fiction/non/fiction

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss her support of Higher Ground, a long-term residence for women recovering from addiction. Kingsolver talks about Lee County, Virginia, which is both Higher Ground’s location and the setting for her wildly successful novel Demon Copperhead, which transforms Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield into a story of the opioid epidemic in Appalachia. Kingsolver explains how she came to use profits from the novel to found Higher Ground, as well as the local partnerships and conversations that made the project possible. She also reflects on Purdue Pharma’s exploitation of Appalachia; her views on ethical philanthropy; her worries about what the Big, Beautiful Bill will do to rural America; and her opinions on Vice President J.D. Vance’s authenticity. She considers how she developed the voices of her novel’s characters, and reads from Demon Copperhead. To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, Janet Reed, and Moss Terrell. Barbara Kingsolver Demon Copperhead Higher Ground Women's Recovery Residence Unsheltered Flight Behavior The Lacuna Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life The Poisonwood Bible Pigs in Heaven Others: "‘I’ve dealt with anti-hillbilly bigotry all my life’: Barbara Kingsolver on JD Vance, the real Appalachia and why Demon Copperhead was such a hit" |The Guardian   Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanity Fair journalist Dan Adler joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his coverage of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors. Adler explains how Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence and was just interviewed by the Department of Justice, has recently emerged as a key figure in unlocking the puzzle of Epstein’s broader network. He recalls covering Maxwell’s trial in 2021 and analyzes her social circle, British background, and supporters, as well as the timeline and nature of her involvement with Epstein. He talks about her creation of a book celebrating Epstein’s birthday, a volume that reportedly includes a suggestive note from President Trump. He also reflects on Trump’s base’s intensifying interest in the rumored existence of the “Epstein files.” Adler reads from his recent Vanity Fair article, “How Ghislaine Maxwell Is Riding the New Jeffrey Epstein Wave.”  To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, Janet Reed, and Moss Terrell. Dan Adler How Ghislaine Maxwell Is Riding the New Jeffrey Epstein Wave | Vanity Fair Others: Trump’s Name Is on Contributor List for Epstein Birthday Book - The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed novelist Gary Shteyngart joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel, Vera, or Faith, which explores American identity, politics, and immigrant experiences in the near future through the eyes of the eponymous 10-year-old protagonist. Shteyngart talks about the novel’s speculative “Five-Three” amendment, a proposal to give those who can trace their ancestry back to the American Revolution five-thirds of a vote, as long as their ancestors “were exceptional enough not to arrive in chains.” He reflects on how this echoes current rhetoric surrounding nationalism and exclusion. Shteyngart unpacks a scene in his novel featuring a “March of the Hated,” in which the Five-Three amendment, like the Trump administration, attracts both the privileged and those who will suffer under the policy. Shteyngart and the hosts examine the role of elite education, AI, and childhood in shaping Vera’s understanding of the world. He reads from Vera, or Faith. To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, Janet Reed, and Moss Terrell. Gary Shteyngart Vera, or Faith Our Country Friends Lake Success Little Failure: A Memoir Super Sad True Love Story Absurdistan The Russian Debutante’s Handbook Others: “Tech billionaire Trump adviser Marc Andreessen says universities will ‘pay the price’ for DEI” | The Washington Post  Choice by Neel Mukherjee “The Little Man At Chehaw Station” by Ralph Ellison Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize finalist Ed Park joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his debut short story collection, An Oral History of Atlantis. Park talks about writing the stories in the book over a period of about 25 years, during which he was frequently asked to read in New York and crafted work for specific venues, audiences, and events. He explains how this led to a wide-ranging and ultimately linked set of pieces in a variety of first-person voices. He considers why the short story form invites him to a greater degree of experimentation, to lean more heavily on humor, and to draft more quickly even as he took longer to assemble the whole volume. Park reads from “The Gift,” one of the stories in the collection. To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Ed Park An Oral History of Atlantis Same Bed Different Dreams Personal Days Weird Menace Others: Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 17: Ed Park on Korea’s Past, Real and Imagined The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño  Seven Men by Max Beerbohm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raina Lipsitz, a political writer and author, joins the hosts to delve into Zohran Mamdani’s shocking primary victory for NYC mayor, highlighting his appeal among diverse voters, including young progressives and disillusioned Trump supporters. Lipsitz shares insights from her experiences volunteering for Mamdani, tackling the challenges of racism and Islamophobia he faces. The conversation also touches on the rise of socialist movements on college campuses and how young radicals are redefining American politics and community engagement.

Prize-winning Iranian American author Dina Nayeri joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss the complicated reality of survival on the ground during Israel’s recent bombing of Iran. Nayeri talks about the destruction leveled on Ardestoon, where her father’s family lives; her memories of running for bomb shelters during the Iran-Iraq war; and the current situation for her family in Iran. Nayeri explains how desperately Iranians on the ground want the Islamic State overthrown and the complexities involved in who would take charge should the regime topple.  Nayeri considers the gap between the mainstream media narrative of Iran as a devout Muslim nation and recent surveys indicating rising secularism in the country. She reflects on forty-plus years of the Islamic State in power—a small slice of Iran’s history, but a phase that has irreparably disrupted both the lives of those who left and those who stayed behind.   To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/. This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed. Selected Readings: Dina Nayeri Who Gets Believed?: When the Truth Isn’t Enough The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You Refuge A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea "Why Is Iran's Secular Shift So Hard to Believe?" New York Magazine  "The True Nature of Iranian Values:  Rethinking a Country The West Thought It Understood" - The Globe and Mail Others Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 27: Manufacturing Lies: Dina Nayeri on How Our Cultural and Bureaucratic Norms Often Betray the Truth Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 6, Episode 4: Women Resisting Terror in Iran: Porochista Khakpour on the Historic Protests Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 1, Episode 23: Jasmin Darznik and Dina Nayeri on the 40th Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution “Opinion | Between Bombs and the Regime, Iranians Face a Moral Paralysis,”  The New York Times  The Daily Show - Iran: Weeks away from having nuclear weapons since 1995 "Visualizing 12 Days of the Israel-Iran Conflict" Al-Jazeera “Iran Crackdown Deepens with Speedy Executions and Arrests,” ABC News "Iran's 'Crown Prince' Calls for Supreme Leader to 'Face Justice,'" - USA Today "Mapping the Israel-Iran Conflict," - The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times reporter Ernesto Londoño joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the recent murder of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman, which has made headlines as local politicians in the U.S. are rarely targeted for assassination. Londoño describes how a gunman posing as law enforcement went to the homes of several state politicians, killing Hortman and her husband Mark and gravely injuring Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. Londoño recounts how the No Kings Rally at the Minnesota capitol later that day honored the crime’s victims in addition to protesting President Trump. Londoño details the alleged attacker’s background and debunks conspiracy theories about possible motives. Comparing the current circumstances to his own childhood in Colombia, where political attacks on the local level were common, Londoño discusses how Trump “redrew the rules of acceptable political discourse,” and how increasing violence against lawmakers may impact who is willing to serve. To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/. This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed. Selected Readings: Ernesto Londoño Suspect in Minnesota Attacks Was a Doomsday Prepper, Investigator Says  Scenes From a Vigil for Victims of the Minnesota Shooting What We Know About How the Minnesota Assassination Case May Unfold Melissa Hortman, Minnesota Lawmaker Killed in Shooting, Is Remembered by Colleagues Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics  Others The Death of a Senator: Tommy Burks and Byron (Low Tax) Looper | nashvillescene.com (2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer Geoff Dyer joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new memoir Homework, which covers Dyer’s working-class youth in England during the 1960s and ’70s. He recollects his early passion for reading and film and reflects on writing about his parents, as well as the intensity of childhood play and collecting in the wake of the Second World War. He also explains what it meant for him to pass the 11-plus exam, a test given to British 11-year-olds to determine if they could go to grammar school—and the peculiar role that grammar schools played in the British educational system. Dyer talks about how this opportunity made his eventual admission at Oxford possible. He reads from Homework. This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed. Selected Readings: Geoff Dyer Homework: A Memoir The Last Days of Roger Federer  See/Saw: Looking at Photographs "The Secret of Who She Was" |Harper's Magazine "Best seat in the house: writer Geoff Dyer on why sitting in a corner is so satisfying” | The Guardian  Others Lord of the Flies by William Golding An American Childhood by Annie Dillard My Sky Blue Trades by Sven Birkerts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fiction writer Jess Walter joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel So Far Gone, in which a former environmental reporter living off the grid is jolted back onto it by the surprise arrival of his two grandchildren and news of his missing daughter. Walter talks about developing the character of his protagonist’s son-in-law, whose right-wing politics are one of the causes of the family’s fissure. He also reflects on what it means that conspiracy theorists, who were formerly at the fringes of American politics, are now at its center, and why it is important for writers to depict the interior lives of those with different political beliefs. Walter reads from So Far Gone. Selected Readings: Jess Walter So Far Gone Beautiful Ruins The Cold Millions We Live in Water The Angel of Rome and Other Stories The Financial Lives of the Poets Citizen Vince Ruby Ridge:  The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family Over Tumbled Graves Land of the Blind Others "America's 'Spot News' Novelist Takes on the Trump Era from Spokane" Washington Post Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 6: "All the President's Shakespeare: Jess Walter and Kiki Petrosino"  Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 4: “Life After Trump: Jess Walter and Jerald Walker on the Aftermath of Election 2020” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 8 Episode 5: Jess Walter on the Election ‹ Literary Hub Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed fiction writer Susan Choi joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss her new novel, Flashlight. Choi talks about the opening incident, in which a girl goes for a walk on the beach in Japan with her father only for him to disappear, presumably drowned. Choi explains the novel’s relationship to a short story she published in The New Yorker in 2020 and how the father’s past emerged as she worked on the book. She reflects on his childhood as an ethnic Korean raised in Japan in the 1940s, the difficult choices Koreans in Japan faced as Japanese occupation ended and Korea split into North and South after World War II, and the state of affairs today, as South Korea transitions to new leadership. She reads from Flashlight.  To hear the full episode, subscribe 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. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/. This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, and Hunter Murray. Selected Readings: Susan Choi Flashlight “Flashlight,” by Susan Choi | The New Yorker  Trust Exercise  My Education A Person of Interest American Woman The Foreign Student Others Susan Choi Is Still Outlandishly Talented | Vulture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices