fiction/non/fiction

Following Donald Trump's dinner at Mar-A-Lago with Ye (formerly Kanye West) and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, novelist Michael Knight joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the best and worst dinner parties in literature. They discuss the pressures of hosting, what makes someone a great guest, signature dishes, post-party regrets, and festive successes, as well as scenes in literature featuring all of these things. Knight also reads from a classic dinner party scene in his novella The Holiday Season.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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Michael Knight The Typist At Briarwood School for Girls Divining Rod Dogfight  Goodnight, Nobody  Eveningland The Holiday Season Others: “The inside story of Trump’s explosive dinner with Ye and Nick Fuentes,” by Marc Caputo The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Leo Tolstoy “The 8 best Festivus moments from ‘Seinfeld,’ ranked,” USA Today “Curb Your Enthusiasm”: Bad Middling Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee Light Years by James Salter Last Night by James Salter Beloved by Toni Morrison The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf The Dark Tower VII by Stephen King Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Jim Harrison Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Redwall series by Brian Jacques Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re changing things up a bit today and bringing you a preview of a new podcast we’re enjoying and think you will, too. Where There’s a Will searches for the surprising places Shakespeare shows up outside the theater. Host Barry Edelstein, artistic director at one of the country’s leading Shakespeare theaters, and co-host writer and director Em Weinstein, ask what is it about Shakespeare that’s given him a continuous afterlife in all sorts of unexpected ways?You’ll hear Shakespeare doing rehabilitative work in a maximum security prison, helping autistic kids to communicate, shaping religious observances, in the mouths of U.S. presidents, and even at the center of a deadly riot in New York City. Join Barry and Em as they uncover the ways Shakespeare endures in our modern society, and what that says about us. In this preview, Barry takes us into California’s Centinela State Prison for a one-of-a-kind production of Shakespeare’s English history plays performed by incarcerated individuals. Barry asks: What makes Shakespeare a force of transformation and transcendence behind bars?Hear more from Where There’s a Will at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/wtaw?sid=fnf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist Erika T. Wurth joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the thousands of Indigenous women who go missing or are murdered in the U.S. every year. Wurth’s new literary-horror novel White Horse begins with the protagonist, a 35-year-old urban Native named Kari, receiving a bracelet that once belonged to her mother, who disappeared years ago. Wurth discusses what gets in the way of tracking the missing; how people talk about violence against Native women; intergenerational trauma; the real-life bracelet that led to the one in the book; why Kari loves Megadeth and Stephen King; and writing towards catharsis. She also reads from the opening of White Horse.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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Erika T. Wurth White Horse You Who Enter Here A Thousand Horses Out to Sea Buckskin Cocaine Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend Indian Trains “14 Contemporary Books By Native American Writers To Get Excited About” “Erika T. Wurth on Writing Horror During a Horror Renaissance,” CrimeReads Others: “Dave Mustaine lesson: Learn about exotic voicings, major and minor diads and ‘upside down’ chords” by Dave Mustaine Native Hope Department of Justice - Missing or Murdered Indigenous People Russell Means Ward Churchill Stephen Graham Jones Rebecca Roanhorse Brandon Hobson Kelli Jo Ford V. Castro Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 10: “Indigenous Imaginations: Native American Writers on Their Communities” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 9: “With the Ancestors: Buki Papillon on African Folklore and Wakanda Forever” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 8: “Live from Writers for Readers in Kansas City: Alexander Chee on Editing Best American Essays 2022” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 8: “Paul Lisicky and Terese Marie Mailhot on the Long-Term Mental Health Effects of the Pandemic” Talking Scared Podcast Episode 117: “Erika T. Wurth & Bigfoot in Your Dreams” Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report MMIWUSA.org “A Crisis Ignored: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” by Andrea Cipriano  Stephen King Megadeth Guns N’ Roses Metallica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buki Papillon, inaugural winner of the Maya Angelou Book Award in fiction, joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss African folklore’s impact on popular culture. They talk about how the newly released blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever draws on the myths, histories, and languages of many African nations, including the tradition of calling to ancestors for guidance. Papillon, who was born in Nigeria, also reads from her prize-winning debut novel, An Ordinary Wonder, and discusses how she included folklore, proverbs, and deities from the Yoruba pantheon in the story, which follows an intersex protagonist seeking to claim her identity. 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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Buki PapillonAn Ordinary WonderOthers: “With 'Wakanda Forever,' African Folklore’s Influence on Pop Culture Is Finally Getting Overdue Recognition” by Elizabeth Agyemang Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott African trickster myths “Meet the African goddess at the center of Beyoncé’s Black is King” by Constance Grady “The 'Black Panther' Revolution: How Chadwick Boseman and Ryan Coogler created the most radical superhero movie of all time” by Josh Eells “How ‘The Woman King’ makes Hollywood history with an incredible true story” by Sonaiya Kelley The Maya Angelou Book Award ILGA InterACT Advocates intersex Nigeria Marlon James and Daniel José Older: Against Genre Snobbery (Season 1, Episode 17)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and editor Alexander Chee joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the annual Writers for Readers gala in Kansas City to discuss editing Best American Essays 2022. Chee talks about what makes a strong essay and how he curated the volume, as well as how his training as a speed reader stood him in good stead as he made his selections. He also comments on specific pieces by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Anthony Veasna So, Ryan Bradley, Vauhini Vara, Erika J. Simpson, and others. Writers for Readers is an ongoing partnership between the Kansas City Public Library and the University of Missouri’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Funds raised support the Maya Angelou Book Award and enable graduate students to teach writing classes at the library. 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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Alexander Chee The Best American Essays 2022 (Ed.) How to Write an Autobiographical Novel Edinburgh The Queen of the Night Others: Annie Dillard Jamaica Kincaid David Foster Wallace Hilton Als Susan Sontag Cynthia Ozick Edward Hoagland Robert Atwan Elizabeth Hardwick Darryl Pinckney Diaries of Mavis Gallant Dmitri Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov  Black Folk Could Fly by Randall Kenan James Baldwin Joan Didion Anne Carson Edwidge Danticat Brian Doyle Franklin Burroughs Gerard Manley Hopkins Maya Angelou Alex Marzano-Leznevich Erika J. Simpson Ryan Bradley Kaitlyn Greenidge Gary Shteyngart Christopher Leonard “Ghosts” by Vauhini Vara “When World of Warcraft is an Escape – and a Memorial” by Tanner Akoni Laguatan “Baby Yeah,” by Anthony Veasna So Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 5 Episode 10: “How on Earth Do You Judge Books?” Susan Choi and Oscar Villalon on the Story Behind Literary Awards Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fiction writer Dan Chaon joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the fate of Twitter and social media in the aftermath of Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the platform. Chaon says Twitter is not a “public square,” it’s a business, and talks about how much we really own our online identities in light of that. He also reads from and discusses his Atlantic article, “The Story of My Imposters,” about a fake website purporting to be his, as well as his latest novel, Sleepwalk, which features characters trying to stay off the grid—and to discern each other’s true identities.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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Dan Chaon Sleepwalk Ill Will Stay Awake Await Your Reply Among the Missing “The Story of My Imposters,” The Atlantic Others: Edan Lepucki Charles Baxter The Soul Thief 'A chameleon's skill' | TribLIVE.com George Saunders Writers Wrestle with Twitter: Do I Stay or Go (and Where?) by Jess deCourcy Hinds, Literary Hub Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 6 Episode 6: “Nancy Pelosi’s Majority: Matthew Clark Davison’s San Francisco Take on a National Leader” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, and anticipating the midterms, writer and longtime Bay Area resident Matthew Clark Davison joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss Nancy Pelosi’s political trailblazing and what it’s like to live in her district. Davison talks about how he’s seen Pelosi support marginalized groups through the years and his own early impressions of her. He also reads from his novel, Doubting Thomas, which includes some of San Francisco’s political history, especially as it pertains to gay communities.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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Matthew Clark DavisonDoubting ThomasOthers: Nancy Pelosi “Nancy Pelosi Says Attack on Husband Will Affect Her Political Future,” by Eduardo Medina, The New York Times “The Facts about the Attack on Paul Pelosi, According to Prosecutors,” by The New York Times “Pelosi, Vilified by Republicans for Years, Is a Top Target of Threats,” by Annie Karni, Catie Edmondson and Carl Hulse, The New York Times Janice Mirikitani Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 19: “The Danger is Larger Because the Voice is Bigger.” Alexandra Billings on the Surge in Anti-Trans Legislation Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 5: The Author of Election on the Election: Tom Perrotta Talks Tracy Flick’s Return and the Midterms Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 8: Paul Lisicky and Terese Marie Mailhot on the Long-Term Mental Health Effects of the Pandemic Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 12: C. Riley Snorton and T Fleischmann Talk Gender, Freedom, and Transitivity “What ‘news deserts,’ Americans must ensure what they’re consuming is legit,” hosted by Steve Chiotakis, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist Tom Perrotta joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the upcoming midterm elections through the lens of his new novel, Tracy Flick Can’t Win, his second about the title character. Tracy Flick serves as an avatar for elite liberalism—a way many view the Democratic Party, he argues, whether the Dems are aware of it or not. Perrotta talks about what it means for his character, and many Americans, to be Republicans at heart while finding it necessary to lean toward the Democratic Party in light of Trump-era Republicanism. He also reads from the novel and explains how #MeToo influenced his decision to return to the iconic heroine.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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Tom Perrotta Election Tracy Flick Can’t Win Mrs. Fletcher The Leftovers Little Children Bad Haircut The Wishbones Joe College The Abstinence Teacher Nine Inches Others: "Rhyming Action," by Charles Baxter, from Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. 35, No. 4 (also in Burning Down the House) 5 scenarios that could decide the Senate in 2022, The Washington Post On Feminism and Fictionalized Histories: Curtis Sittenfeld Tackles Centrism, Clintonism and All Things ‘Hillary Rodham’ (Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 3, Episode 18)  Charles Baxter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist and essayist Porochista Khakpour joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the current wave of protests for women’s rights in Iran, and the government’s brutal crackdown in response. Khakpour laments the deaths of young women who have lost their lives speaking out against compulsory hijab. She also reflects on and celebrates multiple generations of human rights protests in the country of her birth. Finally, she talks about what it means to be Iranian in the United States and reads from her essay “Revolution Days,” which is included in her latest book, Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity.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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Porochista Khakpour Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity The Last Illusion Sons and Other Flammable Objects  Sick Shirin Ebadi: 'Almost a fourth of the people on Earth are Muslim. Are they like each other? Of course not' | Working in development | The Guardian (April 25, 2017) “What I Saw at the Revolution,” The Daily Beast (Feb. 11, 2009) Others: “Iranian President Orders Enforcement of Hijab and Chastity Law for Women” by Ardeshir Tayebi, RadioFreeEurope / RadioLiberty's Radio Farda (July 7, 2022) “In Iran, Woman's Death After Arrest by the Morality Police Triggers Outrage,” by Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times (Sept. 16, 2022) “Nika Shakarami: Iran protester's family forced to lie about death,” by Parham Ghobadi, BBC Persian (Oct. 6, 2022) “Another teenage girl dead at hands of Iran's security forces, reports claim,” by Deepa Parent and Annie Kelly, The Guardian, (Oct. 7, 2022) “Unity In Diversity: On Overcoming the Erasure of Kurdistan and Jina,” by Ala Riani and Rezan Labady, Los Angeles Review of Books, (Oct. 13, 2022) “Protest Chants, a Riot and Gunshots: How a Prison Fire Unfolded in Iran,” by Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times (Oct. 21, 2022) Jasmin Darznik and Dina Nayeri on the 40th Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution (Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 23)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist Aamina Ahmad joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the situation in Pakistan as the country tries to contend with the aftermath of historic floods that have displaced 35 million people. Ahmad, whose debut novel The Return of Faraz Ali is set in Pakistan, talks about her own connection to the country; the scale of what has occurred and its connection to climate change; and how a long history of political instability, militarization, and economic hardship have affected the country’s most vulnerable. She also reflects on writing about corruption, and reads from her acclaimed debut. 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 Anne Kniggendorf.Selected Readings:Aamina AhmadThe Return of Faraz AliOthers: Review: ‘The Return of Faraz Ali,’ by Aamina Ahmad - The New York Times Pakistan's IMF loan shows few signs of stopping economic slide - Nikkei Asia Pakistan’s Biblical Floods and the Case for Climate Reparations: Isn’t it time for rich nations to pay the communities that they have helped to drown? By Mohammed Hanif, The New Yorker Imran lashes out at 'facilitators of conspiracy’ at Karachi rally Imran Khan: Pakistan police charge ex-PM under terrorism act - BBC News A history of U.S. interference worsened Pakistan’s devastating floods - The Washington Post by Maira Hayat First came the floods. Now, Pakistan's children face a new disaster GoFundMe: Medical Camp for Pakistan Flood Victims  Alia Haider on Twitter Sri Lanka’s IMF Saga – The Diplomat Sri Lanka holds rates as crisis-hit economy banks on govt reforms, IMF bailout | Reuters Poetry, Prose, and the Climate Crisis: John Freeman and Tahmima Anam on Public Space and Global Inequality (Season 3, Episode 17) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices