Podcasts about how to write an autobiographical novel

Notes and Links to Alexander Chee's Work          Alexander Chee is the bestselling author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, all from Mariner Books. A contributing editor at The New Republic and an editor at large at VQR, his essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, T Magazine, The Sewanee Review, and the 2016 and 2019 Best American Essays. He was guest-editor for The Best American Essays of 2022.    He is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in Nonfiction, and the recipient of a Whiting Award, a NEA Fellowship, an MCCA Fellowship, the Randy Shilts Prize in gay nonfiction, the Paul Engle Prize, the Lambda Editor's Choice Prize, and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the VCCA, Leidig House, Civitella Ranieri and Amtrak.    He is a full professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College and lives in Vermont. Buy How To Write an Autobiographical Novel   Alexander's Website   Book Review for How To Write an Autobiographical Novel from The New York Times   At about 2:00, Alexander details his Amtrak residency, later written about in The New Yorker At about 6:00, Alexander outlines some interesting characters that he met during his Amtrak residency  At about 12:00, Alexander reflects on a book project inspired by an interesting encounter with a former detective and British and American sensibilities  At about 16:30, Pete shares his own Amtrak story, possible fodder for essays and short stories, as Alexander remarks on “immediate friendship”  At about 18:50, Alexander talks about upcoming novel and short story projects and the process of picking a title; he recounts how he arrived at his essay collection's title, through a Buzzfeed publication  At about 26:30, Alexander highlights Kirkus Review naming How to Write an Autobiographical Novel one  At about 27:35, Alexander gives background on his essay collection's cover photo At about 34:10, Alexander talks about the composition of the previous essay collection and his upcoming one, with regards to placement and focuses on his “rose garden”- “The Rosary”-essay's development At about 39:00, Alexander responds to Pete's questions about the order of the essays in the collections and any throughlines-Garnette Cadogan and Naomi Gibbs are shouted out At about 43:40, Alexander talks about a manuscript that he has been working At about 44:45, Pete is complimentary of Alexander's “The Rosary” essay, and Alexander tells a story of an interested and poignant conversation with   At about 48:00, Pete shouts  At about 49:00, Pete and Alexander talk about the essay collection's first piece, and Alexander talks about being “Alejandro from Oaxaca” for a short time-he references Yiyun Li's powerful essay, “To Speak is to Blunder” At about 55:10, Pete compliments Alexander's powerful advocacy work and asks him about perspective and time, and how Alexander looks back at the essays from the collection so many years later (for some of the essays) At about 1:02:00, In talking about modern protest and activist culture, mutual aid, etc., Alexander shouts out Sarah Thankam Mathews' powerful All This Could Be Different At about 1:04:30, Alexander discusses a dynamic class that he has mentored at Dartmouth At about 1:05:30, Alexander responds to Pete's questions about what fiction allows him to do with his writing At about 1:06:30, Alexander reflects on ideas of catharsis in his writing      You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Episode 270 guest Jason De León is up on the website this week. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review.     Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl      Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, his DIY podcast and his extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode will feature an exploration of the wonderful poetry of Khalil Gibran. Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.    This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 282 with Emely Rumble, a licensed clinical social worker, school social worker, and seasoned biblio/psychotherapist who specializes in bibliotherapy, the use of literature and expressive writing to heal. Pub Day and episode air day are April 29 for her wonderful book, Bibliotherapy in The Bronx.

Notes and Links to Désirée Zamorano's Work      Born and raised in Los Angeles, Désirée Zamorano is the previous author of novels like The Amado Women and Human Cargo. Zamorano heavily focuses on the issues of invisibility, injustice and inequity in her books while also teaching linguistic and cultural diversity at Cal State Long Beach.     Buy Dispossessed   Désirée's Website   Article about Dispossessed for Pasadena Weekly At about 3:10, Desiree gives ordering information for The Dispossessed and her social media and contact information   At about 4:30, Desiree talks about an exciting 2026 publication    At about 5:10, Desiree gives background on her early reading and language life, and how her identity has been shaped throughout the years, influenced by family and larger societal forces   At about 8:40, Pete and Desiree discuss connections between American racism in different times and the events that inspired her own book   At about 10:00, Desiree provides feedback on seeds for her book   At about 12:30, Desiree talks about formative and informative books and writers from her childhood and adolescence    At about 13:35, Desiree shouts out Kate Atkinson and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas and other contemporary favorites   At about 14:35, the two explore the book's opening note, and Desiree shares stunning (or not stats) about Mexican and Mexican-American “repatriation” in the 1930s and 1940s    At about 16:00, Desiree talks about Manzanar and Japanese incarceration and coalitions who have fought to have the ugly history of the incarceration shared   At about 17:25, The two discuss the book's opening scene at the beach and the book's inciting incidents   At about 18:40, Desiree gives background on her reasoning for making the book's opening so action-packed and connections to a chilling quote   At about 19:50, Pete and Desiree chart Manuel's first years after his parents are taken, and characters and situations that govern Manuel's life   At about 23:15, Desiree responds to Pete's questions about Manuel's surrogate mother, Amparo and depictions of Christianity with connections to Desiree's own family   At about 26:00, The two discuss reasons as to why Manuel decides to leave high school    At about 28:10, Desiree gives background on sundown towns and talks about misconceptions of racism in our country's history and all needing to “do the work” to understand    At about 31:15, Pete recounts a stunning (or not so stunning) fact about racism in CA and Rodney King   At about 31:55, Desiree responds to Pete's questions about depictions of Latino soldiers, particularly in WWII   At about 33:25, Pete and Desiree discuss Manuel's early work experience, and Desiree expands upon union histories, especially in LA   At about 36:00, Decade of Betrayal, Anything but Mexican and Whitewashed Adobe are discussed as thorough and key research used by Desiree for the book   At about 37:30, Pete asks Desiree about important touches in the book, and she provides important histories of whiteness in American and how birth certificates were filled out   At about 41:00, The two discuss the impending razing of Chavez Ravine in the book, and hope and hopelessness for Manuel-Desiree references another great book with great research, From Out of the Shadows by Vicki Ruiz    At about 44:30, Desiree responds to Pete's question about crafting a emotional and good man in Manuel    At about 47:00, Pete is highly complimentary of the ways that Desiree uses light touches and writes about fatherhood and motherhood so honestly   At about 50:00, Pete asks Desiree how she knew the book was finished     You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. This week, his conversation with Episode 270 guest Jason De León is up on the website. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review.     Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl      Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, his DIY podcast and his extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode will feature an exploration of the wonderful poetry of Khalil Gibran.    Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.    This is a passion project of Pete's, a DIY operation, and he'd love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.     The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 281 with Alexander Chee, who is the bestselling author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel. He was the 2021 US Artists Fellow and Guggenheim Fellow in Nonfiction, and he is full professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth.     The episode airs on April 22.

This is the is the sixth and final episode in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist. In other words, tools that don't merely deaden us in the frantic pursuit of survival, but that assist us in nourishing ourselves, each other, and the world, all together.This time, the theme is READand my guest is ALEXANDER CHEE.At the end of this episode, the exercise is a little different. First we do a reading for you, the listener, in the world and its anxieties and challeneges. We consider what they are, how to approach them, and how not to approach them. Then, Alex and I do a reading for what you could be reading... We draw a tarot card and let it give book recommendations.Alex the author of three books, most recently his essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, and also two novels, Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night.

Welcome to the fourth meditation of our Grief, Collected series, which come out every Friday.Today is a literary meditation with the esteemed author Alexander Chee. Alexander is the bestselling author of Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and a beautiful essayist making meaning of the world around us and helping us imagine new ones. In today's episode he is reading his 2018 essay, “Why Grieve Is The Word Of The Year,” which walks us through all of our many griefs, and how we can find ourselves in them.More about Alexander Chee and his work here and find him on Twitter at @alexanderchee and on Instagram at @cheemobile.You can find more info and resources at GriefCollected.com More about Alexander Chee - Alexander Chee is the bestselling author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, all from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. A contributing editor at The New Republic, and an editor at large at VQR, his essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, T Magazine, The Sewaneee Review, and the 2016 and 2019 Best American Essays.He is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in Nonfiction, and the recipient of a Whiting Award, a NEA Fellowship, an MCCA Fellowship, the Randy Shilts Prize in gay nonfiction, the Paul Engle Prize, the Lambda Editor's Choice Prize, and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the VCCA, Leidig House, Civitella Ranieri and Amtrak.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Award-winning novelist Mohsin Hamid joins this episode of The Stacks to talk about his newest book The Last White Man. We discuss what inspired the story, his exploration of how whiteness works through fiction, and the ongoing conversation between a reader and the author. We also get into Mohsin's monastic writing rituals, his elite professors, and how his writing fills a need in his understanding of life.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2022/08/24/ep-229-mohsin-hamidThe Stacks Book Club selection for August is How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. We will discuss the book on August 31st with Ingrid Rojas Contreras.Connect with Mohsin: WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonAthletic Greens - visit atheleticgreens.com/thestacks to get a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase.Missing Pages - subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.Libro.Fm – use promo code THESTACKS to get 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 and to support your favorite independent bookstore.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we're joined by entrepreneur and author Marisa Renee Lee, whose book Grief is Love: Living with Loss offers a framework for healing after tragedy. We discuss grief's connection to capitalism and white supremacy, and how our relationship with love is connected to our relationship with loss. We also ask, how can we help people who are grieving, and why are Americans so bad at it? You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2022/08/17/ep-228-marisa-renee-leeThe Stacks Book Club selection for August is How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. We will discuss the book on August 31st with Ingrid Rojas Contreras.Connect with Marisa: Instagram | Twitter | WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonCare/of - go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code stacks50 for 50% off your first order.Missing Pages - subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emmy Award winner W. Kamau Bell and bestselling author Kate Schatz visit The Stacks to discuss their joint effort Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book. They break down how the process of co-writing, how they decided to write for white audiences, and explain why we need an adult activity book for antiracism in the first place. We also ask, what do we do when we mess up; what makes a good apology?You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2022/08/10/ep-227-w-kamau-bell-and-kate-schatzThe Stacks Book Club selection for August is How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. We will discuss the book on August 31st with Ingrid Rojas Contreras.Connect with W. Kamau: Instagram | Twitter | WebsiteConnect with Kate: Instagram | Twitter | WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonCare/of – visit TakeCareOf.com and enter code stacks50 for 50% off your first order.Patreon - go to patreon.com/thestacks for insider access and pick the tier that works for you, for as little as $5 a month.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're joined today by novelist and essayist Ingrid Rojas Contreras, whose new book The Man Who Could Move Clouds combines memoir with rich storytelling and an excavation of family and Colombian history. We discuss magical realism as a nonfiction genre, why it's useful to believe in ghosts, and ask the question, what responsibility do we owe to our pasts?You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2022/08/03/ep-226-ingrid-rojas-contrerasThe Stacks Book Club selection for August is How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. We will discuss the book on August 31st with Ingrid Rojas Contreras.Connect with Ingrid: Instagram | Twitter | WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonLibro.Fm – use promo code THESTACKS to get 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 and to support your favorite independent bookstore.Patreon - go to patreon.com/thestacks for insider access and pick the tier that works for you, for as little as $5 a month.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on the Handsell, Jenn recommendsRose Daughter by Robin McKinley, with an honorable mention for How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this interview, Alexander and I talk a lot about money, and specifically, about how asking for money and negotiating for what you want and need is a key piece of building a healthy relationship with your work and career. We also talked about the myth of the solitary artist, and the reality: that community and relationships are key to not just success, but survival. Finally, Alexander is the source of an incredibly pivotal insight for me: that caring for your creative process IS self-care, and when you allow yourself the margin to take care of your work process, it benefits not only your body and mental health (and that of your family and loved ones) but the work itself. More from the episode... The importance of collective action in securing the rights of authors. The role of community in creative career-building. How is writing "a community project"? What is the "golden thread" and how does it help creators build relationships with their followers? The word "networking" sounds "weirdly clinical" to Alexander— why at some point he figured out that's what he was doing, and that it was a key to his success. What's a better way to look at this fraught term? Alexander breaks down why writers should always ask for more money: "Sometimes people are like, how come the Queen of the Night took you so long? And it's like, well, I did waste a lot of time writing essays for $150." What was in the folder writer Denis Johnson (Jesus's Son) labeled "answers"? Instead of running himself into the ground because he's eager to please, Alexander lays out his process to not overschedule himself. How earning with your work can help you make more work, in a literal as well as an emotional sense: "It won me ...a typewriter that I then used to write for a long time. And that typewriter became a talisman at a time that I needed a talisman. I wrote this typewriter into existence. I'm now using it to write more stories." "Don't be so grateful that you let yourself down." —What Alexander would tell his younger self if he could. Why it's so important to trust yourself and recognizing when self-doubt is holding you back from pursuing your creative goals. Alexander lays out several important pieces of advice to novice pro writers, including "There's no reason to think that just because you're an unknown writer you can't somehow get a decent fee for your work." More from our guest: Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh, The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel as well as many short stories and essays. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, an editor at large at VQR, and a critic-at-large for The Los Angeles Times. He currently teaches creative nonfiction and fiction at Dartmouth College. Connect with Alexander Chee alexanderchee.net twitter @alexanderchee instagram @cheemobile facebook.com/alexanderchee https://alexanderchee.medium.com/ querent.substack.com Additional links authorsguild.org https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/the-autobiography-of-my-novel https://alexanderchee.medium.com/your-questions-answered-how-have-you-overcome-writers-block-fc5525bab1cb https://www.crowdcast.io/e/acpod-alexander-cheeThe Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!

Alexander Chee is most recently the author of the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel and professor at Dartmouth College. He is also the first guest to subscribe to our Patreon on air lol! Alexander joins us to discuss his relationship to his biracial identity and recount stories of his family's unique background. He also shares helpful advice for writers and people pursuing creative fields. Run to your nearest bookstore and buy all of his books and follow him on twitter @alexanderchee. Also be sure to like, subscribe and Patreon us! 

In conversation with Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh, The Queen of the Night, and How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, and associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College Viet Thanh Nguyen won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Sympathizer, the ''intelligent, relentlessly paced and savagely funny'' (Wall Street Journal) tale of a South Vietnamese army captain who immigrates to Los Angeles and reports on his fellow military exiles to the Viet Cong. The novel was also awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction and the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, among many other honors. Nguyen is also the author of Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, a nonfiction companion to The Sympathizer, and the acclaimed short story collection The Refugees. An English professor at the University of Southern California, he has earned fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations. With The Committed, Nguyen has created a literary thriller and a novel of ideas that continues the story of the The Sympathizer's main character titular sympathizer as he experiences the delights and dangers of Paris. (recorded 3/23/2021)

Dustin Schell and Alexander Chee were longtime residents of New York City who recently found an opportunity to fulfill their dreams of full-scale gardening. Dustin previously had a community garden plot the size of a grave in New York City. It was located in the Clinton Community Garden in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, where he gardened for over twenty years. Then they moved to rural Vermont in 2016 and bought a home there in the fall of 2019. Dustin and Alex started their new garden in the midst of a pandemic in their first year as homeowners. They talk about starting with what they had--and around obstacles, which include getting sick in the early weeks of the COVID pandemic. Let's take a listen to hear about how they're enjoying their new space.Dustin Schell studied Theater at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Circle in the Square Theater School In New York City. His varied career includes work as an actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, and most recently, a ski instructor at the Dartmouth Skiway. He splits his time between NYC and Vermont. Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and an editor at large at VQR. His essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, T Magazine, Tin House, Slate, Guernica, and Out, among others. He is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College.Learn more and follow:Still Queer InstagramStill Queer Tiny LetterDustin Schell's InstagramAlexander Chee's Instagram and Twitter

In this episode of a new season of The Rereaders, we speak to the writer and photographer Alan Weedon about the author Alexander Chee, and his essay 'Girl' from his 2018 essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel.

Leah Jing McIntosh and Alexander Chee at the Athenaeum Theatre — Photo: Sophie Quick ‘Novels are accidents at their start,' Alexander Chee has written. What causes these productive accidents? Who do they happen to? And what do novels become next? Chee, the author of two masterful, award-winning novels – and a distinguished teacher, essayist and critic – has given a lot of thought to these questions. His acclaimed, reflexive autobiographical first novel, Edinburgh, was about a Korean-American boy from Maine. His second book, The Queen of the Night, was a radical departure – about a 19th-century opera singer in France. His third book, How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, is a work of memoir – a collection of engrossing essays about Chee's own life and about the mysterious alchemy behind full-length works of fiction. These essays describe episodes from the author's own life, from the traumatic childhood events that fed directly into the writing of Edinburgh, to his AIDS activism in the nineties and his time at Iowa Writers' Workshop. It's a profound, enigmatic and charming book; a highly distinctive reflection on memory, identity and creativity. A revered ‘writer's writer', a tireless champion of other authors, and a blazing talent in his own right, Chee talks writing and life at the Athenaeum Theatre with Leah Jing McIntosh as part of our Mayhem series.Support the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s in your junk drawer? For writer Alexander Chee, answering that question resulted in a critically-acclaimed collection of essays called “How To Write An Autobiographical Novel.”  Alex sits down with host Amanda Stern to talk about personal growth, what we can learn from roses, fair pay in the workplace, and divining the mysteries of the universe through tarot. About the Author:Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, all from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and an editor at large at VQR. His essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, T Magazine, Tin House, Slate, and Guernica, among others.He is the winner of a 2003 Whiting Award, a 2004 NEA Fellowship in prose and a 2010 MCCA Fellowship, and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the VCCA, Civitella Ranieri and Amtrak.  Chee is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. Episode Credits:This episode was produced, mixed, and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn, with editorial help from Beau Friedlander.  Our host and co-producer is Amanda Stern.  Music:“Rufus Canis” by Rufus Canis, “Timeless Love” by Joonie, “The Finch” by Rufus Canis, “Bloom” by Brian Sussman, “Anti Atlas” by Angele David Guillou, “Better” by Jackie Hill Perry,, “Uni Swing Vox” by Rufus Canis, “Grin” by JPoetic.

Alexander Chee is variously described as “masterful” (Roxane Gay), “incendiary” (The New York Times) and “brilliant” (The Washington Post). Author of the novels Edinburgh and Queen of the Night, he has now written the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel – shortlisted for the PEN Diamonstein-Vogel Prize for the Art of the Essay. In it he scrutinises the emotional and psychological events of his life, and examines the versions of himself – son, subject of sexual abuse, gay man, Korean-American, artist, activist, lover, and friend. He also gives advice on keeping the rent low and the employment flexible. In conversation with Sasha de Buyl. Supported by Platinum Patrons Peter Macky & Yuri Opeshko.

Intergenerational language, first times in drag and... Spider-Man fan fiction? Korean-American writer and essayist Alexander Chee talks to Darren about his best-seller How to Write an Autobiographical Novel and so, so much more.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Daniel Mallory Ortberg's new short story collection "Merry Spinster." The book reimagines classic fairy tales but with very dark twists. Then, inspired by "Merry Spinster" we move on to discuss other books inspired by fairy tales that we love. And as always, we close with recommendations: Peter recommends the video game "God of War." "It is just an incredibly well rought game in terms of basically everything. It feels great, it looks great, but I think what's captivated me most about it is how the story itself is such a mature standing for a character that had previously been an incarnation of greedy bloodbaths. I think it's symobolic of a lot of growth in the video game inudstry as a whole." (You can check out Mashable's review of the game here.) Martha recommends the 1997 version of Cinderalla featuring Brandy and Whitney Houston. "These are all legends and it's fantastic. It's the black Cinderella. It's perfect." She also recommends doing facemasks during your flights. "You put your facemask on and so that you wake up wherever you're landing, you feel fantastic and you look fantastic." MJ recommends the New York Times podcast Still Processing's episode about Beychella, Beyonce history-making Coachella performance. "They talk about Beychella in terms of pop culture, pop culture history, race. It's the smartest deconstruction and reading of what this performance is." Next week we are reading "The Rosary," an essay by Alexander Chee from his new collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel. You can find it online here and we hope you'll join us in reading it.