fiction/non/fiction

For episode 25 of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelist and journalist Nathaniel Rich and poet and activist Juliana Spahr discuss writing about climate change and ecological destruction with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Rich discusses the history and craft behind his groundbreaking New York Times Magazine article “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change.” Next, Spahr talks about her recent Harper’s poem “A Destruction Story,” Trump’s use of poetry in his recent rallies, and the purpose of ecopoetics. Readings for the episode: “Losing Earth,” Odds Against Tomorrow, and King Zeno by Nathaniel Rich“A Destruction Story” and “Gentle Now, Don’t Add to Heartache” by Juliana SpahrThe Jasons: The Secret History of Science’s Postwar Elite by Ann Finkbeiner In Cold Blood by Truman CapoteThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe John Adams by David McCullough Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boohttps://www.indiebound.org/book/9780812979329 Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPheehttps://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374514310 Nathaniel Rich’s Energy Gang podcast interviewTurtle Island by Gary Snyder  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, critic and editor Oscar Villalon and novelist and screenwriter Arthur Phillips discuss book advances and the effects of finances on creativity with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Villalon explains how advances work, and why the publishing industry uses them. In the show’s second half, Phillips chronicles how his finances have changed over the course of his career as a bestselling fiction writer.Readings • Prague, The Egyptologist, and The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips • City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg • The Girls by Emma Cline • Annals of the Former World by John McPhee • A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe • Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, writers James Traub and Margot Livesey discuss the idea of morally weak characters with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Traub talks moral weakness, the concept of decency in the public sphere, and his recent Atlantic article about the Strzok hearing. Livesey explores the morally weak character in her novel Mercury, fiction and moral failings in the private sphere, and famously flawed characters in literary history.   Readings • “[Decency Loses Its Moral Force](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/have-they-no-sense-of-decency/565415/)” by James Traub • “[Selfishness Is Killing Liberalism](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/liberalism-trump-era/553553/)” by James Traub • [John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780465093830) by James Traub • [The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781941040683) and [Mercury](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062437501) by Margot Livesey • 12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet • [On Liberty](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34901/34901-h/34901-h.htm) by John Stuart Mill • [All The King’s Men](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780156004800?aff=PublishersWeekly) by Robert Penn Warren • [Put Out More Flags](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781619698611?aff=) by Evelyn Waugh • [Homage to Catalonia](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780156421171) by George Orwell • [1984](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/326569/1984-by-george-orwell-with-a-foreword-by-thomas-pynchon/9780452284234/) by George Orwell • Moby-Dick by Herman Melville • [The Good Soldier](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2775/2775-h/2775-h.htm) by Ford Madox Ford • The criticism of F. R. Leavis • “[The Interview](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1957/07/27/the-interview-4)” by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala • [Giovanni’s Room](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781101907740) by James Baldwin • [All the Kings Men](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780156004800?aff=PublishersWeekly) by Robert Penn Warren • [Things Fall Apart](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780385474542) by Chinua Achebe • [Invisible Man](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780679732761) by Ralph Ellison • “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor • “[Drinking Coffee Elsewhere](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/06/19/drinking-coffee-elsewhere)” by ZZ Packer • [Rebecca](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780380730407) by Daphne du Maurier • [A Passage to India](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780156711425) by E. M. Forster • Magneto from The X-Men • [The Stanford prison experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, writers Alice Bolin and Kristen Martin talk with Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan about the appeal and popularity of stories that revolve around dead girls and women. Bolin, author of Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession, discusses why we seek out stories that depict violence against women and how we can be more deliberate and reflective in our consumption of true crime. Kristen Martin, author of “Why We Love—and Need to Leave Behind—Dead Girl Stories,” joins in on the discussion about this ubiquitous and problematic trope.  Readings: • [Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062657145/dead-girls/) by Alice Bolin • [“Why We Love—and Need to Leave Behind—Dead Girl Stories”](https://lithub.com/why-we-love-and-need-to-leave-behind-dead-girl-stories/) by Kristen Martin • “[Picturing America](https://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/marcus_f06.html)” by Greil Marcus • [Gone Girl](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524763671?aff=penguinrandom) by Gillian Flynn • [Helsinki press conference transcript](https://www.vox.com/2018/7/16/17576956/transcript-putin-trump-russia-helsinki-press-conference) on Vox  •[Over Tumbled Graves](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061712838/over-tumbled-graves/) by Jess Walter  • [In Cold Blood](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-cold-blood-truman-capote/1101755577) by Truman Capote • [Everything I Never Told You](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143127550) by Celeste Ng • [What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735211025?aff=penguinrandom) by Lesley Nneka Arimah • [The Lovely Bones](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lovely-bones-alice-sebold/1100259243#/) and [Lucky](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501171635) by Alice Sebold • [My Body Is a Book of Rules](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781597099691) by Elissa Washuta • [Dead Girls](http://www.dzancbooks.org/our-books/dead-girls-and-other-stories) by Emily Geminder • [A Time To Kill](http://www.jgrisham.com/books/a-time-to-kill/) by John Grisham • Stranger Things by The Duffer Brothers / Netflix • Twin Peaks by David Lynch / Netflix • [Give Me Your Hand](https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/megan-abbott/give-me-your-hand/9780316547185/) by Megan Abbott  • [The God of Small Things](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780006550686) by Arundhati Roy • [The Huntsman](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780142001318) by Whitney Terrell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writers Pamela Paul and Mira Jacob talk with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the literary side of reboots, comics, and superheroes. Editor of the New York Times Book Review Pamela Paul (the author of My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues) talks about the relevance and impact of literary retellings and her life as a reader. Mira Jacob, author of the novel The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing and the forthcoming graphic memoir Good Talk: Conversations I’m Still Confused About discusses the role of comics in American mythology, their viability in the digital world, and the intersection of comics and literature. Readings: • [My Life with Bob](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781627796316), [The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/128285/the-starter-marriage-and-the-future-of-matrimony-by-pamela-paul/9780812966763/), Pornified, and [Parenting, Inc.](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805089240) by Pamela Paul • [A View of the Empire at Sunset](https://lithub.com/a-view-of-the-empire-at-sunset/) by Caryl Phillips • [Wide Sargasso Sea](http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294989814) and [Smile Please](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/299064/smile-please/) by Jean Rhys • “Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be” from [The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781941040683) by Margot Livesey • [Early Work](http://www.earlywork.net/) • [The Perfect Nanny](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143132172) by Leila Slimani • [Life After Life](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316176491) by Kate Atkinson • [The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780812994780), [Shondaland column](https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a15168745/mira-jacob-comic-my-past-self/), and "[37 Difficult Questions from My Mixed-Race Son](https://www.buzzfeed.com/mirajacob/questions-from-my-mixed-race-son)" by Mira Jacob • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon • The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem • Tintin by Hergé • Asterix by René Goscinny, Albert Uderzo, Jean-Yves Ferri • [Amar Chitra Katha](https://www.amarchitrakatha.com/us/) • [The New York Times Book Review Podcast](https://www.nytimes.com/column/book-review-podcast) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writers Cristina Henriquez and Edwidge Danticat talk with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell in an episode about the urgent issue of keeping immigrant families together and resisting their mass incarceration and detention. Henriquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans, talks about the tragic real-life inspiration for her short story “Everything Is Far from Here” and the differences between Obama-era immigration policy and the policy of the current administration. Danticat, a National Book Award Finalist and author of The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story and Breath, Eyes, Memory, discusses the treatment of Haitian immigrants, the impossible choices immigrants face while pursuing better lives for their families, and what might lie ahead for detained children after the news coverage fades. Readings • The World in Half, The Book of Unknown Americans, and “[Everything Is Far from Here](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/24/everything-is-far-from-here)” by Cristina Henriquez • “[Cristina Henriquez on Immigration, Detention, and Missing Names](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/fiction-this-week-cristina-henriquez-2017-07-24)” by Cressida Leyshon from The New Yorker • “[The Trump administration changed its story on family separation no fewer than 14 times before ending the policy](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/20/the-trump-administration-changed-its-story-on-family-separation-no-fewer-than-14-times-before-ending-the-policy/)” by JM Rieger from The Washington Post • “[The History of The Flores Settlement and Its Effects on Immigration](https://www.npr.org/2018/06/22/622678753/the-history-of-the-flores-settlement-and-its-effects-on-immigration)” from NPR • [The Immigration Act of 1990](https://immigration.laws.com/immigration-act-of-1990) • Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town by Mirta Ojito • The Devil's Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea • Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli • Maras: Gang Violence and Security in Central America by Thomas Bruneau, Lucia Dammert, and Elizabeth Skinner • When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson • Breath, Eyes, Memory, Krik? Krak!, The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story, The Dew Breaker, Claire of the Sea and Light, and Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat • “[NYC Hospitals Are Treating Children Separated from Parents at Border for Mental Illness](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/nyc-hospitals-are-treating-children-separated-from-parents-at-border-for-mental-illness.html)” by Elliot Hannon from Slate • [The Guantánamo Public Memory Project](https://gitmomemory.org/timeline/resisting-and-protesting-guantanamo/hunger-strike-at-haitian-camps/) on the hunger strike at Haitian camps • Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran • “[White Extinction Anxiety](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/24/opinion/america-white-extinction.html)” by Charles M. Blow from The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writers Tayari Jones and DaMaris B. Hill talk with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell in the second of two special episodes on the effects of mass incarceration on American communities and democracy. Jones, author of the New York Times bestseller An American Marriage, discusses the collateral effects of incarceration, the disproportionate financial burden on women, and allowing characters hope. Hill, a scholar and poet, talks about the link between poverty and incarceration, inspiration found in historical figures, Assata Shakur, and the need to acknowledge others’ complex and multifaceted lives. Readings: • [An American Marriage](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781616201340), Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, and Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones • “[Who Pays?: The True Cost of Incarceration on Families,](https://forwardtogether.app.box.com/s/1vtvbd8pa8ubtpg7ne9ped14primxkaz)” by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together, and Research Action Design • Surviving Justice: America’s Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated, edited by Dave Eggers and Lola Vollen • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond • The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander • [A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing](https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/a-bound-woman-is-a-dangerous-thing-9781635572629/) (forthcoming in 2019), Visible Textures, The Fluid Boundaries of Suffrage and Jim Crow: Staking Claims in the American Heartland, by DaMaris B. Hill • Colored Amazons, by Kali N. Gross • “[Stewing](http://www.splitthisrock.org/poetry-database/poem/stewing),” by DaMaris B. Hill • The comedy of Moms Mabley, Richard Pryor, and Redd Foxx • “This Granny Is a Gangster,” by DaMaris B. Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poet and memoirist Reginald Dwayne Betts and novelist Zachary Lazar join V.V Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell for the first of two special episodes on the effects of mass incarceration on American communities and democracy. Betts, a poet, memoirist and lawyer who was incarcerated as a young man, talks about writing in different genres, as well as the experience of having friends and colleagues write about his character to support his application to the bar and our collective impulse to be punitive. Lazar discusses his recent novel, Vengeance, which is set at Angola, the maximum-security Louisiana state penitentiary where inmates work on a farm that used to be a plantation.  Readings: • Bastards of the Reagan Era, Shahid Reads His Own Palm, and A Question of Freedom, by Reginald Dwayne Betts • [“Prison,”](https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/prison) by Reginald Dwayne Betts • [“For the City That Nearly Broke Me,”](https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/city-nearly-broke-me) by Reginald Dwayne Betts • [“Feeling Fucked Up: The Architecture of Anger”](https://aprweb.org/poems/feeling-fucked-up-the-architecture-of-anger) by Reginald Dwayne Betts • Vengeance, by Zachary Lazar • Crush, by Richard Sitken • The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander • [“For Freckle-Faced Gerald,”](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51369/for-freckle-faced-gerald) by Etheridge Knight Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent years, socialism has been on the rise—or was it ever really gone? In episode 17, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to Dana Goldstein of The New York Times about what it’s like to cover teacher walkouts and strikes today, and how today’s actions compare to those she wrote about in her bestselling book, The Teacher Wars, which covers the history of teaching in America. Later in the show, Thomas Frank of Listen, Liberal fame gives us a sneak preview of the final essay in his forthcoming collection. He discusses the state of socialism, the failures of the Democratic Party, and which fiction writers have most successfully taken socialism on as their material.   Readings: • The Teacher Wars by Dana Goldstein • Listen, Liberal by Thomas Frank • Rendezvous With Oblivion by Thomas Frank (forthcoming) • Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, by Studs Terkel • “[25-Year-Old Textbooks and Holes in the Ceiling: Inside America’s Public Schools,](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/reader-center/us-public-schools-conditions.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Freader-center&action=click&contentCollection=reader-center®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront)” by Josephine Sedgwick • The U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos • Native Son by Richard Wright • Such Sweet Thunder by Vincent O. Carter • Bottom Dogs by Edward Dahlberg • Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward • The Studs Lonigan Trilogy by James T. Farrell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was this episode our destiny? In episode 16, Jess Row and Meghan O’Rourke talk fate and fortune with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Jess Row speaks first about race and fate, his novel Your Face in Mine, and his upcoming essay collection, White Flights. Then Meghan O’Rourke talks about how she saw her poem “My Life as a Subject” back when she wrote it, and how she understands it now, as well as her writing about the #MeToo movement and about illness. What are we responsible for, and what can we change? Readings: Your Face in Mine by Jess Row • "[Native Sons](https://www.guernicamag.com/jess-row-native-sons/)," by Jess Row, from Guernica • “Elbow Room,” by James Alan McPherson • "[Election Night,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHG0ezLiVGc)" from Saturday Night Live • "[The Gifts of Black Folk in the Age of Terrorism,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrxavMcGTW8)" by Cornel West • “[My Life as a Subject](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=192&issue=3&page=23),” and “[Idiopathic Illness](https://lithub.com/idiopathic-illness-a-new-poem-by-meghan-orourke),” by Meghan O’Rourke, from Sun in Days • “[When the Fog Lifts](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/13/magazine/the-reckoning-women-and-power-in-the-workplace.html),” by Meghan O’Rourke, from The New York Times Magazine • [The Story Behind The Song: Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-the-song-the-killing-moon-by-echo-the-bunnymen-1) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices