fiction/non/fiction

Acclaimed novelist Charles Baxter joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his recent novel Blood Test: A Comedy. Baxter talks about turning to humor in dark times, the burden of expectations, and writing a protagonist, Brock Hobson, who some readers love and others detest. He discusses how seeing websites and ads that predicted his likes and dislikes led to him inventing a fictional company, Geronomics, which predicts a certain future for Brock and is invested in that scenario playing out one way or another. Baxter also analyzes the craft of writing an antagonist who is a Trumper, but who is never explicitly identified as such. He reads from Blood Test.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 Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.Selected Readings:Charles Baxter Blood Test: A Comedy Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature Gryphon Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction There’s Something I Want You to Do The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot Shadow Play Others: Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 33: "The Politics of Craft: Charles Baxter on How His Essays on Writing Respond to a Changing World" Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 6: "Hope on the Horizon: Charles Baxter and Mike Alberti on Despair and Renewal in Fiction" Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 4: "We're All Russian, Now" Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellows Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Macbeth by Shakespeare Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, novelist Ream Shukairy joins Fiction/Non/Fiction co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the country’s future. Shukairy, who grew up in California and spent summers in Syria, reflects on the long history of Syrian resistance to oppression, as well as how parts of her family emigrated. She also talks about how it feels to emerge from a culture of fear and surveillance, what it’s like to revisit what she previously wrote about Assad, and the places she wants to see when she returns to Syria for the first time in years. Shukairy reads from her young adult novel The Next New Syrian Girl.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 Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.Selected Readings:Ream Shukairy The Next New Syrian Girl Six Truths and a Lie Others: Return to Homs For Sama The White Helmets (film) The White Helmets (organization) Last Men in Aleppo Cries from Syria Still Recording The Cave Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War by Leila Al-Shami and Robin Yassin-Kassab Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy by Yassin al-Haj Saleh Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family’s Lust for Power Destroyed Syria by Sam Dagher  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist Jacinda Townsend and writer James Bernard Short join co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about the movie American Fiction, which is based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Townsend and Short discuss how the film addresses race in the publishing industry via its central character, Black author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, who tries to make an ironic point by writing a book exploiting Black stereotypes and finds, to his dismay, that it’s received in earnest and a bestseller. Townsend and Short analyze director Cord Jefferson’s approach and the film’s themes of family dysfunction, freedom in storytelling, and the importance of portraying the complexity of Black lives. 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 episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Jacinda Townsend Mother Country Saint Monkey James Bernard Short “Aqua Boogie” | Blood Orange Review “Rootwork” | Blood Orange Review “Flash, Back: Langston Hughes’ The Simple Shorts” | SmokeLong Quarterly Others: American Fiction (movie) | Official Trailer Erasure by Percival Everett An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward The Color Purple by Alice Walker Thelonious Monk Ralph Ellison Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” by Ralph Ellison | The American Scholar, 1978 The Tuskegee Institute White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson “The White Negro” by Norman Mailer | Dissent, 1957 “Dragon Slayers” by Jerald Walker | The Iowa Review, 2006 “The Hidden Lesson of ‘American Fiction’” by John McWhorter | The New York Times Origin (movie) | Official Trailer Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 11, “Annihilation, Adaptation: What's It Really Like to Have Your Book Made Into a Movie” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 11, “Brit Bennett and Emily Halpern on Screenwriting’s Tips for Fiction” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 33, “The Stakes of the Writers’ Strike: Benjamin Percy on the WGA Walkout, Streaming, and the Survival of Screenwriting” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 38, “Jacinda Townsend on Why Democrats Are Skeptical of President Biden—and How He Can Win Them Back” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this holiday re-broadcast, Romance novelists Elle Everhart and Ellie Palmer join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the genre’s increasing popularity. Everhart, the London-based author of the new book Hot Summer, featuring a protagonist who joins the cast of a reality show only to realize she’s interested in a fellow contestant, discusses coming to romance writing as a fourth grader fascinated by kissing, and wonders why as sales boom, the U.S.—but not the U.K.—is seeing more romance-specific bookstores. Palmer, the author of the new book Four Weekends and a Funeral, whose main character is a carrier of the BRCA1 mutation, recalls falling in love with the genre as she prepared for her own preventative double mastectomy. She reflects on how the genre’s structure promises positive endings for those who need them at challenging moments, and how the language of romance gave her a way to think about her own body and sexuality. Everhart reads from Hot Summer and Palmer reads from Four Weekends and a Funeral. 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 episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Elle Everhart Hot Summer Wanderlust Ellie PalmerFour Weekends and a FuneralOthers "9 New Books We Recommend This Week" | May 4, 2023 | The New York Times  "Hot and Bothered: Four New Romance Novels" by Olivia Waite | August 7, 2020 | The New York Times Nora Ephron Nancy Meyers Mhairi McFarlane Beth O'Leary Talia Hibbert Bolu Babalola “A Romance Bookstore Boom” by Olivia Waite | The New York Times “Emily Henry is Proud to be Called a Romance Writer” by | The New York Times Olivia Waite Jodi Picoult Love Island Tropes & Trifles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, journalists and podcasters Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko return to Fiction/Non/Fiction to tell hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell how Ukrainians view Donald Trump’s return to power in the U.S. They talk about the situation at the frontlines, the consequences of delayed aid, the urgent need for a swift and decisive response to Russian aggression, and continued Ukrainian resilience in the face of the existential threat of the war. 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 Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.Selected Readings:Tetyana Ogarkova Ukraine Crisis Media Center L’Ukraine face à la guerre - Ukraine Crisis Media Center Volodymyr Yermolenko Internews Ukraine   Explaining Ukraine podcast Ukraine World Trump’s Election and Its Impact on Ukraine - with Nataliya Gumenyuk  Others: Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 15: Scott Anderson on What Russia’s Wars in Chechnya Tell Us about the Invasion of Ukraine Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 51: Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko on How Artists Are Responding to the War in Ukraine Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 2: How Dostoevsky’s Classic Has Shaped Russia’s War in Ukraine, with Explaining Ukraine’s Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ProPublica reporter Molly Redden joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her recent piece on impoundment, Donald Trump’s strategy to thwart Congressional spending priorities. Redden talks about how the presidential budget and Congressional appropriations work now, Trump’s claim that he has the authority to ignore what Congress wants to fund, what this could mean for those he perceives as enemies, and the possible role of the “nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency,” co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. She explains the history of impoundment, Richard Nixon’s excessive use of the power to ignore projects he didn’t want to do, and how this led to a 1974 law restricting the option. She analyzes the likelihood that Trump will succeed in challenging the law and reflects on writing and reporting on seemingly outlandish schemes that are neither likely nor impossible. She reads from her article, “How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse From Congress.”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 episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Molly Redden“How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse from Congress” | ProPublica Others: “Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: The DOGE Plan to Reform Government” | WSJ The Brownback Legacy: Tax cut push led to sharp backlash | Wichita Eagle | July 26, 2017 The Constitution of the United States Loving v. Virginia Impoundment Control Act Alien Enemies Act Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and podcaster Carvell Wallace joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss finding his way to the understanding that life is lived on a continuum and is not made up of neat endings and beginnings. He talks about how his childhood experiences with poverty, housing insecurity, and a frustrated creative genius of a single mother prepared him to understand the world. Wallace also discusses his expansive, generous approach to writing about both people he knows and loves and those he’s profiling as a journalist. He reads from his new memoir Another Word for Love.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 episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Carvell WallaceAnother Word for LoveOthers: Life is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera Marilynne Robinson Easy Rider “Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 Years On” | All Things Considered, NPR | August 8, 2008 James Alan McPherson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following Donald Trump’s dinner at Mar-A-Lago with Ye (formerly Kanye West) and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, novelist Michael Knight joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the best and worst dinner parties in literature. They discuss the pressures of hosting, what makes someone a great guest, signature dishes, post-party regrets, and festive successes, as well as scenes in literature featuring all of these things. Knight also reads from a classic dinner party scene in his novella The Holiday Season.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:Michael Knight The Typist At Briarwood School for Girls Divining Rod Dogfight  Goodnight, Nobody  Eveningland The Holiday Season Others: “The inside story of Trump’s explosive dinner with Ye and Nick Fuentes,” by Marc Caputo The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Leo Tolstoy “The 8 best Festivus moments from ‘Seinfeld,’ ranked,” USA Today “Curb Your Enthusiasm”: Bad Middling Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee Light Years by James Salter Last Night by James Salter Beloved by Toni Morrison The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf The Dark Tower VII by Stephen King Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Jim Harrison Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Redwall series by Brian Jacques Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer Ruben Reyes Jr. joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation. Reyes explains how deportation could affect families or households with different immigration statuses, including those here through Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (commonly known as DACA) and with Temporary Protected Status. The three discuss Trump’s plans to involve the military in his efforts, and the difficulties he may face, given the interconnectedness of our social and economic systems. Reyes also talks about writing about the dehumanization of immigrants through science fiction and satire, and how he thinks about agency and possibility when he is portraying characters facing systemic oppression. He reads from his short story collection There is a Rio Grande in Heaven.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 episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Ruben Reyes Jr.There is a Rio Grande in HeavenOthers: “Trump is promising deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. What is it?” by Rachel Treisman | NPR Stephen Miller “Who is Usha Vance? Yale law graduate and wife of vice presidential nominee JD Vance” by Olivia Diaz |AP Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo "Trump's goal of mass deportations fell short. But he has new plans for a second term" by Elliot Spagat | AP Donald Trump TIME Interview on 2024 Transcript | Time "In Trump's mass deportation plan, the private prison industry sees a lucrative opportunity" by Laura Romero and Peter Charalambous | ABC News "If Trump Wins the Election, This is What's at Stake" by Lauren Gambino | The Guardian “Trump promised the 'largest deportation' in U.S. history. Here's how he might start” by Steve Inskeep and Christopher Thomas | NPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the election, writer Maggie Tokuda-Hall joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss what Project 2025 has in store for authors and book bans. Tokuda-Hall explains Project 2025’s misuse of terms like “critical race theory” and “pornography” and how these will be used to attack mainstream content, especially material by BIPOC and LGBTQ creators. She analyzes conservatives’ plans to make reading less accessible to the general population and talks about co-founding the new organization, Authors Against Book Bans. She also reflects on her experiences with corporate attempts to censor her books for children and young adults, the importance of libraries, and how individuals can resist by connecting with others and by understanding and focusing on their own expertise.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 episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.Maggie Tokuda-Hall The Worst Ronin The Siren, the Song, and the Spy The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea Love in the Library Squad Others: Authors Against Book Bans Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 13: "Censoring the American Canon: Farah Jasmine Griffin on Book Bans Targeting Black Writers" "The Republicans’ Project 2025 is Disastrous For Books," by James Folta | LitHub Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 12: "Intimate Contact: Garth Greenwell on Book Bans and Writing About Sex" Alex DiFrancesco's resignation from Jessica Kingsley Publishers | X Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 52: "Brooklyn Public Library’s Leigh Hurwitz on Helping Young People Resist Censorship" Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4, Episode 20: "Adam Serwer on Critical Race Theory and the Very American Fear of Owning Up to Our Racist Past and Present" Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 22: “Rachel Bitecofer on Democratic Strategies to Counter Republicans in the 2024 Election” And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, and Henry Cole Idaho House Bill No. 710 Iowa Senate File 496 Book Bans | PEN America Kimberlé Crenshaw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices