the world” 16 min - desperation vs self sabotage 19 min - whether or not “doing better” having written the book 21 min - things Brad does to “do better” (physically) 24 min - dealing w trauma thru the body 27 min - do it for the ones who need it 31 min - “boundaries” in autofiction 35 min - why writing presented by a narrator who share’s author’s name interesting 39 min - deja vu / “intuition is god” 42 min - writing is less about writing a lot than it is about intuiting when it’s Time to write 45 min - is human connection possible 47 min - everything is performance and that’s ok 52 min - the self is a story so I don’t feel weird writing stories about a self I am now 56 min - making yourself a dumb animal to be ok 59 min - “write for pleasure publish for money” pushkin 1 hr - to share or not to share 1 hr 3 min - is writing helpful 1 hr 4 min - Danny from “The Barista the Rooster & Me” 1 hr 6 min - drugs # Sean Thor Conroe lives in Harlem. http://1storyhaus.com/index.html

NYC — Shy Watson is a poet and novel-writer. Her new book Horror Vacui (2021) dropped last month from House of Vlad. She is also the author of Cheap Yellow (CCM, 2018). She lives in NYC. Her book: https://houseofvlad.bigcartel.com/product/horror-vacui-poems-and-other-writings-by-shy-watson # CONTENTS CONTENTS 3 min - pelvic health issues 7 min - Philly connections 10 min - where shy grew up 13 min - why shy moved so much in 20s 16 min - how / when HV written / pubbed 19 min - Eileen Myles 21 min - the novel shy workin on 23 min - Convenience store woman by sayaka murata / work by Bud smith 24 min - Sam pink book cover 26 min - ‘autofiction ethicality’ rant / justification 27 min - on writing intimately about Life 30:30 - on religion 34 min - reading god into shy’s books 37 min - on spirituality 39 min - diy sigil 45 min - writing as seduction 47 min - sometimes you gotta turn on the reader 51 min - important for writing and life to get out about 54 min - becoming your own boy 58 min - sillyboys 59 min - crypto 1 hr 2 min - mors tua vita mea 1 hr 4 min - new moon

TORONTO / NYC — Sheila Heti is the author of the short story collection the Middle Stories (2001), the short novel Ticknor (2005), the philosophy book the Chairs Are Where The People Go (2011), co-written by Misha Glouberman, How Should A Person Be? (2012), and Motherhood (2018). She also co-edited the collection Women in Clothes (2014). And wrote the intro to the new release of this Virginia Woolf essay, How Should One Read A Book? (2020). Her next book, Pure Colour, is coming out in January 2022. I first encountered Sheila’s writing in late 2014, when I tore through How Should A Person Be? in a night. I’ve since done a handful of pods on her books, so this is really exciting for me, it’s been a long time coming. We recorded this late last week. Sheila Heti lives in Toronto. Here is a link to her website, with links to all her books: http://www.sheilaheti.com Sheila's podcast "Podcast With Raisins": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-with-raisins/id1193833547 CONTENTS 8 min - pod start 12 min - Sheila’s current project 15 min - the book isn’t finished till it’s separate from you 16 min - me tryna turn real life into an Art Idea 20 min - How Ticknor different but also similar to her other books 24 min - friendship/angels 25 min - how I first encountered Sheila's writing 36 min - on walking / Richard Serra 40 min - “art should be taken off the pedestal” 42 min - Middle Stories reactions / why she wrote Ticknor 45 min - publishing right after 9/11 50 min - Sheila outing me for being in school lolol 55 min - Malcolm gladwell story 1 hr 4 min - coin stuff / mysticism 1 hr 7 min - on God 1 hr 11 min - on Nietzsche 1 hr 12 min - “the great writers rearrange your brain” 1 hr 13 min - Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Martin Buber 1 hr 16 - “who decides that something is good is the Culture / having supporters” / Wittgenstein 1 hr 21 min - “the person who loves a book is the one who’s right about it” / criticism 1 hr 28 min - on cigs / tobacco Intro song: https://soundcloud.com/yeums/thank-you-master Related episode - solo rant on Motherhood (1.3.2018): https://soundcloud.com/1storypod/29-family-failure-and-procreation-in-motherhood-2018-by-sheila-heti-1storypod-with-st-conroe Sean Thor Conroe lives in Harlem.

NAPLES — Giancarlo DiTrapano is the founder, editor, and publisher of New York Tyrant. The magazine initially, starting in 2005. And then of Tyrant Books, starting in 2010. I spoke with him in his apartment in Naples two days ago, before flying back to the states yesterday. After flying out there 11 days ago. He wrote for Vice for a minute during the early tens and has ran the workshop Mors Tua Vita Mea, with the writer Chelsea Hodson, in Sezze, Italy since 2015. He grew up in Charleston, West Virginia and spent many years in New York City before moving out to Italy five years ago. We talk about how he came into the game with the magazine and the imprint, what he’s psyched about writing-wise now, a whole bunch of stuff. Thoroughly enjoyed ripping this convo and running it back. NY Tyrant: https://nytyrant.com # POD CONTENTS 6 min - pod start: G dissing and me tryna defend Ferrante lmaoo 8 min - Of Love and Other Demons by Garcia Marquez 9 min - Autoportrait by Edouard Leve / story versus bars/syntax 11 min - translated versus untranslated 11.5 min - G: “We should be recording this.” Me: “Bro it’s recording.” 12 min - coffee ready 13 min - move from kitchen to living room 13 min - McClanahan , bars v. Voice 14 min - on Liveblog (2018) by Megan Boyle 19 min - ‘prep’ = Preparation for the Next Life (2014) by Atticus Lish and ‘shapiro’ = Supremacist (2016) by Dave Shapiro 22 min - story on linking w Atticus Lish 26 min - How to Live is bigger than How to Write 27 min - Louise Gluck 32 min - Babak Lakghomi 38 min - "everything important in literature is about Death" 41 min - on mimicry / imitation 46 min - on exclamation points / nietzsche ecce homo 48 min - Lutz 49 min - Tyrant Vol 3 No 2 / young Diane Lane "the Outsiders" 55 min - story of G pulling up to nyc / FSG 59 min - putting out the first Tyrant mag / Sheila Heti 1 hr 2 min - DFW 1 hr 3 min - “all these lit mags started bc the Internet” 1 hr 6 min - Supremacist by David Shapiro 1 hr 12 min - drugs according to music era 1 hr 18 min - first linking w Castro 1 hr 21 min - what/who G hype on rn / Honor Levy 1 hr 22 min - Christopher Kennedy 1 hr 29 min - mors tua vita mea 1 hr 37 min - on how relevant or not relevant being out here for writing 1 hr 40 min - How the infrastructure of Literature upheld Intro song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1YnDZXJ7Dj0Uk9Pqu4tdAX?si=evQ3qjohRo2VxpXVIQwtig Sean Thor Conroe https://mobile.twitter.com/stconroe lives in Harlem.

HARLEM — I met the homie Vern a minute ago. I see him around all the time. I seem to see him once every couple weeks, like clockwork. Usually when the weather gets nicer suddenly, or nice enough to sit courtside or hoop at this lil park I be hooping at. Whenever we link we always torch one and really go in. Like every time it’s like a pod-length powwow. Today (12.11.20) we were goin in, mildly spleed, when he just started going off and I felt moved to set it down. But what we talking about is, all this past week, I seen a wake going on across the street, mad people out, like 50-60 people gathered, lighting candles, pouring up, playing music for a homie who passed. I hadn’t know what had happened, but then in this convo it came up. 5 min - real life consequences of rappers talking crazy on the track / RIP Fluff 7 min - on staying ready / long johns riff 10 min - walking to the store / on beats / how he tryna go in on the track 12 min - “fuck getting inside your head w the bars I’m tryna get inside you BODY” 12:30-14 min - inside the store 14 min - walking back to the park 14:30 - “no one wants to be a nothing” 15 min - how he was raised vs how youngins today raised 17 min - back at the park / on the homie Fluff , RIP 20 min - my lighter died https://twitter.com/stconroe lives in Harlem http://1storyhaus.com

DMV / NYC — Nicolette Polek is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. Imaginary Museums (Soft Skull, 2020) is her first book. I saw Nicolette read from this collection a couple times early this year, and reread it a couple times this past fortnight. Buy Imaginary Museums: https://softskull.com/dd-product/imaginary-museums/ POD CONTENTS 3 min - pod start 4 min - small rooms big rooms card rooms basements 11 min - on “Winners” - https://magazine.nytyrant.com/winners/ 14 min - on how life in Slovakia vs. US 19 min - “Field Notes” / Man in the Holocene by Max Frisch 21 min - Krasznahorkai 24 min - on the traditions Nicolette partaking in 25 min - The Middle Stories by Sheila Heti 27 min - Intimate Lighting, dir. Ivan Passer 28 min - on making art in communism 31 min - experience working with Soft Skull 33 min - on how these stories written 36 min - me repeatedly belaboring “the Nature” 37 min - Thomas Tallis / Abba 39 min - on what Nicolette working on now / Marta Becket 41 min - solitude vs. sharing. Kierkegaard definition of a saint: “to will the one thing” 42 min - subsequent books as answers to questions posed in previous ones 44 min - female eels 47 min - on Waldorf 55 min - Rings of Saturn by Sebald 57 min - mycology – Sean Thor Conroe, http://1storyhaus.com

SILVER LAKE / HARLEM — Allie Rowbottom is the author of Jell-O Girls (Little Brown, 2018). She recently wrote this story in Hobart: https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/auralift She teaches writing classes for Catapult and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the writer Jon Lindsey. Buy her book: http://www.allierowbottom.com POD CONTENTS: 3 min - pod start 6 min - how jell-o girls written thru reading her mom’s writing 10 min - on the blend of her / her mom’s pov .. influences 11 min - Jane (2005) by Maggie Nelson 15 min - speaking oneself into selfhood / marketing of the book 20 min - on sharing / generosity , exhibitionism 22 min - the survival instinct as energizing 25 min - on myopia/linearity vs empathy/panopticality 29 min - on radical superficiality / Botox 30 min - taking theory outta the classroom 32 min - articulating the unsayable 34 min - whether one can objectify oneself for power or nah 35 min - Marguerite Duras 41 min - botched Lil B the BasedGod riff 42 min - hysteria = ‘wandering womb’ (hyster-ectomy) 45 min - me admitting im a toxic male 47 min - privilege vs pain 49 min - how able to manage health issues explored in the book, now 52 min - person you wrote about as character vs real person 54 min - edging on the pull. Till it’s time 58 min - real life ramifications of book 1 hr - dating another writer = double suicide pact Intro song: "Thank You" by Yamz https://soundcloud.com/yeums/thank-you-master Sean Thor Conroe lives in NYC and tweets @stconroe and grams @seanthorconroe