fiction/non/fiction

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, Idra Novey and Esmé Wang talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, trauma, and mental health.Readings for the episode: · The Border of Paradise by Esmé Wang  ·  The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Wang (forthcoming) · Esmé Wang's website · “Perdition Days: On Experiencing Psychosis,” by Esme Wang · “The Silence of Sexual Assault in Literature,” by Idra Novey · Ways to Disappear and Those Who Knew, by Idra Novey · “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor · The Recovering by Leslie Jamison Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, fiction writers Elizabeth McCracken and Tony Tulathimutte and poets Kathryn Nuernberger and Hadara Bar-Nadav talk about graduate programs in creative writing with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Readings for the episode: ·      The Program Era by Mark McGurl·      “MFA vs POC,” The New Yorker, Junot Diaz·      “The Writers’ Workshop,” by Frank Conroy, from Dogs Bark but the Caravan Rolls On·      POC Mentorship: Graduate Faculty Writers of Color (from de-canon)·      Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte·      Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken (forthcoming in February) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, fiction writers Garrard Conley and SJ Sindu discuss writing about queer identity with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Conley talks about having his book Boy Erased adapted for film, and writing about the evangelical community. In the show’s second half, Sindu talks about writing about the closet, and how the publishing industry imagines readers will react to content about queer people of color.  Readings for the episode: Readings for the episode:·      Boy Erasedby Garrard Conley·      Marriage of a Thousand Liesby SJ Sindu·      Funny Boy  by Shyam Selvadurai ·      The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth·      The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall       ·      Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeannette Winterson             Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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