Podcast appearances and mentions of aspen words

On today's newscast: Local officials are urging residents to be aware of the risk of measles amid a nationwide outbreak, a closer look at the impact of the third annual Limitless Mountain Challenge for adaptive skiers at Snowmass, Aspen Words announced several well-known authors are coming for its first-ever Aspen Literary Festival, and more.

Jason and Brett are joined by debut authors Alana S. Portero (Bad Habig), Komail Aijazuddin (Manboobs), and Gina María Balibrera (The Volcano Daughters). They talk about how the city of Madrid is like a drag queen, cheesecake and carbs, and reclaiming your culture's narrative. Alana S. Portero is a medieval historian, writer, playwright, LGBTQIA+ activist, and cofounder of the theatre company STRIGA. Her writings on feminism and LGBTQIA+ activism from the perspective of a trans woman have been featured in a number of international publications, including Agente provocador, elDiario.es, El Salto Diario, S Moda, and Vogue. She lives in Madrid.Komail Aijazuddin is a visual artist and writer. He holds degrees in Art & Art History from New York University and an MFA from the Pratt Institute, NY.  His debut book Manboobs: A memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope & Cake is coming Fall 2024, published by Abrams Press (US) and Transworld/DoubleDay Books (Internationally). He lives and works in New York City.Gina María Balibrera earned an MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. She's been awarded grants from Aspen Words, Tin House, the Rackham Foundation, and the Periplus Collective, as well as a Tyson Award, the Aura Estrada Prize, and the Under the Volcano Sandra Cisneros Fellowship.Gays Reading is sponsored by Audible. Get a FREE 30-day trial by visiting audibletrial.com/gaysreadingBOOKS!Check out the list of books discussed on each episode on our Bookshop page: https://bookshop.org/shop/gaysreading MERCH!Purchase your Gays Reading podcast merchandise HERE! https://gaysreading.myspreadshop.com/ FOLLOW!@gaysreading | @jasonblitman | @bretts.book.stack CONTACT!gaysreading@gmail.com

Schwalbe will lead a three-day workshop during the Aspen Words “Summer Words” literary conference from June 22-26. The reading list ranges from George Orwell snippets to cookbook excerpts by Edna Lewis.

Christina Baker Kline, a head judge for the award, said that the jury panel looked for a “distinctive voice,” “memorable story,” and quality writing as they evaluated works of fiction with a social image. Reporter Kaya Williams spoke with Kline about the decision-making process ahead of the upcoming awards announcement.

The author has been nominated twice for the Aspen Words award, which celebrates works of fiction that grapple with vital contemporary issues. Reporter Kaya Williams spoke with Brinkley about how he approaches those topics with subtlety, while placing the humanity of his characters center stage.

Hammad's latest novel, “Enter Ghost,” follows an actress to her ancestral homeland in Palestine, where she's pulled into a production of “Hamlet” on the West Bank. Reporter Kaya Williams spoke to the first-time finalist for the award, which honors works of fiction that explore vital contemporary issues.

Adjei-Brenyah is a two-time nominee for the award, which recognizes works of fiction with a social impact. Reporter Kaya Williams spoke to Adjei-Brenyah about his debut novel, which provides a sharp critique of the carceral system that finds shared humanity among its characters.

Bilal's debut short story collection explores the rich and diverse experiences of Black American Muslims, from moments of humor and friendship to ones of tension and sorrow. Reporter Kaya Williams spoke to Bilal about her work for the first in a series of interviews with the Literary Prize finalists.

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Aspen Words finalist and Wonderland Book Award-winner Brian Allen Carr, who discusses his latest novel Bad Foundations, which is published by our friends at Clash Books.  Topics of conversation include Muncie, Indiana, Taylor Swift, crawl spaces, Mary Louise Kelly, missed opportunities, living to work vs. working to live, presidential text messages, and much more.  Copies of Bad Foundations can be purchased here.  

When you've put your heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into building a world -- what happens when you then have to leave it behind? Most SFF authors will, at some point, close up their work in one world and start building a new one, but that comes with its own set of challenges! You know the old world so well; it's become comfy and familiar. The new world still has all its work yet to be done, and while it has the shiny lure of new discoveries, it also may seem daunting to start the process of figuring out how a world works all over again. In this episode, Fonda Lee and Melissa Caruso re-join us to discuss shifting focus from one world to another! Where do you start? How different do you need the world to be? We also chat about not just the mental challenges of clearing out one world to make room for the new one, but the emotional challenge of pulling yourself away from a place you love and know so well! Our Guests:  Melissa Caruso writes books of murder, magic, and mayhem. Her published fantasy novels include the Swords & Fire trilogy (THE TETHERED MAGE, THE DEFIANT HEIR, THE UNBOUND EMPIRE) and the Rooks & Ruin trilogy (THE OBSIDIAN TOWER, THE QUICKSILVER COURT, THE IVORY TOMB), all from Orbit Books. Her debut novel was shortlisted for the Gemmell Morningstar Award in 2017, and her books have received starred reviews and made countless Best Of lists. Melissa is a tea drinker, larper, and mom, and lives in Massachusetts with her video game designer husband, two superlative daughters, and assorted pets. Fonda Lee is the author of the epic fantasy Green Bone Saga, consisting of the novels Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy, along with a prequel novella The Jade Setter of Janloon and a short story collection, Jade Shards. She is also the author of the science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire. Her most recent work is the fantasy novella, Untethered Sky. Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a five-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada's national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated in a dozen languages, named to TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development. She has also written acclaimed short fiction and been an instructor at writing workshops including Clarion West, Viable Paradise, and Aspen Words. Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Canada, she currently resides in the Pacific Northwest.

Thank you for listening over the years and helping us reach our 200th episode! To celebrate this milestone, we invited special guests to call the Book Cougars hotline and recommend two forthcoming books they can't wait for all of us to read. This idea was inspired by Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness, hosts of the podcast Books on the Nightstand, who had a segment called “Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read.” Chris and Emily met through Books on the Nightstand; their sunset inspired our sunrise. As an homage, we were thrilled to have Ann and Michael contribute to the segment along with other guests that have been featured on the podcast over the past seven years including Amy Tector, Andrea Wang, Bianca Marais, Caroline Leavitt, Davina from BookBrowse, Fiona Davis, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jennifer Savran Kelly, Jenna Miller, Rachel Barenbaum, Kelcey Ervick, Luanne Rice, Jung Yun, and our Mystery Man – John Valeri. We asked our author friends to shout out their new or forthcoming books. Your TBR List just might explode! #SorryNotSorry And that's not the only exciting segment in this episode. We crunched the numbers and share our Listener Top Ten Reads of 2023. They are: Tom Lake – Ann Patchett Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride Yellowface – R.F. Kuang The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt The Fraud – Zadie Smith Unlikely Animals – Annie Hartnett Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro Absolution – Alice McDermott The Postcard – Anne Berest As always, we share what we're currently reading, what we've read, and Biblio Adventures we've been on. Emily visited White River Books and the Carbondale Public Library in Colorado. She also attended Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken. Chris paid her respects to the Barnes and Noble closing in Naperville, Illinois (they're opening a new format store in nearby Oswego), and visited one of her favorite used bookstores, The Frugal Muse in Darien. She also attended Biography International Organization's Biography Lab, an online forum about the craft. If you're in the Connecticut area, join us on Friday, February 2nd at 5:30 pm ET at Bank Square Books for the launch of Luanne Rice's new book Last Night. Then on Sunday, February 11th at 5 pm ET, Chris's wife Laura Thoma will be reading from her work-in-progress as part of the Chester Arts & Literary Weekend. Reminder: our first quarter readalong book is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. All the books we mention in this episode are in the show notes at https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode200. Thanks again for listening, and Happy Reading! Chris & Emily

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by bestselling author Joshua Mohr, who discusses his new novel Farsickness, which is published by our friends at House of Vlad.  Topics of conversation include Two Dollar Radio, Aspen Words, art, voices in our heads, simile and metaphor, David Lynch, psychopath computers, what happens when someone pulls a knife around a child, and much more.  Copies of Farsickness can be purchased here with FREE SHIPPING for members of Explore More+.  

"Hijab Butch Blues" Author on Being Queer and Muslim, Revisiting Prophetic Stories, Questioning Faith, and Community Care. * Welcome to our *second* episode with an anonymous guest. The brilliant author of the memoir “Hijab Butch Blues.”  Lamya H is queer, non-binary, and Muslim. Yes. There are people who are all 3. They are a writer and organizer based in New York City. Lamya's work has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon, Vice, Vox, and others.  Lamya has received fellowships from Lambda Literary, Aspen Words and Queer|Arts. They are organizing work centers around creating spaces for LGBTQ+ Muslims, fighting Islamophobia, and abolishing prisons. We recorded this conversation during the month of Ramadan and reflected on the similarities between Muslim community care and Queer community care, the common American-Muslim struggle of double lives, and compartmentalizing identities. We got into the concept of questioning faith, even our personal relationships with hijab.  I read 'Hijab Butch Blues' in less than 2 days. The writing is profound, personal, and clear. Lamya poses questions throughout the book for people of all faiths. And it's no surprise that the book was featured as Roxane Gay's March 2023 selection of 'The Audacious Book Club.” ** I also feel a deep sense of urgency with this episode. Homophobia and transphobia are rampant in the United States, and it has been weighing on my heart heavily the role many American Muslims have been playing in this. I believe it is more important now than ever to amplify the HUMAN STORIES of community members who need our protection and love.  * May we always be a protection and light for each other. May we always lead with love.  And…may you enjoy this episode of Podcast Noor with Lamya H. * Transcripts + Listening: ⁠www.ays.media/podcastnoor/butchware *

This week, we're bringing you the next installment of our series on the women racing in this year's Life Time Grand Prix.Caroline Tory [3:56] Caroline Tory was an accomplished skier and runner when she was introduced to gravel in 2021. She's performed consistently well in the Grand Prix this season, standing seventh overall in the points. Outside cycling, she lives in the literary world, working as the Managing Director of the Aspen Words writers program at the Aspen Institute. Becca Fahringer [28:51] Becca came to gravel racing via cyclocross and has been sinking her teeth into the Grand Prix after more than a year of concussion recovery. She talks about altitude tents, why she cringes when she calls herself a gravel racer, and going back to school to work in the renewable energy sector.Caroline Mani [55:49] Caroline Mani has been a high-level cyclocross racer for most of her career and medaled at the World Championships in 2016. Even though she's contemplating retirement, she decided to leap into gravel. She talks about why she isn't sure it was a wise decision, and the mentorship programs that are keeping her passionate about cycling. Sarah Max [1:22:45] At 48, Sarah Max is the oldest rider in the Grand Prix. She also happens to be sitting in fourth place in the points. Her full-time career as the managing editor at Morgan Stanley Research has her commuting from Times Square to Emporia, Kansas, Beaver, Utah, and, in a few weeks, Leadville. She tells Payson about how she got into gravel while writing an article about Unbound, and how she manages a seemingly impossible schedule.Instagram: @theadventurestache

Bestselling author Adrienne Brodeur joins Zibby to discuss Little Monsters, a kaleidoscopic and riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families, and corrosive, long-buried secrets. Adrienne delves into her fascinating characters and then reveals how her own complex relationships and experience with family secrets influenced this novel. (You can read all about that in her incredible memoir Wild Game.) She also talks about her job as the director of Aspen Words, a literary nonprofit; the books she has read recently and loved; and her best advice for aspiring writers. Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3rD9Y0SListen, share, rate & review!Want to listen ad-free? Sign up for Acast+ HERE Now there's more! Subscribe to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books on Acast+ and get ad-free episodes. https://plus.acast.com/s/moms-dont-have-time-to-read-books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I chat with author Jenny Xie about her debut novel Holding Pattern, exploring intimacy through cuddling, negative space, and books.Jenny Xie is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree whose debut novel, Holding Pattern, is forthcoming from Riverhead Books in June 2023.Her short fiction has appeared in AGNI, Ninth Letter, Joyland, Adroit Journal, Narrative, The Offing, and the Best of the Net Anthology, among other publications. Her writing on design, travel, and culture has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Architectural Digest, Apartment Therapy, Them, and Dwell, where she was previously the Executive Editor.Jenny holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University and is the grateful recipient of fellowships from Bread Loaf, MacDowell, Yaddo, Kundiman, Aspen Words, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Loghaven, and other organizations.Born in Shanghai and hailing from California, Jenny is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.  JennyXieHolding Pattern, Jenny XieSea Change, Gina ChungDykette, Jenny Fran DavisEsquire magazine article on cuddling by Jenny XieSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

This week's Bookin' features bestselling author, founder of Zoetrope, and Executive Director of Aspen Words Adrienne Brodeur, who discusses her new novel Little Monsters, which is published by our friends at Simon & Schuster.  Topics of discussion include Aspen Words, the nature of secrets, possession, privilege, the Barnes & Noble Book of the Month, art and science in literature, friends as editors, mania, choosing one's own family, and much more.  Copies of Little Monsters can be purchased from Explore Booksellers here with FREE SHIPPING for members of Explore More+.

Joanna Rakoff discusses the first pages of her memoir, My Salinger Year, how she approached the writing through the vantage point of a novelist, her use of the royal we, her poetry background and how it influenced her sentences, and her advice to begin your book with what you're most passionate about, in whatever form that may be.Rakoff's first pages can be found here.Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.Here are Joanna's First Pages teaching notes (hint: they're great!)Joanna Rakoff is the author of the international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year and the bestselling novel A Fortunate Age, winner of the Goldberg Prize for Fiction and the Elle Readers' Prize. Rakoff's books have been translated into twenty languages, and the film adaptation of My Salinger Year opened in theaters worldwide in 2021 and is now streaming. She has been the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Sewanee, Bread Loaf, Jerome Foundation, Authors' Guild, PEN, Ragdale Foundation, Art OMI/Ledig House, and Saltonstall; and has taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and Aspen Words. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Porter, and elsewhere, and her new memoir, The Fifth Passenger, is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2024. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Adrienne Brodeur is the author of the memoir Wild Game, which was selected as a Best Book of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post and is in development as a Netflix film. She founded the literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story with Francis Ford Coppola, and currently serves as executive director of Aspen Words, a literary nonprofit and program of the Aspen Institute. She splits her time between Cambridge and Cape Cod, where she lives with her husband and children. Her new novel is Little Monsters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamaica Baldwin zooms into The Hive to talk about her new book, Bone Language. We read some Vievee Frances and talk about the radical acceptance that poetry can bring. Jamaica, a Santa Cruz native, will be in town to read at The HiveLive! on July 18th at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Reading with her, will be the fabulous Francesca Bell.  Jamaica Baldwin's debut collection is Bone Language (YesYes Books 2023). Her poetry has appeared in Guernica, World Literature Today, The Adroit Journal, Indiana Review, Poetry Northwest, and The Missouri Review, among others. Her accolades include a 2023 Pushcart Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a RHINO Poetry editor's prize, and a Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award. Her writing has been supported by Hedgebrook, Aspen Words, Storyknife, Furious Flower, and the Jack Straw Writers program. Jamaica is currently the associate editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska -Lincoln where she is pursuing her PhD in English with a focus on poetry and Women's and Gender Studies. She is originally from Santa Cruz, CA.

I loved connecting with guest Joanna Rakoff on today's Every Soul Has a Story episode. Joanna is the author of the international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year and the bestselling novel A Fortunate Age, winner of the Goldberg Prize for Fiction and the Elle Readers' Prize. Rakoff's books have been translated into twenty languages, and the film adaptation of My Salinger Year opened in theaters worldwide in 2021 and is now streaming. She has been the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Sewanee, Authors' Guild, PEN, Ragdale Foundation, Art, and Saltonstall; and has taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and Aspen Words. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Porter, and elsewhere, and her new memoir, The Fifth Passenger, is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2024.Joanna discusses her upcoming project, a memoir about her own family, and the revelation of a shocking, life-altering family secret. Listen to our conversation to hear about her background, including her experiences with being bullied as a child, family dynamics, motherhood, the concept of "replacement children," and much more.Thank you, Joanna, for sharing your evocative, inspiring story!Quotes:"I as a kid definitely did not envision this as my future. Not at all. I mean it didn't even occur to me.” “We existed kind of in radical opposition to each other.” “I think maybe replacement children may be prone to having some survivor's guilt.”

As a budding journalist in Sydney, Australia, Geraldine Brooks was assigned to the horse racing beat in the sports department, with no experience or knowledge of the subject. She went to every single horse race in the city and reported on the results in great detail. It wasn't until her 50s that she actually became personally interested in horses, and returned to the subject in her latest historical fiction novel, “Horse.” The book's main subject is Lexington, the greatest race horse in American history, and the horse's Black and enslaved groom, Jarret. The two navigate the injustices of the years just before the Civil War, as they travel the country winning races. Brooks weaves Lexington and Jarret's stories in with characters living through other eras of American history, including the present day, illustrating the evolution and persistence of racism. In the last conversation of the 2023 Winter Words season from Aspen Words, Washington Post book critic Ron Charles interviews Brooks about what inspired “Horse” and led her from journalism to historical fiction.

Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. He has published two books on writing, Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo, and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide. He's also published All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story. His stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including Tin House, The Southwest Review, and The Gettysburg Review, and he has been anthologized in collections such as Norton's New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction and Best Small Fictions. His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer's Digest, and The Writer. He serves on the National Writing Project's Writer's Council, Lit Camp's Advisory Council, and Aspen Words' Creative Council. He's also the co-host of the podcast Write-minded.

Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. He has published two books on writing, Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo, and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide. He's also published All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story. His stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including Tin House, The Southwest Review, and The Gettysburg Review, and he has been anthologized in collections such as Norton's New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction and Best Small Fictions. His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer's Digest, and The Writer. He serves on the National Writing Project's Writer's Council, Lit Camp's Advisory Council, and Aspen Words' Creative Council. He's also the co-host of the podcast Write-minded.

Drew Hawkins talks with Grant Faulkner about his new book, "The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story." Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. His stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including Tin House, The Southwest Review, and The Gettysburg Review, and he has been anthologized in collections such as Norton's New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction and Best Small Fictions. His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer's Digest, and The Writer. He serves on the National Writing Project's Writer's Council, Lit Camp's Advisory Council, and Aspen Words' Creative Council. He's also the co-host of the podcast Write-minded. WA "Drew" Hawkins is a writer and journalist in New Orleans. You can find his work in The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Scalawag Magazine, HAD, No Contact, Rejection Letters, and in other places on the internet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A traumatic event can literally change the way our brain functions, and live on in our body in unexpected ways. The field of psychiatry has not always acknowledged or fully studied the physical impacts of trauma, and mental health practitioners are often not aware of appropriate treatments for traumatized patients. Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk has been researching trauma as a clinician for about four decades, and founded one of the first research centers in the United States dedicated to studying traumatic stress in civilians. In 2014, he published the book “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma,” which struck a chord with millions of people, and has stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for most of the time since publication. Van der Kolk has been a leader in exploring innovative treatments for trauma, such as neurofeedback and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) as well as a proponent of applying simpler and more widespread techniques to trauma therapy, such as yoga and Qigong. The executive director of Aspen Public Radio, Breeze Richardson, interviews van der Kolk at an event from the Winter Words 2023 season, from Aspen Words.

We could look at people who veer off society's dominant tracks into moral gray zones as simply bad, or damaged, or living the consequences of bad choices. But from the inside, people always have reasons for doing what they do, and when all the cards are on the table, morality can become murkier. New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe is fascinated by what drives people who land outside the norm, and especially those who do bad things. His latest book, “Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks,” compiles some of his best New Yorker pieces on “successful” outliers, including Mexican drug lord El Chapo Guzmán, the Sackler family, and late chef Anthony Bourdain. In the first event of the Winter Words 2023 season from Aspen Words, Keefe talks to Mitzi Rapkin, host of the literary podcast “First Draft,” about what draws him to these subjects, how he pulls information from his sources, and how he crafts narratives that keep us glued to the page.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to HIJAB BUTCH BLUES author Lamya H on what it's like being queer, brown and Moslem in America right now and how to make the world more open and tolerant. Lamya H (she/they) is a queer Muslim writer and organizer living in New York City. Her memoir HIJAB BUTCH BLUES is forthcoming from Dial Press in February 2023. Lamya's work has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon, Vice, Autostraddle, Vox, and others. She has received fellowships from Lambda Literary, Aspen Words and Queer|Arts.  Lamya's organizing work centers around creating spaces for LGBTQ+ Muslims, fighting Islamophobia, and abolishing prisons. In her free time, she eats lots of desserts baked by her partner, plays board games with whoever she can corral, and works on her goal of traveling to every subway stop in the city. She has never run a marathon. Find her on Twitter and IG: @lamyaisangry Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Escoffery is the author of the debut story collection If I Survive You, available from MCD/FSG. If I Survive You is a National Book Award Nominee, an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Nominee, a New York Times Editor's Choice, and an Indie National Bestseller.  Escoffery is the winner of The Paris Review's 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction and is the recipient of a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts (Prose) Literature Fellowship. His story “Under the Ackee Tree” was among the trio that won the Paris Review the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction from the American Society of Magazine Editors, and was subsequently included in The Best American Magazine Writing 2020. His stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Oprah Daily, Electric Literature, Zyzzyva, AGNI, Pleiades, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, Passages North, and elsewhere. Jonathan has taught creative writing and seminars on the writer's life at Stanford University, the University of Minnesota, the Center for Fiction, Tin House, Writers in Progress, and at GrubStreet in Boston, where, as former staff, he founded the Boston Writers of Color Group, which currently has more than 2,000 members. He has received support and honors from Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Aspen Words, Kimbilio Fiction, the Anderson Center, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota's Creative Writing MFA Program (Fiction) and attends the University of Southern California's Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature Program as a Provost Fellow. He is a 2021-2023 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Indie Writer Podcast where we talk about all things writing and indie publishing. Today we are excited to talk about Memoir Backlash Yasmin Azad, Esther Amini, & Megan Culhane Galbraith. Yasmin Azad who was born and raised in Ceylon, (now called Sri Lanka), was among the first group of girls in her Muslim community to go away from home to pursue a university degree.  In her twenties, after a brief stint as a lecturer, she married and moved to the United States. Living mostly in the Boston area, she raised her children and worked for over two decades as a mental health counselor. Her memoir Stay, Daughter, draws on her experiences growing up in a warm and close-knit but conservative society which at first resisted the education and independence of women but had, eventually, to embrace modernity. It is also informed by an understanding derived from her work as a counselor in the West, that the breakdown of traditional family values and structures comes with its own challenges, especially for women. She is currently working on a novel which explores the issues of family and belonging. Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her debut memoir is entitled Concealed: Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America. Her short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, TK University's Inscape Literary, Proximity, Paper Brigade, and Medium.com.   Her essays can also be found in Zibby Owens' Anthologies Moms Don't Have Time To and Moms Don't Have Time To Have Kids. Esther Amini was named one of Aspen Words' best emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016.  Seven of her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women's Theatre, (a.k.a. The Braid), in Los Angeles and in Manhattan, and she was chosen by Jewish Women's Theatre as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. ChaiFlicks, (Jewish Netflix), is presently streaming an excerpt from Concealed called AM-REE-KAH. Megan Culhane Galbraith is a writer and visual artist. Her work was a Notable Mention in Best American Essays 2017, has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, and has been published in Tupelo Quarterly, Redivider, Catapult, Hobart, Longreads, and Hotel Amerika, among others. She is Associate Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars and the founding director of the Governor's Institutes of Vermont Young Writers Institute. Her debut hybrid memoir-in-essays, The Guild of the Infant Saviour was published by Mad Creek Books/Ohio State University Press in May 2021.      KEEP UP WITH OUR GUESTS!   Yasmin Azad: Website: https://staydaughter.com/ Stay Daughter by Yasmin Azad   Esther Amini Facebook: Esther Amini Instagram: @estheraminiauthor Website: https://www.estheramini.com/ Concealed by Esther Amini   Megan Culhane Galbraith Twitter - @megangalbraith Instagram - @m.galbraith Facebook - @megan.culhane.galbraith Website - www.megangalbraith.com The Guild of the Infant Saviour: An Adopted Child's Memory Book by Megan Culhane Galbraith _______________________________________ Check out the following books by our Patrons!  Deadly Declarations by Landis Wade Mission 51 by Fernando Crôtte Want to see your book listed? Become a Patron! 

Meryl chats with Esther Amini about her 2020 memoir, Concealed, which chronicles her childhood and coming of age in a Persian-Jewish household in Queens, New York during the 1960s. As the American-born daughter of parents who had fled Mashdad, Iran, she shares how she was caught between these two cultures as she sought to carve her own path. Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her debut memoir, Concealed, was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2020. In addition, both Katie Couric and Zibby Owens selected Concealed as one of their favorite books and showcased it last year at The Streicker Center in Manhattan. Esther's short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, and numerous other publications. Her essays can also be found in Zibby Owens' Anthology: “Moms Don't Have Time To,” as well as in Zibby's most recently published anthology: “Moms Don't Have Time To Have Kids.” She was named one of Aspen Words' best emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on her memoir. Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women's Theatre and was chosen by as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. ChaiFlicks, (Jewish Netflix), is presently streaming an excerpt from “CONCEALED” called AM-REE-KAH. Esther lives in New York City with her husband. Author's website: EstherAmini.com Facebook: Esther Amini Instagram: @estheraminiauthor @Copyright by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network #AuthorsOnTheAir #AuthorsOnTheAirGlobalRadioNetwork #AOTA #EstherAmini #Memoir #Concealed #Immigration #PeopleoftheBook #ZibbyOwens #PersianRefugees #MomsDon'tHaveTimeToRead #ComingofAge #ClashofCultures #MomsDon'tHaveTimeToHaveKids #KatieCouric #Iran #Persia #Persian #PersianAmerican #IranianRefugees #MerylAin #TheTakeawayMen #LetsTalkJewishBooks #JewsLoveToRead

Meryl chats with Esther Amini about her 2020 memoir, Concealed, which chronicles her childhood and coming of age in a Persian-Jewish household in Queens, New York during the 1960s. As the American-born daughter of parents who had fled Mashdad, Iran, she shares how she was caught between these two cultures as she sought to carve her own path. Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her debut memoir, Concealed, was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2020. In addition, both Katie Couric and Zibby Owens selected Concealed as one of their favorite books and showcased it last year at The Streicker Center in Manhattan. Esther's short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, and numerous other publications. Her essays can also be found in Zibby Owens' Anthology: “Moms Don't Have Time To,” as well as in Zibby's most recently published anthology: “Moms Don't Have Time To Have Kids.” She was named one of Aspen Words' best emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on her memoir. Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women's Theatre and was chosen by as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. ChaiFlicks, (Jewish Netflix), is presently streaming an excerpt from “CONCEALED” called AM-REE-KAH. Esther lives in New York City with her husband. Author's website: www.EstherAmini.com Facebook: Esther Amini Instagram: @estheraminiauthor @Copyright by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network #AuthorsOnTheAir #AuthorsOnTheAirGlobalRadioNetwork #AOTA #EstherAmini #Memoir #Concealed #Immigration #PeopleoftheBook #ZibbyOwens #PersianRefugees #MomsDon'tHaveTimeToRead #ComingofAge #ClashofCultures #MomsDon'tHaveTimeToHaveKids #KatieCouric #Iran #Persia #Persian #PersianAmerican #IranianRefugees #MerylAin #TheTakeawayMen #LetsTalkJewishBooks

Meryl chats with Esther Amini about her 2020 memoir, Concealed, which chronicles her childhood and coming of age in a Persian-Jewish household in Queens, New York during the 1960s. As the American-born daughter of parents who had fled Mashdad, Iran, she shares how she was caught between these two cultures as she sought to carve her own path. Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her debut memoir, Concealed, was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2020. In addition, both Katie Couric and Zibby Owens selected Concealed as one of their favorite books and showcased it last year at The Streicker Center in Manhattan. Esther's short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, and numerous other publications. Her essays can also be found in Zibby Owens' Anthology: “Moms Don't Have Time To,” as well as in Zibby's most recently published anthology: “Moms Don't Have Time To Have Kids.” She was named one of Aspen Words' best emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on her memoir. Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women's Theatre and was chosen by as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. ChaiFlicks, (Jewish Netflix), is presently streaming an excerpt from “CONCEALED” called AM-REE-KAH. Esther lives in New York City with her husband. Author's website: EstherAmini.com Facebook: Esther Amini Instagram: @estheraminiauthor @Copyright by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network #AuthorsOnTheAir #AuthorsOnTheAirGlobalRadioNetwork #AOTA #EstherAmini #Memoir #Concealed #Immigration #PeopleoftheBook #ZibbyOwens #PersianRefugees #MomsDon'tHaveTimeToRead #ComingofAge #ClashofCultures #MomsDon'tHaveTimeToHaveKids #KatieCouric #Iran #Persia #Persian #PersianAmerican #IranianRefugees #MerylAin #TheTakeawayMen #LetsTalkJewishBooks #JewsLoveToRead

History is taught with textbooks and lectures, but it's also passed down in more informal ways, within families from generation to generation. Different groups of people can become attached to varying stories of the same past, and some narratives are erased or distorted. Writer and scholar Clint Smith takes a close look at the mechanisms and consequences of those distortions in his new book, “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.” He visited historical sites around the U.S., such as Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Monticello, and a Confederate cemetery, and talked with docents and descendents about how they explain and make sense of what happened in those places. Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and a poet and education scholar. As part of the Winter Words series from Aspen Words, he is interviewed by James Merle Thomas, a curator and art history professor, and the director of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies at the Aspen Institute.

Jared's taking this week off to focus on finishing his thesis, so enjoy this rerelease with Vanessa Chan who recently signed a fabulous deal for two books, THE STORM WE MADE, and THE UGLIEST BABIES IN THE WORLD. Regular programming will resume in two weeks. Do we write because we understand or do we write to reach understanding? Jared and Vanessa Chan of The New School unpack this question. Along the way, they discuss writing about home while living in a foreign country, the long arm of colonialism, and the pros and cons of studying in the literary capital of the world. Vanessa Chan is a Malaysian writer who writes about race, colonization, and women who don't toe the line. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published or are forthcoming in Electric Literature, Conjunctions, The Rumpus, Pidgeonholes, Porter House Review, and more. Vanessa is a Fiction Editor at TriQuarterly Magazine, an Assistant Fiction Editor at Pithead Chapel, and an MFA candidate in fiction at The New School, class of 2021. This follows a 12-year career in public relations, including most recently as director of communications for Facebook in California. Her writing has received support from Tin House, Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference, Aspen Words, and Disquiet International. She can be found at her website vanessajchan.com or on Twitter @vanjchan. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com. BE PART OF THE SHOW — Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or Podcast Addict. — Submit an episode request. If there's a program you'd like to learn more about, contact us and we'll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience. — Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application. STAY CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Anthony Doerr is probably best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the Light We Cannot See. Just like that book, his latest work, Cloud Cuckoo Land, features protagonists who are dreamers and outsiders who find hope in the midst of danger. He talks with Mary Beth Keane, author of Ask Again, Yes, about the inspiration for his latest book and its focus on technology, destruction, preservation, and humanity's vast interconnectedness. Doerr and Keane spoke as part of the Winter Words conversation series held by Aspen Words.

Author: Jason Mott Book: HELL OF A BOOK: A Novel Publishing: ‎ Dutton (June 29, 2021) Synopsis (from the Publisher): ***2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER*** ***THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER*** Winner of the 2021 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction Longlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal Fiction, the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the 2021 Aspen Words […] The post JASON MOTT – HELL OF A BOOK: A Novel appeared first on KSCJ 1360.

Jim is joined by former actress-turned children's author Lija Fisher to discuss her involvement in the cryptozoology movement via fantasy books aimed at getting children interested in the outdoors, in reading, and involved in other life sciences. Her debut novel. THE CRYPTID CATCHER received a starred review from Booklist and was a Junior Library Guild Selection. The sequel, THE CRYPTID KEEPER, was written while Lija was the Writer in Residence with Aspen Words and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award in juvenile literature. Lija is also involved with www.sasquatchoutpost.com a retail store and Sasquatch museum located in Bailey Colorado. Listen to older episodes at https://www.thepodcastradio.co.uk/post/occam-s-razor

America has been shaped by a hidden phenomenon that touches all of our lives. A rigid hierarchy of human rankings, or caste system, influences our culture, politics, and even our health. Race is the metric by which one’s position in the caste system is determined. In her book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson describes how these inherited rankings have been passed down through generations from the country's very founding. She says this system is the underlying architecture of division in America. She speaks with Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Bill welcomes novelist Marcia Butler to the show. Marcia has had several creative careers: interior designer, documentary filmmaker, oboist, and author. She was a 2015 recipient of a Writer-in-Residence through Aspen Words and the Catto Shaw Foundation. She was also a writing fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 2018 and 2019. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Literary Hub, PANK Magazine, Psychology Today, Aspen Ideas Magazine, Catapult, Bio-Stories, Kenyon Review and others. Her memoir, The Skin Above my Knee, received rave reviews, as did her first novel, Pickle's Progress. Her third book, Oslo, Maine, draws on indelible memories of performing for many years at a chamber music festival in central Maine. Don't miss it!

On this episode Stephanie and Kevin cover: the Aspen Words nominees, the process of picking a winner, our 4 books of the week, clones, surviving cancer, Stephanie's disability, Kevin's heart surgery, spotting a mom, reality show life, Wattpad, and much more!

In Episode 74, Sara Hildreth from @fictionmatters and the Novel Pairings Podcast shares her experience judging the Aspen Words literary prize. This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). Highlights Whether publishers stuck to the stated mission of the prize when they submitted books. The role of the Reading Committee and how it works with the judges. How Sara was approached to do this and if she got paid. The types of people that are able to take on a role like this given the time commitment and small payment (and some ways the process could be streamlined to open up a role like this to a larger subset of people). Sara’s personal process for reading, rating, and ranking the 185 submissions. Whether Sara was allowed to DNF and what guidance the Prize gave her about DNF’ing. How Sara balanced her personal enjoyment of a submission with the book’s literary merit. How Sara handled books where her personal views on the issue being highlighted differed dramatically from the viewpoint put forth in the book. The book Sara would choose as the winner if she was the sole judge. The impact judging the prize had on Sara’s reading life (including what she read when she wasn’t reading Prize submissions, things she learned through this process that she’ll integrate into her reading life moving forward, and it she’d ever do something like this again). Sara’s Book Recommendations [34:52] Two OLD Books She Loves The Affairs of the Falcons by Melissa Rivero | Buy from Amazon [35:18] Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony | Buy from Amazon [36:56] Two NEW Books She Loves Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford | Buy from Amazon [40:43] The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson | Buy from Amazon [43:10] One Book She DIDN’T LOVE The Silence by Don DeLillo | Buy from Amazon [45:42] One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood | Buy from Amazon [47:57] Last 5 Star Book Sara Read [50:02] The Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland | Buy from Amazon [50:02] Other Books Mentioned Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa | Buy from Amazon [26:18] Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [28:26] Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera | Buy from Amazon [29:07] In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado | Buy from Amazon [34:14] The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Buy from Amazon [36:28] We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [52:15] Other Links Fiction Matters blog Novel Pairings Podcast Fiction Matters Patreon community Aspen Words Prize website About Sara Website | Instagram | Podcast Sara Hildreth is a reader, teacher, and lifelong learner.  Prior to this year, Sara taught high school English at an all-girls school in Colorado.  While working on her MA in Literature at Georgetown University, Sara began sharing her reading life publicly on Instagram as a way to connect with bibliophiles outside of academia. Through her participation in this community, Sara fell in love with recommending books to a larger audience all while challenging her thinking and expanding her own reading taste. She lives in Denver, CO with her husband and their puppy, Mr. Bingley.

Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, Washburn University’s Inscape Literary Journal, and Proximity. She was named one of Aspen Words’ two best emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on her memoir entitled: “Concealed” and was chosen by JWT as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women’s Theatre in Los Angeles and in Manhattan. Esther Amini lives in New York City with her husband. Concealed is her debut memoir. In this episode, we chat about Esther's book Concealed. In her beautifully crafted memoir, Esther describes her colorful childhood growing up in Queens, NY as the daughter of  Persian parents who fled Mashhad, Iran.  Straddling two completely opposing cultures, Esther and her mother are pulled towards all the glorious freedoms that America has to offer while simultaneously being held back by a father/husband who can’t bear to see his daughter/wife stray from Iranian culture. This book will make you laugh and cry and offers a fascinating account of the history of Mashadi Jews. You can find Esther here. You can purchase Esther's book here.      

Have we mentioned how much we love audiobooks? We’ve both been avid listeners for a long time, but between pandemic life and Sara’s Aspen Words reading,  this has been a banner year for audiobooks. Today, we’re each sharing twelve of our favorite listening experiences. With a mix of literary fiction, romance, nonfiction, and YA, today’s episode has an audiobook recommendation for every reader.  Follow Novel Pairings on Instagram or Twitter.  Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or purchase a gift.  Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get updates on what we're currently listening to.  View all of our recs  and shop our links on the blog.  Chelsey's Favorites: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Switch by Beth O’Leary // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Here for It: Or How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas. // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Sara's Favorites: The City We Became by NK Jemison // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Members Only by Sameer Pandya // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Stamped The Remix by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Intimations by Zadie Smith // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit // Amazon // Bookshop The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Annaparra // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm The Remains of the Day // Amazon // Bookshop // Libro.fm

Do we write because we understand or do we write to reach understanding? Jared and Vanessa Chan of The New School unpack this question. Along the way, they discuss writing about home while living in a foreign country, the long arm of colonialism, and the pros and cons of studying in the literary capital of the world. Vanessa Chan is a Malaysian writer who writes about race, colonization, and women who don't toe the line. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published or are forthcoming in Electric Literature, Conjunctions, The Rumpus, Pidgeonholes, Porter House Review, and more. Vanessa is a Fiction Editor at TriQuarterly Magazine, an Assistant Fiction Editor at Pithead Chapel, and an MFA candidate in fiction at The New School, class of 2021. This follows a 12-year career in public relations, including most recently as director of communications for Facebook in California. Her writing has received support from Tin House, Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, Aspen Words, and Disquiet International. She can be found at her website vanessajchan.com or on Twitter @vanjchan. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers on social media. Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Valley Beit Midrash is proud to present “'Concealed'— Memoir of a Jewish/Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America," a virtual event about Esther Amini's book of the same name. Facilitated by Elana Storch, this event is a riveting account of Esther's life and the Persian-Jewish experience in America. You can learn more about Esther on her website: http://estheramini.com/ Follow her on Instagram: @estheraminiauthor PURCHASE THE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3imPu2L Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, TK University’s Inscape Literary, and Proximity. She was named one of Aspen Words’ two best-emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on her memoir entitled: “Concealed.” Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women’s Theatre in Los Angeles and in Manhattan, and was chosen by JWT as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

The Blah Poetry Spot presents Words and Sh*t, an intimate performance and conversation so that you can get to know the person behind the poetry! This week we are featuring Albuquerque's own Mercedes Holtry, and we talked about history, family, storytelling, the importance and power of Latinx and Xicana voices, and so much more! Mercedez Holtry is a poet, writer, mentor, and Chicana feminist who focuses on bringing out her roots, experiences and lessons learned through her poetry in hopes that they embrace her people and other artists around her. She has represented ABQ on multiple final and semi final stages for national poetry events. She is a Brave New Voices finalist (2013), a two time finalist at the Women of the World Poetry Slam (2015, 2018), A National Group Piece Champion (2016), the winner of Modesto's “ILL List Slam” in California (2017), a featured poet in Mexico City's “Diverso” an international poetry festival embracing Mexican voices through poetry (2017) and holds multiple Albuquerque Slam Championships. She has worked with youth in poetry workshops in multiple cities around the country including Aspen Words' “Poetry in the Schools” project since 2015. Mercedez is not only a poet but an outreach coordinator for Warehouse 508, Albuquerque's Arts and Entertainment Center, in which she organizes workshops and poetry events for the youth to participate in. Since graduating from the University of New Mexico with her degrees in Chicano Studies and Journalism & Communications, she continues to cultivate the poetry slam community in Albuquerque, and co-founded and spearheaded "Burque Revolt", a intergenerational poetry slam organization that creates safe spaces for all ages to enjoy. She is passionate about spoken word and aspires to continually learn all she can about her art through working, slamming and organizing for her community. Hosted by Chibbi and Eddie V!

Adrienne Brodeur is the author of the memoir, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me.  Brodeur founded the fiction magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, where she served as editor in chief from 1996-2002.  In 2005, she became an editor at Harcourt.  She is now the Executive Director of Aspen Words, a literary arts nonprofit and program of the Aspen Institute.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When she was 14, Adrienne Brodeur was awakened in the middle of the night by her beloved mother who confessed that a family friend had just kissed her. She wanted to pursue a romance with this man and needed young Adrienne's help in keeping it a secret. Adrienne felt special and important—her mother had chosen her to be her confidante. Thus began a years long situation that affected every aspect of Adrienne's life and which she recounts and untangles in Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me. We also talk about Aspen Words, parenting, memoir versus reality, Swatches, myths, cooking, dementia, career paths, creating Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola and so much more. Check us out on Patreon: http://patreon.com/alisonrosen   Buy Alison's Book: Tropical Attire Encouraged (and Other Phrases That Scare Me) You probably need to buy a new ARIYNBF Legacy Shirt! and the HGFY ringtone! This show is brought to you by http://Brooklinen.com (Get 10% off AND free shipping when you use promo code BESTFRIEND) Try Amazon Prime Free 30 Day Trial

Adrienne Brodeur began her career in publishing as the co-founder, along with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, of the fiction magazine Zoetrope: All-Story, which won the National Magazine Award for Best Fiction three times and launched the careers of many writers. She was a book editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for many years and, currently, she is the Executive Director of Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute. She has published essays in the New York Times. She splits her time between Cambridge and Cape Cod with her husband and children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jane Mayer has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1995. The magazine’s chief Washington correspondent, she covers politics, culture and national security. Previously, she worked at the Wall Street Journal, where in 1984 she became the paper’s first female White House correspondent. She is the author of four best-selling and critically acclaimed narrative nonfiction books: “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,” “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals,” “Strange Justice,” which she co-authored with Jill Abramson, and “Landslide: The Unmaking of the President 1984-1988,”with Doyle McManus. Her numerous honors include the George Polk Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Frances Perkins Prize for Courage. She lives in Washington, D.C. Carolyne Heldman (moderator) is a media strategist and content producer. She is the former Executive Director of NPR-member station Aspen Public Radio and has been in broadcast media for over three decades in radio and television.

Colson Whitehead is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Writers Award. He is the author of: “The Intuitionist,” “John Henry Days,” “The Colossus of New York,” “Apex Hides the Hurt,” “Sag Harbor,” “Zone One” and “The Noble Hustle.” His most recent novel, “The Underground Railroad,” was an international and No. 1 New York Times best-seller. It won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Carnegie Medal for Fiction, the 2017 Hurston/Wright Award for Fiction and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction Literature. In 2018, he was chosen as the 12th New York State Author. His next book, “The Nickel Boys,” will be published in July 2019.

A recent blockbuster article by journalist Jane Mayer examines close ties between the White House and Fox News. The piece, published in The New Yorker, spurred the Democratic National Committee to choose not to allow Fox to hold any of its presidential debates. In this broad conversation, Mayer touches on the Fox News article, another piece on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and her book Dark Money. She speaks with Carolyne Heldman, former president of Aspen Public Radio. Show Notes Register for the Aspen Ideas Festival, and learn more about it. Listen to our episode, The Underground Railroad, featuring author Colson Whitehead. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com. The views and opinions of the speakers in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.

Kate Bowler and Elaine Pagels both teach religion, write about religion, and have experienced immense hardships. In this frank and funny conversation, they explore why people still seek ancient religious teachings in our modern age. In moving and relatable moments, they explain how they overcome loss, illness, and isolation. Pagels is the author of The Gnostic Gospels and Why Religion?: A Personal Story. Bowler is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel and Everything Happens for a Reason (and other lies I’ve loved). They speak with Gina Murdock, a writer, yoga teacher, and community organizer. Show Notes Listen to How to Save a Democracy in Decline on Aspen Insight. Follow Aspen Ideas to Go on Twitter and Facebook. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com. The views and opinions of the speakers in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.

Nearly two decades ago, author Colson Whitehead began thinking about writing about the Underground Railroad. “I remembered when I was a kid, I first heard those words…I thought it was a literal train beneath the earth,” he says. He put pen to paper and the result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad. In it, the historic secret network of safehouses for runaway slaves becomes a make-believe set of tracks and tunnels beneath southern cities and towns. The book tells the story of Cora, a runaway slave who makes various stops along the railroad in her search for freedom. Whitehead recreates the terror black people in the pre-Civil War era faced. It’s an essential read to understand America’s past and present, according to The New York Times. In this episode, he talks about the novel and about the process of writing. Show Notes Listen to the Aspen Ideas to Go episode Pushing the Limits, featuring climber and author Tommy Caldwell. Follow Aspen Ideas to Go on Twitter and Facebook. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com. The views and opinions of the speakers in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.

What does it take to rock climb one of the world’s hardest routes at night in the bitter cold? Tommy Caldwell, an accomplished climber, says he summoned focus, drive, and endurance to summit Yosemite’s nearly vertical 3,000 foot Dawn Wall. He completed the climb with partner Kevin Jorgeson in January of 2015. Since then, he’s written a memoir, The Push, that chronicles the climb and the life experiences that led to it. Caldwell is also featured in two films: “The Dawn Wall” and “Free Solo,” which is considered to be on the short list for an Oscar nomination. In this episode, he speaks with mountaineer and climber Penn Newhard about conquering fear, cultivating tenacity, and turning failure into growth. Show Notes Follow Aspen Ideas to Go on Twitter and Facebook. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com. The views and opinions of the speakers in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.

Marcia Butler http://marciabutlerauthor.com/ https://www.facebook.com/MarciaButlerAuthor/ https://twitter.com/MarciaAButler https://www.instagram.com/marciaabutler/ Marcia Butler has had a number of creative careers: professional musician, interior designer, documentary filmmaker, and author. As an oboist, the New York Times has hailed her as a “first rate artist.” During her musical career, she performed as a principal oboist and soloist on the most renowned of New York and international stages, with many high-profile musicians and orchestras – including pianist Andre Watts, and composer/pianist Keith Jarrett. Her interior designs projects have been published in numerous shelter magazines and range up and down the East coast, from NYC to Boston, to Miami. The Creative Imperative, her documentary film exploring the essence of creativity, will release in Spring 2019.  Marcia’s nationally acclaimed memoir, The Skin Above My Knee, was one of the Washington Post’s “top ten noteworthy moments in classical music in 2017.” She was chosen as 2017 notable debut author in 35 OVER 35. Her writing has been published in Literary Hub, PANK Magazine, Psychology Today, Aspen Ideas Magazine, Catapult, Bio-Stories and others. Marcia was a 2015 recipient of a Writer-in-Residence through Aspen Words and the Catto Shaw Foundation. Her debut novel, Pickle's Progress, will be released on April 9, 2019 from Central Avenue Publishing. She lives in New York City. In this episode, we discuss: Interior designer to author- how a workshop with Ivy helped her verbalize her real goal Her background as a musician and how it’s shaped all of her creative experiences Writing a memoir and selling it to a publisher in two months Learning to supplement her income Why she isn’t attached to ‘things’ Why music saved her life The freedom that comes with writing and the lens through which writers write Why your writing is like an UFO after it’s out of your hands and what it really feels like What she is fearful could go away at any moment The difficult piece of music she performed, the composer and what that moment taught her

featuring Dan Porterfield, CEO of Aspen Institute in conversation with Literary Prize Winner Mohsin Hamid filmed on June 19th, 2018 at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado

featuring Margot Lee Shetterly, J. Courtney Sullivan, Peter Ho Davies, and moderated by Adrienne Brodeur filmed on June 20th, 2018 at Belly Up - Aspen, Colorado

How are you living? Are you moving forward freely each and every day, without any regrets, living a life that as full and rich as it can be? For many of us, the answer is ‘no.’ Can we change that response? Kerry Egan, a hospice chaplain, shares how it doesn’t matter whether you have 10-days left on this earth or 45 more years, change is possible and your life, today, right at this very moment, is worth making it as meaningful as it can be. Kerry’s a Harvard Divinity School-educated hospice chaplain and author of the book On Living. She’s a former Writer in Residence at the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Words program and has been featured on PBS News Hour as well as CNN’s Morning Edition. Kerry’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, CNN.com, The Washington Post, Oprah.com, Woman’s Day, Parents and Reader’s Digest, among many others. Have your world, your entire world, open up—and see your life for the incredible journey that it is. Key takeaways: Living in strength. All too often we’re put into situations where we feel powerless; a loved one passes, your child’s relentlessly sick, etc. And although you feel helpless, you’re stronger than you think. HERE’S where your true power lies…[10:22]. Living in shamelessness. When someone feels ashamed about themselves it means there’s a part of them they feel is unlovable and it’s as though revealing this terrible, hidden side of themselves will make their world crumble and become unlivable. But there’s another way to see it. THIS is why a shameless secret is really kept…[22:55]. Living in regret. Take a few minutes and think about where you are in your life right at this very moment. If you were to die tomorrow, would you have any regrets? What would they actually reveal about you? Instead of looking at them in sorrow, try THIS approach…[27:47]. Tune in and turn the volume up for a dose of inspiration and life lessons. You're never more than One Idea Away from a whole, new reality.

Author Luis Alberto Urrea's latest novel, The House of Broken Angels, is inspired by his own Mexican-American family. Set in a San Diego neighborhood, the book's characters celebrate a final birthday for a beloved brother dying of cancer, and a funeral for his elderly mother. The farewell doubleheader may sound depressing, but the book buzzes with joy. And so does this talk from Urrea, held on stage in Aspen, Colorado as part of an Aspen Words lecture series. Aspen Words is the literary program of the Aspen Institute. Listen to the Aspen Ideas to Go episode, US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Find the long list of finalists for the Aspen Words Literary Prize. The winner of the Prize is Mohsin Hamid for his book Exit West. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

Non-Profit in the Spotlight: Aspen Words, Week 3 by Aspen Public Radio Past Productions

Non-Profit in the Spotlight: Aspen Words, Week 4 by Aspen Public Radio Past Productions

US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith says her true self comes out in her work. Poetry, she says, helps her wrestle with dark, sometimes unresolvable questions. In this episode she reads new and old work that examines subjects like death, the afterlife, nature, and African American history. Smith is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light, and three books of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars. Her book Wade in the Water is due out this spring. She was appointed the 22nd US Poet Laureate in 2017. She’s the first laureate appointed by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Find the Aspen Insight episode, "Living the Creative Life" by clicking here. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

Non-Profit in the Spotlight: Aspen Words, Week 2 by Aspen Public Radio Past Productions

Non-Profit in the Spotlight: Aspen Words, Week 1 by Aspen Public Radio Past Productions

How is creativity cultivated in childhood? And, does a creative culture at home result in a creative career later on? Authors Jess Walter, Dani Shapiro, and Jericho Brown explain how their early years contributed to a life of writing. Such a life isn’t easy, with rejection, confusion, and disappointment making the pursuit an uphill battle. The writers describe how they find time to put pen to paper, and they read from their works. Don’t miss this funny, reflective, and inspiring discussion moderated by Adrienne Brodeur, author and executive director of Aspen Words. Find our companion episode, "Secrets of the Creative Brain," by clicking here. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

What drives us to find a sense of power we didn’t know was there? It could be a crisis, or feeling unequal or left out. In some cases, the power we discover inspires us to write. In this episode, a niece finds that she has the power to help her ailing aunt in Puerto Rico. The island's power blackout following Hurricane Maria was preventing her aunt from getting life-saving medical treatment. Also, author Eric Liu talks about his book You’re More Powerful Than You Think. He says people are coming together and rising up across America and the world, demanding better treatment and a more equitable society. Finally, we introduce you to a list of twenty books of mission-driven fiction. The works, about immigration, inequality, incarceration, climate change, and much more, are finalists for the Aspen Words Literary Prize. Add these books to your list of must-reads in the new year! Follow our show on Twitter @aspeninstitute and Facebook at facebook.com/aspeninstitute. And, find us online!

Caroline Tory, Senior Program Associate for Aspen Words, speaks with Jillian Livingston about all the exciting summer Aspen Words programs and speakers.

Azar Nafisi is the author of the national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, a harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. The book was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Memoir and was named one of the “100 Best Books of the Decade” by The Times (London). It has spent over 117 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated in 32 languages.

Powerhouse literary couple Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horwitz didn’t start their careers writing books. The two were war correspondents covering events like the Gulf War in the 1990s. In this episode, Brooks and Horwitz are onstage for a lecture series held by Aspen Words, the literary organization of The Aspen Institute. Besides recalling their reporting experiences, the duo discuss what it takes to write a great book. Brooks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novelist. Her first book Year of Wonders was an international bestseller. Her latest work The Secret Chord, is based on the life of King David. Horwitz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and has written several bestsellers, including Midnight Rising about a raid in the slaveholding South that sparked the Civil War. (photo of Geraldine Brooks: Randi Baird)

Maria Semple spoke about her bestselling novel Where’d You Go Bernadette in the finale of the 2014 Winter Words season. Aspen Words, the nonprofit literary organization known for decades as the Aspen Writers’ Foundation, was founded in Aspen in 1976 as a cutting edge poetry conference and literary magazine. Today Aspen Words (AW) is one of the nation’s leading literary centers and a stage for the world’s most prominent contemporary writers. AW programs employ literature as a tool for provoking thought, broadening perspectives, fostering connections, inspiring creativity, and giving voice. Since 2009, we have partnered with the Aspen Institute, underscoring the highest humanistic ideals of Institute founder Walter Paepcke: to better understand human challenges by cultivating one’s inner life through the exchange of words, stories, and ideas.

Three authors shed light on the writing life and the stories behind their works. New York Times bestseller Jess Walter ("Beautiful Ruins"), former US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey ("Thrall"), and LA Times Book Prize winner Ruth Ozeki ("A Tale for the Time Being"). They spoke at Winter Words, a series hosted by Aspen Words, a literary organization and program of the Aspen Institute.

Michael Lewis is the author of the bestsellers "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt", "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game", and "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game", among other books. After graduating from Princeton University and the London School of Economics, Lewis worked on the bond desk at Salomon Brothers, an experience he recounted in "Liar's Poker", his first book. He left the financial world to become a journalist, writing on politics, finance and more for the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Slate and other publications. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and columnist at Bloomberg View. Recorded live at Aspen Words. NOTE: This episode contains explicit language.