fiction/non/fiction

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

Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko, hosts of the podcast Explaining Ukraine, join Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine through the lens of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. They talk about how Russian literature and Russian culture have separated crime from punishment, creating a society that distrusts laws and regulation and values power and impunity. 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:Explaining Ukraine podcastUkraine WorldTetyana Ogarkova Ukraine Crisis Media Center Volodymyr Yermolenko Internews Ukraine  Others:Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 14: “They Didn’t Know Which Way to Go.” Katya Soldak Sheds Light on the Plight of the Ukrainian PeopleFiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 15: Scott Anderson on What Russia’s Wars in Chechnya Tell Us about the Invasion of UkraineFiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 17: “We’re There to Bear Witness.” Putsata Reang on Reporting in War ZonesCrime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky“Inside the Ukrainian Counterstrike That Turned the Tide of the War,” by Simon Shuster and Vera BergengruenMacbethKing LearEuripidesAeschylusSophoclesLes Misérables by Victor HugoThe Human Comedy of Balzac  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed fiction writer Elizabeth McCracken joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell for the show’s fifth anniversary. She reads from her new novel, The Hero of This Book, which she wrote during the pandemic, shortly after her mother’s death. She also discusses what’s involved with tricking herself into writing a novel, particularly one that deals with difficult, almost autobiographical, subject matter. 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:Elizabeth McCracken The Hero of This Book The Souvenir Museum Bowlaway Thunderstruck & Other Stories The Giant’s House Others:Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 12: WTF, Texas? Lacy M. Johnson and Natalia Sylvester on Surviving the Recent Storm and Unraveling the Whitewashed Myth of Texas Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 1: MFA vs. Everything: Four Writers Weigh in Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 42: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 25: Tolstoy Forever: Brigid Hughes and Yiyun Li on Retweeting a Russian Classic Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker  “Against Aboutness” by Yiyun Li, Harper’s Magazine The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning author Jonathan Escoffery joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the complexity of immigrant communities in Florida. Escoffery talks about children of immigrants who fall into a middle space, unable to identify fully with their parents’ country or the one in which they grew up. He also speaks about generational and emotional gaps between his Jamaican American characters, explains why some Florida immigrants’ history and interests might make them lean conservative, and analyzes how fiction can succeed where politicians often fail: in understanding subtlety, nuance, and difference. Finally, he reflects on the political ramifications of categorizing or othering recent immigrants and their families, and reads from his National Book Award-nominated linked story collection, If I Survive You.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:Jonathan Escoffery If I Survive You “Under the Ackee Tree” (Paris Review) Others: The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 23, The Brothers Chao: Lan Samantha Chang on Food, Family, and New Ways of Imagining Asian American Narratives Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 36, Remembering Afghan’s Wars: Jamil Jan Kochai on Shifting Storytellers and Forms The Emerging Democratic Majority by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira  “Lost Hope of Lasting Democratic Majority” by Nate Cohn  “PolitiFact: What we know about DeSantis flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard. Is it legal?” by Maria Ramirez Uribe and Yacob Reyes “Florida's governor signs controversial law opponents dubbed 'Don't Say Gay'” by Jaclyn Diaz “DeSantis Bans CRT From K-12 Classrooms Despite Absence From Curriculum” by Fatma Khaled “Trump cultivated the Latino vote in Florida, and it paid off” by Carmen Sesin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and ImaginedNovelist and memoirist Yiyun Li joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss frenemies in writing circles, in literature, and in politics (with a tip of the hat to Joe Manchin). Li explains how intention helps her to distinguish between friendship and frenemyship, talks about finding frenemies in literature more interesting than those in politics, and offers examples ranging from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Sweet Days of Discipline. She also reads from her own new novel, The Book of Goose, and reflects on discovering the intense connection between her two central characters, Agnès and Fabienne, young girls growing up together in France.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:Yiyun Li The Book of Goose Must I Go Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life Where Reasons End Others: The Best Frenemies in Fiction ‹ CrimeReads The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy A Separate Peace by John Knowles “Harry Styles Has Entered the SpitGate Chat” by Adrienne Westenfeld (Esquire) Milan Kundera Chelsea Clinton Talks Candidly About Crumbling of Friendship with Ivanka Trump: 'She Went to the Dark Side' "'Checked Out': Trump rebukes Ivanka over Jan. 6 testimony" by Kelly Hooper (Politico) Column: Bill Barr is telling the truth about Trump. Too bad it’s too little, too late by Jackie Calmes (Los Angeles Times) F/N/F Season 4 Episode 25: Tolstoy Forever: Brigid Hughes and Yiyun Li on Retweeting a Russian Classic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Critically acclaimed fiction writer Andrea Barrett joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new collection of short stories, Natural History. Barrett explains her approach to writing about women studying science in the 19th century, reflects on the layers of intimacy in letters, and considers if online exchanges will make archives of correspondence obsolete. She also reads from Natural History and explains some of its connections to her previous work. 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:Andrea Barrett Natural History Ship Fever Archangel Servants of the Map Voyage of the Narwal The Air We Breathe Others: William Faulkner (via the Nobel Prize) Meet Rosalind Franklin, a sidelined figure in the history of DNA science | PBS NewsHour Daddy Long-Legs Harriet the Spy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist, poet, and memoirist Rachel DeWoskin joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her work on the Writers for Democratic Action’s National Steering Committee. She explains how the group is partnering with libraries and bookstores across the nation to register voters and connect them with crucial information in the run-up to midterm elections, an effort called Book the Vote. She also reads from her novel, Banshee.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:Rachel DeWoskin Banshee Someday We Will Fly Writers for Democratic Action Book The Vote (special events September 20) DEMOCRACY BOOK CLUB: Unthinkable: An Afternoon with Jamie Raskin and Paul Auster Others: Biden's Approval Rating Surges After Hitting Low Mark In July, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Half Of Americans Say Trump Should Be Prosecuted On Criminal Charges Over His Handling Of Classified Documents Democrats and Republicans Agree That Democracy Is in Danger - The New York Times Voting Laws Roundup: May 2022 | Brennan Center for Justice Florida Republicans targeted Black voters, justice department says in filing | US voting rights | The Guardian 2020 Presidential Election Voting & Registration Tables Now Available Americans Think Our Democracy Is on the Brink. So Does Biden. - The New York Times Robert Pinsky Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood Ta-Nehisi Coates Paul Auster Representative Jamie Raskin Ada Limón  David Modigliani Peter Ho Davies Charles Baxter Jacinda Townsend Kiley Reid James Baldwin William Carlos Williams Walt Whitman Ralph Ellison Schoolhouse Rock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices