Podcast appearances and mentions of joan silber

Notes and Links to Ruben Reyes, Jr.'s Work     Ruben Reyes Jr. is the son of two Salvadoran immigrants. He completed his MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is a graduate of Harvard College where he studied History and Literature and Latinx Studies. His writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, AGNI, BOMB Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, LitHub, and other publications. His debut story collection, There is a Rio Grande in Heaven, was a finalist for The Story Prize, and longlisted for the the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the New American Voices Award. Archive of Unknown Universes is his first novel. Originally from Southern California, he lives in Queens.   Buy Archive of Unknown Universes   Ruben's Website   Book Review for Archive of Unknown Universes from Washington Post, by Bilal Qureshi   At about 1:45, Ruben describes the experience of having his first novel out in the world At about 3:30, Ruben talks about feedback he's received about the novel At about 4:35, Ruben shares publishing information and shouts out “local indies” and Bookshop.org as good places to buy the book, and he shares a story about his book tour for his story collection At about 6:10, Ruben talks about his writing timeline and how he wrote his novel and his story collection at around the same time, allowing him flexibility and variety  At about 9:00, Ruben responds to Pete's questions about how feedback and the writing community worked during the pandemic At about 11:00, Ruben reflects on seeds for his novel, particularly the “turning point” that was his 2018 research trip to El Salvador At about 12:30, Ruben talks about the importance of oral histories he did on this 2018 research trip At about 13:25, Pete asks Ruben about the book's dedication and how he viewed the specific and universal  At about 16:15, Pete shares the book's profound epigraphs, and shares the book's exposition; Ruben responds to Pete's questions about the book's structure and his rationale in starting the book with a letter At about 19:25, Ruben reflects on writers and their views on a “perfect novel” At about 20:45, Ruben and Pete describe the book's pivotal machine, The Defractor, and fun with different “Interlocutors” for the machine  At about 23:40, Pete provides background information on Ana and Luis, important characters in the books At about 25:20, Ruben and Pete discuss the importance of Archbishop Oscar Romero and his coverage in the novel At about 28:00, Ruben reflects on how the “What if?” question is so resonant in literature and outside At about 28:50, Ruben and Pete talk about setting the tone for the start of the relationship between Rafael and Neto and an early scene at Havana's Malecon  At about 30:40, Pete reflects on traumas so understatedly and profoundly rendered  At about 32:00, Ruben talks about Ana's and Luis' relationship  At about 33:40, Pete wonders about an important decision made by Neto, and Ruben expands on research he did that showed how youth was largely in control during the Salvadoran Civil War At about 35:50, Ruben expands on what demands and hopes the revolutionaries/guerrillas had in the Salvadoran Civil War At about 39:05, The two discuss the book's parallel storyline At about 41:55, Ruben and Pete reflect on the fiery passions of youth and what makes relationships works and connections At about 44:15, The two discuss similarities and differences between Neto and Rafael  At about 46:10, Ruben homes in on how queerness was seen/embraced in the 70s, as shown through Rafael and Neto At about 47:30, Pete highlights a profound quote as he and Ruben talk about “grasping the lost threads of history” and how Ruben's book connects to ideas of silences and traumas and "reclaiming history” At about 49:40, Ruben shouts out Leisy Abrego's “On Silences” and its argument about silences as “intergenerational” in the Salvadoran diaspora        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's @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he's @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 286 guest Hannah Pittard 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 noir, horror, and crime fiction, as some of the best ways to match the zeitgeist and crazy timeline that is 2025. 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 292 with Joan Silber, a novelist and short story writer. She won the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and the 2018 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her novel Improvement. Her latest novel, Mercy, is her 10th book of fiction. This episode drops today, September 2, Pub Day for Mercy. Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Notes and Links to Joan Silber's Work    Joan Silber was raised in New Jersey and received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied writing with Grace Paley. She moved to New York after college and has made it her home ever since. She holds an M.A. from New York University. She's written ten books of fiction--most recently, Mercy, out in fall 2025.  Secrets of Happiness was a Washington Post Best Book of the year and a Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of the Year.  Improvement won The National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award.  She also received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story.  Her other works of fiction include Fools, longlisted for the National Book Award and finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, The Size of the World, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Prize in Fiction, and Ideas of Heaven, finalist for the National Book Award and the Story Prize.  She's also written Lucky Us, In My Other Life, and In the City (to be reissued by Hagfish in 2026), and her first book, Household Words, won the PEN/Hemingway Award. She's the author of The Art of Time in Fiction, which looks at how fiction is shaped and determined by time, with examples from world writers.  Her short fiction has been chosen for the O. Henry Prize, Best American Short Stories, and the Pushcart Prize.  Stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, The Southern Review, Ploughshares, Zyzzyva, and other magazines. She's been the recipient of an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. For many years Joan taught fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.  Joan lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, with Jolie, her rescued street dog from Taiwan, and she travels as often as she can, with a particular interest in Asia. Buy Mercy   Joan Silber's Website   Joan Silber's Wikipedia Page   Boston Globe Review of Mercy   At about 2:55, Joan talks about responses about her new novel and how uncertainty is always  At about 3:45, Joan talks about places to buy her new novel and upcoming book events At about 5:05, Joan traces her early relationship with reading and writing and talks about early inspirations like Louisa May Alcott At about 6:55, Joan responds to Pete's question about the catalysts for her writing career, and she references the wonderful Grace Paley and her generative teaching methods At about 8:35, Joan talks about contemporary writers and influences like Charles Baxter, Andrea Barrett, and Margo Livesy At about 9:50, Pete bumbles through a vague comparison in complimenting Joan on her depiction of New York in the 1970s and gives some exposition of the book, especially regarding the book's main protagonist, Ivan  At about 11:25, Joan reflects on Ivan and Eddie as “intellectuallizing” their drug adventures  At about 12:35, Joan responds to Pete asking about Eddie and his mindset and personality  At about 14:45, the two trace the book's inciting incident, involving Eddie and Ivan indulging in drugs to an extreme  At about 17:30, Joan expands on her initial thoughts for the book, and on the secret that Ivan keeps to himself, as well as how she views Ivan in a “complicated” way At about 18:45, Joan responds to Pete's question about whether or not she “sit[s] in judgment of [her] characters” At about 20:20, Pete highlights Ivan and asks Joan's about Eddie “hav[ing] his own kingdom” in Ivan's life, especially with regard to his atonement for Alcoholics Anonymous At about 21:50, Pete traces Astrid/Ginger's career arc, as Ivan sees her rise and connects to Eddie, and Joan expands on why her film being done in Malaysia is connected to real-life regulations in China At about 23:30, Pete asks Joan about how she gets into the mindset to write about “What if?” At about 24:50, Chapter Two is discussed, with a new narrator in Astrid, and her tragedies and triumphs At about 26:10, Joan talks about the movie that takes place in the book, with Astrid as a star; Joan expands upon the “circle” of heroin/opioids in the novel At about 28:30, Joan discusses the “echo in the title” about heroin as the “drug of mercy” At about 29:00, Joan gives background on her choice in including Cara as a character who is a “bystander” to Eddie's abandonment  At about 30:15, Joan and Pete discuss the whys of Cara leaving and getting on the road At about 31:40, Joan talks about Chapter Three as a previously-published chapter/standalone, and how she likes “getting her characters in trouble” At about 32:00, Joan explains how she “follows” Nini into the next chapter, based on a previous quote, and how Joan's own travels influenced her writing about the Iu Mien of Thailand and Laos At about 35:00, Joan describes how Nini's injury in Southeast Asia serves as a vessel for a description of opium's uses/the way it's viewed in a variety of ways around the world  At about 36:15, Pete and Joan discuss the roles of anthropologists and their roles At about 38:30, Cara's chapter is highlighted, with Cara's relationship with her previously-absent father discussed   At about 41:00, Pete asks Joan to discuss the book's title-its genesis and connections to the book's events and characters  At about 42:30, Joan differentiates between mercy and forgiveness  At about 43:00, Pete compliments Joan's work in tracing a long but coherent storyline and her depiction of New York At about 44:10, Joan discusses an exciting upcoming project  At about 45:20, Pete and Joan discuss youth and innocence and aging as key parts    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 Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up 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, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month's Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of flawed characters, protagonists who are too real in their actions, and horror and noir as being where so much good and realistic writing takes place. 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 293 with Melissa Lozada-Oliva, a Guatemalan-Colombian-American writer. Her chapbook peluda explores the intersections of Latina identity and hair removal. In her novel-in-verse Dreaming of You (2021, Astra House), a poet brings Selena back to life through a seance and deals with disastrous consequences. Candelaria was named one of the best books of 2023 by VOGUE and USA Today. Her collection of short stories is BEYOND ALL REASONABLE DOUBT, JESUS IS ALIVE! The episode airs on September 2, today, Pub Day.    This episode airs today, September 2, Pub Day.    Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

One of the hardest tricks for a writer to get right: convincing the reader that time has passed while avoiding sluggish pacing. Here to help us think about this difficult topic are writers Sharissa Jones and Stacy Mattingly.Mentioned in this episode: The Art of Time in Fiction by Joan Silber. Find more of my fave books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/the7amnovelistSharissa Jones is the author of many, many ill-fated novels most of which are related to her childhood growing up on a farm in rural Nebraska. Sharissa graduated from the Grub Street Novel Incubator in 2015. Her essays have been published by Cognescenti and The Houston Chronicle. She also currently serves on the GrubStreet board of directors. She holds a B.A. in Ethics Politics and Economics from Yale College. In a previous life, Sharissa was a partner at a New York-based private equity firm. She has appeared in the The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune Magazine, The Omaha World-Herald, and other publications. Sharissa once won fifty dollars in a barrel-racing jackpot and was named Miss Congeniality by a sorely misinformed Miss Southwest Nebraska Rodeo pageant judge.Stacy Mattingly is coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Unlikely Angel, an Atlanta hostage story now a feature film, Captive, starring David Oyelowo (Selma) and Kate Mara (House of Cards). Stacy's work has appeared in Guernica, Literary Hub, Oxford American, Off Assignment, EuropeNow, and elsewhere. In 2012, she launched the Sarajevo Writers' Workshop in Bosnia and Herzegovina and later helped lead the first Narrative Witness exchange (Caracas-Sarajevo) for the University of Iowa's International Writing Program. An Atlanta native, Stacy teaches at Boston University, where she received an MFA in fiction, and she is an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music. Her recently completed first novel is set in the present-day Balkans.  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

di Matteo B. Bianchi | I primi ospiti di questa puntata di Copertina nella sua veste mensile sono Filippo Costantini e Elena Zuccaccia della libreria/polo culturale Pop Up di Perugia. Ma le storie più belle non sono sempre tra le pagine di un libro – fermi, prima di gridare all'eresia e cliccare “Unfollow” ascoltate la chiacchierata di Matteo con Claudia Landini e Giuliana Arena, curatrici della Libreria umana online di ExpatClic. Infine, per la nuovissima rubrica Esimio collega, l'autore, speaker radiofonico e podcaster Matteo Caccia ci consiglia un saggio rivoluzionario.Lista libri:OSSERVAZIONE SULLE FACCENDE DOMESTICHE di Lydia Davis, MondadoriLA SERA di Susan Mainot, PlaygroundUN'IDEA DI PARADISO di Joan Silber, 66 thand2ndFilippo Costantini Elena zuccaccia della libreria Pop up ci hanno consigliato:LE DIVORATRICI di Lara Williams, Blackie EdizioniCONTRO IL LAVORO, Giuseppe Rensi, Wom EdizioniClaudia Landini e Giuliana Arena curatrici della libreria umana on-line di Expat Click hanno consigliato:EUGENIA di Lionel Duroy, FaziMI SA CHE FUORI È PRIMAVERA di Concita De Gregorio, Feltrinelli.Infine il collega podcaster Matteo Caccia ci ha parlato del saggio rivoluzionario:L'ARTE DI RESPIRARE di James Nestor, Aboca

Joan Silber reads her story “Evolution,” from the September 12, 2022, issue of the magazine. Silber is the author of nine books of fiction, including, most recently, “Secrets of Happiness” and “Improvement,” for which she won the pen/Faulkner Award in 2018.

A new interview with Elizabeth Strout about Oh, William! and the Bookshelf that Made Her; and favourite review discussions from the year about Jane Austen, Joan Silber and Kevin Barry with readers Ruth Wilson and Michael McGirr

This virtual launch event for Joan Silber's newest novel Secrets of Happiness drew a passionate crowd for her conversation with fellow novelist Margot Livesey about themes of money, love, travel, and spirituality.  Livesey and Silber talked about her desire to write “big and small at the same time” with closely observed interiority but wide scope in time and space, and how her works exist on a spectrum between novels and short stories, as well as literary influences and current favorites. (Recorded May 3, 2021)

Many authors would feel daunted by the prospect of putting out a new book soon after a multi-award-winning novel. But after writing and teaching for over 40 years, Joan Silber knows the only thing in her control is to continue working on her craft regardless of getting published. Her latest book, Secrets of Happiness, takes readers around the world, from New York to Thailand and back again, and proves the age-old advice that the best way for a writer to grow is to just keep writing.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3w8L4m4Bookshop: https://bit.ly/36gDoUy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joan Silber is the author of nine books of fiction. She joins Marrie Stone to talk about the most recent, Secrets of Happiness, which came out last month. They talk about what Marrie has coined as “The SilberMethod" of storytelling, which uses the short story structure to create a novel-length work.  Silber shares her proclivity for being a miniaturist working on a big canvas, and how she discovered that form. She talks about how travel has influenced her writing, her research methods, organizing her material, generating ideas, creating effective dialogue, and so much more.Download audio.  (Broadcast date: June 23, 2021)

Eric and Medaya talk with queer writer Kristen Arnett about her knew novel, With Teeth, which centers on the troubled relationships between Sammie, her wife Monica and their son, Samson.  As Samson grows up, it becomes clear that he isn't quite like the other children. He is emotionally aloof and prone o outbursts. As a teenager, he's even more of a mystery: a loner and a threat to the image of a normal family that Monica is so desperate to present to the world. As the stay at home Mom, and narrative focal point, Sammie is tasked with trying to understand both her mysterious son; and herself, as her marriage and seemingly every else begins to deteriorate around her - or so it seems. As With Teeth spins through its insightful portrayal of queer parenthood, the struggle for identity and autonomy amidst the disintegration of a marriage, Kristen Arnett keeps us guessing until the final moment when it appears that everything we think we know about Sammie, Monica, and Samson might be wrong. Also, Joan Silber, author of Secrets of Happiness, returns to recommend two recent novels: The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter; and The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey.

Eric and Kate talk with queer writer Kristen Arnett about her knew novel, With Teeth, which centers on the troubled relationships between Sammie, her wife Monica and their son, Samson.  As Samson grows up, it becomes clear that he isn't quite like the other children. He is emotionally aloof and prone o outbursts. As a teenager, he's even more of a mystery: a loner and a threat to the image of a normal family that Monica is so desperate to present to the world. As the stay at home Mom, and narrative focal point, Sammie is tasked with trying to understand both her mysterious son; and herself, as her marriage and seemingly every else begins to deteriorate around her - or so it seems. As With Teeth spins through its insightful portrayal of queer parenthood, the struggle for identity and autonomy amidst the disintegration of a marriage, Kristen Arnett keeps us guessing until the final moment when it appears that everything we think we know about Sammie, Monica, and Samson might be wrong. Also, Joan Silber, author of Secrets of Happiness, returns to recommend two recent novels: The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter; and The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey.

Joan Silber is the author of nine books of fiction. Her last book, Improvement, was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award and was listed as one of the year's best books by The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The Seattle Times, and Kirkus Reviews. Her previous book, Fools, was long-listed for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Other works include The Size of the World, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and Ideas of Heaven, finalist for the National Book Award and The Story Prize. She lives in New York, has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, and teaches in the Warren Wilson MFA program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A mini-masterclass on character, point of view, narrative time and ‘weight in fiction' with the acclaimed American writer, Joan Silber. Joan was raised in New Jersey and received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied with the renowned teacher and writer Grace Paley. Joan has published nine books of fiction. Her new novel, Secrets of Happiness, has just been released in Australia. Her previous book, Improvement, won The National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She also received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Joan's other works of fiction include Fools, The Size of the World, Ideas of Heaven, Lucky Us, In My Other Life, In the City, and Household Words, which have almost all won or been finalists for many prestigious awards. Joan has taught fiction writing for many years, in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program, Sarah Lawrence College, also Boston University, the 92nd Street Y and New York University as well as writers' conferences at places like Bread Loaf and Aspen. I met Joan at Adelaide Writers' Week in 2020, days before the pandemic cancellations and closures began in Australia, and kept in touch periodically throughout the strange year that followed. As soon as I began reading Improvement I knew I was in the company of one of those artists whose every work I now needed to read. I ordered all the books I could get my hands on, and loved them all. This recording took place over Zoom, in a conversation joined by some of my writer friends – a kind of mini-masterclass. Joan spoke to us from her apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she lives with her dog Lucille.

Joan Silber writes about life's strange surprises in her new book, “Secrets of Happiness."

Kate and Cassie are joined by reviewer Dr Ruth Wilson, whose PhD on Jane Austen and education was awarded last year, when she was 88 years old. Together, they read Joan Silber's Secrets of Happiness and Alice Pung's One Hundred Days

Author Joan Silber, whose previous work Improvement won both the National Book Critic's Circle Aware and the Pen Faulkner Award, joins Eric and Kate to discuss her new novel Secrets of Happiness, a multi-vocal story that radiates out from a single family dealing with a father's intimate betrayal.  He has a secret family that he told nobody about.  As it moves across characters and continents, Secrets of Happiness considers the weight of love, family, and other attachments in a world where nothing is as it seems, and happiness is a fleeting experience best savored in the presence. Also, Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show: A Political History of Act Up New York, 1987-1993, returns to recommend Natasha Trethewey's Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir as well as Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones.

Author Joan Silber, whose previous work Improvement won both the National Book Critic's Circle Aware and the Pen Faulkner Award, joins Kate and Eric to discuss her new novel Secrets of Happiness, a multi-vocal story that radiates out from a single family dealing with a father's intimate betrayal.  He has a secret family that he told nobody about.  As it moves across characters and continents, Secrets of Happiness considers the weight of love, family, and other attachments in a world where nothing is as it seems, and happiness is a fleeting experience best savored in the presence. Also, Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show: A Political History of Act Up New York, 1987-1993, returns to recommend Natasha Trethewey's Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir as well as Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our resident book critic Marion Winik shares  new work by two of her favorite fiction writers! We review Secrets of Happiness by Joan Silber, and The Blackmailers Guide to Love by Marian Thurm.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joan Silber is the author of nine works of fiction, including Improvement , which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Silber is known for her composite fiction, or novels that are linked stories. Her latest, Secrets of Happiness, is no exception.

Joan Silber is the author of nine works of fiction, including Improvement , which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Silber is known for her composite fiction, or novels that are linked stories. Her latest, Secrets of Happiness, is no exception.

Joan Silber discusses ‘Secrets of Happiness’ (Counterpoint, May 4), “a new novel in stories from the master of the form” (starred review). In a sponsored interview, host Megan Labrise talks with Jessamyn Stanley, author of ‘Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance’ (Workman, June 22). Then our editors offer their reading recommendations, with books by Muon Thi Van and Victo Ngai, Stacey Lee, John McWhorter, and Maggie Shipstead.

Joan Silber is an American novelist and short story writer. She won the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and the 2018 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her novel Improvement.

Tom Keneally's The Dickens Boy, Joan Silber's Improvement, Ceridwen Dovey's Inner Worlds Outer Spaces, Ken Gelder's The Colonial Kangaroo Hunt and Jo Lennan's In the Time of Foxes

The second summer of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference continues with Tim O'Brien, who tells James about winning the National Book Award, writing THE THINGS THEY CARRIED while on a break from another book, not leaving a sentence until it's finished, being a father, knowing death, and recognizing the maybeness of it all. Plus, Missouri Review editor Speer Morgan.      http://www.sewaneewriters.org/ 2020 Applications due March 15! - Tim O'Brien  Buy Tim's books: Buy Tim O'Brien's Books From Independent Booksellers Tim and James discuss:  Sewanee Writers' Conference  Dan O'Brien  Christine Schutt  THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving  THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER by John Cheever  Lizzie Borden  Jack the Ripper  "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor  "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates  WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy  THE BIBLE  BILLY BUDD, SAILOR by Herman Melville  Wyatt Prunty  Emily Nemens  Ernest Hemingway  - Speer Morgan: https://www.missourireview.com/ Speer and James discuss:  Middlebury College  The New England Review  Greg Michaelson  Jack Kerouac  Mark Twain  Tennessee Williams  Christine Schutt  The Dead Sea Scrolls  Kris Somerville's Curio Cabinet  Mike McClaskey Dan O'Brien  "Fields of Empire" by Joan Silber  Daniel Woodrell Susan Vreeland  Joanna Scott  Raymond Carver  Robert Olen Butler  Naguib Mahfouz Gregory Rabassa  Philip K. Dick  Ursula Le Guin  Russell Banks  PBS  Henry Green Robert Bly  Stephen Dunn  TR Hummer  Dave Smith  Annie Proulx Edmund White  Ernest Gaines  Larry Brown  John Updike  Margaret Walker  Peter Matthiessen  Richard Ford  "Awakening to Jake" by Jillian Weiss  Henry James  Edith Wharton  CHERNOBYL  "Snow" by Kermit Frazier  A FAITHFUL BUT MELANCHOLY ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL BARBARITIES LATELY COMMITTED by Jason Brown "Those Deep Elm Brown's Ferry Blues" by William Gay  -  Music courtesy of Bea Troxel from her album, THE WAY THAT IT FEELS: https://www.beatroxel.com/ -  http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK /Instagram: tkwithjs / FB: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/

Novelist and short story writer Joan Silber talks to Ivan about six things which she thinks should be better known. Find out more about Joan at http://joansilber.net/. Luang Prabang, Laos https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/oct/12/luang-prabang-laos-three-day-holiday-itinerary David Malouf https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/david-malouf The Mighty Clouds of Joy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeM-VMkhFdM Charles Baxter https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/charles-baxter/ Walking in New York https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/22/magazine/new-york-city-walks.html Tahini with grape molasses (pekmez) on bread http://www.turkishcookbook.com/2007/01/tahini-grape-molasses.php

Sophie McManus (master's degree in fiction writing/ teaching writing at Sarah Lawrence College; author of critically acclaimed novel, The Unfortunates) discusses The Art of Time in Fiction by Joan Silber, and a variety of books written in Classic Time, Long Time, Slowed Time, Switchback Time and Fabulous Time.

With women’s Day just behind us, I am focusing my reading this month on women authors. I notice more and more when I peruse big distributors like Amazon that there is now a genre called “Women’s Fiction.” Not so long ago, this same genre might have been called romance novels, and I take both designations as at least faintly negative, alerting readers that this is light fiction, all about squishy love and relationships, unlike the more muscled serious literature produced by men. In fact, if a reader really wants to read about relationships, between men and women, women and women, parents and children, and even our relationships with other animals, I think the category to look to is women’s fiction.Indeed, when I look back over women authors of the last century or more, I think most could be put in this category. Simone de Beauvoir, Iris Murdoch, Penelope Lively, Doris Lessing, and even Nadine Gordimer write primarily about family and relationships. Yes, Murdoch’s novels are deeply philosophical, and Gordimer’s deeply political, but the stories told are about relationships. Take for example one of Gordimer’s later novels, A Sport of Nature, Lively’s The Photograph, Lesssing’s The Golden Notebook, de Beauvoirs’ The Mandarins; all of these novels are about relationships, and all (as I read them) feminist novels. But I want to put in a word or two today for even more popular so-called romance writers like Jojo Moyes, Joan Silber, and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. Recently, after finally finishing an agonizingly long and gruesome psychological thriller, a reader friend loaned me a stack of library books when I told her I needed to read something more hopeful and optimistic. The stack included Jojo Moyes, The Last Letter From Your Lover, and The Horse Dancer both of which were deeply perceptive about how relationships go wrong, and how they can sometimes be righted, perhaps with just a few moments of real honesty or a real attempt to un-self, in Murdoch’s words, to really attend to the other. The Horse Dancer not only reveals much about how secrets and  hiding of insecurities prevents real understanding between lovers, and between children and parents, it also describes a beautiful relationship between a girl and her horse, and much advice about how we ought to attend to and treat animals in our lives. Now I agree that romance novels often become formulaic, with too much talk of six-pack abdomens and hot, smoky sex. And, as in The Last Letter From Your Lover, too much jerking around of the readers, first giving one hope of a breakthrough, a reunion, a happy ending, and then ripping the carpet out from under those hopes, only to begin to build a new anticipation of resolution, a new thread of hope cut off again, and again. Still, the characters in the novels mentioned are believable and fully fleshed out, and the circumstances usually quite plausible. Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s fine novel, Set Me Free not only describes human relationships well and perceptively, it also tells us a lot about racism and the broken promises Native Americans have continually faced. I’m sure some readers would want to insist that Set Me Free is much more than a romance or women’s fiction book, but my point is that many in this poorly defined genre are much more than romances.I learned long ago that I loved what many critics deride as ‘chick flicks,’ for many of the same reasons I find so-called romance novels important and uplifting. When I look back and recall why I so loved Edith Wharton. Alice Munro, Willa Cather, I discover that it was their acute understanding of relationships that endeared them to me. Would Jane Austin and Emily Bronte (were they writing today) be labeled romance writers? Certainly, relationships between lovers were key part of their works. At various times in my reading life I have rejected whole genres of writing: science-fiction, mysteries, only to discover my reasons were superficial and largely unjustified. So-called romance novels are, I suppose, my latest treasure-trove of overlooked or too quickly rejected novels. Jojo Moyes has made me laugh out loud and cry as she describes the sad but often laughable antics of lovers.I have not learned much from self-help books on how to make relationships work, or how and when to jettison ones that don’t, but novels (especially those by women) have shown me just how deceit tarnishes and/or destroys relationships, just how even moments of real honesty can restart a relationship in trouble. I am a reader who loves to read about families, and here, again, I think the place to go is often this slippery genre I’m trying to characterize.Next week I will return to my usual habit of reviewing a single novel when I review Rene Denfeld’s The Child Finder, another novel primarily about relationships. But today, I am happy to be recommending to you women’s fiction, which is neither soft nor shallow.

First Draft interview with Joan Silber, author of Improvement.

Joan Silber's first book, the novel Household Words won the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her other works of fiction are In the City, In My Other Life, Lucky Us, Ideas of Heaven, finalist for the National Book Award and the Story Prize, The Size of the World, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Prize in Fiction, and Fools, longlisted for the National Book Award and finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her latest novel is called Improvement.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know who Anne Rice is and that her son Christopher Rice is a bestselling novelist too. But they've never collaborated together until this week, when they publish RAMSES THE DAMNED: THE PASSION OF CLEOPATRA, the sequel to THE MUMMY (1989). We catch with both of them during this episode. And Joan Silber's brand-new novel IMPROVEMENT has critics raving, including this starred review from our critic: "There is something so refreshing and genuine about this book." She tells us about creating the novel. Our children's and teen editor Vicky Smith talks about a few of her picks of the Best Picture Books of 2017 and our editors tell you which bestsellers are worth your time.

Host Cyd Oppenheimer talks with author Joan Silber about writing against the "narcissism of the novel," about being "against narrowness," and the dangers of being too careful ("then you lie in other ways"); guest readers Brad Ridky and Alice Baumgartner join Oppenheimer to discuss impermanence and contingency, the public and the private, and the desire to be seen.

In our debut episode: Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin) in conversation with Phil Klay (Redeployment) about writing, war, and the shifting sands between fiction and reality. Also - reviews of The Vacationers by Emma Straub and Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber, and new releases for early July 2014.Find all the titles discussed in this episode at greenlightbookstore.com/radio1 (www.greenlightbookstore.com/radio1)