Podcasts about Graywolf Press

Well, that's about it for the story of planet Earth, poor Earth, reduced to not much more than a piece of burnt coal. But, as Deb Olin Unferth shows in her latest electrifying novel, life and love persist, even in the most unexpected, inhospitable places.Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do?By the end of Unferth's wild, poetic, revelatory, and slyly philosophical novel, the reader has traveled to the very edges of the cosmos as a “soul globule” and between grains of sand as a microscopic tardigrade. A slim book tackling big questions (is all matter conscious? will we tech ourselves into salvation, or out of existence?), Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026) is a poignant inquiry into death, mourning, and indefatigable life, the most exhilarating work to date by one of our most original and beloved writers. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including Barn 8 and Wait Till You See Me Dance. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes, and was a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist. Her work has appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Recommended Books: Victor Pelevin, Omon Ra Jean Stafford, A Mother in History Tanya Tagaq, Split Tooth Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, that's about it for the story of planet Earth, poor Earth, reduced to not much more than a piece of burnt coal. But, as Deb Olin Unferth shows in her latest electrifying novel, life and love persist, even in the most unexpected, inhospitable places.Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do?By the end of Unferth's wild, poetic, revelatory, and slyly philosophical novel, the reader has traveled to the very edges of the cosmos as a “soul globule” and between grains of sand as a microscopic tardigrade. A slim book tackling big questions (is all matter conscious? will we tech ourselves into salvation, or out of existence?), Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026) is a poignant inquiry into death, mourning, and indefatigable life, the most exhilarating work to date by one of our most original and beloved writers. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including Barn 8 and Wait Till You See Me Dance. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes, and was a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist. Her work has appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Recommended Books: Victor Pelevin, Omon Ra Jean Stafford, A Mother in History Tanya Tagaq, Split Tooth Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Well, that's about it for the story of planet Earth, poor Earth, reduced to not much more than a piece of burnt coal. But, as Deb Olin Unferth shows in her latest electrifying novel, life and love persist, even in the most unexpected, inhospitable places.Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do?By the end of Unferth's wild, poetic, revelatory, and slyly philosophical novel, the reader has traveled to the very edges of the cosmos as a “soul globule” and between grains of sand as a microscopic tardigrade. A slim book tackling big questions (is all matter conscious? will we tech ourselves into salvation, or out of existence?), Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026) is a poignant inquiry into death, mourning, and indefatigable life, the most exhilarating work to date by one of our most original and beloved writers. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including Barn 8 and Wait Till You See Me Dance. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes, and was a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist. Her work has appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Recommended Books: Victor Pelevin, Omon Ra Jean Stafford, A Mother in History Tanya Tagaq, Split Tooth Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-fiction

Well, that's about it for the story of planet Earth, poor Earth, reduced to not much more than a piece of burnt coal. But, as Deb Olin Unferth shows in her latest electrifying novel, life and love persist, even in the most unexpected, inhospitable places.Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do?By the end of Unferth's wild, poetic, revelatory, and slyly philosophical novel, the reader has traveled to the very edges of the cosmos as a “soul globule” and between grains of sand as a microscopic tardigrade. A slim book tackling big questions (is all matter conscious? will we tech ourselves into salvation, or out of existence?), Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026) is a poignant inquiry into death, mourning, and indefatigable life, the most exhilarating work to date by one of our most original and beloved writers. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including Barn 8 and Wait Till You See Me Dance. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes, and was a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist. Her work has appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Recommended Books: Victor Pelevin, Omon Ra Jean Stafford, A Mother in History Tanya Tagaq, Split Tooth Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

With thanks to “forever” plastics, the earth has reverted to sand and dust. Dylan has been raised by her scientist mother, in a pod under the sea, and longs to escape the loneliness of being confined. The only friend she ever had was a pen pal from Mars, who disappeared. With great effort, she's escorted onto land, to the place of her mother's employment where she becomes the groundskeeper. Unofficially, she begins studying sand. After a few years, the company sends her on a vacation and she meets Melanie, possibly a robot. Love flourishes on the floundering planet, but death is never far, and Dylan's pen pal returns too late in Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026), a dystopian novel about the frailty of the planet, the ongoing need for scientific research, and the human struggle for survival. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including the novels Barn 8 and Vacation, the memoir Revolution, finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award, two story collections, and the graphic novel I, Parrot. Her fiction and essays have appeared in over fifty magazines and journals, including Harper's, the New York Times, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, three Pushcart Prizes, a Creative Capital Fellowship for Innovative Literature, fellowships from the MacDowell, Yaddo, and Ucross residencies.  She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Unferth founded and directs the Pen City Writers, a creative writing program for incarcerated men at a maximum-security prison in south Texas. The program has been running for ten years, and the students regularly win writing awards from Pen America and the Insider Prize. Their work has appeared in many places, including Vice, StoryQuarterly, the Texas Observer, the Stranger's Guide, and the Marshall Project. Deb and her friend, Lucy Corin, have gone on several research and writing trips together, including to the Sahara Desert for the sand; in 2024, they spent a month in the Arctic to see ice, trying to get as close to the North Pole as possible, and reaching the 82nd parallel. Last year, they rented two pods in a scrub desert Dark Sky area of the US to see darkness. Originally from Chicago, Unferth lives in Austin with philosophy professor Matt Evans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

With thanks to “forever” plastics, the earth has reverted to sand and dust. Dylan has been raised by her scientist mother, in a pod under the sea, and longs to escape the loneliness of being confined. The only friend she ever had was a pen pal from Mars, who disappeared. With great effort, she's escorted onto land, to the place of her mother's employment where she becomes the groundskeeper. Unofficially, she begins studying sand. After a few years, the company sends her on a vacation and she meets Melanie, possibly a robot. Love flourishes on the floundering planet, but death is never far, and Dylan's pen pal returns too late in Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026), a dystopian novel about the frailty of the planet, the ongoing need for scientific research, and the human struggle for survival. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including the novels Barn 8 and Vacation, the memoir Revolution, finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award, two story collections, and the graphic novel I, Parrot. Her fiction and essays have appeared in over fifty magazines and journals, including Harper's, the New York Times, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, three Pushcart Prizes, a Creative Capital Fellowship for Innovative Literature, fellowships from the MacDowell, Yaddo, and Ucross residencies.  She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Unferth founded and directs the Pen City Writers, a creative writing program for incarcerated men at a maximum-security prison in south Texas. The program has been running for ten years, and the students regularly win writing awards from Pen America and the Insider Prize. Their work has appeared in many places, including Vice, StoryQuarterly, the Texas Observer, the Stranger's Guide, and the Marshall Project. Deb and her friend, Lucy Corin, have gone on several research and writing trips together, including to the Sahara Desert for the sand; in 2024, they spent a month in the Arctic to see ice, trying to get as close to the North Pole as possible, and reaching the 82nd parallel. Last year, they rented two pods in a scrub desert Dark Sky area of the US to see darkness. Originally from Chicago, Unferth lives in Austin with philosophy professor Matt Evans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-fiction

With thanks to “forever” plastics, the earth has reverted to sand and dust. Dylan has been raised by her scientist mother, in a pod under the sea, and longs to escape the loneliness of being confined. The only friend she ever had was a pen pal from Mars, who disappeared. With great effort, she's escorted onto land, to the place of her mother's employment where she becomes the groundskeeper. Unofficially, she begins studying sand. After a few years, the company sends her on a vacation and she meets Melanie, possibly a robot. Love flourishes on the floundering planet, but death is never far, and Dylan's pen pal returns too late in Earth 7 (Graywolf Press 2026), a dystopian novel about the frailty of the planet, the ongoing need for scientific research, and the human struggle for survival. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including the novels Barn 8 and Vacation, the memoir Revolution, finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award, two story collections, and the graphic novel I, Parrot. Her fiction and essays have appeared in over fifty magazines and journals, including Harper's, the New York Times, The Paris Review, Granta, and McSweeney's. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, three Pushcart Prizes, a Creative Capital Fellowship for Innovative Literature, fellowships from the MacDowell, Yaddo, and Ucross residencies.  She's a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches for the Michener Center, the New Writers' Project, and she also directs the Pen City Writers, the prison creative-writing program at a south Texas penitentiary. Unferth founded and directs the Pen City Writers, a creative writing program for incarcerated men at a maximum-security prison in south Texas. The program has been running for ten years, and the students regularly win writing awards from Pen America and the Insider Prize. Their work has appeared in many places, including Vice, StoryQuarterly, the Texas Observer, the Stranger's Guide, and the Marshall Project. Deb and her friend, Lucy Corin, have gone on several research and writing trips together, including to the Sahara Desert for the sand; in 2024, they spent a month in the Arctic to see ice, trying to get as close to the North Pole as possible, and reaching the 82nd parallel. Last year, they rented two pods in a scrub desert Dark Sky area of the US to see darkness. Originally from Chicago, Unferth lives in Austin with philosophy professor Matt Evans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

We're talking today with Mathias Svalina and David St. John about the new collected Larry Levis book Swirl and Vortex, which has just come out from Graywolf Press. Mathias has been a long-time reader and scholar of Levis' work, and so I knew I needed him on here today. He's been on this podcast many […]

Darius Stewart reads his review, "Permeable Devotion": A Review of The Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly (Graywolf Press, 2025).Darius Stewart is the author of Intimacies in Borrowed Light: Poems (EastOver Press, 2022) and Be Not Afraid of My Body: A Lyrical Memoir (Belt Publishing, 2024), which was named a 2025 Stonewall Book Award–Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Honoree and a Lambda Literary Award finalist for Gay Memoir/Biography. His essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Arkansas International, Brink, Bat City Review, Brooklyn Review, Colorado Review, Fourth Genre, and Salamander, among others, and received a Notable Essay distinction in Best American Essays 2022. He lives in Iowa City with his dog, Gizmo.

Amy Klein (of AK and The Hallucinations and former guitarist of Titus Andronicus) joins me for an emotionally cathartic conversation about season 1 of Heated Rivalry and our personal soundtrack wishlists for season 2. Topics include love letters to fanfiction, the inherent grief and woundedness of desire, Carl Jung's theory of the shadow self, and engaging with the erotic as a deeply female and spiritual source through the writings of Anne Carson and Audre Lorde. ✨KEEP UP TO DATE WITH AMY KLEIN ✨Web: http://www.amykleinmusic.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/akandthehallucinations/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/amyrebeccakleinSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3eRMQoarXLl60uC8Bi6BJL?si=wg_KQD1RSpGbAwmUIcyv_w ✨ SEASON 2 SOUNDTRACK WISHLIST ✨ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5rxyGRdaf22e7YCoBwg5qh✨ SOURCES & WORKS REFERENCED ✨Aya, Maxine. “two souls become one: analyzing heated rivalry's original soundtrack.” Maxine Aya Writes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://www.maxineayawrites.com/blog/two-souls-become-one.Berger, John. “Another Side of Desire.” Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance, Verso Books, 2007, pp. 126, 2 Mar. 2026. Carson, Anne. “Finding The Edge.” Eros The Bittersweet, Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 30, 2 Mar. 2026. Cultured Mag. “@connorstorrieofficial has a PSA for the Internet…” Instagram, 20 Feb. 2026, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DU_w0O_iRzk/.Derrida, Jacques. "Wears and Tears (Tableau of an ageless world).” Spectres of Marx, Éditions Galilée, 1993, pp. 51, 2 Mar. 2026. Fell, Erin. “‘Heated Rivalry' Composer Peter Peter on His Debut Scoring Effort: “Pretty Insane, Especially for a First Gig.” Variety, 6 Feb. 2026, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/peter-peter-heated-rivalry-composer-interview-1236496036/. Gibson, Erin. “Heated Rivalry - Ep 2.” Attitudes, 29 Jan. 2026, https://www.patreon.com/posts/149341967?collection=1942480.Glitch Gestalt Girl. “Heated Rivalry's cinematography challenges how film language is allowed to look at men.” Instagram, 19 Feb. 2026, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DU8blSbjT6L/. Jung, Carl. Chapter. Man and His Symbols, Doubleday, 1964, 2 Mar. 2026. Jung, E. Alex. “Girls Who Love Boys Who Love Boys.” New York Magazine, 23 Feb. 2026, https://www.vulture.com/article/heated-rivalry-fujoshi-fan-fiction.html.King, Gayle.” Heated Rivalry" producers on show's popularity and what to know about its second season.” CBS Mornings, 26 Feb. 2026, https://youtu.be/2MAayneb5lw?si=jj84gv-67r9W2kaG. Lorde, Audre. “Uses of the Erotic.” Sister Outsider, Crossing Press, 1984, pp.54-56, 2 Mar. 2026. Machado, Carmen Maria. In the Dream House, Graywolf Press, 2019, pp. 68, 2 Mar. 2026. Mazza, Angelina. “Sorry, the “Heated Rivalry” gay Marvel fanfic origin story isn't true.” Salon, 6 Dec. 2025, https://www.salon.com/2025/12/06/heated-rivalry-gay-marvel-fanfic-rachel-reid/ Melchor, Traci. “Heated Rivalry' creator wants show to be synonymous with "horny joy" | Jacob Tierney Interview.” Etalk, 12 Dec. 2025, https://youtu.be/1Tec_LsHueY?si=hVGsO-MluOqNc627.Plato. The Symposium. Translated by Christopher Gill, Penguin Classics, 2003, 2 Mar. 2026. Princiotti, Nora. “The Perfect ‘O.C.' Soundtrack Made Indie Music Mainstream.” The Ringer, 3 Aug. 2023, https://www.theringer.com/2023/08/03/tv/20th-anniversary-of-the-oc-music-soundtrack-rooney-death-cab-for-cutie.Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1996, 2 Mar. 2026. Reid, Rachel. Heated Rivalry, Harlequin Enterprises, 2019, 2 Mar. 2026. Saturday Night Live. “Stripper.” NBC, 1 Mar. 2026, https://youtu.be/uJAIEym5FvM?si=OVUAXpJrwinQ4MV1.Shaped by the Flow. “This isn't consent education.” Instagram, 8 Jan. 2026, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTQOn39CAnA/. Sim, Bernardo. “Heated Rivalry: Hudson thought Connor would 'pin me down and f— me' in audition.” Out Magazine, 29, Nov. 2025. https://www.out.com/gay-tv-shows/heated-rivalry-connor-storrie-hudson-williams-interview.

This week, in honor of Black History Month, the ladies review Percival Everett's powerful and provocative novel The Trees. They begin with the book's gripping premise: when detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive in Money, Mississippi to investigate a series of brutal murders, they discover something unsettling at each crime scene, a second body resembling Emmett Till. Met with resistance from local law enforcement and racist townsfolk, the detectives begin to suspect these killings are acts of retribution. As eerily similar murders begin unfolding across the country, it becomes clear that the past refuses to stay buried and that something larger is underway.In this bold and biting page turner, Everett confronts the legacy of lynching, white supremacy, and racial violence in America with sharp satire and unflinching honesty. The hosts unpack the novel's layered storytelling, dark humor, historical weight, and cultural commentary, discussing how it challenges readers while refusing comfort. It is a thought provoking conversation about memory, justice, and what it means when history demands to be reckoned with. Cheeers!SPOILERS & Trigger Warning: This book discusses the use of racial slurs, racial violence, racial hatred, lynchings, and other forms of racist behavior. Depictions of violence in this novel are graphic. *Please be advised this episode is intended for adult audiences and contains adult language and content. We are expressing opinions on the show for entertainment purposes only. Dedication: To our patrons as always!! We love you!Moni: To Carter G Woodson the father of Black History Month, to all the victims of racial violence in America and around the world past and present, to my mother in law, get well soon & I love you!Kat: To the man who found and returned my wallet in Kroger, thank you. To the series Wonder Man.About the book:https://www.npr.org/2021/09/22/1039434714/percival-everett-the-trees-reviewThe Trees was published by Graywolf Press in 2021. The Trees was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2022. Pages: Approximately 288–320/8 hours Author:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/31723. Percival Everett is the author of 22 novels. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and is a Guggenheim Fellow (2015).NPR Book Review:https://www.npr.org/2021/09/22/1039434714/percival-everett-the-trees-reviewMoni learned a new word: Nescience: lack of knowledge or ignorance (nesh-ence)Other topics on the show:Monkey Obama Meme/Trump https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-shares-racist-video-depicting-obamas-monkeys-rcna257756Surrage mix up: https://people.com/couple-sues-fertility-clinic-after-welcoming-baby-girl-not-biologically-related-to-them-11895783Epstein Files: No blacks allowed  https://www.ms.now/news/epstein-emailed-with-silicon-valley-elites-about-racist-eugenicist-ideas**Stranger than Fiction:

Ben Ratliff is the author of Every Song Ever and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening (Graywolf Press, 2025) was longlisted for the National Book Award, and the 2026 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. A former music critic for the New York Times, he lives in New York City and teaches at NYU. Listening Recommendations: Cara Lise Coverdale, A Series of Actions in A Sphere of Forever Ishmael Rivera, Lo Ultimo in La Avenida Book Recommendations: Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume 1-3 Samuel R Delaney, The Motion of Light and Water Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Ratliff is the author of Every Song Ever and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening (Graywolf Press, 2025) was longlisted for the National Book Award, and the 2026 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. A former music critic for the New York Times, he lives in New York City and teaches at NYU. Listening Recommendations: Cara Lise Coverdale, A Series of Actions in A Sphere of Forever Ishmael Rivera, Lo Ultimo in La Avenida Book Recommendations: Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume 1-3 Samuel R Delaney, The Motion of Light and Water Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Ben Ratliff is the author of Every Song Ever and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening (Graywolf Press, 2025) was longlisted for the National Book Award, and the 2026 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. A former music critic for the New York Times, he lives in New York City and teaches at NYU. Listening Recommendations: Cara Lise Coverdale, A Series of Actions in A Sphere of Forever Ishmael Rivera, Lo Ultimo in La Avenida Book Recommendations: Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume 1-3 Samuel R Delaney, The Motion of Light and Water Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Ben Ratliff is the author of Every Song Ever and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening (Graywolf Press, 2025) was longlisted for the National Book Award, and the 2026 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. A former music critic for the New York Times, he lives in New York City and teaches at NYU. Listening Recommendations: Cara Lise Coverdale, A Series of Actions in A Sphere of Forever Ishmael Rivera, Lo Ultimo in La Avenida Book Recommendations: Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume 1-3 Samuel R Delaney, The Motion of Light and Water Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

Donika Kelly is the author of the poetry collection The Natural Order of Things, available from Graywolf Press. Kelly is also the author of Bestiary, winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and The Renunciations, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. *** ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Otherppl with Brad Listi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, etc. Get ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How to Write a Novel,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brad's email newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

This week on ‘The Write Question,' host Lauren Korn returns to her conversation with writer and translator Laura Marris, author of ‘The Age of Loneliness' (Graywolf Press). This episode originally aired February 27, 2025.

This week on ‘The Write Question,' host Lauren Korn returns to her conversation with writer and translator Laura Marris, author of ‘The Age of Loneliness' (Graywolf Press). This episode originally aired February 27, 2025.

Former stand-up comedian Max Delsohn sits down with Jared to talk about how humor and detailed line-level revision show up in his work for the stage and the page. Plus, he discusses a pleasure-forward writing process, switching MFA programs after the first year, and his experiences with big-name faculty like George Saunders and Mary Karr.Max Delsohn is a third-year MFA candidate in fiction at Syracuse University. His writing appears in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, VICE, Joyland, The Rumpus, Passages North, Nat. Brut, and the essay anthology Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games, edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado, among other places. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Saltonstall Foundation for The Arts, Mineral School, and Hugo House, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. His debut short story collection, CRAWL, is forthcoming in fall 2025 from Graywolf Press. Find Max on social media @maxdelsohn, and sign up for alerts to pre-order his collection via his website, www.maxdelsohn.com.This episode was requested by Amy Peltz, Sarah Blood, and Frank Turner. Thank you all for listening!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 SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.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 CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Chloé Caldwell reads an excerpt from her memoir Trying, published by Graywolf Press in August 2025.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcomeToday's guest is author Chloe Caldwell's second interview for The Bleeders podcast. In this episode, Chloe shares two submission stories—one a nightmare and one a dream—along with advice for other writers on submission. Follow Chloe on Instagram @chloeeeecaldwell and buy her new memoir, Trying, out on August 5th from Graywolf Press. If you missed Chloe's first interview, listen here.The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Instagram @courtneykocak and Bluesky @courtneykocak.bsky.social. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.Courtney is teaching some upcoming workshops you might be interested in:Land Big Bylines by Writing for Columns: https://writingworkshops.com/products/land-big-bylines-by-writing-for-columns-zoom-seminarThe Multi-Passionate Writer's Life: https://writeordiemag.com/workshops/p/the-multi-passionate-writers-lifeHow to Build a “Platform” for Writers Who Shudder at the Thought: https://writingworkshops.com/products/how-to-build-a-platform-for-writers-who-shudder-at-the-thought-zoom-seminarBack to School Pitch Party (use code BLEEDERS for $75 off): https://www.courtneykocak.com/teachingCreating Your Podcast: https://www.roadmapwriters.com/products/creating-your-podcast-0Start a Newsletter to Supercharge Your Platform, Network and Business: https://writingworkshops.com/products/start-a-newsletter-to-supercharge-your-platform-network-business-zoom-seminarPodcasting for Writers: How to Start, Sustain & Grow Your Podcast: https://writingworkshops.com/products/podcasting-for-writers-how-to-start-sustain-grow-your-podcast-4-week-zoom-workshop

Anna Kornbluh on the prevalence of aesthetic immediacy and why we need climate counteraesthetics. Events (from the introduction): at the Zollo Collective: https://www.instagram.com/zollo.hamburg/?hl=en at La Band Varga: https://labandavaga.org/?page_id=102 Rethinking Economics Summer School Switzerland: https://resuso.ch/   Shownotes Anna Kornbluh's personal website (including all her publications): http://www.annakornbluh.com/ Anna at the University of Illinois Chicago: https://engl.uic.edu/profiles/kornbluh-anna/ Kornbluh, A. (2024). Immediacy, or the Style of Too Late Capitalism. Verso Books. https://www.versobooks.com/products/3031-immediacy-or-the-style-of-too-late-capitalism Kornbluh, A. (2023). We Didn't Start The Fire. Death Drive and Ecocide. Parapraxis Magazine Issue 3. https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/we-didnt-start-the-fire Kornbluh, A. (2020). Climate Realism, Capitalist and Otherwise. Mediations. Journal of the Marxist Literary Group. Vol. 33. No. 1-2. P. 99-118. https://mediationsjournal.org/articles/climate-realism Kornbluh, A. (2019). The Order of Forms. Realism, Formalism, and Social Space. University of Chicago Press. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo44521006.html Groos, J., Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction. Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction on Alexis Pauline Gumbs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Pauline_Gumbs https://www.alexispauline.com/ her essay on the Maui wildfires: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a44819303/climate-crisis-maui/  on climate fiction (cli-fi): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_fiction Rebecca Saltzman: https://rebeccasaltzman.net/ Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/staying-with-the-trouble Tsing, A. L. (2021). The Mushroom at the End of the World. On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691220550/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world on the genre of the Heist film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heist_film on “Logan Lucky”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Lucky Strange, S. (2015). Casino Capitalism. Manchester University Press. https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781784991340/ Edward Morgan Forster on Narrative: https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/04/e-m-forster-the-difference-between-story-and-plot/ on climate/eco-anxiety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-anxiety Spufford, F. (2012). Red Plenty. Graywolf Press. https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/red-plenty explanation “hypersititon”: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hyperstition on Kim Stanley Robinson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson Robinson, K. S. (2020). The Ministry for the Future. Orbit. https://store.orbit-books.co.uk/products/the-ministry-for-the-future Robinson, K. S. (2017). New York 2140. Orbit. https://store.orbit-books.co.uk/products/new-york-2140 on the Inflation Reduction Act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act on the Green New Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal website of Daniel Aldana Cohen (including all his publications): https://aldanacohen.com/ Climate & Community Institute: https://climateandcommunity.org/ “A Message from the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” video from 2019: https://youtu.be/d9uTH0iprVQ?si=8O-M_fS2iO_AQhiL Aronoff, K., Battistoni, A., Cohen, D. A., & Riofrancos, T. (2019). A Planet to Win. Why We Need a Green New Deal. Verso Books. https://www.versobooks.com/products/2546-a-planet-to-win Klein, N., Taylor, A. (2025). The Rise of End Times Fascism. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk on the Zohran Mamdani campaign: https://www.zohranfornyc.com/ on Social Realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_realism on Brandon Taylor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Taylor_(writer) his website: https://brandonlgtaylor.com/ on Colson Whitehead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colson_Whitehead his website: https://www.colsonwhitehead.com/ on “Succession”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_(TV_series) on “Somebody Somewhere”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_Somewhere_(TV_series) on public luxury: https://communia.de/en/project/public-luxury/ https://autonomy.work/portfolio/public-luxury-in-practice/ Nunes, R. (2021). Neither Vertical nor Horizontal. A Theory of Political Organization. Verso Books. https://www.versobooks.com/products/772-neither-vertical-nor-horizontal Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò's website: http://www.olufemiotaiwo.com/ Táíwò, O. (2020). Who gets to feel secure? On Liberty, Security, and Our System of Racial Capitalism. Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/on-liberty-security-and-our-system-of-racial-capitalism Boston Review issue on “What is the State for?”: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/from-the-editors-what-is-the-state-for/ on Freud's concept of the Death drive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_drive Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics S3E32 | Jacob Blumenfeld on Climate Barbarism and Managing Decline https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e32-jacob-blumenfeld-on-climate-barbarism-and-managing-decline/ S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and Left Imaginaries https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e30-matt-huber-kohei-saito-on-growth-progress-and-left-imaginaries/ S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e23-andreas-malm-on-overshooting-into-climate-breakdown/ S03E03 | Planning for Entropy on Sociometabolic Planning https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e03-planning-for-entropy-on-sociometabolic-planning/ S03E02 | George Monbiot on Public Luxury https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e02-george-monbiot-on-public-luxury/ S02E27 | Nick Dyer-Witheford on Biocommunism https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e27-nick-dyer-witheford-on-biocommunism/ S02E18 | Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese on Half Earth Socialism https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e18-drew-pendergrass-and-troy-vettese-on-half-earth-socialism/ S01E16 | Richard Barbrook on Imaginary Futures https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e16-richard-barbrook-on-imaginary-futures/ --- If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help: Democratic planning – an information website https://www.democratic-planning.com/ Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1 Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk] https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction International Network for Democratic Economic Planning https://www.indep.network/ Democratic Planning Research Platform: https://www.planningresearch.net/ --- Future Histories Contact & Support If you like Future Histories, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/FutureHistories Contact: office@futurehistories.today Twitter: https://twitter.com/FutureHpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehpodcast/ Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@FutureHistories English webpage: https://futurehistories-international.com   Episode Keywords #AnnaKornbluh, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational, #DemocraticPlanning, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #FutureImaginaries, #Art, #Literature, #Representation, #Immediacy, #ClimateChange, #ClimateBreakdown, #ClimateCollapse, #Capitalism, #Economics, #Collapse, #GreenNewDeal, #ClimateAnxiety

This week on ‘The Write Question,' host Lauren Korn speaks with writer and translator Laura Marris, author of ‘The Age of Loneliness' (Graywolf Press).

This week on ‘The Write Question,' host Lauren Korn speaks with writer and translator Laura Marris, author of ‘The Age of Loneliness' (Graywolf Press).

In this special live recording we dive into The Seers, the mesmerising new novel by Sulaiman Addonia. In conversation with Adam Biles, Addonia shares the story behind his bold, unfiltered novel—written as a single, unbroken paragraph—through the voice of Hannah, an Eritrean refugee navigating love, loss, sexuality, and identity on the streets of London. Three powerful readings by Liya Kebede, bringing Hannah's world vividly to lifeThe Seers is a novel that defies definition—sensual, poetic, and politically charged. Addonia's reflections on storytelling, migration, and the search for home will stay with you long after you listen.Buy The Seers: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-seers*Sulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist. He spent his early life in a refugee camp in Sudan, and his early teens in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He arrived in London as an underage unaccompanied refugee without a word of English and went on to earn an MA in Development Studies from SOAS and a BSc in Economics from UCL.His first novel, The Consequences of Love (Chatto & Windus, 2008), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and translated into more than 20 languages. His second novel, Silence Is My Mother Tongue (Indigo Press, 2019; Graywolf Press, 2020), was a finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards. His essays appear in LitHub, Granta, Freeman's, The New York Times, De Standaard and Sulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist .Addonia currently lives in Brussels where he founded the Creative Writing Academy for Refugees & Asylum Seekers and the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival In Exile.Liya Kebede is a pioneering model, actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She has worked with top fashion brands like Chanel, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Estée Lauder, promoting inclusivity in the industry. In 2007, she launched lemlem, a sustainable fashion brand supporting Ethiopian Artisans. Kebede is also a WHO Goodwill Ambassador and founded the lemlem Foundation to improve healthcare and economic opportunities for African women. She promotes literature through her latest endeavour "Liyabraire" and introduced the BB Bookbags collection.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. His latest novel, Beasts of England, a to Animal Farm, is available now. Buy a signed copy here: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/beasts-of-englandListen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carmen Giménez's poem “Ars Poetica” is a stunning waterfall of words, a torrent of dozens of short statements that begin with “I” or “I'm.” As you listen to them, let an answering cascade of questions fill up your mind. What does this series of confessions reveal to you about poetry? The poet? And yourself?Carmen Giménez is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Milk and Filth, a finalist for the NBCC Award in Poetry, and Be Recorder (Graywolf Press, 2019), a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award in Poetry, the PEN Open Book Award, the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She was awarded the Academy of American Poets Fellowship Prize in 2020. A 2019 Guggenheim fellow, she served as the publisher of Noemi Press for 20 years. She is the Publisher and Executive Director of Graywolf Press.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.We're pleased to offer Carmen Giménez's poem and invite you to subscribe to Pádraig's weekly Poetry Unbound Substack newsletter, read the Poetry Unbound book, or listen to past episodes of the podcast. Order your copy of Kitchen Hymns (new poems from Pádraig) and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (new essays by Pádraig) wherever you buy books.

Minnesota has a rich literary scene and one way to find books by local authors is to check out the annual list of finalists for the Minnesota Book Awards. For the first time since 2006, anthologies are a category on that list. These are collections of stories, poems, and even visual art that are organized around a theme. The stories in one of the finalist works this year may be familiar to anyone who's stumbled into a deep conversation in a bathroom or on a bus. In fact, the idea for “Locker Room Talk: Women in Private Spaces” came to co-editor Michelle Filkins after she witnessed one of those moments. She joins MPR News host Nina Moini along with New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee, who is one of the writers featured in the anthology.MPR News has spoken with a number of writers on the list of 2025 Minnesota Book Award finalists, including Louise Erdrich, Mubanga Kalimamukwento, and Anne Ursu, as well as Graywolf Press, which is nominated for its 50th anniversary poetry collection.

On this week's show Chrissy Kolaya talks to Dobby Gibson about his latest poetry volume, Hold Everything, now out with Graywolf Press.

Poetry engages in conversation. Today, we explore a long, beautiful, narrative poem weaving together the work of fellow poets while looking carefully at a Caravaggio painting, all reflecting on illness, death, and friendship. For the poem, see here: https://www.nereview.com/vol-40-no-1-2019/the-conversion-of-paul/ For Grotz's incredible book, Still Falling, see Graywolf (https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/still-falling)Press here: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/still-falling “Still Falling is an undeniably gorgeous book of love poems full of grief. In these pages, Jennifer Grotz writes line after line of direct statement in rhythms that would leave any reader breathless and wanting more. . . . I am in awe of Grotz's power to grow and transform book after book. I cannot read Still Falling without crying.”—Jericho Brown For the Caravaggio painting, The Conversion on the Way to Damascus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_on_the_Way_to_Damascus), see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConversionontheWayto_Damascus For more episodes on ekphrasis, please see our website and keywords here: https://poetryforallpod.com/episodes/ Thanks to Graywolf Press for permission to read this poem on the podcast. Jennifer Grotz's "The Conversation of Paul" was published in her collection titled Still Falling (Graywolf, 2023).

This remarkable sonnet dives into issues of poverty, poetry, and grief. We talk about the pedagogy of constraint, while exploring the achievements, including the hardbitten gratitude, embedded in this poem. Thank you to Graywolf Press for permission to read and discuss the poem. Diane Seuss's "[The sonnet, like poverty, teaches you what you can do]" was published in her collection titled frank: sonnets (Graywolf, 2021). See the work (and buy it!) here: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/frank-sonnets For more on Diane Seuss, see here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/diane-seuss For more on the Sealey Challenge, see here: https://www.thesealeychallenge.com/

Day 20: Mary Jo Bang reads her poem “Mary Jo in the Time of Sappho.” We are honored to be the original publication of this poem. Mary Jo Bang is the author of nine books of poems—including A Film in Which I Play Everyone, which was nominated for a Lammy Award, A Doll for Throwing, and Elegy, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award. She has published translations of Dante's Inferno, illustrated by Henrik Drescher, and Purgatorio. Her translation of Paradiso is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2025. She is also the translator of Colonies of Paradise: Poems by Matthias Göritz and co-translator, with Yuki Tanaka, of A Kiss for the Absolute: Selected Poems of Shuzo Takiguchi, forthcoming in 2024 from the Princeton University Press Lockert Poetry in Translation Series. She teaches at Washington University in St. Louis. Text of today's poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.  Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.  Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and professor Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this fourth year of our series is from the second movement of the “Geistinger Sonata,” Piano Sonata No. 2 in C sharp minor, by Ethel Smyth, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.  

Jane Kenyon (1947–1995), former Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, was the author of four volumes of poetry. Her collected poems were published by Graywolf Press in 2007. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

Day 7: Mark Wunderlich reads his poem “No Horse.” We are honored to be the first publisher of this poem.  Mark Wunderlich is the author of four collections of poems, the most recent of which is God of Nothingness published by Graywolf Press.  His other collections include The Earth Avails, winner of the Rilke Prize, Voluntary Servitude, and The Anchorage, which received the Lambda Literary Award.  He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Amy Lowell Trust, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Wallace Stegner program at Stanford University.  He serves as Executive Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars graduate writing program, and chairs the Writing Committee at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.  He lives near Catskill, New York.   Text of today's poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.  Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.  Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and professor Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this fourth year of our series is from the second movement of the “Geistinger Sonata,” Piano Sonata No. 2 in C sharp minor, by Ethel Smyth, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.   

Max Porter is the author of the novel Shy, available in trade paperback from Graywolf Press. Porter is the author of Lanny, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and The Death of Francis Bacon. He lives in Bath with his family. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Twitter Instagram  TikTok Bluesky 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

Day 2: Eduardo C. Corral read the title poem of his 2020 collection Guillotine (Graywolf Press).  Eduardo C. Corral is the son of Mexican immigrants. He's the author of Guillotine, published by Graywolf Press, and Slow Lightning, which won the 2011 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. He's the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University. He teaches in the MFA program at North Carolina State University. Text of today's poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.  Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.  Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and professor Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this fourth year of our series is from the second movement of the “Geistinger Sonata,” Piano Sonata No. 2 in C sharp minor, by Ethel Smyth, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.   

Former stand-up comedian Max Delsohn sits down with Jared to talk about how humor and detailed line-level revision show up in his work for the stage and the page. Plus, he discusses a pleasure-forward writing process, switching MFA programs after the first year, and his experiences with big-name faculty like George Saunders and Mary Karr. Max Delsohn is a third-year MFA candidate in fiction at Syracuse University. His writing appears in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, VICE, Joyland, The Rumpus, Passages North, Nat. Brut, and the essay anthology Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games, edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado, among other places. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Saltonstall Foundation for The Arts, Mineral School, and Hugo House, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. His debut short story collection, CRAWL, is forthcoming in fall 2025 from Graywolf Press. Find Max on social media @maxdelsohn, and sign up for alerts to pre-order his collection via his website, www.maxdelsohn.com. This episode was requested by Amy Peltz, Sarah Blood, and Frank Turner. Thank you all for listening! 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 — Donate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee. — Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. — 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

This week on ‘The Write Question,' host Lauren Korn speaks with Carmen Maria Machado, the headlining author at the 2024 Get Lit! Festival in Spokane, Washington, which takes place April 11th-14th. In this conversation, Carmen and Lauren center her memoir, ‘In the Dream House' (Graywolf Press, 2019), and her collection of short stories, ‘Her Body and Other Parties' (Graywolf Press, 2017).

A young Black musician is heckled by a group of white fraternity brothers, asking him to play "Dixie." His response surprises everyone, including himself. This story appears in the collection DAMNED IF I DO, published by Graywolf Press.

When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it. Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic. The Tree Doctor (Graywolf Press, 2024) is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit. Marie Mutsuki Mockett is the author of a previous novel, Picking Bones from Ash, and two books of nonfiction, American Harvest, which won the Nebraska book award, and the northern California book award, and Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, which was a finalist for the Pen Open Book Award. A graduate of Columbia University in East Asian studies she has been awarded NEA – JUSFC and Fulbright Fellowships, both for Japan. Recommended Books: Royall Tyler, The Disaster of the Third Princess: Essays on The Tale of Genji Emily Raboteau, Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse" Martin Puchner, Culture Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it. Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic. The Tree Doctor (Graywolf Press, 2024) is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit. Marie Mutsuki Mockett is the author of a previous novel, Picking Bones from Ash, and two books of nonfiction, American Harvest, which won the Nebraska book award, and the northern California book award, and Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, which was a finalist for the Pen Open Book Award. A graduate of Columbia University in East Asian studies she has been awarded NEA – JUSFC and Fulbright Fellowships, both for Japan. Recommended Books: Royall Tyler, The Disaster of the Third Princess: Essays on The Tale of Genji Emily Raboteau, Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse" Martin Puchner, Culture Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it. Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic. The Tree Doctor (Graywolf Press, 2024) is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit. Marie Mutsuki Mockett is the author of a previous novel, Picking Bones from Ash, and two books of nonfiction, American Harvest, which won the Nebraska book award, and the northern California book award, and Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, which was a finalist for the Pen Open Book Award. A graduate of Columbia University in East Asian studies she has been awarded NEA – JUSFC and Fulbright Fellowships, both for Japan. Recommended Books: Royall Tyler, The Disaster of the Third Princess: Essays on The Tale of Genji Emily Raboteau, Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse" Martin Puchner, Culture Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Listen to author and critic Erica Wagner in conversation with Sheena Patel, writer of “I'm a Fan”, her first novel published by Rough Trade Books in 2022, and soon to be published in French by Gallimard. In her novel, Sheena Patel explores the blurred lines between reality and the online world through the involvement of an unnamed female character in an unequal romantic relationship. Through this conversation with Erica Wagner, Sheena Patel talks about her desire to capture the spirit of her time. They also evoke “Four Brown Girls Who Write”, a collective of women writers created with her friends to support each other in their writing processes.As part of the Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon [Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon], the podcast "les Rencontres" highlights the birth of a writer in a series imagined by CHANEL and House ambassador and spokesperson Charlotte Casiraghi.Sheena Patel, I'm a fan, © Sheena Patel, 2022. Cover © Granta Books, 2023.© Rough Trade Books.Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., published byBallantine Books, copyright © 1992, 1955 by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.Minor Feelings : An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong, Random House, 2020.Martine Syms, Shame Space, 2020. © Martine Syms. Published by Primary Information.Martine Syms, The African Desperate, © Dominica Publishing, 2022Maggie Nelson, Bluets, © Copyright 2009 by Maggie Nelson, Wave Books, 2009The Argonauts © 2015 by Maggie Nelson. First published by Graywolf Press, Minneapolis.© Guardian News & Media Ltd 2024.Kathy Acker, Blood and Guts in High School, © Grove Press, 1984.Celia Dale, A Spring of Love, © Daunt Books, 2024.© The British Book Awards.© The Women's Prize.© Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.© Jhalak Prize.© Foyles. All Rights Reserved.© Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved.Sheena Patel, I'm a fan, Translated into French by French novelist and translator Marie Darrieussecq, © Éditions Gallimard, 2025.Juan Carlos Medina, The Limehouse Golem, ©New Sparta Films, 2016.Roshni Goyate, Sharan Hunjan, Sunnah Khan, Sheena Patel, 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE, © Rough Trade Books, 2020.© 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE

It's a queens' jubilee as we discuss  Clifton and  Glück poems with Diane Seuss, who concludes by reading a new poem!Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books:      Diane Seuss's MODERN POETRY is available now from Graywolf Press.     Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.      James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.Louise Glück's first book is Firstborn, published in 1968 when she was 25. You can read "Here Are My Black Clothes" Recorded on March 27, 2023, here is one of Louise Glück's final recorded readings (~15 minutes).Read the text of Lucille Clifton "Study the Masters." You can see Tara Betts read that poem here.Watch an interview with Prof. Clifton  here.You can read  more about  the first crafting, and subsequent replications, of Keats's death masks here.

In every symptom is a seed of power, ladies! Diane Seuss joins to talk Adrienne Rich and Gwendolyn Brooks.Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books:     Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.      James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.      Diane's MODERN POETRY is available March 5, 2024 from Graywolf Press.Read Adrienne Rich's poem about Marie Curie: "Power." You can hear Cheryl Strayed read the poem and discuss it here. Or listen to Adrienne Rich read the poem here. Read Gwendolyn Brooks's "the mother." You can hear Brooks read "the mother" here.Women in Therapy is  Harriet G. Lerner's book published by Harper and Row.We reference Plath's poem "Edge" from our recent Galentine's episode (listen here!)Watch this 1986 interview with Gwendolyn Brooks conducted by Alan Jabbour, director of the Library of Congress' American Folklore division, and E. Ethelbert Miller, poet and director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University (~30min).

The ladies are joined by the Queen herself, Diane Seuss, to spread some love for Galentine's Day. Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books:      Diane Seuss's MODERN POETRY is available March 5, 2024 from Graywolf Press.      Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.      James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.We discuss Aaron Smith's Book of Daniel , and you can check that book out here.Read Marianne Moore's "No Swan So Fine,"  first published in Poetry Magazine in October 1932. Read Moore's famous and oft-anthologized poem "Poetry" and then read Slate's article about her revisions of that poem: "Marianne Moore's 5-decade Struggle with 'Poetry'"If you haven't dipped your toe into the fabulous Marianne Moore pool yet, here's Interesting Literature's "10 of the Best Marianne Moore Poems Everyone Should Read"A great essay on Moore's difficulty was published in Lithub here. George Platt Lynes took an iconic photo of Marianne Moore in her tricorn hat and cape in 1953.  Read more about Lynes and his iconic photos of poets here. Read Sylvia Plath's poem "The Munich Mannequin" (briefly mentioned in the episode) here. And listen to Plath recite it here. Read Plath's poem "Edge" and hear Jane Gilbert recite "Edge" here (~1.5 min)Discover "59 Years of Book Covers for The Bell Jar" (a fascinating read in Lithub). 

What is spitballing? A way to open up new ideas and possibilities in response to a writer's story in a way that brightens their imagination and allows them to “steer into the curve,” making the story truly their own. Michael Lowenthal, who teaches a similar workshop method with the Story Lab at Lesley University, gives us some pointers about how to make the process work and what to avoid.There's still time to register for our live webinar, beginning tomorrow. Email me at 7amnovelist.substack.com if you want to take part. You can also watch the recordings here on our SubStack page or listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to our Substack page for updates.Want “spitballing” help for one of your own writing obstacles? Subscribers can email a one-minute-or-less recording (Wave, MP4, or M4A format) detailing “What's Holding You Back?” to 7amnovelist@substack.com. If making a recording seems impossible, submit your responses in writing (under 200 words).Michael Lowenthal is the author of four novels: The Same Embrace (Dutton, 1998); Avoidance (Graywolf Press, 2002); Charity Girl (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), which was a New York Times Book Review “Editors' Choice” and a Washington Post “Top Fiction of 2007″ pick; and The Paternity Test (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012), an Indie Next selection and a Lambda Literary Award finalist. His short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, the Southern Review, Guernica, True Story, and the Kenyon Review, and have been widely anthologized, in such volumes as Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction from the Edge, Bestial Noise: The Tin House Fiction Reader, and Best New American Voices 2005. He has also written for the New York Times Magazine, Boston Magazine, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Out, and many other publications. His first story collection, Sex With Strangers, was published in March 2021. Lowenthal lives in Boston. Since 2003, he has been a faculty member in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University. Thank you for reading The 7am Novelist. This post is public so feel free to share it. 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

Knick-knacks are tagged, life choices are interrogated, and secrets are revealed after the family matriarch passes away. This story appears in Shannon Sanders' collection COMPANY, published by Graywolf Press.Content advisory: mentions death

Chloé Caldwell discusses her memoir, The Red Zone, as well as the ambitious decision to center a book around her period/PMDD, periods in pop culture, women's changing bodies, the euphoria of seeing menstruation depicted realistically, structuring and restructuring her book, and more (about periods)! Chloé Caldwell is the author of The Red Zone: A Love Story (Soft Skull, 2022) and three more books: the essay collection I'll Tell You in Person (Coffee House/Emily Books, 2016), the critically acclaimed novella, WOMEN (SF/LD 2014), and Legs Get Led Astray (2012). Orphaned Passages: Notes on Trying will release in 2025 from Graywolf Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we finish up our annual 6-week summer rebroadcast series. We'll return next week, September 12th with all new episodes for Season 13. A reminder that during this rebroadcast series, our friends of the show, Elly and T have been releasing a companion podcast called Trauma Bonded, where they discuss and dissect each episode of This Is Actually Happening. So check them out if you haven't already, as they will continue releasing new episodes alongside the show as the new season begins next week. Today's rebroadcast episode was one of the most powerful and personally impactful episodes for me and for the show itself. Titled “What if you entered the Void?” it follows the unbelievable journey of Dexter Booth and originally aired as episode 158 on July 28th, 2020.A man suffering the deep generational traumas of poverty, racism, abuse and mental illness finds transformative power in an ancient plant medicine.Producer: Whit MissildineToday's episode featured Dexter L. Booth. Dexter is the author of the poetry collection, Scratchingthe Ghost from Graywolf Press, which won the 2012 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, as well as the chapbook Rhapsody from Etchings Press. Booth's poems have been included in the anthologies The Best American Poetry 2015, The Burden of Light: Poems on Illness and Loss, The Golden Shovel Anthology honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, and Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry. He is a professor in the Ashland University MFA program and a residential faculty member at Paradise Valley Community College where he teaches poetry and English composition. You can find out more about Dexter, his writing and teaching by following him on Instagram@dexter_two_omelettes, or on Facebook or Twitter. You can find his books Scratching the Ghost and Rhapsody on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever books are sold.Social Media: Instagram: @actuallyhappeningWebsite: www.thisisactuallyhappening.comSupport the Show: Support The Show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/happeningEngage with the Community: Join the This Is Actually Happening Discussion Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/201783687561039/Shop at the Store: The This Is Actually Happening online store is now officially open. Follow this link: www.actuallyhappeningstore.com to access branded t-shirts, posters, stickers and more from the shop. Content/Trigger Warnings: domestic abuse, mental illness, suicide, explicit languageIntro Music: "Illabye" – TipperMusic Bed: “Union Flow” - SpunticOutro Music: "The Moon is Down" - El Diablo & Adam Schraft (Rojo y Negro) @eldiablosf @rojo-y-negro www.eldiablobass.com/ ServicesIf you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of trauma or mental illness, please refer to the following resources:National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)Crisis Text Line: Within the US, text HOME to 741741See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For a special New Year's treat, we take a tour through the history of the universe with the help of… poets. Our guide is Maria Popova, who writes the popular blog The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), and the poetry is from her project, “The Universe in Verse” — an annual event where poets read poems about science, space, and the natural world. Special thanks to all of our poets, musicians, and performers: Marie Howe, Tracy K. Smith, Rebecca Elson, Joan As Police Woman, Patti Smith, Gautam Srikishan, Zoe Keating, and Emily Dickinson. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Lulu Millerwith help from - Maria PopovaProduced by - Sindhu Gnanasambandanwith mixing help from - Jeremy BloomFact-checking by - Natalie A. Middletonand Edited by  - Pat Walters FURTHER READING AND RESEARCH:To dig deeper on this one, we recommendBooks: - Tracy K Smith's “Life On Mars” (https://zpr.io/weTzGTbZyVDT)- Marie Howe's “The Kingdom Of Ordinary Times” (https://zpr.io/Tj9cWTsQxHG3)- Rebecca Elson's “A Responsiblity To Awe” (https://zpr.io/PLR3KL8SfuPR)- Patti Smith's “Just Kids” (https://zpr.io/zM47P5KqqKZx)Music:- Joan As Policewoman (https://joanaspolicewoman.com/)- Gautam Srikishan (https://www.floatingfast.com/)- Zoe Keating (https://www.zoekeating.com/) Internet:- The Marginalian blog post (https://zpr.io/abTuDFH9pfwu) about Vera Rubin- Check out photos of Emily Dickinson's Herbarium (https://zpr.io/XkgTscKBfem6), a book of 424 flowers she picked and pressed and identified while studying the wild botany of Massachusetts.Tracy K. Smith, “My God, It's Full of Stars” from Such Color: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 2011 by Tracy K. Smith. Read by the author and used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.graywolfpress.org.Fun fact: This episode was inspired by the fact that many Navy ships record the first log entry of the New Year in verse! To see some of this year's poems and learn about the history of the tradition, check out this post by the Naval History and Heritage Command. And, if you want to read a bit from Lulu's interview with sailor poet Lt. Ian McConnaughey, subscribe to our newsletter. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.