Podcast appearances and mentions of darryl pinckney

“Pessoa, since I've been me” (“Pessoa, desde que eu sou eu”, em tradução livre) é a última peça de Robert Wilson. No espetáculo, o renomado diretor de teatro americano faz uma leitura pessoal da vida e obra de um dos maiores escritores portugueses de todos os tempos. Depois da estreia mundial em Florença, no primeiro semestre, a peça entrou em cartaz na terça-feira (5) no Théâtre de la Ville, em Paris. Uma escolha de fragmentos de textos de Pessoa retraça a vida do poeta do nascimento a morte. A peça começa e termina com a frase "I know not what tomorrow will bing" (Não sei o que o amanhã trará"), escrita em inglês antes da morte do poeta em 1935.Bob Wilson conhecia pouco a obra de Fernando Pessoa e mergulhou no universo do poeta português no processo de criação, conta a brasileira Janaina Suaudeau, uma das atrizes do espetáculo. "Ele (Bob Wilson) mesmo diz que aos poucos, justamente fazendo trabalho de dramaturgia com Darryl (Pinckney), com o Charles Chemin, foi se encantando cada vez mais com esse personagem. Não tem como não se encantar com o Pessoa, não é?”, aponta.  A atriz franco-brasileira diz que nessa homenagem ao poeta português o diretor americano “brincou muito com a multiplicidade do Pessoa em todas as esferas. No imagético, ele passa de um universo para o outro muito rápido. Passa do 'Fausto', por exemplo, que é uma coisa tão profunda, mais sombria, e logo depois vem uma música no final". Espetáculo caleidoscópioEm cena, sete atores e atrizes de várias nacionalidades: italianos, franceses, portugueses e brasileiros.“Pessoa” é um espetáculo caleidoscópio, que revela com a encenação límpida, os gestos geométricos e lentos que caracterizam a obra de Bob Wilson, mas também muitos elementos burlescos, as várias vidas do escritor português, simbolizadas por seus diversos heterônimos.Cada ator ou atriz se identifica com um dos heterônimos, principalmente os mais conhecidos: Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, Alberto Caeiro, Bernardo Soares. Já a atriz portuguesa Maria de Medeiros vive em cena o próprio Fernando Pessoa.“O que eu achei muito interessante na proposta do Bob foi abordar o Pessoa pela infância, pelo lado lúdico. E esse ‘Pessoinha' com o seu bigode, andrógino porque é interpretado por uma mulher, de alguma forma vai organizar no sistema pessoano aquilo que ri das coisas mais dramáticas, das dificuldades de ser, das angústias pessoanas”, detalha.A atriz e cineasta, que brinca que a obra do poeta português é para ela uma “espécie de líquido amniótico”, concorda com a leitura que Bob Wilson faz de Pessoa. “Isso está certo porque o Pessoa também tem um lado extremamente irônico e autoirônico”, afirma Maria de Medeiros, que interpreta a obra do escritor português desde os 19 anos.Pessoa universal"Pessoa, since I've been me" convida o público para uma viagem visual e sonora, e em várias línguas europeias: inglês, português, francês e italiano. Com a presença de atores e atrizes brasileiros e portugueses em cena, Maria de Medeiros ressalta a importância de se ouvir na peça os sotaques do português do Brasil e de Portugal.“Os brasileiros sempre foram e são grandes intérpretes do Pessoa. Por isso, me parece muito certo que dois brasileiros estejam no espetáculo e que se ouça o português de Portugal e o português do Brasil também. Ao atravessar todas essas línguas com a perspectiva particular do Bob, que é um americano, de alguma forma é o afirmar da universalidade do poeta Pessoa”, salienta a atriz portuguesa.A peça de Bob Wilson é uma produção do Teatro della Pergola, de Florença, e do Théâtre de la Ville, de Paris, coproduzido por vários outros teatros europeus.  Depois de Paris, a peça irá estrear no São Luiz Teatro Municipal de Lisboa, em março de 2025. O contratenor brasileiro Rodrigo Ferreira, escolhido entre os mais de mil e setecentos candidatos para atuar na produção, torce para o espetáculo ir também para o Brasil.“Nós queremos ir ao Brasil. Teatros brasileiros, levem o espetáculo! O Pessoa merece. A língua portuguesa está sendo honrada. É bom ter um espetáculo onde se fala português e outras línguas latinas: italiano, francês. Isso é bastante Fernando Pessoa e isso é o que eu mais gosto no espetáculo, esse fato que a gente passa de uma língua a outra, ao mesmo tempo e que é bastante fluido”, elogia. A peça "Pessoa, since I've been me" fica em cartaz no Théatre de la Ville de Paris até 16 de novembro de 2024.

As our centennial series continues, Darryl Pinckney, a long time contributor to The New York Review of Books and the author of Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy (New York Review of Books, 2015 & 2020), among others, examines the history of Black voting, from ballot access to party affiliations.

In the fourth episode of “Notes on a Native Son,” our guest is the writer and essayist Darryl Pinckney. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and The Village Voice. Most recently, he's been the recipient of a highly prestigious award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his contribution to American literature. Host Razia Iqbal meets up with Pinckney in Harlem, where James Baldwin grew up and eventually left in the 1940s. Pinckney lives there in a striking, sprawling house with the English poet James Fenton, and they find the perfect spot to record a conversation: in the library, directly beneath Pinckney's shelf of Baldwin's works. They talk about how Baldwin so eloquently documented the emotion of love — how it drives us and why we fear it.Notes from America is a 2024 Signal Awards finalist! Community voting is now open for the show to earn a Listener's Choice honor for Best Live Podcast Recording, and we would be honored for you to take a minute to cast a vote our way. Click here to vote through October 17, and thank you for listening and supporting Notes from America! Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

In 1956, Richard Wright spoke of islands of free men at the first Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris. James Baldwin critiqued the event for Encounter, the CIA's propaganda magazine. We take a close listen to the original recordings. Shownotes: Merve Fejzula and Cedric Tolliver both wrote about the 1956 Congrès des écrivains et artistes noirs. Darryl Pinckney wrote on Norman Mailer and Denis Leroux wrote on Antoine Bonnemaison. Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing at https://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page.

Journalist and author Mary Gabriel joins Eric and Medaya to talk about her latest book, Madonna: A Rebel Life. The massive, richly researched biography follows every detail of the superstar's life: her Michigan roots, her debut amid New York's heady underground scene, her film career, her London era, finally catching up with Madge in 2020. The book is also a history of the culture that shaped her, and which she shaped in her wake. Mary discusses writing the book, as well as Madonna's breakthrough performances, the AIDS crisis and its legacy, sweeping changes in the music industry, and a re-examination of the “feminist” as a pop icon. Also, Ross Gay, author of The Book of (More) Delights, returns to recommend a trio of books: Guston in Time by Ross Feld; Come Back in September by Darryl Pinckney; and Stealing History by Gerald Stern.

Journalist and author Mary Gabriel joins Eric and Medaya to talk about her latest book, Madonna: A Rebel Life. The massive, richly researched biography follows every detail of the superstar's life: her Michigan roots, her debut amid New York's heady underground scene, her film career, her London era, finally catching up with Madge in 2020. The book is also a history of the culture that shaped her, and which she shaped in her wake. Mary discusses writing the book, as well as Madonna's breakthrough performances, the AIDS crisis and its legacy, sweeping changes in the music industry, and a re-examination of the “feminist” as a pop icon. Also, Ross Gay, author of The Book of (More) Delights, returns to recommend a trio of books: Guston in Time by Ross Feld; Come Back in September by Darryl Pinckney; and Stealing History by Gerald Stern.

Pour la reprise de « Mary said what she said » de Robert Wilson au Théâtre de la Ville, le podcast Dramathis revient sur cette performance magistrale d'Isabelle Huppert. Une incarnation précise, millimétrée et mécanique sur une musique de Ludovico Einaudi.30 ans après son adaptation d'Orlando de Virginia Woolf, le metteur en scène texan retrouve l'auteur Darryl Pinckney et Isabelle Huppert pour un spectacle radical : Mary said what she said. Le seul en scène, mis en mouvement par Fani Sarantari, met en scène les derniers instants de Mary Stuart, reine d'Ecosse du XVIème siècle, condamnée à mort par sa cousine.Refus délibéré du tragique, chorégraphie au cordeau et tableaux futuristes : Bob Wilson propose encore une pièce unique. Mais ne repose-t-elle pas sur la seule présence de l'actrice star ? Réponse dans cet épisode du podcast Dramathis où Fani Sarantari reviendra sur tout le processus de création.Et si depuis le début, vous aimiez le théâtre ? C'est en tout cas ce que pense Mathis, chargé des podcasts chez Madmoizelle et drama king partout ailleurs. Dramathis est une chronique de dix minutes pour rire, apprendre et dramatiser tous les quinze jours. Parce que la vie sans drama, c'est comme une blague sans chute.Dramathis est un podcast quinzomadaire de Madmoizelle disponible sur Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer et toutes les plateformes de podcasts.Dramathis est écrit, réalisé et incarné par Mathis Grosos, mis en images par Audrey Godefroy, photographies de Emilie Rappeneau, promu par Hannah Monange et produit par Madmoizelle. Rédaction en chef : Marie-Stéphanie Servos.Retrouvez Mathis sur instagram (@mathisgrosos) pour plus de recos théâtre ! Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Pour la reprise de « Mary said what she said » de Robert Wilson au Théâtre de la Ville, le podcast Dramathis revient sur cette performance magistrale d'Isabelle Huppert. Une incarnation précise, millimétrée et mécanique sur une musique de Ludovico Einaudi.30 ans après son adaptation d'Orlando de Virginia Woolf, le metteur en scène texan retrouve l'auteur Darryl Pinckney et Isabelle Huppert pour un spectacle radical : Mary said what she said. Le seul en scène, mis en mouvement par Fani Sarantari, met en scène les derniers instants de Mary Stuart, reine d'Ecosse du XVIème siècle, condamnée à mort par sa cousine.Refus délibéré du tragique, chorégraphie au cordeau et tableaux futuristes : Bob Wilson propose encore une pièce unique. Mais ne repose-t-elle pas sur la seule présence de l'actrice star ? Réponse dans cet épisode du podcast Dramathis où Fani Sarantari reviendra sur tout le processus de création.Et si depuis le début, vous aimiez le théâtre ? C'est en tout cas ce que pense Mathis, chargé des podcasts chez Madmoizelle et drama king partout ailleurs. Dramathis est une chronique de dix minutes pour rire, apprendre et dramatiser tous les quinze jours. Parce que la vie sans drama, c'est comme une blague sans chute.Dramathis est un podcast quinzomadaire de Madmoizelle disponible sur Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer et toutes les plateformes de podcasts.Dramathis est écrit, réalisé et incarné par Mathis Grosos, mis en images par Audrey Godefroy, photographies de Emilie Rappeneau, promu par Hannah Monange et produit par Madmoizelle. Rédaction en chef : Marie-Stéphanie Servos.Retrouvez Mathis sur instagram (@mathisgrosos) pour plus de recos théâtre ! Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Angelo Fick asks Darryl Pinckney about his book Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. Darryl remembers his friendship with critic and author Elizabeth Hardwick, who taught him that writing is a matter of reading. He reflects on his diaries, avant-garde New York in the 1970s, Robert Lowell,  feminism and Black politics, The New York Review of Books and aging. Angelo Fick is the Director of Research at ASRI. For two decades he taught across a variety of disciplines in the Humanities and Applied Sciences in universities in South Africa and Europe. He has written widely on post-apartheid South Africa's political economy. Darryl Pinckney is a long-time contributor to The New York Review of Books. He is the author of two novels, several works of nonfiction and has contributed to numerous other publications. His theatrical collaborations with director Robert Wilson have appeared internationally and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. His most recent book is Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022). In this episode we are in solidarity with Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi. In November 2022, they were both unjustly sentenced to a second decade in prison in Iran. You can read more about their case here: https://www.pen-international.org/news/mahvash-sabet-sentenced-to-ten-years-in-prison As tributes to them, Darryl reads “Hello Again” and “Lights Out” from Sabet's Prison Poems as well as “Jerusalem” by James Fenton. Angelo reads Sabet's poem “To Fariba Kamalabadi”. This podcast series is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa to promote open conversation and highlight shared histories.

A highly emotional conversation with Darryl Pinckney, a long time contributor to The New York Review of Books whose most recently published work Come Back in September: A Literary Education On West Sixty-Seventh Street, revisits his relationship with writer Elizabeth Hardwick. Other topics we dive into include writing in the U.S. today as compared to in less troubling eras.

Darryl Pinckney arrived at Columbia University in New York City in the early 1970s and had the opportunity to enroll in Elizabeth Hardwick's creative writing class at Barnard. It changed his life. When the semester was over, he continued to visit her, and he became close to both Hardwick and Barbara Epstein, Hardwick's best friend, neighbor, and fellow founder of The New York Review of Books. Pinckney was drawn into a New York literary world where he encountered Susan Sontag, Robert Lowell, and Mary McCarthy, among many others. Yet the intellectual and artistic freedom that Pinckney observed on West 67th Street were in conflict with the demands of his politically minded family and their sense of the unavoidable lessons of black history.Pinckney's education in Hardwick's orbit took place amidst the cultural movements then sweeping New York. In addition, through his peers and former classmates—Felice Rosser, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucy Sante, Howard Brookner, and Nan Goldin—Pinckney witnessed the coming together of the New Wave scene in the East Village. He experienced the avant-garde life while discovering the sexual freedom brought by gay liberation. It was his time for hope.In Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West 67th Street, Manhattan (FSG, 2022), Pinckney recalls his introduction to New York and to the writing life. The critic and novelist intimately captures this revolutionary, brilliant, and troubled period in American letters. Elizabeth Hardwick was not only his link to the intellectual heart of New York but also a source of continuous support and of inspiration—in the way she worked, her artistry, and in the beauty of her voice. Through his memories of the city and of Hardwick, we see the emergence and evolution of Pinckney as a writer himself.J.C. Gabel talked with Pinckney last fall to discuss his literary beginnings and the influence of Elizabeth Hardwick and her circle on his life and work. Reading by Darryl Pinckney. Music by The Joubert Singers. Remix by Larry Levan.

Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by literary critic and scholar Peter Brooks. Brooks is the Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Yale. He is the author of many books but perhaps most notably of Reading for the Plot, originally published in 1984, which initiated the narrative turn in literary criticism. In it, Brooks focused on the story, how it was told and how it moved forward.   His latest book Suduced by Story returns to narrative as its main subject, 30 years later. Brooks now finds narrative everywhere — from President Bush invoking the “stories” of all of his cabinet members to corporate websites touting the company “story”. What does this narrative takeover mean? Why have we started to privilege storytelling over any other form of expression? Brooks writes “This…suggests something in our culture has gone astray.” Peter Brooks joins us today to discuss, as he puts it, “the misuses, and mindless uses, of narrative.” Also, Darryl Pinckney, author of Come Back in September, returns to recommend three books: Elizabeth Hardwick's Seduction and Betrayal; Margo Jefferson's Constructing a Nervous System; and Marina Warner's Esmond and Ilia.

Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by literary critic and scholar Peter Brooks. Brooks is the Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Yale. He is the author of many books but perhaps most notably of Reading for the Plot, originally published in 1984, which initiated the narrative turn in literary criticism. In it, Brooks focused on the story, how it was told and how it moved forward. His latest book Suduced by Story returns to narrative as its main subject, 30 years later. Brooks now finds narrative everywhere — from President Bush invoking the “stories” of all of his cabinet members to corporate websites touting the company “story”. What does this narrative takeover mean? Why have we started to privilege storytelling over any other form of expression? Brooks writes “This…suggests something in our culture has gone astray.” Peter Brooks joins us today to discuss, as he puts it, “the misuses, and mindless uses, of narrative.” Also, Darryl Pinckney, author of Come Back in September, returns to recommend three books: Elizabeth Hardwick's Seduction and Betrayal; Margo Jefferson's Constructing a Nervous System; and Marina Warner's Esmond and Ilia.

Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with the novelist and critic Darryl Pinckney about his new memoir, Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan. The book recounts Pinckney's relationship with a legend of American letters: the singular stylist Elizabeth Hardwick. Hardwick was Pinckney's professor in a creative writing class at Barnard in the early 1970s, and they quickly became close friends. She invited him into her home, into her writing process, and into a world of New York literary culture and gossip, which Pinckney doles out here in generous cupfuls. It was through Hardwick that Pinckney met Barbara Epstein, an editor and co-founder of the New York Review of Books, where he began his writing career. His memoir documents a critical time in both his own life and in Hardwick's, including the dissolution of her marriage to the poet Robert Lowell, and the composition of her masterful novel, Sleepless Nights. Also, Namwali Serpell, author of The Furrows, returns to recommend "Old Boys Old Girls" a short story by Edward P. Jones from his collection All Aunt Hagar's Children.

Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with the novelist and critic Darryl Pinckney about his new memoir, Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan. The book recounts Pinckney's relationship with a legend of American letters: the singular stylist Elizabeth Hardwick. Hardwick was Pinckney's professor in a creative writing class at Barnard in the early 1970s, and they quickly became close friends. She invited him into her home, into her writing process, and into a world of New York literary culture and gossip, which Pinckney doles out here in generous cupfuls. It was through Hardwick that Pinckney met Barbara Epstein, an editor and co-founder of the New York Review of Books, where he began his writing career. His memoir documents a critical time in both his own life and in Hardwick's, including the dissolution of her marriage to the poet Robert Lowell, and the composition of her masterful novel, Sleepless Nights. Also, Namwali Serpell, author of The Furrows, returns to recommend "Old Boys Old Girls" a short story by Edward P. Jones from his collection All Aunt Hagar's Children.

Literary & cultural critic Darryl Pinckney rejoins the show to celebrate his new memoir/memorial, Come Back In September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan (FSG). We get into Darryl's friendship with/apprenticeship to Elizabeth Hardwick, and the relationships he built with Susan Sontag, Barbara Epstein, and the New York Review of Books in the '70s & beyond. We also talk about recognizing a golden age when you're in it, our current professionalization of culture and why it leads to meh art, the value of his literary/writing education from Hardwick (& others), the NYC New Wave scene he was a part of alongside Howard Brookner, Lucy Sante, Felice Rosser, and others, and why the one place he felt a sense of belonging was on the red sofa in Elizabeth Hardwick's home. Plus, we talk about his massive project on the history of black literature in the 20th century, why there are so few examples of failure in black autobiographical tradition and why (and whether) he considers himself a failure, why someone once told him, 'You're very disciplined at beating yourself up,' why we bonded over the same character in Middlemarch, and more. • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

FIVE-HUNDRED EPISODES of The Virtual Memories Show?! Let's celebrate this milestone episode with tributes, remembrances, jokes, congrats, non-sequiturs, and a couple of songs (!) from nearly 100 of my past guests, including Maria Alexander, Jonathan Ames, Glen Baxter, Jonathan Baylis, Zoe Beloff, Walter Bernard, Sven Birkerts, Charles Blackstone, RO Blechman, Phlip Boehm, MK Brown, Dan Cafaro, David Carr, Kyle Cassidy, Howard Chaykin, Joe Ciardiello, Gary Clark, John Crowley, Ellen Datlow, Paul Di Filippo, Joan Marans Dim, Liza Donnelly, Bob Eckstein, Scott Edelman, Barbara Epler, Glynnis Fawkes, Aaron Finkelstein, Mary Fleener, Shary Flenniken, Josh Alan Friedman, Kipp Friedman, Michael Gerber, Mort Gerberg, ES Glenn, Sophia Glock, Paul Gravett, Tom Hart, Dean Haspiel, Jennifer Hayden, Glenn Head, Ron Hogan, Kevin Huizenga, Jonathan Hyman, Andrew Jamieson, Ian Kelley, Jonah Kinigstein, Kathe Koja, Ken Krimstein, Anita Kunz, Peter Kuper, Glenn Kurtz, Kate Lacour, Roger Langridge, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, John Leland, David Leopold, Sara Lippmann, David Lloyd, Whitney Matheson, Patrick McDonnell, Dave McKean, Scott Meslow, Barbara Nessim, Jeff Nunokawa, Jim Ottaviani, Celia Paul, Woodrow Phoenix, Darryl Pinckney, Weng Pixin, Eddy Portnoy, Virginia Postrel, Bram Presser, AL Price, Dawn Raffel, Boaz Roth, Hugh Ryan, Dmitry Samarov, Frank Santoro, JJ Sedelmaier, Nadine Sergejeff, Michael Shaw, R Sikoryak, Jen Silverman, Posy Simmonds, Vanessa Sinclair, David Small, Sebastian Smee, Ed Sorel, James Sturm, Mike Tisserand, Tom Tomorrow, Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, Kriota Willberg, Warren Woodfin, Jim Woodring, and Claudia Young. Plus, we look at back with segments from the guests we've lost over the years: Anthea Bell, Harold Bloom, Bruce Jay Friedman, Milton Glaser, Clive James, JD McClatchy, DG Myers, Tom Spurgeon, and Ed Ward. Here's to the next 500 shows! • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Secrets, murders, and lies, oh my! What's so wrong with one little switch? Let's find out...In this episode, we tackle an underrated classic, Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson. References:Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. “Mark Twain's Inconvenient Truths.” STANFORD Magazine, Stanford University, 2007, https://stanfordmag.org/contents/mark-twain-s-inconvenient-truths#:~:text=In%20his%20%E2%80%9Cschoolboy%20days%2C%E2%80%9D,which%20he%20had%20grown%20up. “The Mississippi River.” Mark Twain at Large: The Mississippi River, https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/MTP/mississippi.html#:~:text=Clemens%20first%20signed%20his%20writing,safe%20depth%20for%20the%20steamboat. Quirk, Thomas V. “Literary Maturity of Mark Twain.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mark-Twain/Literary-maturity. Twain, Mark, and Darryl Pinckney. Pudd'nhead Wilson and "Those Extraordinary Twins". Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005. Keywords: books, blog, review, analysis, puddnhead wilson, mark twain, novel, filmIntro and Closing Music Link (Bus Stop)https://freemusicarchive.org/music/holiznacc0/city-slacker/bus-stop/Bus Stop Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Classical Background Music Linkhttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Orion_String_Quartet/Classical Music Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/legalcodeFor more content and the next novel, visit @k.a.r.blog on Instagram! Also, feel free to follow my personal Instagram, @kristen.a.rhoda!

The state of American democracy | American novelist, playwright, and essayist Darryl Pinckney takes host Andrew Keen on a tour d'horizon of the state of American democracy, from the current political discourse to the impact of identity politics, cancel culture, social media, and the role of education in teaching the young generation what it means to be a citizen.

It's the 8th annual Guest List episode! Thirty of this year's Virtual Memories Show guests tell us about the favorite books they read in 2020 and the books they hope to get to in 2021! Guests include Derf Backderf, Philip Boehm, Ruben Bolling, Betsy Bonner, Henri Cole, Joan Marans Dim, Emily Flake, Jonathan W. Gray, Tom Hart, Arthur Hoyle, Rian Hughes, Richard Kadrey, Ben Katchor, Kathe Koja, Tess Lewis, Ellen Lindner, Margot Mifflin, David Mikics, Otto Penzler, Woodrow Phoenix, Darryl Pinckney, Alta Price, Steve Ronin, Dmitry Samarov, Michael Shaw, Stoya, Benjamin Taylor, Jeff Trexler, John Vercher, and Sheila Williams! • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Writer and cultural critic Darryl Pinckney joins the show to celebrate the new edition of Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy (NYRB) and the paperback of Busted in New York and Other Essays (Picador). We talk about revisiting his Obama-era writings in the post-2016 world, the importance of the vote and the question of whether there's a Black vote, or Black voters. We discuss his surprise at the persistence of makeup of the BLM protests, his place in the historical chain and the moment he felt out of touch, and his history at the New York Review of Books and its roots in the anti-Vietnam War movement. We also get into the fractured relationship between Jews and Blacks (following their close ties during the civil rights movement), the companionship of books during the pandemic, the commodification of the arts, the memoir he's working on about Elizabeth Hardwick and 1970s NYC, and more, including an image I've pondered for years: Jesse Jackson's tears the night of Obama's election in 2008. Follow Darryl at the New York Review of Books • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Bradley speaks with Darryl Pinckney, contributor to The New York Review of Books, the author of two novels, High Cotton (1992) and Black Deutschland (2016), and three works of nonfiction, Out There: Mavericks of Black Literature (2002), part of the Alain Locke Lecture Series, and Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy (2014) and Busted in New York (2019). Bradley and Darryl talk about social justice and how things have and haven’t changed.

Matthew Todd, UK writer-journalist talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about his exquisite new coffee table book “PRIDE: The Story Of The LGBTQ Equality Movement” published by Weldon Owen. The book documents the milestones in our fight for global LGBTQ equality from before Stonewall to the victories of activists over the last five decades that have led to the gradual acceptance of LGBTQ people in politics, sports and the media. It also chronicles the winning landmark court cases including marriage equality and significant legislation that have furthered our basic civil rights. This pictorial and wide-reaching text takes you on a journey covering key figures, heroes, notable moments, events and breakthroughs in a wealth of rare images and documents as well as providing moving essays from vital witnesses throughout our modern day movement. Though we still have a long way to go to achieve full equality, “PRIDE: The Story Of The LGBTQ Equality Movement” is a unique and comprehensive account of the ongoing challenges facing our LGBTQ community and a celebration of civil rights that have been won for many of us as a result of the sacrifices and passion of this mass movement. The book includes personal testimonies from many relevant activists and allies including Judy Shepard mother of Matthew Shepard, legendary photographer Nan Goldin, Reverend Troy Perry founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, novelist playwright essayist Darryl Pinckney, Jake Shears of The Scissor Sisters, activist and former Pride Award-winner Jonathan Blake, New Zealand politician Georgina Beyer the world’s first openly transgender Mayor and transgender member of Parliament, Deborah Brin one of the world’s first openly gay Rabbis and many more. We talked to Todd about his passion and inspiration for creating “PRIDE: The Story Of The LGBTQ Equality Movement” and his spin on our LGBTQ issues. Matthew Todd is a multi award winning writer and previous editor of “Attitude” a British gay lifestyle magazine from 2008 to 2016. His first book "Straight Jacket - Overcoming Society's Legacy of Gay Shame" was shortlisted for the Polari Prize in 2017 and was voted winner of the Boyz LGBT Book of the Year Award. His play “Blowing Whistles” has been performed in the UK, Australia and the United States. Todd’s fabulous new work “PRIDE: The Story Of The LGBTQ Equality Movement” (Weldon Owen) is currently available online and in stores.For More Info: matthewtodd.net LISTEN: 500+ LGBTQ Chats @OUTTAKE VOICES 

Legendary film critic J Hoberman joins Kate and Daya to discuss Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, which is the the final installment of his film history trilogy Found Illusions. Hoberman describes how he set out to tell the story of how cinema operated as the social and political unconscious of American society throughout the Cold War and discovered along the way that Ronald Reagan was the "protagonist" of this story. The conversation traces Reagan's career in Hollywood and politics; and how the development of feel good blockbusters in the 1970s harmonized with Reagan's message as a candidate. Of course, no encounter with J Hoberman goes without delicious close readings of movies we love or loathe. You'll never see Ghostbusters the same way again! Equally poignant are J's thoughts on how our current entertainer President reflects the much coarser media environment of the 21st Century. Also, Darryl Pinckney, author of Busted in New York, returns to recommend Jonathan Crary's eloquent study of our exhausting, over-extended lives 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep - as well as James Fenton's collection of poems Yellow Tulips.

Legendary film critic J Hoberman joins Kate and Daya to discuss Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, which is the the final installment of his film history trilogy Found Illusions. Hoberman describes how he set out to tell the story of how cinema operated as the social and political unconscious of American society throughout the Cold War and discovered along the way that Ronald Reagan was the "protagonist" of this story. The conversation traces Reagan's career in Hollywood and politics; and how the development of feel good blockbusters in the 1970s harmonized with Reagan's message as a candidate. Of course, no encounter with J Hoberman goes without delicious close readings of movies we love or loathe. You'll never see Ghostbusters the same way again! Equally poignant are J's thoughts on how our current entertainer President reflects the much coarser media environment of the 21st Century. Also, Darryl Pinckney, author of Busted in New York, returns to recommend Jonathan Crary's eloquent study of our exhausting, over-extended lives 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep - as well as James Fenton's collection of poems Yellow Tulips.

Author Darryl Pinckney joins Kate and Medaya to discuss his new collection, Busted in New York and Other Essays, which includes twenty-five pieces from the past two and a half decades, which reflect and report on politics, culture, and African-American lived experience. The conversation begins with Pinckney's thoughts on Barack Obama's election and presidency, and it's unexpected tragic denouement with the victory of Donald Trump. Pinckney reflects on what remains of the great advance that Obama represented. How much was lost? Should the next act have been so surprising? Looking back further, he wonders have we lost the America we thought we knew; or is our current nightmare merely the return of the repressed? Also, Matt Wolf, director of Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, returns to recommend Peter McGough's memoir of the 1980's New York art scene, I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going.

Author Darryl Pinckney joins Kate and Medaya to discuss his new collection, Busted in New York and Other Essays, which includes twenty-five pieces from the past two and a half decades, which reflect and report on politics, culture, and African-American lived experience. The conversation begins with Pinckney's thoughts on Barack Obama's election and presidency, and it's unexpected tragic denouement with the victory of Donald Trump. Pinckney reflects on what remains of the great advance that Obama represented. How much was lost? Should the next act have been so surprising? Looking back further, he wonders have we lost the America we thought we knew; or is our current nightmare merely the return of the repressed? Also, Matt Wolf, director of Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, returns to recommend Peter McGough's memoir of the 1980's New York art scene, I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going.

Darryl Pinckney om USA etter Obama. USA, 2016: En hvit familie har i snitt 13 ganger så stor formue som en svart. Politiet dreper svarte menn ni ganger så hyppig som hvite. Den amerikanske forfatteren Darryl Pinckney skriver om egen oppvekst under borgerrettsbevegelsen på 1960-tallet og fram til i dag. Obama var afroamerikanernes stolthet og håp. Hvorfor ble alt bare verre? Og nå, etter valget? Har amerikanerne grunn til å frykte framtiden? Darryl Pinckney er en prisvinnende romanforfatter, dramatiker, essayist og kritiker i New York Review of Books. Pinckney møter leder av Verden i Bergen, Teresa Grøtan, til samtale.

USA, 2016: En hvit familie har i snitt 13 ganger så stor formue som en svart. Politiet dreper svarte menn ni ganger så hyppig som hvite. Den amerikanske forfatteren Darryl Pinckney skriver om egen oppvekst under borgerrettsbevegelsen på 1960-tallet og fram til i dag. Obama var afroamerikanernes stolthet og håp. Hvorfor ble alt bare verre? Og nå, etter valget? Har amerikanerne grunn til å frykte framtiden? Darryl Pinckney er en prisvinnende romanforfatter, dramatiker, essayist og kritiker i New York Review of Books. Pinckney møter leder av Verden i Bergen, Teresa Grøtan, til samtale.

The instant national bestselling author of the acclaimed debut novel Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler, stopped by the show to chat with me about her not-so-overnight success as a rising literary star. Ms. Danler signed a six-figure deal with Knopf for her first book, the coming-of-age story of a young woman transplanted into New York City’s upscale, cutthroat restaurant world. Bestselling author Jay McInerney called Sweetbitter “… a stunning debut novel, one that seems destined to help define a generation,” and the book has been compared to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Before returning to her love of writing, and earning an MFA in Fiction from The New School in NY, Ms. Danler spent much of her life working in the food and wine industry. Stephanie has also written essays for The Paris Review, Vogue, Literary Hub, and Travel + Leisure. Join us for this two-part interview, and if you’re a fan of the show, please subscribe in iTunes to automatically see new interviews, and help other writers find us. If you missed the first half you can find it right here. In Part Two of the file Stephanie Danler and I discuss: The Dichotomy of Procrastination and Deadlines Why Relationships Are Important to Writers On the Deconstruction and Sanctity of Creativity How Great Writers Leave ‘Blood on the Page’ Some Great Advice on Why You Just Need to Finish Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes How ‘Sweetbitter’ Author Stephanie Danler Writes: Part One Sweetbitter: A novel – Stephanie Danler StephanieDanler.com with Links to Essays by Stephanie Danler This is Water – David Foster Wallace Stephanie Danler on Instagram Stephanie Danler on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How Sweetbitter Author Stephanie Danler Writes: Part Two Kelton Reid: The Writer Files is brought to you by StudioPress, the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins built on the Genesis Framework. StudioPress delivers state of the art SEO tools, beautiful and fully responsive design, air-tight security, instant updates, and much more. If you’re ready to take your WordPress site to the next level, see for yourself why over 177,000 website owners trust StudioPress. Go to Rainmaker.FM/studiopress right now. That’s Rainmaker.FM/studiopress. These are The Writer Files, a tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of working writers from online content creators to fictionists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and beyond. I’m your host, Kelton Reid, writer, podcaster, and mediaphile. Each week we’ll discover how great writers keep the ink flowing, the cursor moving, and avoid writer’s block. The instant national best-selling author of the acclaimed debut novel Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler, stopped by the show this week to chat with me about her not-so-overnight success as a rising literary star. Ms. Danler signed a six figure deal with Knapf for her first book, the coming of age story of a the young woman transplanted into New York City’s upscale, cut-throat restaurant world. Best-selling author Jay McInerny called Sweetbitter a stunning debut novel, one that seems destined to help define a generation. The book has been compared to Anthony Bourdain‘s Kitchen Confidential. Before returning to her love of writing and earning an MFA in fiction from The New School in New York, Ms. Danler spent much of her life working in the food and wine industry. Stephanie has also written essays for The Paris Review, Vogue, Literary Hub, and Travel + Leisure. Join us for this two-part interview, and if you’re a fan of the show, please click “subscribe” to automatically see new interviews with your favorite authors and help other writers to find us. If you missed the first half of this show, you can find it at WriterFiles.FM and in the show notes. In part two of the file, Stephanie and I discuss the dichotomy of procrastination and deadlines, why relationships are important to writers, on the deconstruction and sanctity of creativity, how great writers leave blood on the page, and some sound advice on why you just need to finish. Let’s talk about your work flow a little bit. Are you working on a Mac or a PC there? Stephanie Danler: Oh, a MacBook. I had this ancient one that was so heavy that I used to lug around the world, and this one is so light and fancy. I adore it. Kelton Reid: They get lighter by the day, don’t they? Stephanie Danler: I’m very happy about that. Kelton Reid: Are you a Microsoft Word, or a Scrivener disciple? Stephanie Danler: What’s Scrivener? I have no idea. Microsoft Word. I’m not, like, a software person. Kelton Reid: I just assume that there are two camps, and the Scrivener’s like a new … It’s a newer software that incorporates a lot of kind of organizational tools that a lot of writers are using now. But you sound like a classic, dyed in the wool Microsoft Word-er. Stephanie Danler: Yeah, and lots of notebooks. Not structured or an outline person, or an organized person at all. The Dichotomy of Procrastination and Deadlines Kelton Reid: Do you have any best practices, kind of going back to block and whatnot, for beating procrastination? Stephanie Danler: I mean, no, on procrastination. I don’t know how to beat that. I would welcome any tips that you have. I should listen to the other podcasts. Kelton Reid: I think a lot of writers lean into it because it’s part of their creative process. Stephanie Danler: I think that deadlines are incredible, extremely helpful, and I think adrenaline is extremely helpful. Maybe that’s because I worked in restaurants for so long that it feels very familiar to me. For beating block, I think there’s just reading. I think that when you’re feeling bored or uninspired by your own mind, I think it’s time to visit someone else’s mind. I was just recently rereading Susan Sontag’s journals, and she’s admonishing herself. She’s like, “You will not read anymore. You are procrastinating.” I was like, “Okay. I could just be so lucky to procrastinate like Susan Sontag. I’ll take the reading.” Why Relationships Are Important to Writers Kelton Reid: Yeah, yeah. For sure. So Campari and soda, a glass of wine. How else does Stephanie Danler unplug at the end of a long writing day? Stephanie Danler: There’s definitely a beverage involved, and I think that it really does signal that you’ve exited the work day in a way. I like to be outside. It’s part of the reason that I moved to Southern California, even though I’d barely been here. But I think it’s important to actually be in nature as much as possible. You miss that in the city, by just contact with the world. I need to talk to people. It’s a very intense experience to sit alone with your many voices all day, trying to decide which to listen to. I think that calling someone and getting out of your own head and your own problems is the reminder that, “Oh, I’m just a human. I’m just a regular human being in the world, and I’m going to go to sleep, and this doesn’t matter so much.” It does. It’s art, and it’s what I’ve dedicated my life to, but there’s also just living, and being a good friend, and a good partner, and making meals. That’s equally as important. On the Deconstruction and Sanctity of Creativity Kelton Reid: For sure. Well, I’d love to dig into your creativity if you have time. Stephanie Danler: Yeah. That’s like, the vaguest word. It’s like one of those catch-alls, and it’s like a branding tool now, that I don’t even know what it means. But yes, ask away. Kelton Reid: How do you personally define creativity? Stephanie Danler: As I was just being so cynical about creativity, I was thinking also about how sacred it really is. When I think about real creativity, I think about that moment when you’ve been staring at the same material, or the same words, or the same landscape, or building, or face, and you feel like you know it. You feel like everything about it is staid and formulaic, and it’s dead. Then these synapses connect, and it’s new. Then I think about Ezra Pound’s slogan, “Make it new.” I think that that’s creativity. There is no new material. There’s only new ways of perceiving, and that is where original, exciting thought comes from. Kelton Reid: When do you personally feel the most creative? You may have already answered this, but can you nail it down? Stephanie Danler: Yeah. I think that it’s really important to remember how much of writing takes place away from the desk and off the page. I find that I’m very creative where I’m having those synapses firing, where I’m seeing connections, when I’m in transit. Whether I’m driving, or walking, or riding the subway, those are extremely fertile times for thought, because you can wander. That’s all writing, for me. That’s all work. I’m not always even in a rush to write those things down. I kind of observe the thoughts, and if they’re important, and if they’re going to add to whatever dialogue I’m having, they’ll come back to me at the desk. I think in transit is a really lovely time. Kelton Reid: Do you have a creative muse right now? Stephanie Danler: I have been walking a lot since I’ve been back, and I live in Laurel Canyon, so I’m surrounded by trails. I used to walk a lot in New York as well. I used to walk the bridge. I found that to give me a really great mental space. I’m always reading poets, and I read poetry first thing in the morning, and that is such a huge part of my practice. They, whoever they are, never fail to make me excited about language again, which, excitement is one step away from inspiration. Usually that works. How Great Writers Leave ‘Blood on the Page’ Kelton Reid: Very nice. In your estimation, what makes a writer great? Stephanie Danler: That’s a huge question. I really value honesty. Not just honesty, but sincerity in writing. I find, in a lot of modern or postmodern fiction, I feel this distance from the reader, this lack of sincerity, where I’m supposed to be appreciating how clever something is, but the writer hasn’t actually left any blood on the page, so to speak. There isn’t this authenticity, and I’m drawn towards writers in which I can really feel their pulse right behind the page. I don’t know whether that’s lived experience, and there are plenty of fiction writers who make everything up that can give you that feeling, but that’s a mark of talent. Kelton Reid: Completely. Do you have a couple of favorites right now that you’re just kind of stuck on? Sitting on your bedside table? Stephanie Danler: I have such an insane stack on my bedside table. I am so bored of hearing myself praise Maggie Nelson, because I do it all the time, but Maggie Nelson is a critic, essayist, poet. She most recently put out The Argonauts, which is a masterpiece. Then, we have her book of poetry. It’s really a poetic essay called Bluets. At this point, I’ve read everything that she’s written, and she does not care about genre. She does not care about the rules, and I find it so inspiring. Kelton Reid: That’s awesome. Do you have a best-loved quote floating there somewhere over your desk, like so many authors? Stephanie Danler: Yeah. I have a bunch. I actually have a bunch of poems. But my real quotes are on my body. I have some tattoos that are quotes that I carry with me. I have, “This is Water,” from David Foster Wallace, which was a speech he gave at my university, Kenyon College, which has now turned into, like, a manifesto of sorts. What else do I have? I have Clarice Lispector, the last line of her book The Passion According to G.H., is, “And so I adore it,” which is really just an affirmation, after you’ve gone through this novel of destruction, really. It’s really allegorical and very Kafkaesque, even though I hate it when people call things Kafkaesque. That’s the easiest way for me to put it. After you’ve gotten to the bottom of this hole, where there’s no meaning, it ends with this kind of cry, “And so I adore it.” I think of that one often. Kelton Reid: Very cool. I’ve got a couple of fun ones for you, to wrap it up. We will be right back after a very short break. Thanks so much for listening to The Writer Files. Jerod Morris: Hey, Jerod Morris here. If you know anything about Rainmaker Digital and Copyblogger, you may know that we produce incredible live events. Some would say that we produce incredible live events as an excuse to throw great parties, but that’s another story. We’ve got another one coming up this October in Denver. It’s called Digital Commerce Summit and it is entirely focused on giving you the smartest ways to create and sell digital products and services. You can find out more at Rainmaker.FM/summit. That’s Rainmaker.FM/summit. We’ll be talking about Digital Commerce Summit in more detail, as it gets closer. For now, I’d like to let a few attendees from our past events speak for us: Attendee 1: For me, it’s just hearing from the experts. This is my first industry event, so it’s awesome to learn new stuff and also get confirmation that we’re not doing it completely wrong where I work. Attendee 2: The best part of the conference for me is being able to mingle with people and realize that you have connections with everyone here. It feels like LinkedIn live. I also love the parties after each day, being able to talk to the speakers, talk to other people who are here for the first time, people who have been here before. Attendee 3: I think the best part of the conference, for me, is understanding how I can service my customers a little more easily. Seeing all the different facets and components of various enterprises then helps them pick the best tools. Jerod Morris: Hey, we agree one of the biggest reasons we host the conference every year is so that we can learn how to service our customers, people like you, more easily. Here are just a few more words from folks who have come to our past live events. Attendee 4: It’s really fun. I think it’s a great mix of beginner information and advanced information. I’m really learning a lot and having a lot of fun. Attendee 5: The conference is great, especially because it’s a single-track conference where you don’t get distracted by Which session should I go to? and, Am I missing something? Attendee 6:The training and everything, the speakers have been awesome, but I think the coolest aspect for me has been connecting with those people who are putting it on and the other attendees. Jerod Morris: That’s it for now. There’s a lot more to come on Digital Commerce Summit. I really hope to see you there in October. Again, to get all the details and the very best deal on tickets, head over to Rainmaker.FM/summit. That’s Rainmaker.FM/summit. Kelton Reid: Are you a paper or an e-book lover? Stephanie Danler: I don’t have an e-book thing. I can’t do it. I can’t even talk about it. Kelton Reid: Should we cut this? Stephanie Danler: It makes traveling so difficult. No. I love that people read, and my friends have their Kindles, and they love their Kindles, and it’s made them more voracious readers, and I’m so happy about that, but that’s repulsive. I can’t. You have no sense of weight or where you are in a book, and you can’t dog-ear the pages, and you can’t write in them. It’s just, no, no, no. Not for me. Kelton Reid: Well, I believe that you can make marginalia in some Kindles now, but of course it doesn’t look the same years and years down the road when somebody else opens the book. Stephanie Danler: There’s something about reading, even on a computer screen, where you have no idea of where you are in the novel. I love reading a passage and knowing that I’m one-third of the way in, and that sense of expectation that it builds. The way you engage with it knowing that you’re five pages away from the ending, you’re just lost on the screen in cyberspace. It’s terrible. Kelton Reid: It sounds like an alternate dimension. Stephanie Danler: You don’t have to cut this. I really believe in everything I’m saying. I’m very comfortable with this. Kelton Reid: We’ll leave it all in. It’s great. It’s good stuff. Do you have kind of a favorite literary character of all time? Stephanie Danler: That’s such a fun one. I love Henry James‘ women. I love Isabelle Archer from Portrait of a Lady, followed closely by Madame de Vionnet in The Ambassadors. One is like, the young, intelligent, optimistic heroine of the novel, and then Madame de Vionnet is the older, manipulative, cynical, slightly toxic character. Obviously, if you have read my book, I’ve drawn from both of those. I love his women. Kelton Reid: If you could choose an author from any era for an all expense paid dinner to your favorite restaurant in the world, who would you take, and where would you take them? Stephanie Danler: I would take this writer M.F.K. Fisher. She wrote in the mid-20th century. She’s ostensibly a cookery writer, but she’s one of the most underrated writers of the 20th century. She’s incredible. She basically writes personal essays that are centered around food, but at the end you’re crying and you don’t know why. She’s incredibly powerful and very dark and funny. M.F.K. Fisher and I … Where would I take her? She lived in France for so long. I would love to take her to Spain. I’ve been to Spain. I was a Spanish wine buyer for a moment, and I’ve traveled extensively throughout that country, and I think she would be shocked by the quality of food in places like San Sebastian and Barcelona. Yeah, I would take M.F.K. Fisher on a tapeo, a tapas crawl. Kelton Reid: Nice, nice. Love that idea. Actually, it’s making me very hungry and thirsty thinking about that. Do you have any writer s fetishes? I know a lot of writers have collections and rare artifacts of the trade, and many don’t. Do you have anything that kind of hangs around or follows you around the world? Stephanie Danler: I mean, I have my notebooks, and I’ve been writing in them forever. I have my ridiculous library, but I think that every writer has a ridiculous library. My collection of old magazines and old Paris Reviews and old Kenyon Reviews, those are kind of special and idiosyncratic. I have a small collection of The Partisan Review, which was really powerful in the 40s and 50s. It was more powerful intellectually than The New Yorker at the time. Those are so special. You have Jean-Paul Sartre writing for The Partisan Review next to Robert Lowell. Those are incredible. Kelton Reid: Going back to the notebook really quick, what kind of notebook is it? Stephanie Danler: They’re Moleskine notebooks. Black. Kelton Reid: Aha. Stephanie Danler: “Aha.” I know. So boring. I keep a small one for personal, private, nonsensical writing. Then, I keep a larger one for thoughts pertaining to work. If anyone ever tries to sell you the small notebook, you don’t want that. You want the big notebook. Some Great Advice on Why You Just Need to Finish Kelton Reid: Can you offer advice to your fellow scribes, fellow writers, on how to keep the ink flowing, how to keep the cursor moving? Stephanie Danler: I think I go back to reading. I think you need to be reading as much as you’re writing, if not more. I also often tell fellow writers that you have to finish. I remember a professor told me that at The New School, Darryl Pinckney. He said, “You need to finish your projects.” I was like, “Well, duh. Of course, I’m trying to finish.” His point is that so many of us start things. There’s so much energy in, “I have written the opening sentences of the great American novel.” But we never finishing it is an entirely different beast. I think another facet of that is not to be too precious about it because writers do not realize that your first draft is almost meaningless. It doesn’t matter how good it is, how bad it is. You’re going to revise it 1,000 times, and until you write the last sentence, you have no idea what you’re looking at. Whether it is the great American novel, or whether it has to be burned. Get to the end. Kelton Reid: Well, Sweetbitter is a great novel. Congratulations. I love this blurb by Jay McInerney, who, that’s impressive alone, said, “A stunning debut, destined to help define a generation.” It really captures that fast paced, kind of late night, sexy subculture of the restaurant world, but it’s so much more. It’s incredibly well written, and I encourage the listeners to seek it out. I’m sure they can’t miss it at this point because it’s kind of everywhere. Congrats on that. I did have a question about kind of, any of your peers from that period, if you are still in touch with them, did they have any thoughts on kind of how you captured the world? Stephanie Danler: Yeah. I am, as you probably know, having worked in restaurants, your restaurant family, you see them around forever. I’ve had so many different restaurant families, and they’ve all shown up at one event or another. Even when I was in Portland, Oregon, where I knew no one, someone showed up who I used to work with who was living there. Everyone’s been so gracious and supportive, and the notes that I receive are so kind, and I think it’s because it’s fiction. I think that probably everyone I’ve ever worked with picked up the book and was like, “Oh, I bet I’m in here.” They’re not. I think that it makes it easier for them to read, and also, so many times, they’re like, “This took me back. This is like a love letter to our lives in that moment.” That is exactly what I wanted. It really is a deeply nostalgic work, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was in the process of leaving New York, and Union Square Café was closing, and it really is a tribute to that moment of youth, and that moment in New York City. Kelton Reid: That s cool. Stephanie Danler: Yeah, they have been so lovely. Kelton Reid: That’s awesome to hear. Well, congratulations on all of the successes, and we look forward to more. Hope you come back and talk with us again. Where can writers and listeners connect with you out there? Stephanie Danler: I am very active on Instagram, which seems strange for a writer, because I cannot Tweet. I don’t understand anything about it. But there’s an incredible book loving community on Instagram, where people are sharing writers and recommendations, and I post a lot of poetry that I’m reading, and try to give it as much visibility as possible, and yeah. People seem to like reading it on Instagram, so that’s where I am. Kelton Reid: Neat, neat. Very cool. All right, Stephanie. Well, thanks again, and it has been a true pleasure chatting with you about writing. Stephanie Danler: Thank you so much. Kelton Reid: Thanks so much for joining me for this half of a tour through the writer’s process. If you enjoy The Writer Files podcast, please subscribe to the show and leave us a rating or a review on iTunes to help other writers find us. For more episodes, or to just leave a comment or a question, you can drop by WriterFiles.FM, and you can always chat with me on Twitter @KeltonReid. Cheers. Talk to you next week.

This week, we welcome two award-winning authors: American writer Darryl Pinckney and popular English novelist Zadie Smith. In this wide-ranging conversation, Pinckney and Smith talk about race, class, and Pinckney’s new novel, “Black Deutschland.”

Darryl Pinckney talks about the attraction of leaving America to discover how to be an African-American in America.

A panel discussion with Laurie Robinson, co-chair of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, critic and novelist Darryl Pinckney, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. The panelists reflect on issues of race and bias in law enforcement and whether the recommendations of the White House Task Force, if implemented, can practically address and dismantle sources of conflict, deepening racial divisions, and high rates of incarceration in the US. Recorded on September 20, 2015 at the Brooklyn Book Festival.

Darryl Pinckney’s new book, Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy, is a meditation on the intersection between civil rights and the history of black participation in U.S. electoral politics. Fifty years after the first passage of the Voting Rights Act, Pinckney investigates the struggle for black voting rights from Reconstruction through the civil rights movement to Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns. Mr. Pinckney is joined by Wade Henderson, President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Brennan's Washington D.C. office director, Nicole Austin-Hillery.

Darryl Pinckney’s new book, Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy, is a meditation on the intersection between civil rights and the history of black participation in U.S. electoral politics. Fifty years after the first passage of the Voting Rights Act, Pinckney investigates the struggle for black voting rights from Reconstruction through the civil rights movement to Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns. Mr. Pinckney is joined by Wade Henderson, President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Brennan's Washington D.C. office director, Nicole Austin-Hillery.

Blackballed is Darryl Pinckney's reflection on a century and a half of black participation in US electoral politics. In this combination of memoir, historical narrative, and contemporary political and social analysis, he investigates the struggle for black voting rights from Reconstruction through the civil rights movement, leading up to the election of Barack Obama.Darryl Pinckney, a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, is the author of a novel, High Cotton, and Out There: Mavericks of Black Literature.Mr. Pinckney's talk is part of the Brown Lecture Series, sponsored by a generous gift from the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Foundation.Recorded On: Thursday, November 13, 2014