Author James Scott interviews writers, editors, agents, and book lovers of all types about what goes into their writing and what they get out of their reading.
In our first episode recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in the summer of 2022, Alexander Chee (How to Write an Autobiographical Novel) talks to James about his career, being the most photographed author in history, the late Randall Kenan, and Courtney Love. Plus legendary editor and founder and President of Words Without Borders, Alane Mason. Apply to the Sewanee Writers' Conference by March 15! Buy Alexander Chee's books! Buy Black Folk Could Fly: Selected Writings by Randall Kenan! Check out Words Without Borders! Check out Bea Troxel's music! Produced/ Mixed by Ryan Shea. Subscribe! Rate! Enjoy! Instagram: tkwithjs Twitter: @JamesScottTK tk with js at g mail dot com
In our fourth and final episode recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in the summer of 2021, Elena Passarello (Animals Strike Curious Poses) tells James about sleeping in Elvis's teenage bedroom, getting advice from long-haul truckers, and having screams sent to her. Plus the legendary Mary Flinn of Blackbird. Apply to the Sewanee Writers' Conference by March 15! Buy Elena's books! Check out Blackbird! Check out Bea Troxel's music! Produced/ Mixed by Ryan Shea. Subscribe! Rate! Enjoy! Instagram: tkwithjs Twitter: @JamesScottTK tk with js at g mail dot com
Only the great Carl Phillips could warrant an episode all to himself. Recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in 2021, James and Carl discuss assembling a collection, enjoying feeling lost, letting go of the argument, and putting a wedge between yourself and the unbearable. Sewanee Writers' Conference 2022 Applications due March 15! Buy Carl's books at indie bookstores. Music courtesy of Bea Troxel. Produced/ Mixed by Ryan Shea. Insta: tkwithjs / Tw: @JamesScottTK / https://tkpod.com
The third summer of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference (2021) continues with M.O. Walsh (The Big Door Prize), who gives a writing tip James has used ever since, then chats about writing a novel you like, being under the influence of John Prine, and writing one of the greatest cocktail scenes ever. Plus, independent editor and member of the collective 5E Editors, Liz Van Hoose. Sewanee Writers' Conference 2022 Applications due March 15! Buy M.O. Walsh's books. Work with Liz Van Hoose or 5E Editors. Music courtesy of Bea Troxel. Produced/ Mixed by Ryan Shea. Insta: tkwithjs / Tw: @JamesScottTK / https://tkpod.com
The third summer of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference (2021) opens with the brilliance of Katie Kitamura (Intimacies, A Separation), who talks to James about pushing back on expectations, writing things you don't think you can, having your best reader in your own house, and the ghosts of edits past. Plus, the also brilliant author (The Office of Historical Corrections) and The Sewanee Review Editor-at-Large Danielle Evans. Sewanee Writers' Conference 2022 Applications due March 15! Subscribe to The Sewanee Review. Buy Katie and Danielle's books from independent booksellers. Music courtesy of Bea Troxel. Produced/ Mixed by Ryan Shea. Insta: tkwithjs / Tw: @JamesScottTK / https://tkpod.com
The second summer of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference continues with playwright Rachel Bonds, who tells James about finding her voice in a one-act, using jealousy as a job coach, being on the writing treadmill, and recognizing the struggles of those close to us. Plus, actor and Performing Prose co-founder Sean McIntyre. http://www.sewaneewriters.org/ 2020 Applications due March 15! - Rachel Bonds Rachel and James discuss: Olivier Sultan (agent) St. Andrew's-Sewanee School Lisa D'Amour Barack Obama James Agee George Saunders Jennifer Egan Kevin Wilson - Sean McIntyre: https://www.performingprose.com/ Sean and James discuss: THE SOPRANOS Drew Barrymore Middlebury College Steve Yarbrough Jim Shepard ROMEO AND JULIET by William Shakespeare THE SIMPSONS LES MISERABLES music by Claude-Monet Schonberg "Master of the House" Emily Nemens Tim O'Brien SEINFELD BREAKING BAD THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA by Edward Albee Dan O'Brien Marilyn Nelson SLINGS AND ARROWS Keanu Reeves The Stratford Festival Performing Prose Emily Shain Anne Ray Sewanee Writers' Conference - Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK /Instagram: tkwithjs / FB: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The second summer of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference continues with Tim O'Brien, who tells James about winning the National Book Award, writing THE THINGS THEY CARRIED while on a break from another book, not leaving a sentence until it's finished, being a father, knowing death, and recognizing the maybeness of it all. Plus, Missouri Review editor Speer Morgan. http://www.sewaneewriters.org/ 2020 Applications due March 15! - Tim O'Brien Buy Tim's books: Buy Tim O'Brien's Books From Independent Booksellers Tim and James discuss: Sewanee Writers' Conference Dan O'Brien Christine Schutt THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER by John Cheever Lizzie Borden Jack the Ripper "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy THE BIBLE BILLY BUDD, SAILOR by Herman Melville Wyatt Prunty Emily Nemens Ernest Hemingway - Speer Morgan: https://www.missourireview.com/ Speer and James discuss: Middlebury College The New England Review Greg Michaelson Jack Kerouac Mark Twain Tennessee Williams Christine Schutt The Dead Sea Scrolls Kris Somerville's Curio Cabinet Mike McClaskey Dan O'Brien "Fields of Empire" by Joan Silber Daniel Woodrell Susan Vreeland Joanna Scott Raymond Carver Robert Olen Butler Naguib Mahfouz Gregory Rabassa Philip K. Dick Ursula Le Guin Russell Banks PBS Henry Green Robert Bly Stephen Dunn TR Hummer Dave Smith Annie Proulx Edmund White Ernest Gaines Larry Brown John Updike Margaret Walker Peter Matthiessen Richard Ford "Awakening to Jake" by Jillian Weiss Henry James Edith Wharton CHERNOBYL "Snow" by Kermit Frazier A FAITHFUL BUT MELANCHOLY ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL BARBARITIES LATELY COMMITTED by Jason Brown "Those Deep Elm Brown's Ferry Blues" by William Gay - Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK /Instagram: tkwithjs / FB: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The second summer of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference begins with James speaking with Marilyn Nelson, who has written poetry in many forms and for many audiences. Marilyn tells James about her fears of being pigeonholed as well as her love of musicality, embodying voices, and finding a way forward. Plus, Copper Canyon Executive Editor Michael Wiegers. - Marilyn Nelson: https://marilyn-nelson.com/ Buy Marilyn's books: Shop your local indie bookstore for Marilyn Nelson Marilyn and James discuss: Andrea Davis Pinkney Igor Stravinsky Maurice Manning Wyatt Prunty Childcraft Books Sara Teasdale Gwendolyn Brooks Linda Ronstadt "Songs for My Father" Norton's Anthology of Children's Literature Stephen Roxburgh Front Street Publishing Augusta Savage - Michael Wiegers: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/authors/michael-wiegers/ Copper Canyon Press: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/ Michael and James discuss: The New York Times Goodreads Amazon Michiko Kakutani Ocean Vuong RAILSPLITTER by Maurice Manning Melissa Stein Coffee House Press W.S. Merwin Robert Graves Alan Brilliant Unicorn Press - Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK /Instagram: tkwithjs / FB: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Kevin Wilson's fifth book, the novel NOTHING TO SEE HERE, is a perfect combination of everything that made his previous work so singular: the humor and edge of THE FAMILY FANG, the intensity of his short fiction, and the heart and earnestness of PERFECT LITTLE WORLD. He and James talk depicting basketball, writing being fun and versatile, keeping it short, and lacking a radar for weirdness. Plus, Ecco executive editor Zachary Wagman. - Kevin Wilson: https://www.wilsonkevin.com/ Buy NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Buy NOTHING TO SEE HERE Kevin's work mentioned: "Blowing up on the Spot", PERFECT LITTLE WORLD, TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, THE FAMILY FANG, Buzzfeed essay: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevinwilson/i-cant-save-my-son-from-the-anxiety-ive-passed-on-to-him. Kevin and James discuss: PLOUGHSHARES Laura van den Berg Lee Boudreaux Harry Potter The Southern Voices Festival "A to B" from A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan Caki Wilkinson Latina Davis Kim Woodley Grundy County Franklin County Kansas State University of Florida Patrick Ewing Hakeem Olajuwon Kevin McHale THE DART LEAGUE KING by Keith Lee Morris "Boys Town" by Jim Shepard Harvard University THE NEW YORKER Calvin Trillin WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING by Carson McCullers MRS. CALIBAN by Rachel Ingalls GOODBYE, VITAMIN by Rachel Khong TREASURE ISLAND!!! by Sara Levine BAD MARIE by Marcy Dermansky THE LONGSHOT by Katie Kitamura TRAIN DREAMS by Denis Johnson Christine Schutt Steven Millhauser Larry Bird Johnny Storm, "The Human Torch" Julie Barer Ecco Greensboro Review Nicole Kidman Keith Urban Christopher Walken Ryan Call - Zachary Wagman: @zackwagman Zack and James discuss: THE FAMILY FANG BABY, YOU'RE GONNA BE MINE PERFECT LITTLE WORLD Saturday Night Live ALA The Lead Read The Today Show Vintage Crown Dennis Lehane Dan Halpern Hogarth Knopf New England Patriots Gillian Flynn Pulitzer Prize Nobel Prize YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY by Steph Cha COLD STORAGE by David Koepp - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/ Instagram: tkwithjs
Calvin Hennick jokingly calls his memoir, ONCE MORE TO THE RODEO, "every thought I've ever had," and the book touches on fatherhood, manhood, race, family, alcohol, baseball, and countless other topics, all considered on a road trip to his childhood hometown with his young son. He talks to James about having the memoir roundly rejected until it won the Pushcart Press Editor's Award, walking around naked in front of the reader, and not solving all of the world's problems. Plus, the legendary Bill Henderson of Pushcart Press. - Calvin Hennick: https://twitter.com/calvinhennick?lang=en Buy ONCE MORE TO THE RODEO: Buy ONCE MORE TO THE RODEO Calvin and James discuss: The Chunky Monkeys THE BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE Grub Street Boston Red Sox Adam Jones Baltimore Orioles Curt Schilling Fenway Park GET OUT dir by Jordan Peele Cooperstown, NY Baseball Hall of Fame PLEASANTVILLE dir by Gary Ross Jackie Robinson Millicent Bennett Grand Central Publishing Pushcart Editor's Prize Bill Henderson APOCALYPSE NOW dir by Francis Ford Coppola BUSINESS INSIDER Alex Marzano-Lesnevich Chip Cheek Whitney Scharer Jenn DeLeon THE BODY PAPERS by Grace Talusan Franz Kafka James Joyce - Bill Henderson: http://pushcartprize.com/ Buy THE PUSHCART PRIZE ANTHOLOGY: Buy the PUSHCART PRIZE ANTHOLOGY Bill and James discuss: THE KID THAT COULD THE PUBLISH IT YOURSELF HANDBOOK by Bill Henderson The Pushcart Prize Anais Nin Buckminster Fuller Ralph Ellison Joyce Carol Oates Doubleday THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Mattel Toys Random House WW Norton & Co. ESQUIRE Central Park ONCE MORE TO THE RODEO by Calvin Hennick Little, Brown Millicent Bennett POETS & WRITERS Cooperstown Fenway Park Boston Red Sox WASHINGTON POST YOU ARE NOT A GADGET by Jaron Lanier GARDEN STATE by Rick Moody THE TALE OF THE RING: A KADDISH: A PERSONAL MEMOIR OF THE HOLOCAUST by Frank Stiffel A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER: THE GREAT HAMPTONS HURRICANE OF 1938 by Genie Chipps Henderson - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK/ Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Two incredible authors discuss their debuts. First, Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne tells James about her Tennessee-set HOLDING ON TO NOTHING (Blair), reading while driving (?), Dolly Parton, time machines, and two beer guitars. Then Amy Kurzweil on her depiction of three generations, including her grandmother surviving the Holocaust, in FLYING COUCH: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR (Black Balloon Books). They go over the deceptive naïveté of comics, how she learned to depict her story, and the inside dirt on NEW YORKER cartoons. - Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne: http://ecshelburne.com/ Buy HOLDING ON TO NOTHING: Buy HOLDING ON TO NOTHING Elizabeth and James discuss: Blair Publishing Amherst College James Patterson TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY Mark Barr The Novel Incubator at Grub Street Lisa Borders Michelle Hoover FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen "Little Sparrow" by Dolly Parton "Down in the Valley" by The Head and the Heart Grand Ole Opry TRAMPOLINE by Robert Gipe ROMEO AND JULIET by William Shakespeare William Gay George Singleton - Amy Kurzweil: http://amykurzweil.com/ Buy FLYING COUCH: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR: Buy FLYING COUCH Amy and James discuss: BART SIMPSON'S GUIDE TO LIFE: A WEE HANDBOOK FOR THE PERPLEXED by Matt Groening CALVIN AND HOBBES by Bill Watterson MAUS by Art Spiegelman FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC by Alison Bechdel PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive at University of Michigan "What the son wishes to forget the grandson wishes to remember." - Marcus Lee Hansen THE NEW YORKER MOBY DICK by Nathaniel Hawthorne Marcel Proust Bob Mankoff - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Between his work as an ad writer and software developer, Mark Barr worked on a classic tale set in 1930s Tennessee that would become his debut novel, WATERSHED. He talks to James about being a Southern voice, identifying as a meat-and-potatoes stylist, setting quotas for his writing, breaking problems down into their smallest components, and fudging the details. Then, Tavia Gilbert discusses being an audiobook narrator. - Mark Barr: https://www.readmarkbarr.com/ Buy WATERSHED: Buy WATERSHED Mark and James discuss: Southern Independent Booksellers Association The Charles Frazier Cold Mountain Series Fund Meg Reid Betsy Teter Malaprop's Bookstore/ Cafe THE PRETTIEST STAR by Carter Sickels CBGBs THE NEXT GREATEST THING: FIFTY YEARS OF RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN AMERICA by Richard A. Pence and Patrick Dahl New Coke Harry Potter The Engineering Library and UT-Austin Tennessee River Falstaff Karmann Ghia Raytheon Scholastic Book Club THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster Terry Brooks B. Dalton Bookstore THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner Flannery O'Connor Eudora Welty William Gay SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy Ron Rash - Tavia Gilbert: http://taviagilbert.com/ Tavia and James discuss: The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies Maine School of Art NERVES OF STEEL by Captain Tammy Jo Shults THE MEN AND THE GIRLS by Joanna Trollope narrated by Davina Porter LIBRARY JOURNAL FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER: A DAUGHTER OF CAMBODIA REMEMBERS by Loung Ung BEING MEAN: A MEMOIR OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND SURVIVAL by Patricia Eagle BE FRANK WITH ME by Julia Claiborne Johnson - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The latest novel from Alix Ohlin, DUAL CITIZENS, depicts the lives of two sisters as they navigate family, art, love, and life. She tells James about the depicting the whoosh of time, rewatching Hitchcock's VERTIGO, recommitting yourself, establishing patterns, putting things into your basket, and missing wolf licenses. Plus, Alix's friend and agent, Amy Williams. - Alix Ohlin: https://alixohlinauthor.com/ Buy DUAL CITIZENS: Buy DUAL CITIZENS from indie bookstores. Buy Alix's other books: Buy Alix Ohlin's books from independent booksellers Alix and James discuss: The Neopolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante Alice Munro VERTIGO dir by Alfred Hitchcock Jimmy Stewart REALITY BITES dir by Ben Stiller Winona Ryder Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Daniel Johnston Henry Darger Tony Gilroy "What Writers Really Do When They Write" by George Saunders: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/04/what-writers-really-do-when-they-write Margot Livesey Michael Ondaatje Walter Murch THE CONVERSATIONS: WALTER MURCH AND THE ART OF EDITING FILM by Michael Ondaatje: Buy THE CONVERSATIONS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE by Walter Murch: Buy IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE HITCHCOCK by Francois Truffaut: Buy HITCHCOCK- TRUFFAUT TRUST EXERCISE by Susan Choi: Buy TRUST EXERCISE THE OUTLINE TRILOGY by Rachel Cusk: Buy THE OUTLINE TRILOGY - Amy Williams: https://williamsliterary.com/ Amy and James discuss: THE GEORGIA REVIEW I HATE TO SEE THAT EVENING SUN GO DOWN by William Gay Sloan Harris Eric Simonoff Alix Ohlin Radcliffe Publishing Course Harvard University Knopf Gary Fisketjon Doubleday David Gernert Michener Center for Writers Denis Johnson Jim Magnuson SLACKER dir by Richard Linklater VERTIGO Alice Munro Lincoln Michel Jean Craighead George - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
It started as a short story in grad school, but Gabriel Urza kept coming back to what would eventually be his novella THE WHITE DEATH: AN ILLUSION. He talks to James about feeling like a child in the face of magic, having trouble extricating past from present, portraying the ambiguity of the supernatural, working through your problems when writing, and reading that's like eating a bag of chips. Plus, Tyler Glauz-Todrank from Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, VT on fall releases. - Gabriel Urza: http://gabrielurza.com/ Buy THE WHITE DEATH: AN ILLUSION: http://nouvellabooks.com/the-white-death-by-gabriel-urza/ Gabriel and James discuss: Charles Dickens ANGELS & DEMONS by Dan Brown Kurt Vonnegut The Ohio State University "Fantasy for Eleven Fingers" by Ben Fountain the Magic Castle "Eisenheim the Illusionist" by Steven Millhauser Jeff Mcbride Mt. Hood Sewanee Writers' Conference Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Annie Hartnett Hannah Tinti Loch Ness Claire Vaye Watkins THE THIRD HOTEL by Laura van den Berg PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov Deena Drewis - Tyler Glauz-Todrank Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, VT: https://www.bearpondbooks.com/ Tyler and James discuss: BUNNY by Mona Awad: Buy BUNNY Bear Pond Books Rivendell James Baldwin WHO KILLED MY FATHER by Edouard Louis trans. by Lorin Stein: Buy WHO KILLED MY FATHER New Directions Press LIE WITH ME by Philippe Besson trans. by Molly Ringwald: Buy LIE WITH ME LOT: STORIES by Bryan Washington: Buy LOT THE WORD FOR WOMAN IS WILDERNESS by Abi Andrews: Buy THE WORD FOR WOMAN IS WILDERNESS Two Dollar Radio HARD MOUTH by Amanda Goldblatt: Buy HARD MOUTH GRAND UNION: STORIES by Zadie Smith: Buy GRAND UNION IN THE DREAMHOUSE: A MEMOIR by Carmen Maria Machado: Buy IN THE DREAM HOUSE Graywolf Press RED AT THE BONE by Jacqueline Woodson: Buy RED AT THE BONE NOTHING TO SEE HERE by Kevin Wilson: Buy NOTHING TO SEE HERE TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH by Kevin Wilson: Buy TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH THE FAMILY FANG by Kevin Wilson: Buy THE FAMILY FANG AN AMERICAN SUNRISE by Joy Harjo: Buy AN AMERICAN SUNRISE Ben Lerner ON SWIFT HORSES by Shannon Pufahl: Buy ON SWIFT HORSES OUT OF DARKNESS, SHINING LIGHT by Petina Gappah: Buy OUT OF DARKNESS, SHINING LIGHT Scribner EYES BOTTLE DARK WITH A MOUTHFUL OF FLOWERS by Jake Skeets: Buy EYES BOTTLE DARK WITH A MOUTHFUL OF FLOWERS Richard Avedon Milkweed Editions HUNGER MOUNTAIN HOMIE by Danez Smith: Buy HOMIE HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES by Saeed Jones: Buy HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES Simon & Schuster Maggie Nelson WE THE ANIMALS by Justin Torres: Buy WE THE ANIMALS EROSION: ESSAYS OF UNDOING by Terry Tempest Williams: Buy EROSION: ESSAYS OF UNDOING MAKE IT SCREAM, MAKE IT BURN: ESSAYS by Leslie Jamison: Buy MAKE IT SCREAM MAKE IT BURN YEAR OF THE MONKEY by Patti Smith: Buy YEAR OF THE MONKEY CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX by Jordy Rosenberg: Buy CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
It took Amanda Goldblatt eight years to write her debut novel, HARD MOUTH. The result is a brilliantly inventive work combining style with emotional impact and classic storytelling. She and James talk about their long friendship, cutting the apocalypse, summoning (or not) imaginary beings, making rules for novels, and remembering the books they read as kids. Plus, Amanda's agent from Frances Goldin Literary Agency, Caroline Eisenmann. - Amanda Goldblatt: https://amandagoldblatt.com/ Buy HARD MOUTH: Buy HARD MOUTH from your local indie bookstore! Amanda and James discuss: Washington University THE CUPBOARD Eugene Pallette Caroline Eisenmann Turner Classic Movies POND by Claire-Louise Bennett MY MAN GODFREY HATCHET by Gary Paulsen THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON by Johann David Wyss Harry Potter THE HUNGER GAMES E.T. J Dilla VOX Notorious B.I.G. Andre 3000 MF Doom Talib Kweli Kerri Webster Gordon Lish Gary Lutz Amy Hempel Sam Lipsyte Christine Schutt "The Sentence is a Lonely Place" by Gary Lutz Jim Shepard Mary Ruefle Tim O'Brien Marilynne Robinson Denis Johnson Cormac McCarthy - Caroline Eisenmann: https://goldinlit.com/agents/ Caroline and James discuss: NOON James Salyer Mary Gaitskill Annie Proulx Ottessa Moshfegh Halle Butler Claire Messud Nell Zink Garth Greenwell Jack Kerouac Ernest Hemingway I KNOW YOU KNOW WHO I AM by Peter Kispert ICM GOING DUTCH by James Gregor Simon & Schuster THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P by Adelle Waldman THE LONGING FOR LESS: LIVING WITH MINIMALILSM by Kyle Chayka - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The debut novel by Miciah Bay Gault, GOODNIGHT STRANGER, is an intoxicating mix of mystery and grief set in a sandy, salty place. And sexy triplets. She tells James about adjusting the level of magic, breaking the rules, sagging middles, writing as an act of faith, and facing the threat of writing something new. Plus, publicist Laura Gianino. - Miciah Bay Gault: https://www.miciahbaygault.com/ Buy GOODNIGHT STRANGER: Buy GOODNIGHT STRANGER from an Indie Bookstore Miciah and James discuss: Jenni Ferrari-Adler Union Literary Daniel Torday John Cheever Shirley Jackson THE X-FILES Fox Mulder Dana Scully POPEYE dir by Robert Altman Harry Nilsson WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt THE HUNDRED-YEAR HOUSE by Rebecca Makkai - Laura Gianino Laura and James discuss: Park Row Books Harlequin Enterprises Harper Collins Laura Brown THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW THE BOSTON GLOBE PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY BOOKLIST LIBRARY JOURNAL SHELF AWARENESS KIRKUS REVIEWS LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng O MAGAZINE VANITY FAIR Amazon George Saunders ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY COSMOPOLITAN Oprah's Book Club Reese Witherspoon's Book Club THE CACTUS by Sarah Haywood THE MILLIONS Goodreads THE FALMOUTH ENTERPRISE THE TODAY SHOW - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In reporting several food articles, Kevin Alexander found the same stories coming up again and again: genius chefs opened one-of-a-kind restaurants in places like Portland and San Francisco, and in the on-rush of attention struggled to maintain their excellence. In short, we lived through a golden age of American cuisine that is now already over. This era is captured is Alexander's captivating BURN THE ICE. Plus, former Esquire editor and current agent, David Granger. - Kevin Alexander: Buy BURN THE ICE: Buy BURN THE ICE from your local indie bookstore. - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
A random sign for free dogs inspired Mary Miller to drop a manuscript she'd been researching and create the character of Louis McDonald, Jr. for her hilarious and heartbreaking novel, BILOXI. She tells James about feeling indebted to her characters, teaching herself to write, looking in holes with her dog, needing to find joy, and reading with John Grisham. And bologna. And feet licking. Plus a chat with Bennet Johnson from Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI. - Mary Miller: http://www.maryumiller.net/ BUY BILOXI: Buy BILOXI from an Indie Bookseller ALSO BY: BIG WORLD, THE LAST DAYS OF CALIFORNIA, ALWAYS HAPPY HOUR Mary and James discuss: Frederick Barthelme Jerry Seinfeld THE MOTEL LIFE by Willy Vlautin THE OFFICE THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt Books-A-Million ZOETROPE ON WRITING by Stephen King BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott Elizabeth Ellen Aaron Burch Square Books Lemuria Book Store Bennet Johnson Literati Bookstore Parnassus Books John Evans Richard Howorth Lisa Howorth Grisham Writers in Residence John and Renee Grisham Michener Center for Writers Ann Patchett Ole Miss Mississippi State Claudia Smith Chen Kevin Sampsell REM Elizabeth Spencer Tom Franklin Beth Ann Fennelly W. W. Norton & Company Charlie Day IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA - Bennet Johnson Literati Bookstore: https://www.literatibookstore.com/ Literati Cultura: https://www.literatibookstore.com/literati-cultura-collectors-club Bennet and James Discuss: Mike & Hilary Gustafson SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS by Ocean Vuong YOU KNOW YOU WANT THIS by Kristen Roupenian OHIO by Stephen Markley MIDWEST LITERARY WALK PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee HAWKING by Jim Ottaviani "Boys Town" by Jim Shepard Calvin Trillin Amy Hempel Mary Ruefle Kevin Wilson Hannah Pittard Lorrie Moore Ernest Hemingway Literati Book Store Presents John U. Bacon Randall Munroe Sister Helen Prejean Salman Rushdie Jonathan Safran Foer - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Christian Kiefer had great reservations about writing his beautiful new book, PHANTOMS. He tells James how he found the story, and the steps he took to tell it. They also talk about capturing bear consciousness, being haunted by one's own work, finding joy in music and writing, and those troublesome flugelhornists. And then our old friend Christopher Boucher discusses his new novel, BIG GIANT FLOATING HEAD. - Christian Kiefer: https://www.facebook.com/christian.kiefer.9/ Buy PHANTOMS: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780871404817 Also by: THE INFINITE TIDES, THE ANIMALS, ONE DAY SOON TIME WILL HAVE NO PLACE LEFT TO HIDE. Christian and James discuss: Matt Salesses MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson Jamil Zaki Deena Drewis Nouvella Books ORIENTALISM by Edward Said CULTURE AND IMPERIALISM by Edward Said NOTHING EVER DIES by Viet Thanh Nguyen Vintage Contemporaries Tobias Wolff Robert Stone Richard Ford Tim O'Brien SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron ABSALOM, ABSALOM by William Faulkner Henry James Nathaniel Hawthorne Emile Zola Lauren Groff San Francisco Zoo GHOST TANTRAS by Michael McClure Benjamin Percy Ingmar Bergman Andrei Tarkovsky THE WHITE DEATH by Gabriel Urza THE LAST REPATRIATE by Matthew Salesses THE SENSUALIST by Daniel Torday HOW TO SHAKE THE OTHER MAN by Derek Palacio IF YOU'RE NOT YET LIKE ME by Eden Lepucki FLY-OVER STATE by Emma Straub A FAMILIAR BEAST by Panio Gianopoulos Miles Davis John Coltrane WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS, Lawrence English Nicholas Brittell THE DISINTEGRATION LOOPS, William Basinksi Lyle Lovett George Jones JESUS' SON by Denis Johnson PURE HOLLYWOOD by Christine Schutt Barry Hannah GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING (documentary) John Keene Magnolia Electric Company Jason Molina CANADA by Richard Ford Sewanee - Christopher Boucher: http://www.christopherboucher.net/ Buy BIG GIANT FLOATING HEAD: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781612197579 Also by: HOW TO KEEP YOUR VOLKSWAGEN ALIVE, GOLDEN DELICIOUS. James and Christopher discuss: Melville House Kurt Vonnegut THE PARIS REVIEW Ben Greenman Boston College Oregon State "People Like That Are The Only People Here" by Lorrie Moore "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor "Araby" by James Joyce Looney Tunes Elmer Fudd Bugs Bunny - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
A night spent drinking and writing about his parents' divorce uncovered an urgent need in Stanford professor Jamil Zaki to author THE WAR FOR KINDNESS: BUILDING EMPATHY IN A FRACTURED WORLD. He and James talk about how empathy can literally grow parts of the brain, hating the term hard-wired, facing the problems of the world today, and (sigh) STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Plus Michael Nye returns to talk about reviving and relaunching STORY. - Jamil Zaki: https://profiles.stanford.edu/jamil-zaki Buy THE WAR FOR KINDNESS: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451499240 Jamil and James discuss: STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Deanna Troi The Good Samaritan Princeton Manchester United Liverpool Allen Iverson Bill Nye Borderlinks Life After Hate WRECK-IT RALPH Contact Theory Angela King THE NEW YORK TIMES Defensive dehumanization Amanda Cook Gareth Cook Bread Loaf Writer's Conference Carl Sagan - Michael Nye: http://mpnye.com/ Subscribe to STORY: https://www.storymagazine.org/ Michael and James discuss: STORY Lee K. Abbott Travis Kurowski AWP Conference Dave Housley BARRELHOUSE MISSOURI REVIEW RIVER STYX BOULEVARD HUNGER MOUNTAIN ONE STORY PLOUGHSHARES "Nude" By Claudia Hinz "World's End" by Clare Beams Valerie Cumming Ohio State "Amputation of the Angels" by Kyle Minor LaTanya McQueen Shanie Latham THE PARIS REVIEW THE KENYON REVIEW BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES Anne Valente Michael Croley COLUMBUS ALIVE - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Satire can be the last, best way to critique difficult topics, and Ryan Chapman's blistering novel, RIOTS I HAVE KNOWN, takes on, among other things, incarceration, literature's standing in the culture, and intellectual pretension. He and James talk novellas, using contemporary cultural references, writing to a melody, and publishing a book after working in the field. Plus, literary advocate, legend, and Ryan's editor, Ira Silverberg. - Ryan Chapman: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Ryan-Chapman/140796679 Buy RIOTS I HAVE KNOWN: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501197307 Ryan and James discuss: Joseph Heller Mark Leyner Martin Amis Don DeLillo Thomas Pynchon AO Scott Wesley Morris BREAKING BAD Philip Roth Roberto Bolano Horacio Castellanos Moya New Directions Books Poopy Atherton University of Iowa WG Sebald THE CRYING OF LOT 49 by Thomas Pynchon Kanye West A$AP Rocky DRAM JURASSIC PARK Steve Martin Michel Foucault "Pardon Edward Snowden" by Joseph O'Neill Tin House Summer Workshop Joy Williams Guy Debord Andy Dufresne THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Frank Darabont THE VIRGIN SUICIDES by Jeffrey Eugenides THE LOSER by Thomas Bernhard TRAINSPOTTING by Irvine Welsh THE BEACH by Alex Garland THE GODFATHER THE GODFATHER by Mario Puzo Eric Andre TOO MANY COOKS Toni Morrison Ira Silverberg THE NEW YORK TIMES Marya Spence Daniel Torday DEAR CYBORGS by Eugene Lim - Ira Silverberg: https://twitter.com/silverbergira?lang=en Ira and James discuss: Sam Lipsyte FSG Macmillan Publishers BOMB Magazine Marya Spence Simon & Schuster Mark Twain OZ SCRUBS NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BOOKFORUM LITHUB THE MILLIONS Parul Sehgal HIGH RISK: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FORBIDDEN WRITINGS PUSH by Sapphire Knopf Kathy Acker Grove Press Dennis Cooper Ben Lerner Coffee House Press Three Lives & Co. Melville House SOHO Emily St. John Mandel Katherine Faucett THE ARGONAUTS by Maggie Nelson Leslie Jamison Graywolf Press Little, Brown and Company Random House Andrew Wiley Overlook Press Allen Ginsberg Marguerite Duras Alain Robbe-Grillet Samuel Beckett Eugene Ionesco Barney Rosset JT LeRoy NEA Cave Canem: The Retreat Whiting Awards LAMBDA Literary NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS PARIS REVIEW Ann Kjellberg BOOK POST AWP Poetry Society of American Academy of American poets AIR TRAFFIC by Gregory Pardlow ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS by Ocean Vuong Cathy Park Hong Poem-A-Day Alex Dimitrov Four Way Books Copper Canyon Press - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
With the long road of a novel ahead of her, Julia Phillips mined her obsessions, and based her debut, DISAPPEARING EARTH, on her love of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and her desire to portray the effects of violent acts on women. She and James talk about the cost of being horrified, the surprising realization that not everyone loves Soviet architecture, the book that unlocked her book, and the need to keep readers from chopping the vegetables. Then James talks to Jon Sealy about his new press, Haywire Books. - Julia Phillips: http://www.juliaphillipswrites.com/ Buy DISAPPEARING EARTH: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525520412 Julia and James discuss: JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLES TEMPLE Kamchatka Peninsula THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN Fulbright Fellowship Yaddo Emerson College PT Anderson THE ANATOMY OF STORY by John Truby GOOD TALK by Mira Jacob ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac - Jon Sealy: http://www.jonsealy.com/ Haywire Books: https://www.haywirebooks.com/ Jon and James discuss: THE WHISKEY BARON by Jon Sealy Hub City press THE UNMADE WORLD by Steve Yarbrough Unbridled Books George Singleton LSU Press The Southern Voices Festival Mark Powell Baker & Taylor Ingram Consortium Publishers Group West Itasca THE EDGE OF AMERICA by Jon Sealy HUMMINGBIRD HOUSE by Patricia Henley FIREBIRD by Mark Powell Heather Bell Adams WVU Press - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The dazzling, drunken, dirty (in an elegant, literary way) debut by Chip Cheek, CAPE MAY, is the result of a feverish writing spree and a measured revision process. Old friends Chip and James discuss learning to let go, having fun at the desk, selecting the right words in sex scenes, discovering characters through their dialogue, and changing ice cream to sherbet. Then, super agent to Chip and many past guests, Katherine Fausset. - Chip Cheek Buy CAPE MAY: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250297150 Chip and James discuss: Pages: A Bookstore Whitney Scharer Sally Rooney The Chunky Monkeys Celeste Ng Grace Talusan Jenn De Leon Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Lizzie Stark THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt James Salter THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by Richard Yates BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S by Truman Capote THE CALL OF CTHULHU by H.P. Lovecraft Jeanne Leiby Jim Butler Gustave Flaubert Jennifer Haigh Katherine Fausset - Katherine Fausset: https://www.curtisbrown.com/agents/katherine-fausset/ Katherine and James discuss: Chip Cheek The Muse & The Marketplace Grub Street Benjamin Percy Colm Toibin STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel THE THIRD HOTEL by Laura van den Berg A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN: SELECTED STORIES by Lucia Berlin Farrar, Straus & Giroux - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
At first, she wrote essays as a distraction from her fiction, but over time, Grace Talusan felt the pull of the experiences that would form the foundation of her memoir, THE BODY PAPERS. From immigration to cancer to sexual abuse, the book depicts a life marked by trauma, and yet through it all there is humor, family, and hope. Grace tells James how she embraced her own story, faced honesty, and escaped despair. Plus, Grace's editor and Restless Books marketing director, Nathan Rostron. - Grace Talusan: http://gracetalusan.com/ Buy THE BODY PAPERS: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781632061836 Grace and James Discuss: UC-Irvine Joanne Diaz Restless Books Ilan Stavans ONCE MORE TO THE RODEO by Calvfin Hennick Ross White's THE GRIND Bread Loaf Writer's Conference Tell All Grub Street Alysia Abbott Celeste Ng Porter Square Books Whitney Scharer Chunky Monkeys Jeff Rubin THE FACT OF A BODY by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Tufts University Counseling Center - Nathan Rostron of RESTLESS BOOKS: https://restlessbooks.org/ Nathan and James discuss: Graywolf Press New Directions Publishing Farrar, Straus and Giroux W.W. Norton & Co. Simon & Schuster Regan Arts Judith Regan Ilan Stavans Amherst College THE BOY by Marcus Malte, Translated by Emma Ramadan & Tom Roberge Riff Raff Richard Pevear and Larissa Volohonsky Prix Femina Editions Zulma THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE by Julie Orringer Cormac McCarthy THE BODY PAPERS by Grace Talusan THE IMMIGRANT WRITING PRIZE TEMPORARY PEOPLE by Deepak Unnikrishnan George Saunders Salman Rushdie Hindu Prize - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Back in episode 47, Whitney Scharer discussed the incredible sale of her debut, THE AGE OF LIGHT, and now, she and James discuss the actual novel, which depicts the relationship between Lee Miller and May Ray. They talk about creating fictional characters from real people, when she had her "Aha!" insight into Lee's psyche, cultural movements, Boston apartment hopping, and, of course, what you call a butt. Plus, Whitney's UK cover designer, Stuart Wilson. - Whitney Scharer: https://whitneyscharer.com/ THE AGE OF LIGHT: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316524087 Whitney and James discuss: Lee Miller Man Ray Peabody-Essex Museum CAPE MAY by Chip Cheek Jean Cocteau Janet Flanner THE NEW YORKER Ernest Hemingway GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES by Anita Loos David Bain Margot Livesey Pamela Painter Emerson College Richard Kenney JUST KIDS by Patti Smith CBGB's Robert Mapplethorpe - Stuart Wilson Stuart and James discuss: Francesca Main Whitney Scharer Jeff Cottenden Lee Miller Pan 70th Anniversary Collection Justine Anweiler JAWS by Peter Benchley BORN FREE by Joan Adamson THE PROVINCIAL LADY by E. M. Delafield Edward St. Aubyn Benedict Cumberbatch THE PAPER LOVERS by Gerard Woodward - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In our final episode of our Sewanee Writers' Conference series recorded in the summer of 2018, James is joined by Christine Schutt, one of our greatest authors, to discuss her career from FLORIDA to her latest, PURE HOLLYWOOD. They cover a lot of books, and a lot of ground, from nerves about reading to insecurity about writing, in an honest and illuminating conversation. Plus, friend and (relatively) new PARIS REVIEW editor Emily Nemens. - Christine Schutt: https://www.christineschutt.com/ Christine and James discuss: Christine's books: FLORIDA; A DAY, A NIGHT, ANOTHER DAY, SUMMER; NIGHTWORK; ALL SOULS; PROSPEROUS FRIENDS; PURE HOLLYWOOD: AND OTHER STORIES Amy Hempel Barry Hannah Gordon Lish Lucy Corin UC Davis Mary Jo Salter John Casey Cheri Peters William Gay Wyatt Prunty Jill McCorkle AWP Donald Justice Elizabeth Bishop BLUETS by Maggie Nelson TRIQUARTERLY National Book Award Kathryn Davis SLEEPLESS NIGHTS by Elizabeth Hardwick TRAIN DREAMS by Denis Johnson CHILD OF GOD by Cormac McCarthy AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf Diane Williams NOON Josh Weil UC Irvine The Nightingale-Bamford School Wesleyan University Mills College Elizabeth Winthrop GOSSIP GIRL by Cecily von Ziegesar Laura van den Berg Elisabeth Schmitz Margot Livesey Alfred Hitchcock "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor Alice Munro Dan O'Brien Maurice Manning Clare Beams - Emily Nemens: https://www.theparisreview.org/ Emily and James Discuss: THE PARIS REVIEW THE SOUTHERN REVIEW Diane Williams WRITERS AT WORK Pulitzer Prize WOMEN AT WORK, INTERVIEWS FROM THE PARIS REVIEW Francois Mauriac Nadine Gordimer Hernan Diaz Kelli Jo Ford Emily Bell AWP THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The third in a series of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in the summer of 2018 finds James sitting down with Randall Kenan, who talks about the books that made him feel less alone, the art of writing about food, and the legacy of James Baldwin. Plus, Anna Lena Phillips Bell, editor at Ecotone Magazine. - Randall Kenan: https://randallkenan.com/ Randall and James discuss: Margot Livesey Richard Bausch Jill McCorkle Tony Earley Steve Yarbrough Wyatt Prunty Maurice Manning Zora Neale Hurston Charles Chestnut Latin American Boom Gabriel Garcia Marquez Carlos Fuentes Mario Vargas Llosa Isabelle Allende UNC- Chapel Hill Amos Tutuola Wole Soyinka William Faulkner Bennett Cerf Donald Klopfer Christine Schutt Little Richard Studs Terkel V.S. Naipaul THE LIVING IS EASY by Dorothy West Jackie Kennedy THE WEDDING by Dorothy West Dan O'Brien C-SPAN'S BOOKNOTES with Brian Lamb SOUTHERN FOOD by John Egerton Southern Foodways Alliance INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison Edna Lewis William Styron Molly O'Neill Mark Twain MFK Fisher Urban Waite JAMES BALDWIN: A BIOGRAPHY by David Leeming THE NATION THE FIRE NEXT TIME by James Baldwin NO NAME IN THE STREET by James Baldwin GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin ANOTHER COUNTRY by James Baldwin Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Anna Lena Phillips Bell: https://ecotonemagazine.org/ Anna Lena and James discuss: David Gessner UNC- Wilmington AWP TIN HOUSE AMERICAN SCIENTIST David Schoonmaker Dawn Silvia Emerson College - Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In the second in a series of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in the summer of 2018, James spoke to three people from the world of playwriting: old friend and playwright Dan O'Brien, agent Beth Blickers, and actor Emily Shain. They discuss what draws them to work, how the written word earns its space, and the great value of surprise. - Dan O'Brien: http://www.danobrien.org/ Dan and James discuss: David Baldacci THE HOUSE IN SCARSDALE: A MEMOIR FOR THE STAGE NEW LIFE Paul Watson THE BODY OF AN AMERICAN Guggenheim Fellowship - Beth Blickers: https://www.apa-agency.com/ Beth and James discuss: APA Agency Theatre Breaking Through Barriers Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Charles Darwin MASTER OF NONE MJ Kaufman WIT by Margaret Edson Theatre by the Blind Ike Schambelan Nicholas Viselli TEENAGE DICK by Mike Lew Gregg Mozgala Shannon DeVido - Emily Shain: http://www.emilyshain.com/ Emily and James discuss: Performing Prose: https://www.performingprose.com/ Shawn McIntyre Anne Ray Jill McCorkle Christine Schutt James Joyce The Back Room Shakespeare Project MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In the first in a series of Sewanee Writers' Conversations, recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in July 2018, James sat down with poet Maurice Manning to talk about his latest collection, ONE MAN'S DARK, as well as a beautiful story about a gift from Claudia Emerson, challenging himself with each book, and how his poetry has changed. Plus, editor-in-chief of 32 POEMS, George David Clark. Sewanee Writers' Conference: http://www.sewaneewriters.org/ - Maurice Manning Maurice and James discuss: Tony Earley Tim O'Brien Claudia Emerson Pelican pens Margot Livesey Daniel Boone Brooks Haxton By Maurice Manning: ONE MAN'S DARK, THE GONE AND THE GOING AWAY, BUCOLICS, THE COMMON MAN, A COMPANION FOR OWLS, LAWRENCE BOOTH'S BOOK OF VISIONS - George David Clark: http://www.georgedavidclark.com/ 32 POEMS: http://32poems.com/ David and James discuss: 32 POEMS Texas Tech VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW MERIDIAN John Poch ONE STORY Hannah Tinti Dan O'Brien REDIVIDER Mark Wagner Aimee Bender Lydia Davis "How to Talk to the Hunter" by Pam Houston - Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Lydia Kiesling tricked herself into writing a novel by starting with small vignettes about her feelings as a new parent and setting them in a northern California that's rarely explored in literature. The result of tying those scenes together is her excellent debut, THE GOLDEN STATE. She and James talk about her work as editor of THE MILLIONS, spreadsheets, local newspapers, present tense, and barfing toddlers. Plus, Shuchi Saraswat from Brookline Booksmith talks about the Transnational Literature Series and book sales. - Lydia Kiesling: http://www.lydiakiesling.com/ Lydia and James Discuss: CAL SUNDAY MAGAZINE Sarah Smarsh Hamilton College OFF COURSE by Michelle Huneven MODOC COUNTY RECORD David Lodge Sarah Blackwood LUCKY JIM by Kingsley Amis Tobias Wolff Brandon Taylor THE MILLIONS Laura van den Berg Emily Bell Charles Dickens THE GRADUATE dir by Mike Nichols C. Max Magee THE LAST SAMURAI by Helen DeWitt - Shuchi Saraswat: https://www.shuchisaraswat.com/ Shuchi and James discuss: Brookline Booksmith The Transnational Literature Series KINGDOM OF OLIVE AND ASH ed by Chabon & Waldman THIS IS NOT A BORDER ed by Soueif & Hamilton Ru Freeman Khury Petersen-Smith BEACON PRESS Tom Hallock HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance VISITATION by Jenny Erpenbeck GO WENT GONE by Jenny Erpenbeck Laura van den Berg DISORIENTAL by Negar Djavadi POSO WELLS by Gabriela Aleman Coolidge Corner Theatre PERSEPOLIS dir by Marjane Satrapi Words Without Borders The Forum Network Bob Woodward EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid HOME FIRE by Kamila Shamsie PACHINCO by Min Jin Lee THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon THE MARS ROOM by Rachel Kushner CIRCE by Madeline Miller SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller BookScan - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The realization that distance will always be present in even the most connected of people is one of the recurring themes in Rita Bullwinkel's spectacular debut story collection, BELLY UP (out now from A STRANGE OBJECT). Rita and James talk about spanning the real and the unreal, finding balance in sequencing, and loving stories where characters have tools to leave their bodies. Plus Dick Scanlan on RENASCENCE, the new musical featuring the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. - Rita Bullwinkel: http://ritabullwinkel.com/ Rita and James discuss: Jill Meyers A STRANGE OBJECT AMERICAN SHORT FICTION Vanderbilt University Kelly Link Diane Williams ALTMANN'S TONGUE by Brian Evenson EVERYTHING RAVAGED, EVERYTHING BURNED by Wells Tower COAST OF CHICAGO by Stuart Dybek Mills College Center for New Music PURE HOLLYWOOD by Christine Schutt Blair School of Music Mark Jarman Michael Alec Rose Ben Marcus "Slatland" by Rebecca Lee NEW AMERICAN SHORT STORIES STORIES ON STAGE - Dick Scanlon: http://www.playbill.com/production/renascence-abrons-arts-center-2018-2019 Dick and James discuss: MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL Berry Gordy EVERYDAY RAPTURE Carmel Dean William Finn Edna St. Vincent Millay THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE Steepletop The Millay Colony Edna St. Vincent Millay Society Holly Peppe Danny Kornfeld Kathleen Millay Caroline B. Dow Mikaela Bennett Norma Millay Eugen Jan Bossevain Elaine Ralli Vassar Donald Webber Jr. Brett Banakis - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Daniel Torday makes a triumphant return to talk about his new novel, BOOMER1. He and James chat about creating the world around the book, reinventing like Dylan, aspiring to anti-lyricism, and getting excited about liking stuff. They try to parse out a comic novel vs. a funny one and what constitutes satire. Plus, Emory Harkins discusses the mobile and now brick-and-mortar book store he co-founded and co-owns with Alexa Trembly, Twenty Stories. - Daniel Torday: http://www.danieltorday.com/ Daniel and James Discuss: David Crosby THE RUMPUS "Pretty Polly" Fleet Foxes Dirty Projectors Dr. Dog WXPM "Superstitious" by Stevie Wonder The Velvet Underground PASTORALIA by George Saunders MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS by Kelly Link Junot Diaz Karen Russell David Foster Wallace Flannery O'Connor Bob Dylan William Faulkner THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow SEIZE THE DAY by Saul Bellow INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace John Updike Philip Roth Netflix TREE OF SMOKE by Denis Johnson JESUS' SON by Denis Johnson TRAIN DREAMS RED CALVARY by Isaac Babel Twenty Stories Bookstore FLORIDA by Christine Schutt THE AGE OF WIRE AND STRING by Ben Marcus Aleksandar Hemon BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Cormac McCarthy SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy James Joyce ABSALOM, ABSALOM by William Faulkner LIBRA by Don DeLillo Dana Spiotta Leonard Michaels Grace Paley Thomas Bernhard Laszlo Krasznahorkai Franz Kafka Samuel Beckett Jack Ruby Lee Harvey Oswald The Titanic Occupy Wall Street ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf WE ARE LEGION McSweeney's DAWN OF THE DEAD dir George A. Romero David Remnick Fyodor Dostoevsky YOUR DUCK IS YOUR DUCK by Deborah Eisenberg Lydia Davis Dave Barry Colson Whitehead Rivka Galchen OZARK ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Gary Shteyngart John Mulaney Pitchfork Mike Nichols & Elaine May Dave Chappelle Chris Rock THE SOPRANOS Alfred Hitchcock Chris Farley Jane Goodall Harold Bloom Lewis Hyde Yaddo Best American Short Stories The O. Henry Prize Stories Mary Gaitskill ESQUIRE "Messiah" by George Friderick Handel Chris Thile The Ramones - TWENTY STORIES: https://www.twentystoriesla.com/ Emory and James discuss: ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter S. Thompson Alexa Trembly Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra DISQUIET AMERICAN SHORT FICTION TWO DOLLAR RADIO CURBSIDE SPLENDOR THE DEEPER THE WATER, THE UGLIER THE FISH by Katya Apekina HALF OF A YELLOW SUN by Chimamanda Adichie COMEMADRE by Roque Larraquy, translated by Heather Cleary WHEN RAP SPOKE STRAIGHT TO GOD by Erica Dawson JESUS' SON by Denis Johnson WHITE GIRLS by Hilton Als something bright, then holes by Maggie Nelson - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Laura van den Berg returns to discuss her brilliantly unsettling new novel, THE THIRD HOTEL. She and James discuss her three research trips to Havana, film adaptations, women in horror, crucial details, and her thought log, which is exactly what it sounds like. Then Marya Brennan talks about a Writing Blood Oath and her work as the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program Director. - Laura van den Berg: http://lauravandenberg.com/ Laura and James Discuss: Jenny Halpert Kate Sharp THE BURNING SEASON Naomi Watts The Tribeca Film Festival Claire McCarthy ARRIVAL dir by Denis Villeneuve "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang SCREAM dir by Wes Craven THE BABADOOK dir by Jennifer Kent A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT dir by Ana Lily Aminpour VERTIGO dir by Alfred Hitchcock THE SHINING dir by Stanley Kubrick Shelley Duvall PIANO by Jean Echenoz James Longenbach - Marya Brennan, NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program Director: https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ Marya and James Discuss: Annie Hartnett Robbie! Aimee Bender DEEP WORK by Cal Newport NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O'Brien Chris Baty - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Caleb Johnson claims he could score nine points in an NBA Finals game. Other fictions he's spun include his fantastic debut novel, TREEBORNE, which is set in his native Alabama. He and James talk about staying true to the storytelling tradition, writing in dialect, giving characters autonomy, and reading the right book at the right time. Then, Justin Jannise, editor of GULF COAST: A JOURNAL OF LITERATURE AND FINE ARTS. Caleb Johnson: https://www.calebjohnsonauthor.com/ Caleb and James discuss: Sewanee Writers' Conference Robbie! Alabama Booksmith Jake Reiss University of Wyoming Hernando de Soto Chilton Country, Alabama University of Alabama Rick Bragg THE SELMA-TIMES JOURNAL DIRTY WORK by Larry Brown Barry Hannah Cormac McCarthy William Gay Daniel Woodrell BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES THE MARS ROOM by Rachel Kushner Gabriel Garcia Marquez William Faulkner Lewis Nordan TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee TRAIN DREAMS by Denis Johnson - Justin Jannise of Gulf Coast: https://gulfcoastmag.org Justin and James discuss: The University of Houston "The Figure a Poem Makes" by Robert Frost TREEBORNE by Caleb Johnson Donald Barthelme REDIVIDER "The Bear" by William Faulkner Phillip Lopate NOON - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
The grief over the sudden death of his wife Joy compelled novelist Jonathan Santlofer to begin writing, and those scribbled thoughts and memories became his beautiful memoir, THE WIDOWER'S NOTEBOOK. He and James discuss losing the first person you want to share stories with, not letting yourself off the hook, falling in love with a cat, relying on process, and, ultimately, refusing to live in the shadows. Plus, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich on the response to their book, THE FACT OF A BODY. - Jonathan Santlofer: http://jonathansantlofer.com/ Jonathan and James discuss: SALON PEOPLE Yaddo FOOD CITY: FOUR CENTURIES OF FOOD-MAKING IN NEW YORK by Joy Santlofer and Marion Nestle Norton New York University Faculty Club Tom's Bakery Brooklyn Brine Malaprop's Bookstore RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS by Beverly Donofrio Lee Child CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser THE ICEBERG by Marion Coutts Elisabeth Kubler-Ross IN A DARK WOOD by Joseph Luzzi "Experience" by Ralph Waldo Emerson THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion H IS FOR HAWK by Helen Macdonald - Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich: http://alexandria-marzano-lesnevich.com/ Alexandria and James Discuss: "On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character" by Philip Lopate Jonathan Santlofer Lauren Groff "By the Book" from THE NEW YORK TIMES - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Though SOUTHERNMOST, the story of preacher Asher Sharp, took a while to take shape, it's a tale Silas House was born to tell. He and James discuss writing about LGBTQ issues, finding the right angle for a novel, putting characters in trouble, working with your reader, and grieving the loss of conversation. Plus, a great talk with Algonquin Books executive editor Kathy Pories. - Silas House: https://www.silas-house.com/ Silas and James discuss: Thomas Hardy Willa Cather JONAH'S GOURD VINE by Zora Neale Hurston WINTER LIGHT dir by Ingmar Bergman Tom Petty Mamas & the Papas Jim James "Rain" by Patty Griffin Joni Mitchell Celia Cruz Jason Isbell My Morning Jacket Dolly Parton - Kathy Pories, Algonquin Books: https://www.algonquin.com/ Kathy and James discuss: Sewanee Writers' Conference Wyatt Prunty Philipp Meyer Ron Rash Mary Robison Alexander Chee Newtonville Books Christine Schutt Jill McCorkle Workman Publishing LIKE WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen Anne Winslow THE OPTIMISTIC DECADE by Heather Abel OTHER PEOPLE'S LOVE AFFAIRS by D. Wystan Owen - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In the most clarifying conversation James has had about the process of learning to be a writer, Sarah Ann Strickley discusses her story collection, FALL TOGETHER, as well as the dangers of the Muse, the joys of plot and structure, finding your voice, giving up your heroes, and being Superman's neighbor. Plus, they nerd out over Marilynne Robinson's HOUSEKEEPING. Then, past guests provide summer reading recommendations. - Sarah Anne Strickley: https://www.sarahannestrickley.com/ Sarah and James discuss: Ian Stansel Raymond Carver The Cure Joy Division The University of Iowa Emerson College Joseph Campbell Darrell Spencer COUNTRY DARK by Chris Offutt HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson "Hover" by Nell Freudenberger Karen Russell Carmen Maria Machado Laura van den Berg Fortress of Solitude Superman Superman's Neighbor - Summer Reading Recommendations: Julia Fine, author of WHAT SHOULD BE WILD (ep. 58) THE LUMINARIES by Eleanor Catton THE WAKE by Paul Kingsnorth INVITATION TO A BONFIRE by Adrienne Celt Xhenet Aliu, author of BRASS (ep. 50) WATCHMEN written by Alan Moore, art by David Gibbons, colorist John Higgins A RIVER OF STARS by Vanessa Hua THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon Patrick Crerand, author of THE PAPER LIFE THEY LEAD (ep. 56) PANORAMA by Steve Kistulentz BRAZEN CREATURE by Anne Barngrover BAD STORIES by Steve Almond PRIEST DADDY by Patricia Lockwood THE INFORMATION by James Gleick Mark Powell, author of SMALL TREASONS (ep. 11) FLORIDA by Lauren Groff WARLIGHT by Michael Ondaatje OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk MY LIFE AS A RUSSIAN NOVEL by Emmanuel Carrere KINGDOM by Emmanuel Carrere BLUETS by Maggie Nelson THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA by Philip Roth Kirstin Chen, author of BURY WHAT WE CANNOT TAKE (ep. 55) MOTHER OF INVENTION by Caeli Wolfson Widger SUICIDE CLUB by Rachel Heng AN OCEAN OF MINUTES by Thea Lim WHITE DANCING ELEPHANTS by Chaya Bhuvaneswar Aja Gabel, author of THE ENSEMBLE (ep. 59) CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS by Sally Rooney A SEPARATION by Katie Kitamura Michael Nye, author of ALL THE CASTLES BURNED (ep. 52) ASYMMETRY by Lisa Halliday SWEET & LOW by Nick White INDIAN HORSE by Richard Wagamese REMEMBERING POETS by Donald Hall Annie Hartnett, author of RABBIT CAKE (ep. 30) THERE, THERE by Tommy Orange WHO IS VERA KELLY? by Rosalie Knecht THE LITTLE STRANGER by Sarah Waters THE WORLD OF TOMORROW by Brendan Matthews LESS by Andrew Sean Greer THE MARS ROOM by Rachel Kushner - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Despite their easy descriptions-- a book about small town baseball, a memoir of grief and addiction, a discussion of reality television-- Lucas Mann's books are unlike anything else, with each page revealing a fresh perspective or a surprising insight. He tells James about writing weird books in a way that feels normal, throwing subjects off-kilter in interviews, learning to write unhinged to create emotion, and playing Jenga with narrative. Plus, Nathan McNamara on the art of book reviewing. - Lucas Mann: http://www.lucasmann.com/ James and Lucas discuss: The University of Iowa HOMAGE TO CATALONIA by George Orwell Arundhati Roy Amitava Kumar James Baldwin THE VILLAGER Film Forum THRONE by Kerry Howley THE NEW YORKER Roger Angell "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" by John Updike David Halberstam BLUETS by Maggie Nelson THE LOVER by Marguerite Duras THE SUICIDE INDEX by Joan Wickersham SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE Malcolm Gladwell Virginia Center for the Creative Arts The Kardashians - Nathan McNamara: http://nathanscottmcnamara.com/ Nathan and James discuss: PLOUGHSHARES Johns Hopkins University Vassar College COFFEE HOUSE PRESS SAMUEL JOHNSON'S ETERNAL RETURN by Michael Riker DOROTHY, A PUBLISHING PROJECT Megan McDowell Christina MacSweeney Emma Ramadan Riff Raff Bookstore Michael Silverblatt BOOKWORM Annie Hartnett THE LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS Ellie Duke Danielle Dutton THE SHUTTERS by Ahmed Bouanani THE HOSPITAL by Ahmed Bouanani NEW DIRECTIONS PRESS COMEMADRE by Roque Larraquy Alejandra Pizarnik THE POETRY FOUNDATION Jeremy Lybarger THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE: STORIES by Mariana Enriquez FEVER DREAM by Samantha Schweblin MY HEART HEMMED IN by Marie NDiaye TWO LINES PRESS THE BABYSITTER AT REST by Jen George - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In her debut novel, THE ENSEMBLE, Aja Gabel beautifully captures the shifting dynamics of a string quartet. She and James talk about boxing, prodigies, losing yourself in art, and capturing joy versus describing pain. Plus, Aja's cover designer from Riverhead Books, Grace Han. - Aja Gabel: http://www.ajagabel.com/ Aja and James discuss: WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT WRITING by Haruki Murakami Antonya Nelson SATURDAY by Ian McEwan Guarneri String Quartet FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen - Grace Han: http://heaeunhan.com/ Grace and James discuss: Riverhead Books Ecco Helen Yentus Pinterest THE READYMADE THIEF by Augustus Rose Marcel Duchamp School of Visual Arts THE LINE BECOMES A RIVER by Francisco Cantu Richard Misrach THE KING IS ALWAYS ABOVE THE PEOPLE by Daniel Alarcon STRENGTH IN STILLNESS: THE POWER IN TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION by Bob Roth - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Of all the terrible just-out-of-college jobs that have been described on TK, Julia Fine probably had the worst. Later, she ended up leaving a good position to pursue an MFA, and the result is WHAT SHOULD BE WILD, a (wild) combination of fairy tale, folklore, mystery, road trip, and countless other inspirations. She and James talk about how she managed to juggle so many influences while avoiding genre expectations. Plus, Julia's editor from Harper, Erin Wicks. - Julia Fine: https://www.julia-fine.com/ Julia and James discuss: Annie Hartnett Columbia College Chicago Harper Mercedes Lackey Tamora Pierce HIS DARK MATERIALS by Philip Pullman Angela Carter WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson Robert Graves FROM THE BEAST TO THE BLONDE by Marina Warner Erin Wicks Carmen Maria Machado Kelly Link SWAMPLANDIA! by Karen Russell THE TIGER'S WIFE by Tea Obreht MR. FOX by Helen Oyeyemi Benjamin Percy Stephen King MARLENA by Julie Buntin - Erin Wicks: @Erin_Wicks Erin and James discuss: WHAT SHOULD BE WILD by Julia Fine (obviously) SUNSHINE STATE by Sarah Gerard BINARY STAR by Sarah Gerard WAVE by Sonali Deraniyagala - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
When her mother suffers a stroke, Tessa Fontaine joins the traveling circus sideshow. She recounts this unique time in her life in her incredible new memoir, THE ELECTRIC WOMAN. She and James talk about being okay with not knowing what you're writing about, how first books are like teenagers, and finding the untold story. And, she is the first guest (to James's knowledge) to flashback to Eagle-Eye Cherry's "Save Tonight." Plus, Meg Reid of Hub City Writers Project. Tessa Fontaine: http://www.tessafontaine.com/home.html Tessa and James discuss: Annie Hartnett Harper University of Alabama University of Utah Freytag's Pyramid LET'S NO ONE GET HURT by Jon Pineda "The First Cut is the Deepest" by Sheryl Crow "Save Tonight" by Eagle-Eye Cherry Cormac McCarthy Ernest Hemingway Jenna Johnson HELL'S ANGELS by Hunter S. Thompson - Meg Reid: (Hub City) https://hubcity.org/ (Book Design) http://www.megireid.com/ Meg and James discuss: WPA Newtonville Books Turnrow Book Co. Square Books Tessa Fontaine Betsy Teter Publisher's Group West Dzanc Books Milkweed Editions OVER THE PLAIN HOUSES by Julia Franks FLIGHT PATH by Hannah Palmer John Jeremiah Sullivan Sewanee WHISKEY & RIBBONS by Leesa Cross-Smith Emily L. Smith Lookout Books ECOTONE UNC-Wilmington NEA Sarabande Books Carolina Wren Press THE HANDS OF STRANGERS by Michael Farris Smith Lemuria Books Parnassus Books Eric Svenson Kelly Estep Carmichael's Books Bookmarks in Winston-Salem - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Patrick Crerand started off trying to write blue-collar factory stories, but he eventually discovered his voice writing the more surreal and magical stories contained in his new collection, THE PAPER LIFE THEY LEAD. He tells James about how a story about kidnapping Amish people led him to success, learning to write what he loves, and The Boss's "Glory Days" but with a car. Plus, Arc Pair Press founder Heather Momyer. Patrick Crerand: https://www.patrickcrerand.com/ Patrick and James discuss: Dairy Queen Bowling Green State University Lawrence Coates Anthony Doerr Wendell Mayo Flannery O'Connor Donald Barthelme University of Louisiana Ernest J. Gaines George Saunders Aimee Bender Ernest Hemingway Raymond Carver Gabriel Garcia Marquez Franz Kafka "The Enormous Radio" by John Cheever Bruce Springsteen Michael Czyzniejewski MID-AMERICAN REVIEW Steve Almond Christopher Grimes Fc2 Rikki Ducornet Freytag's Pyramid Heather Momyer "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen - Arc Pair Press: https://www.arcpairpress.com/ Heather and James Discuss: Bowling Green State University BALLYHOO STORIES MASQUE & SPECTACLE HOTEL AMERIKA NINTH LETTER "The Pederson Kid" by William Gass Angela Carter Salman Rushdie PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee Alban Fischer - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In her second novel, BURY WHAT WE CANNOT TAKE, Kirstin Chen depicts a family in China under the tightening rule of Mao. She tells James about her choice to tell the story when and how she did, along with trying to make people happy, learning to craft endings from short stories, dealing with cultural tourism, and, of course, writing in a cave in a museum. Plus, Michael Nye on the AWP conference, selling your book, scheduling your day, and writing longhand. - Kirstin Chen: http://kirstinchen.com/ Kirstin and James discuss: NTU-NAC National Writer in Residence in Singapore Little A Matthew Salesses Emerson College Columbia University NYU Chairman Mao The Great Famine The Great Leap Forward Drum Wave Inlet Michelle Brower Jamie Quatro Zadie Smith Vanessa Hua The San Francisco Chronicle - Michael Nye: http://mpnye.com/ Michael and James discuss: BOULEVARD MAGAZINE NATURAL BRIDGE: A JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE University of Missouri in St. Louis AWP Conference Annette Bening AMERICAN BEAUTY Maggie Smith Ohio State University Ruth Awad TINY LETTER RIVER STYX MAGAZINE Annie Hartnett DEEP WORK by Cal Newport - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
One of James's favorite books of 2018 inspires one of his favorite conversations. Jon Pineda, author of LET'S NO ONE GET HURT, joins the show to talk about being worried for your characters, maintaining a sense of wonder, fooling yourself into writing, inventing the Voltron of fathers, becoming a cobbler (!) and living a life with fewer disclaimers. Plus, Miciah Bay Gault chats about HUNGER MOUNTAIN and the MFA in publishing and writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. - Jon Pineda: http://www.jonpineda.com/ Jon and James discuss: HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT dir by Kent Jones HITCHCOCK by Francois Truffaut NORTH BY NORTHWEST dir by Alfred Hitchcock Voltron The Incredible Hulk WE THE ANIMALS by Justin Torres Marilynne Robinson JESUS' SON by Denis Johnson GIOVANNI'S ROOM by James Baldwin IF THE SKY FALLS by Nicholas Montemarano THE LOVER by Marguerite Duras Amy Hempel ANGEL HEAD: A MEMOIR by Greg Bottoms HELL AT THE BREECH by Tom Franklin - Miciah Bay Gault: https://vcfa.edu/ http://hungermtn.org/ Miciah and James discuss: Vermont College of Fine Arts Emerson College Syracuse University Melissa Febos Donika Kelly EPHEMERAL ARTERY - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Over the course of eleven books, including his latest novel, THE UNMADE WORLD, Steve Yarbrough has established himself as a master of language and place. But James knows him as the leader of the greatest workshop ever. They discuss that class at Sewanee, as well as being a Southern writer with a British aesthetic, structuring novels based on the football calendar, and getting poked in the stomach. Plus, Annie Hartnett on being more productive. Steve Yarbrough: https://www.steveyarbrough.net/ Steve and James discuss: Sewanee Writers' Conference Jill McCorkle Johnny Carson IN THE SHADOW OF 10,000 HILLS by Jennifer Haupt THE GIRL FROM BLIND RIVER by Gale Massey Bill Parcells Jimmy Johnson University of Arkansas William Harrison John Clellon Holmes James Whitehead Bill Belichick Graham Greene Emerson College Pamela Painter Margot Livesey THE LAST PICTURE SHOW by Larry McMurtry BOOKMARKED: LARRY McMURTRY'S THE LAST PICTURE SHOW by Steve Yarbrough (SY) PRISONERS OF WAR by SY THE END OF CALIFORNIA by SY "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway Ron Hansen A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Bill Evans Raymond Carver THE DIXIE ASSOCIATION by Donald "Skip" Hayes Richard Yates William Trevor "Wildwood Flower" "Blowing up on the Spot" by Kevin Wilson (from PLOUGHSHARES, Winter 2003-4) Joyce Carol Oates "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" THE PIGEON TUNNEL by John LeCarre Alice Munro THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy Gary Fisketjon Greg Michalson Fred Ramey Knopf THE OXYGEN MAN by SY The Harvard Book Store Michael Nye OBJECTS OF AFFECTION by Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough Unbridled Books - Annie Hartnett: http://www.anniehartnett.com/ Annie and James discuss: "If You Want to Write a Book, Write Every Day or Quit Now" by Stephen Hunter "Why the Best Way to Get Creative Is to Make Some Rules" by Aimee Bender http://www.oprah.com/spirit/writing-every-day-writers-rules-aimee-bender/all#ixzz58vlFL9eU THE ELECTRIC WOMAN by Tessa Fontaine Sarah Shute THE DEFINING DECADE by Meg Jay ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT by Stephen King DEEP WORK by Cal Newport Anne Vogel Benjamin Percy THE SOUND OF MUSIC - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Ever since reading an early copy of Michael Nye's first novel, ALL THE CASTLES BURNED, James has wanted to talk to the author of such an engaging and thought-provoking book. They discuss knowing good books from page one, declaring a new read dead, and writing sports scenes. Thankfully, they save their Celtics talk for off the air. Plus, poet Lauren Moseley, author of BIG WINDOWS. - Michael Nye: http://mpnye.com/ Michael and James discuss: Bruce Willis HOSTAGE dir. by Florent Siri FEEL FREE by Zadie Smith SOME HELL by Patrick Nathan BACK TALK: STORIES by Danielle Lazarin THE FIFTH ELEMENT dir. by Luc Besson PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL: ESSAYS by Alexander Chee THE MISSOURI REVIEW BOULEVARD Jane Smiley PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld THE STARBOARD SEA by Amber Dermont A SEPARATE PEACE by John Knowles THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger THE ART OF FIELDING by Chad Harbach Mitch Albom John Birch Tom Ripley OUR HEARTS WILL BURN US DOWN by Anne Valente - Lauren Moseley: https://www.laurenjmoseley.com/ Lauren and James discuss: Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Yaddo Alice Eve Cohen Joellen Craft NASHVILLE REVIEW UNC- Greensboro Carnegie Mellon University Press Rebecca Morgan Frank AWP Conference THE GREENSBORO REVIEW DEAR APOCALYPSE by K.A. Hays - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In his first essay collection, UP UP DOWN DOWN, Cheston Knapp attends skateboarding camp for adults, recalls his fraternity days, looks for UFOs, and checks out the local wrestling circuit, all in the name of learning more about himself. He and James talk about the art of the essay, the search for community, editing at Tin House, and the difficulty they have living in the moment. Plus Scribner art director and designer Jaya Miceli on book covers. - Cheston Knapp: https://www.chestonknapp.com/ Cheston and James discuss: David Foster Wallace Charles D'Ambrosio W. G. Sebald HAMLET Joan Didion Zadie Smith Maurice Merleau-Ponty Edmund Husserl Leslie Jamison A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER by Tom Clancy Graham Greene John LeCarre Sarah Manguso Maggie Nelson - Jaya Miceli: https://jayamiceli.com/ Jaya and James discuss: UP UP DOWN DOWN by Cheston Knapp Anna Laytham (designer) Daniel Loedel THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins THE ANIMALS by Christian Kiefer THE READY MADE THIEF by Augustus Rose Marcel Duchamp Viking Penguin Helen Yentus (art director, Riverhead/ designer) Riverhead Books INTO THE WATER by Paula Hawkins A SEPARATION by Katie Kitamura THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward Paul Buckley (art director, Penguin) WEST by Carys Davies Lauren Peters-Collaer (designer) I'D DIE FOR YOU by F. Scott Fitzgerald FLESH, BONE, WATER by Luiza Sauma - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
BRASS, the excellent first novel by Xhenet Aliu, mixes voice, humor, and simmering rage into the tale of a family that keeps ending up in the same rut. She and James talk about what they're going to do when they grow up, not porn-ifying poverty, editing vs. new pages, and then give credit to the proofreaders out there. Plus, the wondrous Chip Cheek tells James about the writing and thrilling sale of his novel, CAPE MAY. - Xhenet Aliu: http://xhenetaliu.com/ Xhenet and James discuss: University of Alabama Bread Loaf Writers' Conference University of Georgia Julie Barer Avid Bookshop The Old Pal - Chip and James discuss: Gunter Grass Christopher Castellani Grub Street Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Emerson College Whitney Scharer Jennifer De Leon Becky Tuch Celeste Ng Adam Stumacher Calvin Hennick Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Katherine Fausset Curtis Brown, Ltd. Laura van den Berg Benjamin Percy Josh Weil Deb Futter Jamie Raab Celadon Books Macmillan Publishing Ren and Stimpy - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
Claire Fuller started writing to compete in a local short story slam. Then she started to win. Soon after, she earned an MA and has since written two novels, OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS and SWIMMING LESSONS. She and James talk about the torture of writing new material, the joy of editing, the reader response theory, and the practice of listening to music while writing. Plus, year-end reading recommendations from some of 2017's guests! Claire Fuller: https://clairefuller.co.uk/ Claire and James discuss: Penguin Books Tin House Books Masie Cochran Fuzzy Felt Green WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O'Brien THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson LEGEND OF A SUICIDE by David Vann Iron & Wine Sam Beam Townes van Zandt TURN OUT THE LIGHTS (album) by Julien Baker Margot Livesey SOY SAUCE FOR BEGINNERS by Kirstin Chen NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (dir by Coens) THERE WILL BE BLOOD (dir by PT Anderson) MICHAEL CLAYTON (dir by Tony Gilroy) ZODIAC (dir by David Fincher) IDAHO by Emily Ruskovich A SEPARATION by Katie Kitamura - Year-End Recommendations from: Annie Hartnett, author of RABBIT CAKE: THE HISTORY OF WOLVES by Emily Fridlund THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY by Hannah Tinti BORNE by Jeff VanderMeer MOTHERIST by Kristen Iskandrian THE MOTHERS by Brit Bennett PERFECT LITTLE WORLD by Kevin Wilson GOD, THE MOON, AND OTHER MEGAFAUNA by Kellie Wells ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy Anne Valente, author of OUR HEARTS WILL BURN US DOWN: THE ANIMATORS by Kayla Rae Whitaker SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward THE HOUR OF LAND by Terry Tempest Williams Tim Weed, author of A FIELD GUIDE TO MURDER AND FLY FISHING: ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy HAVANA GOLD by Leonardo Pedura Robert Repino, author of D'ARC: THE ART OF COMIC BOOK WRITING by Mark Kneece THE NEST by Kenneth Oppel Amy P. Knight, author of LOST, ALMOST: STEPHEN, FLORIDA by Gabe Habash THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt OUTLINE by Rachel Kusk Rachel Cantor, author of GOOD ON PAPER: WE THE DROWNED by Carsten Jensen THE LONG DRY by Cynan Jones HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD by Ottessa Moshfegh THE OLD FILTH TRILOGY by Jane Gardham TUESDAY NIGHTS IN 1980 by Molly Prentiss STORIES OF YOUR LIFE by Ted Chiang THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY by Hannah Tinti MEMOIR OF A POLAR BEAR by Yoko Tawada Michael Farris Smith, author of DESPERATION ROAD: STONER by John Williams THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD dir by Andrew Dominik Kelly J. Ford, author of COTTONMOUTHS: THE FACT OF A BODY by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich HERE COMES THE SUN by Nicole Dennis-Benn A SEAT AT THE TABLE (album) by Solange Daniel Wallace, author of EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES: HEATING & COOLING: 52 MICRO-MEMOIRS by Beth Ann Fennelly THE BOOK OF RESTING PLACES: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF WHERE WE LAY THE DEAD by Thomas Mira y Lopez - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In order to learn to write, Frank Bill broke down the fiction that he loved. The lessons those books taught him have served him through a collection of short stories and two novels, the latest of which is THE SAVAGE. He and James talk about universe building, skipping the middle, and the film adaptation of DONNYBROOK. Plus, Jesse Donaldson on his tour of Kentucky for ON HOMESICKNESS. - Frank Bill: http://frankbillshouseofgrit.blogspot.com/ Frank and James discuss: BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy DETROIT: AN AMERICAN AUTOPSY by Charlie LeDuff BEAT TO A PULP THE MISSOURI REVIEW "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin Jason Starr THE KILLER INSIDE ME by Jim Thompson FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk Fyodor Dostoevsky FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by Ernest Hemingway THE ECSTATIC by Victor LaValle JOE by Larry Brown FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter S. Thompson Pink Floyd Jamie Bell James Badge Dale Margaret Qualley Frank Grillo KINGDOM James Landry Hebert Tim Sutton The Old Testament DEADWOOD David Milch SUTREE by Cormac McCarthy NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Cormac McCarthy Andrew Vachss TRUE DETECTIVE JAWS SCALPED by Jason Aaron Sean McDonald Emily Bell Jackson Howard - Jesse Donaldson: http://jessedonaldson.com/ Jesse and James discuss: Odysseus The Israelites Michel de Montaigne Augusten Burroughs West Virginia University Press IN PLACE series Becca Wadlinger Danielle Delph The Wolly Worm Festival THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW LAWRENCE OF ARABIA Parnassus Books Square Books LEXINGTON HERALD LEADER Carry A. Nation House Magoffin County Historical Society Melanie Caine Larry Flynt Linda Riley TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH by Kevin Wilson Brier Books Wild Fig Books Crystal Wilkinson Morris Books The Kentucky Headhunters Brandon Atwell George Clooney Nick & Nina Clooney - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
In her day job, Amy P. Knight is a lawyer specializing in death penalty cases. She has also written a fascinating and wholly original novel, LOST, ALMOST, which depicts the life of a physicist who works on nuclear weapons. She and James talk about the intricate structure of the novel, the warmth of her descriptions of science and math, and the virtues of writing by hand. Then, Whitney Scharer talks about the incredible deal for her debut novel, THE AGE OF LIGHT. - Amy P. Knight: https://amypknight.com/ Amy and James discuss: AMERICAN PROMETHEUS: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin WAR GAMES Freeman Dyson Richard Feynman Vassar College Matthew Lansburgh University of Arizona THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman LIARS AND SAINTS by Maile Meloy Ann Patchett - Whitney Scharer: https://www.whitneyscharer.com/ Whitney and James discuss: Peabody Essex Museum Man Ray Lee Miller Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Sonya Larson VCCA Sonya Larson Julie Barer Judy Clain Little, Brown and Company Grub Street Harvard Book Store - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/
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