fiction/non/fiction

Editor and writer Shelly Oria and novelist Kristen Arnett join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the reproductive rights crisis through the lens of art, specifically through the stories, plays, essays and poems that comprise McSweeney’s new anthology, I Know What’s Best for You, edited by Oria. In the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the conversation teases out how, through art, charged political issues like abortion take on a specificity that they don’t in basic reporting or debate. The writers speak about misinformation and crisis pregnancy centers, as well as what a post-Roe future might hold. Arnett reads from her story, “The Babies,” and Oria reads from hers, “We Bled All Winter.”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:Shelly Oria I Know What’s Best for You: Stories on Reproductive Freedom Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings from the Me Too Movement New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 Kristen Arnett With Teeth Mostly Dead Things Felt in the Jaw Others: “Key Passages from the Leaked Supreme Court Draft Opinion”, Maria Cramer “CNN Poll: The Supreme Court’s draft opinion on Roe v. Wade hasn’t shaken the mid-term landscape”, Jennifer Agiesta and Ariel Edwards-Levy The Brigid Alliance Select contributors: R.O. Kwon Deborah Landau Deb Olin Unferth Rachel Eliza Griffiths Donnetta Lavinia Grays Hannah Lillith Assadi Alison Espach Tommy Orange Riva Lehrer Cade Leebron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Editor, dramaturg, and author Sunila Galappatti joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss why protesters across Sri Lanka are calling for the resignation of their once-popular president, Gotabaya “Gota” Rajapaksa. Galappatti reads from her recent article in The Hindu about what the protests look like firsthand, and also talks about how brutal economic conditions are driving people of different class and ethnic backgrounds—including Gota’s primarily Sinhalese base—to unite in unexpected ways; the growing space for critical political speech; and what the international media is missing about the protests.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:Sunila Galappatti A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka “Seeking Refuge in ‘GotaGoGama’ – a Partial Journal of Protest,” The Hindu, May 16, 2022  Others: “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell Capital by Rana Dasgupta “Majoritarianism and Minorities in Asia,” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 13 John Peel: Margrave of the Marshes by John Peel, Sheila Ravenscroft, and Jack White Mueller Report Himal Southasian podcast Meera Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and biographer Steve Paul and writer and Washington University professor Henry Schvey join host Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri, to discuss their books on novelist Evan S. Connell and Tennessee Williams, respectively. Each of the old masters was from Missouri—Connell from Kansas City and Williams from St. Louis. Paul and Schvey talk about how, though neither man was happy about his city of origin, those locations factored importantly into their work. Finally, they take questions from the live audience at Unbound. 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:Steve Paul Hemingway at Eighteen Literary Alchemist: The Writing Life of Evan S. Connell Henry SchveyBlue SongOthers Tennessee Williams Ernest Hemingway Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell Mr. Bridge, Connell The Patriot, Connell Son of the Morningstar, Connell The Diary of a Rapist, Connell The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams Night of the Iguana, Williams Anne Lamott Paris Review Max Steele The New Republic Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (film) Wallace Stegner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist and Iowa Writers’ Workshop director Lan Samantha Chang joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, The Family Chao, an homage to The Brothers Karamazov centered on the title family’s Midwestern Chinese restaurant. Chang talks about how the three brothers of her story and their varied relationships to identity reflect their parents’ changing circumstances. She also discusses how Asian American and immigrant narratives are evolving to reflect new generations; Asian American life in the Midwest; using humor to subvert cliches; and how directing the Workshop has altered her approach to writing.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:Lan Samantha Chang The Family Chao Hunger Inheritance All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost  Others The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky Number One Chinese Restaurant, Lillian Li Babette’s Feast, Isak Dinesen Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng Anita Mannur Frank Conroy Peter Ho Davies James Alan McPherson Iowa Writers’ Workshop The Connie Brothers Era: 45 Years at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 3, Episode 2 Is College Education a Right or a Privilege?, Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist, Skylark Bookshop owner, and Unbound Book Festival organizer Alex George joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the festival in Columbia, Missouri, to discuss what’s harder, writing a novel or running a bookfest – or doing both and continuing his (other) day job as an attorney. It turns out that doing all of the above is difficult, but so rewarding that George wouldn’t have it any other way. George also reads from his 2020 novel The Paris Hours, an Indie Next Book of the Month selection and Amazon Best Book of the Month, and discusses the merits of living in Columbia’s literary community. Finally, he takes questions from the live audience at Unbound. 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:Alex George The Paris Hours Setting Free the Kites A Good American skylark bookshop Others Tennessee Williams Garth Greenwell Intimate Contact: Garth Greenwell on Book Bans and Writing about Sex, Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 12 Zadie Smith George Saunders Salman Rushdie Michael Ondaatje A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway Maurice Ravel Marc Chagall Igor Stravinsky Coco Chanel Gertrude Stein James Joyce Donald Barthelme Josephine Baker Marcel Proust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fiction writers Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Sequoia Nagamatsu join hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri, where they talk about pop culture in the literary sphere, the blurring of the line between literary and popular fiction, and subverting tropes within their genres (plus, a bit of Frasier fanfiction). Nana reads from his short story collection Friday Black, and Sequoia reads from his novel How High We Go in the Dark. The two also take questions from the live audience at Unbound. 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, Carter Groves, Brooke Spalding-Ford, Shannon Moran, Maria Starns, and Kayla Wiltfong.Selected readings for the episode: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Friday BlackSequoia Nagamatsu  How High We Go in the Dark Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone "Elegy Hotel" by Sequoia Nagamatsu, print and audio, The Southern Review Others Race in American Science Fiction Star Trek Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra T-shirt  Sony Aibo Servant Trailer Star Trek: The Chase Monologue  “The Origins of Directed Panspermia” | Scientific American 2K Games Final Fantasy Madden Deathloop Panic! at the Disco Pearl Jam Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol The Orville Blade Runner Big Hero 6: The Series Avatar: The Last Airbender  Frasier Groundhog Day Edge of Tomorrow  Attack on Titan Bel-Air The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Palm Springs Dragon Ball Z Viet Thanh Nguyen  TVtropes.org George and Paula Saunders Talk Empathy and the 2020 Democratic Candidates Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 16 Marlon James and Daniel José Older: Against Genre Snobbery Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 17 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now celebrating its fifth season, Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. Hosted by 2021 KCRW Radio Race winner Jude Brewer, Storybound presents the voices of today’s best writers, like Mitchell S. Jackson, Tamara Winfrey-Harris, and Lauren Groff, reading accomplished works of fiction and non-fiction. You’ll also hear original music specially composed for the respective text. Needless to say, it’s an immersive storytelling experience.The episode we’re sharing today features Debbie Millman, host of Design Matters and author of Why Design Matters. This episode is really special: Not only do we hear from Debbie herself, we also hear portions of the interviews Debbie conducted with luminaries like Ira Glass and David Byrne. If you enjoy what you hear, make sure to follow Storybound (for free) wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist SJ Sindu joins host V.V. Ganeshananthan live from the Tamil Worlds Initiative at the University of Toronto-Scarborough to discuss her new novel, Blue-Skinned Gods, and its protagonist, Kalki, a blue-skinned boy raised in an ashram as the tenth human incarnation of Vishnu. Sindu talks about depicting caste, gender, and heteronormative privilege within a rigid community; the destructive intersection of spirituality and capitalism; and how the age of digital misinformation has aided the Hindu right’s attempt to redefine South Asian history. 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 and Hannah Ward. Selected readings for the episode: SJ Sindu Dominant Genes Blue-Skinned Gods Marriage of a Thousand Lies I Once Met You But You Were Dead Others Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai Tamil Worlds Initiative at the University of Toronto-Scarborough “Where Countries are Tinderboxes and Facebook is a Match,” New York Times, April 21, 2018 The Awakening by Kate Chopin Marrying for a Future by Sidharthan Maunaguru The marriages in-between - Himal Southasian A review of Sidharthan Maunaguru’s Marrying for a Future: Transnational Sri Lankan Tamil Marriages in the Shadow of War by V.V. Ganeshananthan | Jan 29, 2020 Garrard Conley and SJ Sindu on the Mainstreaming of Queer Identity, Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 26 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning actor and LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist Alexandra Billings joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the spate of recent anti-Trans bills and American misogyny. Billings reads from her new memoir, This Time for Me, and talks about her life as a Trans woman, her career as a teacher, and her experiences on the show Transparent.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, Hayley Brown, Zoë Harper, America Fontenot, and Ross Whitehead.Selected readings for the episode: Alexandra Billings This Time For Me  Transparent Wicked The Nap Transparent The Connors How To Get Away With Murder Others Track Trans Legislation The Phil Donahue Show Vladimir Putin: J.K. Rowling and Russia Are Victims of Western “Cancel Culture” Arizona governor signs bills limiting transgender rights, abortion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fiction writer and former Tor assistant editor Molly McGhee joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss details of her recent resignation from a position she’d fought for in the industry she loves. She also talks about what’s behind #PublishingBurnout for junior employees and what that means for the future of publishing.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 for the episode:  Molly McGhee https://twitter.com/mollymcghee/status/1502343597676548099 https://twitter.com/mollymcghee/status/1510959170585047053 The Paris Review - America's Dead Souls Others: When Will Publishing Stop Starving Its Young? - The New York Times Editorial Resignations At Big Houses Spark Reckoning - Publishers Lunch https://twitter.com/ZakiyaNJamal/status/1502386226367664130 Episode 147—Publishing's Great Resignation (Print Run podcast) A Woman's Life in Publishing - JSTOR Daily Where Is the Diversity in Publishing? The 2019 Diversity Baseline Survey Results | Lee & Low Blog Women in The Gentleman's Career of Publishing | Princeton University Press Literary Color Lines: On Inclusion in Publishing https://twitter.com/bryonq/status/1502436599061258243 https://twitter.com/slipperyredhead/status/1495417527224176641 F/N/F 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