fiction/non/fiction

Fiction writer Jamil Jan Kochai joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell almost a year after U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan to talk about how the wars there will be remembered. He reflects on how growing up with Western stereotypes of Afghans made him want to revise false narratives, and also discusses how fiction’s flexible forms allow him to reorient his own thinking about the stories of war-affected Afghans and diaspora. He reads from his new book, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories.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:Jamil Jan Kochai The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories 99 Nights in Logar Jamil Jan Kochai Reads “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak” | The New Yorker “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” by Jamil Jan Kochai | The New Yorker Jamil Jan Kochai Reads “Occupational Hazards” | The New Yorker Jamil Jan Kochai on Résumés as Stories | The New Yorker Others: U.S. is rejecting over 90% of Afghans seeking to enter the country on humanitarian grounds - CBS News S4 Ep. 26: Bullshit Saviors: Helen Benedict and Nadia Hashimi on Depictions of the American Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq  “Love and honour and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice…” - by Nam Le Prospect Magazine “The Indian Uprising” by Donald Barthelme | The New Yorker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist Margot Livesey joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell from London to discuss the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the legacy of his decision to “do Brexit.” Livesey, who grew up in Scotland, explains Johnson’s career of fabrications, talks about how Brexit looks now, and shares her experience of the recent heat wave in the U.K. Finally, she and the hosts analyze characters who resemble Johnson in literature–including the antagonist in Livesey’s novel The Missing World.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:Margot Livesey The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing The Boy in the Field Mercury The Missing World The Flight of Gemma Hardy Others: Protesters in UK decry climate change after record heat wave - ABC News Quentin Blake Roald Dahl Matilda by Roald Dahl The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov The Guardian Martin Amis S5 Episode 6: Nadifa Mohamed on Writing the Convoluted Terrains of Immigration Howards End by E.M. Forster The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Barbara Kingsolver Venetia Welby J.G. Ballard Have I Got News for You Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Memoirist Emi Nietfeld joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how the pandemic has caused an increase in unhoused Americans as well as common—and off-base—tropes associated with homelessness. Nietfeld, who as a teenager spent time in foster care and living out of her car, talks about the American urge to view suffering as something that makes you stronger. She reads from her new book, Acceptance; reflects on being expected to shape a story about overcoming hardship to access an Ivy League education; and explains how she ultimately chose to resist simpler narratives of grit and resilience. 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:Emi Nietfeld Acceptance  Others: In the Midst of Plenty by Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri The Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun United States: Pandemic Impact on People in Poverty | Human Rights Watch  Minneapolis: City Response to Homelessness HUD Releases 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 Homelessness in America State of Homelessness: 2021 Edition Inflation and rent increases are making homelessness worse - The Washington Post America’s Homelessness Crisis Is Getting Worse - The New York Times Rep. Omar Reintroduces Homes for All, Manufactured Housing Legislation A New Bill Would Declare Housing as a Human Right - Progressive.org Housing is a Human Right Act of 2021 H.R.4496 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Ending Homelessness Act of 2021 H.R.7191 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Homes for All Act of 2021  Guidance on Complying With the Maximum Number of Units Eligible for Operating Subsidy Pursuant to Section 9(g)(3)(A) of the Housing Act of 1937 (aka the Faircloth Limit)  Representatives Davis, Gomez, Peters, and Panetta Introduce the “Rent Relief Act of 2022” to Establish a Renters’ Tax Credit | National Low Income Housing Coalition We Need to Keep Building Houses, Even if No One Wants to Buy Congress is 35 years overdue on its promise to end homelessness | The Hill Kansas City to Temporarily House Homeless People in Hotels 1780 Foster Kids Went Missing in Missouri Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and professor Charles Baxter joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his new essay collection Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature, and how his thoughts on craft are linked to the times in which we live. He defines concepts he has used, including “wonderlands,” “Captain Happen,” “request moments,” and “toxic narratives,” and offers illustrations from literature and the world around us to show how these can inform the writing of fiction. For example, he explains, Donald Trump rejects his loss in the 2020 presidential election as a toxic narrative because it would change his understanding of who he is. 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:Charles Baxter Wonderlands Gryphon Burning Down the House There’s Something I Want You to Do The Art of Subtext Behind Murakami's Mirror | The New York Review of Books Others: Is the World Really Falling Apart, or Does It Just Feel That Way? by Max Fisher - The New York Times S4 Episode 6: Hope on the Horizon: Charles Baxter and Mike Alberti on Despair and Renewal in Fiction S1 Episode 4: We're All Russian, Now World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Haruki Murakami 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Either/Or by Elif Batuman The Lighthouse The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Dracula by Bram Stoker The Wicker Man Bennett Sims Lacy Johnson Get Out Mike Alberti Jamaica Kincaid The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Stacey D’Erasmo Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Dog Day Afternoon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poet Diane Louie and Editions Gallmeister editor Benjamin Guérif join Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss what recent losses by centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s party—combined with wins for the left and far right—mean for France’s political future. Guérif, a French citizen, and Louie, an American expat in Paris, talk about how small towns in France are faring economically and how the French view Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Louie also reads a selection of her prose poems from her 2020 collection, Fractal Shores.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:Diane LouieFractal ShoresBenjamin Guérif Editions Gallmeister Actualitte Rat Noir Others: French election: Six key takeaways as Macron falls short of an absolute majority | Euronews A Fragmented Parliament Brings Macron Back Down to Earth - The New York Times Who are the gilets jaunes and what do they want? | France | The Guardian ENSEMBLE! – Mouvement Rassemblement National NUPES-2022.fr What Do Dems Do Now? Thomas Frank on How the Left Can Counter a Rogue Supreme Court Season 5, Episode 31 of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast Gertrude Stein James Fenimore Cooper François Bon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and historian Thomas Frank joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how the U.S. can move forward in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Frank offers his perspective on what it would take for Democrats to win back control of states that have swung right in recent years. He also reads from his 2004 book What’s the Matter With Kansas?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:Thomas Frank What’s the Matter With Kansas? The People, No Listen, Liberal Rendezvous With Oblivion The Wrecking Crew Pity the Billionaire One Market Under God The Conquest of Cool The Baffler Others: Caligula Anatole France Vladimir Nabokov An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith More than 1 million voters switch to GOP in warning for Dems - The Washington Post The Unpopular Tale of Populism: Thomas Frank on the Real History of an American Mass Movement Season 3, Episode 22 of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast The Return of Socialism in America? Dana Goldstein and Thomas Frank on Season 1, Episode 17 of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcaster and writer Van Lathan Jr. joins Fiction/Non/Fiction host Whitney Terrell to talk about growing up a Star Wars fan and continuing to think and talk about the franchise as a co-host of The Ringer podcast. He discusses the enduring qualities of the universe, the continuing relevance of the characters, and how the story intersects with American politics and literature. He also talks about and reads from his new book, Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales from the Trenches of Transformation.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:Van Lathan Jr.●    Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales From the Trenches of Transformation●    The Midnight Boys●    Higher Learning●    The Ringer●    The Red Pill●    Two Distant Strangers●    Hip Hop Homicides Others:●    George Lucas●    Kathleen Kennedy●    Deborah Chow●    Octavia Butler●    Starwars.com●    Superman●    Buzz Lightyear  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist and journalist Héctor Tobar joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the articles he wrote on the L.A. riots both as they took place in 1992 and this year on the 30th anniversary. Tobar also reads from his 2020 novel The Last Great Road Bum, and discusses how his fiction writing and journalism have informed each other.This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Selected Readings: Héctor Tobar●    The Last Great Road Bum●    Deep Down Dark●    The Tattooed Soldier●    Translation Nation●    The Barbarian Nurseries●    “The L.A. Riots Were 30 Years Ago. I’m Still Trying to Understand Them,” by Héctor Tobar●    “COLUMN ONE : South L.A. Burns and Grieves : Life has been hard in the neglected area for years. But now, as self-inflicted wounds mount, residents fear for the future,” by Hector Tobar and Jonathan Peterson●    “Tape of L.A. Police Beating Suspect Stirs Public Furor,” by Hector Tobar and Leslie Berger Others:●    James Alan McPherson●    Ralph Ellison●    David Foster Wallace●    Roger Ebert●    Don Quixote, Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist and Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-host V.V. Ganeshananthan talks to co-host Whitney Terrell about what happens to a book between writing and publication. Ganeshananthan’s second novel, Brotherless Night, about a young woman in the early years of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, will be released by Random House in January of 2023. Ganeshananthan describes the editorial process, selecting and approaching other writers about writing blurbs, selecting jacket art, and writing cover copy. 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:V.V. Ganeshananthan Brotherless Night  Love Marriage Others: Celeste Ng Sara Nović Brit Bennett Danielle Evans Marilynne Robinson Ann Patchett Emily Barton Jonathan Escoffery Thomas Pynchon Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan Granta New York Observer “Bartleby, the Scrivener” The Land Before Time Reese Witherspoon Book Club Zoolander Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom “Writers, Protect Your Inner Life,” by Lan Samantha Chang, Literary Hub, August 7, 2017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and educator Amye Archer joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her 2019 anthology, If I Don't Make It, I Love You: Survivors in the Aftermath of School Shootings, co-edited with Loren Kleinman. Archer explains how hearing the heartbreaking details of loss can prevent us from glossing over the staggering trauma of these events. Archer also reads from the anthology’s section on the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and questions why, as a nation, we haven’t changed the Second Amendment in response to modern weapons. 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:Amye Archer  If I Don't Make It, I Love You: Survivors in the Aftermath of School Shootings (pre-order paperback) “Holding the Pain,” Longreads, July 2019 Others: Gun Violence Archive “What to Know About the School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas,” | The New York Times | May 30, 2022 “Medical Worker Rushed to Escape 'Labyrinth' of Offices in Tulsa,” by Alex Traub | The New York Times | June 2, 2022 “Gunman Kills 10 at Buffalo Supermarket in Racist Attack,” | The New York Times | May 17, 2022  “California Church Shooting Was 'Hate Incident,' Sheriff Says,” by Livia Albeck-Ripka, Shawn Hubler and Eduardo Medina | The New York Times | May 16, 2022 Full Transcript: Biden's Speech on Gun Control - The New York Times  “From Sandy Hook to Uvalde, the Violent Images Never Seen,” by Elizabeth Williamson | The New York Times | May 30, 2022 “For Uvalde, Caskets Adorned in Childhood Dreams,” by Emily Rhyne and Mark Abramson | The New York Times | June 2, 2022 “The Fourth State of Matter,” by Jo Ann Beard | The New Yorker, June 17, 1996 Elephant (2003) dir. Gus Van Sant “Gun Violence, #NeverAgain and the Power of Teenage Protest,” Jim Shepard and Danielle Evans, Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 12 New York Times Sunday Review tweet of gun violence graphic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices