Podcast appearances and mentions of Joshua Ferris

A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris (2021)

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. 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

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of digital technology and the social and ethical concerns it creates in mainstream literary American fiction and fiction written about the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. In this period, authors such as Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mohsin Hamid, Thomas Pynchon, Kristen Roupenian, Gary Shteyngart, and Zadie Smith found themselves not only implicated in the developing digital world of flat screens but also threatened by it, while simultaneously attempting to critique it. As a result, their texts explore how human relationships with digital devices and media transform human identity and human relationships with one another, history, divinity, capitalism, and nationality. Dr. Naydan walks us through these complex relationships, revealing how authors show through their fiction that technology is political. In the process, these authors complement and expand on work by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, creating accessible, literary road maps to our digital future. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/digital-humanities

Beastly: The 40,000-Year Story of Animals and Us by Keggie Carew https://amzn.to/3Yc7sec From an award-winning nature writer, true stories of our shared planet, all its inhabitants, and the fascinating ways they connect in the net of life Animals have shaped our minds, our lives, our land, and our civilization. Humanity would not have gotten very far without them—making use of their labor for transportation, agriculture, and pollination; their protection from predators; and their bodies for food and to make clothing, music, and art. And over the last two centuries, humans have made unprecedented advances in science, technology, behavior, and beliefs. Yet how is it that we continue to destroy the animal world and lump its magnificence under the sterile concept of biodiversity? In Beastly, author Keggie Carew seeks to re-enchant readers with the wild world, reframing our understanding of what it is like to be an animal and what our role is as humans. She throws readers headlong into the mind-blowing, heart-thumping, glittering pageant of life, and goes in search of our most revealing encounters with the animal world throughout the centuries. How did we domesticate animals and why did we choose sheep, goats, cows, pigs, horses, and chickens? What does it mean when a gorilla tells a joke or a fish thinks? Why does a wren sing? Beastly is a gorgeously written, deeply researched, and intensely felt journey into the splendor and genius of animals and the long, complicated story of our interactions with them as humans. About the Author Keggie is the author of DADLAND which won the 2016 COSTA biography award. Before writing, her career was in contemporary art. Keggie was born in Gibraltar and has lived in West Cork, Barcelona, Texas, Auckland, and London. She now lives in Wiltshire with her husband where they have a small nature reserve. QUICKSAND TALES was published by Canongate in 2019, "a tonic for the tortured and cursed" Joshua Ferris

Katie and Sarah talk about books that will tickle your funny bone. Whether you enjoy essays, memoirs or novels, you'll find a story guaranteed* to make you laugh. Titles discussed in this episode include: King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher, Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, Hey Ladies! by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro, Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster, Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny, Survival of the Thickest by Michelle Buteau, Dear Girls by Ali Wong, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith, Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, the TV show Somebody Somewhere, and Shrill by Lindy West (also adapted for TV). Also mentioned: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson; the TV show Killing Eve, based on the Villanelle series by Luke Jennings; the movie Bridesmaids; Early Morning Riser and Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny; A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost; The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris; The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz; and Verity by Colleen Hoover. Check out books and movies at countycat.mcfls.org, wplc.overdrive.com and hoopladigital.com. For more about WAPL, visit westallislibrary.org. *Just kidding! There are no guarantees, but you can tell us what you think and share your favorite funny books with us at westallislibrary@gmail.com. Music: Tim Moor via Pixabay

After the October Revolution in 1917, a teenaged Vladimir Nabokov and his family, part of the Russian nobility, sought exile in Western Europe, eventually settling in Berlin, where Vladimir lived for fifteen years. His life then included some politics, some writing and translating, some recreational pursuits - and a lot of trips to the cinema, a burgeoning art form and cultural experience that fascinated him. In this episode, Jacke talks to Luke Parker about this period of Nabokov's life, as explored in Luke's book Nabokov Noir: Cinematic Culture and the Art of Exile. Additional listening suggestions: 318 Lolita (with Jenny Minton Quigley) 112 The Novelist and the Witch-Doctor - Unpacking Nabokov's Case Against Freud (with Joshua Ferris) 96 Dracula, Lolita, and the Power of Volcanoes (with Jim Shepard) Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix's Ozark while dealing with the very dark themes of drug trafficking and murder, is a show that can help the Christian apologist intersect with its depiction of culture and family and use those themes as a springboard to contrast it with the truth of Christianity.***Warning Ozark Season One and Two (SE E2) contain nudity, sexual situations, graphic violence, and language. All seasons (1-4) contain graphic violence and language.***This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Joshua Ferris about the series Ozark. **Note: This podcast contains spoilers for the Series Ozark (2017-2022).*When you to subscribe to the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here https://www.equip.org/product/pmr-jnl-tip/

Joshua Ferris, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his novel Then We Came to the End, joins us to discuss his one true sentence from The Sun Also Rises.

This week, we discuss Ferris's famous "we" novel about late 2000s office space culture, and get briefly melancholic about what work friends felt like in the pre-pandemic world. 

Joshua Ferris reads his story “The Boy Upstairs,” from the June 6, 2022, issue of the magazine. Ferris is the author of one story collection and four novels, including “To Rise Again at a Decent Hour,” which won the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2014, and “A Calling for Charlie Barnes,” which was published last year.

Jacke plays a clip from Nabokov discussing his famous novel Lolita, in which the frantic narrator Humbert Humbert recounts his passionate (and illegal, immoral, and illicit) love for a young girl. After hearing from the author, Jacke plays clips from three History of Literature Podcast interviews: Jenny Minton Quigley, Jim Shepard,, and Joshua Ferris. Additional listening: Episode 318 - Lolita (with Jenny Minton Quigley) Episode 96 - Dracula, Lolita, and the Power of Volcanoes (with Jim Shepard) Episode 112 - The Novelist and the Witch-Doctor: Unpacking Nabokov's Case Against Freud (with Joshua Ferris) Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview from the archives with award-winning author Joshua Ferris on his novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Little Brown and Company). This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write about a visit to the dentist. Your scene, story or poem might involve the patient's perspective, that of the dentist, the hygienist. Maybe you write about the waiting room, a moment in the parking lot, or the dreaded chair itself. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 711  

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS by Isabel Allende & THEN WE CAME TO THE END by Joshua Ferris. This week on the pod, Toby tackles Isabel Allende's smash hit, magical realism-heavy debut novel, and Bailey gets deep into the surprisingly long THEN WE CAME TO THE END. Along the way, the hosts establish their reading wheelhouses, Dillon gets a month-too-soon jump on Andrew's next book, and everyone gets to hear as Bailey and Dillon argue heatedly about Bailey's book. Plus, a spooky game about the scariest world of all - the world of aaaadvertisiiiing!

In this special episode, taped live at the Miami Book Fair, novelist Joshua Ferris joins hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel, A Calling for Charlie Barnes, which takes an often humorous look at the catastrophe of its protagonist's life. When Charlie Barnes is simultaneously hit with a cancer diagnosis and the Great Recession, all he wants is to live within another story. Ferris talks about the lies we tell ourselves and the fictionalized accounts of the past that plague and define families.   To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub's Virtual Book Channel, Fiction/Non/Fiction's YouTube Channel, and our website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Selected readings: Joshua Ferris A Calling for Charlie Barnes The Dinner Party: Stories To Rise Again at a Decent Hour The Unnamed Then We Came to the End   Others: Always on Display: An Interview with Joshua Ferris Interview with Joshua Ferris, 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award Winner The Duke of Deception: Memories of My Father by Geoffrey Wolff James B. Stewart, The New Yorker Capital by John Lanchester The Wall Street Journal Barron's The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway  Investor's Business Daily Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary - 2021 M09 Results William Cohen “The Great American Bubble Machine” by Matt Taibbi Wallace Stevens John Ashbery Emily Dickinson The Washington Post Philip Roth Meyerowitz Stories, written and directed by Noah Baumbach Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joshua Ferris's ''brash, extravagant, and chillingly beautiful'' (The New Yorker) novels include Then We Came to the End, winner of the 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel and a finalist for the National Book Award; To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize; and The Unnamed, the story of a lawyer who has the uncontrollable urge to walk and keep walking. One of The New Yorker's ''20 Under 40'' writers and winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize, Ferris is also the author of the short story collection The Dinner Party and has published fiction in Granta, Prairie Schooner, and Best American Voices, among other places. In A Calling for Charlie Barnes, a scheming malcontent finds redemption on an unlikely path.    Dana Spiotta is the author of five novels, including Wayward, which the New York Times called a "virtuosic, singular and very funny portrait of a woman seeking sanity and purpose in a world gone mad." Spiotta has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.  She was a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, the St. Francis College Literary Prize, and the John Updike Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. (recorded 10/26/2021)

“I love it, when, as a reader, I am surprised by the way people behave, you know that you're aghast and shocked and standing back a little bit. And I love it even more when I'm writing it, when I have tapped into a sense that I'm not in control of this guy, either.” We've been fans of Joshua Ferris since his very funny and acclaimed 2007 debut, Then We Came to the End — and he had us howling with laughter as we read his latest, A Calling for Charlie Barnes. Joshua joins us on the show to talk about second chances and whether or not people can change, family mythology, writing comedy without losing sight of his characters, and more. Featured books: A Calling for Charlie Barnes and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. Produced/Hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang.  Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Jonathan Franzen's new novel, “Crossroads,” has generated a lot of discussion, as his work tends to do. The novelist and critic Thomas Mallon, who reviewed “Crossroads” for us, is on the podcast this week to talk about the book and to place it in the context of Franzen's entire career.“He is fundamentally a social novelist, and his basic unit of society is the family,” Mallon says. “Always families are important in Franzen, and we move outward from the family into the business, into the town, into whatever the larger units are. His novels are likely to remain as indicators of what the world was like at the time he was writing. This new novel is a little bit different in that he's going back 50 years. The Nixon era is now, definitely, historical novel material.”Joshua Ferris visits the podcast to talk about his new novel, “A Calling for Charlie Barnes.”“It's basically about a guy who has floundered all his life until the moment that he gets pancreatic cancer,” Ferris says. “His diagnosis is a little back and forth, he's not really being honest with too many people in his life about what's going on. But eventually this rather thundering and life-changing disease happens to him. He's got to deal with it, he's got to get an operation and go through chemo and all the rest of it. And he changes his life. That's sort of the plot of the book, I suppose. But it's narrated by a tricky fellow who is related to him and determines the narrative as much as Charlie himself.”Also on this week's episode, Tina Jordan looks back at Book Review history as it celebrates its 125th anniversary; Alexandra Alter has news from the publishing world; and our new book critics, Molly Young and Alexandra Jacobs, introduce themselves and talk about their approaches to literary criticism. Pamela Paul is the host.We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review's podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

Librarians Elizabeth, Sarah and Desirae chat about Zakiya Dalila Harris' popular novel that offers a behind-the-scenes look at book publishing and blends horror elements, humor and social commentary. Our conversation touches on hair and how it relates to identity, femininity and professionalism. Titles discussed in this episode include: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, False Witness by Karin Slaughter, Pet Sematary by Stephen King, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour. Music: Tim Moor via Pixabay

'White Ivy is magic' JOSHUA FERRIS, author of Then We Came to the End 'Ivy Lin eviscerates the model minority stereotype with a smile on her lips and boot on your neck' LUCY TAN, author of What We Were Promised Ivy Lin was a thief. But you'd never know it to look at her... Ivy Lin, a Chinese immigrant growing up in a low-income apartment complex outside Boston, is desperate to assimilate with her American peers. Her parents disapprove, berating her for her mediocre grades and what they see as her lazy, entitled attitude. But Ivy has a secret weapon, her grandmother Meifeng, from whom she learns to shoplift to get the things she needs to fit in. Ivy develops a taste for winning and for wealth. As an adult, she reconnects with the blond-haired golden boy of a prominent political family, and thinks it's fate. But just as Ivy is about to have everything she's ever wanted, a ghost from her past resurfaces, threatening the almost-perfect life she's worked so hard to build. Filled with surprising twists, and offering sharp insights into the immigrant experience, White Ivy is both a love triangle and a coming-of-age story - as well as a dark glimpse at what can happen when we yearn for success at any cost. MORE PRAISE FOR THIS SPELLBINDING DEBUT NOVEL: 'It's a testament to Susie Yang's skill that she can explore and upend our ideas of class, race, family, and identity while moving us through a plot that twists in such wonderful ways. But none of that would matter nearly as much if not for the truly unforgettable narrator, Ivy...' Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang 'Bold, daring, and sexy, White Ivy is the immigrant story we've been dying to hear' Neel Patel, author of If You See Me, Don't Say Hi

As major City firms and the likes of Facebook and Google allow their employees to work from home for the foreseeable future, does it herald the end of the office as we know it? And what does it mean for culture? From Working Girl to The Office, The Bell Jar to Joshua Ferris’s Then We Came To An End, the office has provided rich inspiration for the arts. We discuss the history of the office in culture and contemplate what comes next with writer Jonathan Lee and film and TV critic Hannah McGill. The Orwell Prize-winning writer and teacher Kate Clanchy has spent years with young people helping them to become poets. Some of her students are from migrant or refugee families and have brought with them rich poetic traditions; some from home backgrounds that haven’t traditionally seen poetry as a world open to them. Now she has written a book, How to Grow Your Own Poem, which details the way that she uses existing poems and her students’ lived experience to teach – a method that she believes anyone can follow to write their own poem. The start of September would always be a busy time for new books, jostling for attention in the run up to the lucrative Christmas buying period. But lockdown saw many publishers freeze releases from March onwards. And today the floodgates were opened meaning the launch of an unprecedented 590 hardbacks, 28% up on last year. To explore what this means for writers, publishers and consumers Samira is joined by Thea Lenarduzzi, commissioning editor at the Times Literary Supplement, and Kit Caless co-founder and editor at independent publisher Influx Press. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Studio producer: Hilary Dunn

This week we sit down with Peter Jones, internationally touring comedian and writer for the Project and the Weekly, to discuss office satire Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. He talks about growing up deep in the bowels of suburbia, the pain of office jobs and why or why not to write jokes about serious topics. Enjoy!Book discussed:Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Discussion Notes: Exquisite Corpse This week’s story: Exquisite Corpse by Zadie Smith, Rebecca Curtis, Mohsin Hamid, R.L. Stine, Rivka Galchen, Nicholson Baker, Anthony Marra, David Baldacci, Elif Batuman, James Patterson, Hanya Yanagihara, Joshua Ferris, Ben Marcus, Jenny Offill, Adelle Waldman Next week’s story: Saint Bus Driver by J. E. McCafferty Rated: Explicit Gerald, Anais and... The post Exquisite Corpse | T Magazine | Literary Roadhouse Ep 155 appeared first on Literary Roadhouse.

Discussion Notes: The Second Bakery Attack This week’s story: The Second Bakery Attack by Haruki Murakami Next week’s story: Exquisite Corpse by Zadie Smith, Rebecca Curtis, Mohsin Hamid, R.L. Stine, Rivka Galchen, Nicholson Baker, Anthony Marra, David Baldacci, Elif Batuman, James Patterson, Hanya Yanagihara, Joshua Ferris, Ben Marcus, Jenny Offill, Adelle Waldman Rated: Clean Gerald,... The post The Second Bakery Attack | Haruki Murakami | Literary Roadhouse Ep 154 appeared first on Literary Roadhouse.

Discussion Notes: The Dinner Party Find this week’s story here:  The Dinner Party by Joshua Ferris Next week’s story:  The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald Rated: Clean Rammy, Gerald and Anais rave about  “The Dinner Party” by Joshua Ferris,which was suggested by former guest Colette Sartor. The three hosts discuss... The post The Dinner Party | Joshua Ferris | Literary Roadhouse Ep 133 appeared first on Literary Roadhouse.

"The world is a book," said Augustine, "and those who do not travel read only one page." But what about books ABOUT traveling? Do they double the pleasure? Transport us to a different place? Inspire and enchant? Or are they more like a forced march through someone else's interminable photo album? Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins us for a look at his literary journey to London and Stockholm, summer reading, and a draft of the greatest travel books of all time. Works and authors discussed include As You Like It by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Festive Comedy by C.L. Barber, Virginia Woolf, My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Bill Bryson, Herodotus, Rick Steves, Eat Pray Love, Under a Tuscan Sun, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, My Life in France by Julia Child, Invisible Cities and other works by Italo Calvino, The Travels of Marco Polo, Patricia Highsmith, James Joyce, Henry James, Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, Another Day of Life by Kapuscinski, What Is the What by Dave Eggers, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood, Roots by Alex Haley, Under the Tuscan Sun, A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Stern, the Let's Go series, the Lonely Planet series, Across Asia on the Cheap, Into the Wild and other works by Jon Krakauer, the Odyssey, Mark Twain, India: A Million Mutinies Now by V.S. Naipaul, Paul Theroux, A Room with a View, Kingsley Amis, Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell, The Way of the White Clouds by Lama Anagarika Govinda. Blasphemous! Hear the original discussion of Shakespeare's comedies in Episode 83 - Overrated! Top 10 Books You Don't Need To Read. Nabokov's Lolita gets a day in the sun in Episode 112 - The Novelist and the Witch Doctor - Unpacking Nabokov's Case Against Freud (with Joshua Ferris). A trip through Tibet? Reading Madame Bovary? Yes indeed. Hear the whole story in Episode 79 - Music that Melts the Stars - Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.  Support the show at patreon.com/literature. Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. Or send an email to jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watch the video here. Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris's ''truly affecting novel about work, trust, love, and loneliness'' (Seattle Times), won the 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His other works include The Unnamed and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. One of The New Yorker's ''20 Under 40'' writers and winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize, Ferris has published fiction in Granta, Prairie Schooner, and Best American Voices, among other places. The Dinner Party, his first story collection, is rife with characters searching for answers in the aftermath of life's pitfalls. ''Nailing entire worlds together with teeming, precise detail'' (The New York Times), Jim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including The Book of Aron and Project X. A writer's writer, he is perhaps more celebrated for his short fiction, which has appeared in publications ranging from The Paris Review to Playboy. His story collections include You Think That's Bad and Like You'd Understand, Anyway, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of The Story Prize. His new collection explores the emotional hazards of everyday life writ large on the canvases of historic tragedy and triumph. (recorded 5/24/2017)

“I admire Freud greatly,” the novelist Vladimir Nabokov once said, “as a comic writer.” For Nabokov, Sigmund Freud was “the Viennese witch-doctor,” objectionable for “the vulgar, shabby, fundamentally medieval world” of his ideas. Author Joshua Ferris (The Dinner Party, Then We Came to the End) joins Jacke for a discussion of the author of Lolita and his special hatred for “the Austrian crank with a shabby umbrella.” Learn more about the show at historyofliterature.com. Support the show at patreon.com/literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we discuss several stories from Joshua Ferris' new collection The Dinner Party, beginning with one called "In The Heart of the Dead." We keep it short and sweet on the basketball side, since this was the first slow week we've had in a while. Join us next week when we focus in on the great Barry Hannah; grab a copy of Airships and dig into "Testimony of Pilot."

"Then We Came To The End" is one of the greatest and funniest novels about having your soul crushed at work that's ever been written. Joshua Ferris came by his knowledge of office life legitimately: though he always wanted to be a fiction writer, he spent time in an ad agency, understanding how tough it is to give away your creativity to a big company. Now it's ten years later, and Josh has written two more novels and a short story collection called "The Dinner Party." Thank heavens he got out. Notes:  Check out Joshua's new book - The Dinner Party Learn more about Joshua - joshuaferris.com Check out Chris's new novel - WarOnSoundbook.com Follow The Juggernaut - @JuggernautPod Find the Juggernaut on Facebook - www.facebook.com/groups/179236383431

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Joshua Ferris author of The Dinner Party and Other Stories, published this month by Little Brown and Company. This is Joshua’s first collection of short stories. His debut novel was Then We Came To An End, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Next came The Unnamed in 2010 and Joshua’s third novel in 2014 is To Rise Again At A Decent Hour shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. The stories in The Dinner Party have been collected over a period of 10-12 years and represent a collection of work that while distinct and individual weaves together a set of themes that keeps the reader laughing, puzzled, wondering and in awe. For example, if you have ever really had a bad day, read these stories and you’ll find out what it is to have a REALLY bad day? If you’ve ever been perplexed about why you made a certain dumb dumb decision, you know, the kind where you slam the heel of your hand against your forehead, wait till you see some of the decisions these guys make. And I say guys, because Joshua is best when he is describing someone like me, a dumb guy, who’s put his foot in his mouth and rather than trying to get it out succeeds only in pushing in the ankle and then a portion of the tibia and fibula. We all have moments when we realize, in retrospect, oh! That was the moment that my relationship with Susan began to unravel or the moment when you realize if I had just turned that doorknob or have smiled and said hello instead of putting my hands in my pockets or turning away, my life would have been so much different. Having those moments is one thing. And I don’t really blame you or myself. Well yeah I do blame myself. Pretty much 24/7. What Joshua does is crystallize those moments, or telegraph them in the opening lines of a story so that you read with bated breath knowing that what is coming is not going to be good but it’s going to resonate. You find yourself either rooting for a character, hoping against hope that he doesn’t do the dumb-ass thing you think he will, or you resign yourself and say well this is just not going to be good. What is fascinating about the process is you find yourself constantly either laughing or trying not to as these bumbling foolish guys, some good hearted, some not so much, meander through life not even knowing what they are getting themselves into. Donald Trump would be a perfect fit as a character in the next collection of short stories that Joshua brings us.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Joshua Ferris author of The Dinner Party and Other Stories, published this month by Little Brown and Company. This is Joshua’s first collection of short stories. His debut novel was Then We Came To An End, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Next came The Unnamed in 2010 and Joshua’s third novel in 2014 is To Rise Again At A Decent Hour shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. The stories in The Dinner Party have been collected over a period of 10-12 years and represent a collection of work that while distinct and individual weaves together a set of themes that keeps the reader laughing, puzzled, wondering and in awe. For example, if you have ever really had a bad day, read these stories and you’ll find out what it is to have a REALLY bad day? If you’ve ever been perplexed about why you made a certain dumb dumb decision, you know, the kind where you slam the heel of your hand against your forehead, wait till you see some of the decisions these guys make. And I say guys, because Joshua is best when he is describing someone like me, a dumb guy, who’s put his foot in his mouth and rather than trying to get it out succeeds only in pushing in the ankle and then a portion of the tibia and fibula. We all have moments when we realize, in retrospect, oh! That was the moment that my relationship with Susan began to unravel or the moment when you realize if I had just turned that doorknob or have smiled and said hello instead of putting my hands in my pockets or turning away, my life would have been so much different. Having those moments is one thing. And I don’t really blame you or myself. Well yeah I do blame myself. Pretty much 24/7. What Joshua does is crystallize those moments, or telegraph them in the opening lines of a story so that you read with bated breath knowing that what is coming is not going to be good but it’s going to resonate. You find yourself either rooting for a character, hoping against hope that he doesn’t do the dumb-ass thing you think he will, or you resign yourself and say well this is just not going to be good. What is fascinating about the process is you find yourself constantly either laughing or trying not to as these bumbling foolish guys, some good hearted, some not so much, meander through life not even knowing what they are getting themselves into. Donald Trump would be a perfect fit as a character in the next collection of short stories that Joshua brings us.

Ferris talks about his new collection of stories, and Jonathan Taplin discusses “Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy.”

Michael & Ethan discuss Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End while sipping the U.S. Exclusive batch of Glenfiddich 14yo. In this episode: Michael gives Ethan a grade. Ethan says things out loud. The guys take a pee break. They talk about Star Trek. Michael invents a word. Ethan debuts his operatic career. Michael becomes a Jane Austen heroine. Join the discussion!  Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line.  We'd love to hear from you! Next month, the pair will discuss Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis.  Read along! Your Hosts: Michael G. Lilienthal (@mglilienthal) and Ethan Bartlett (@bjartlett) "Queen of the Night" aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflöte, sung by Diana Damrau. All copyrighted content remains property of their respective owners. "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco.  Used by permission.

Michael & Ethan discuss East of Eden by John Steinbeck, while sipping Craigellachie 13-year. Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! Next month, the pair will discuss Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. Read along! "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.

Joshua Ferris is the bestselling author of three novels, Then We Came to the End,  The Unnamed and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. He was a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and was named one of The New Yorker's “20 Under 40”writers in 2010. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Tin House, and Best American Short Stories. He lives in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday (Unnamed Press) Debbie Graber’s debut short story collection, Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday is a trenchant and searing satirical look at office life that is as astute and hilarious as Joshua Ferris’s And Then We Came to the End. These thirteen stories skewer corporate culture, as told through souls adrift in a khaki-clad purgatory. And Graber knows from what she writes – she has held a number of jobs in corporate America, which informed her gimlet-eyed writing. One of the aspects of the workplace that most interested her are the personas are forced to adopt. “It’s like they exist in a far flung area of the time space continuum where reason seems to always be taking a vacation day,” says Graber, “If we’re spending all these hours in make-believe land, what does that say about the work we are doing? What does it say about us?   In Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday, our hero Kevin Kramer is the new Senior Vice President of the Products Profit center at Production Solutions. He has worked hard for all his success, perfected the non-clammy handshake, and speaks “corporate” like a second language. But our Kevin Kramer harbors many dark secrets. As do many of the characters in Graber’s stories: An HR manager trying desperately to maintain order, even as the entire software department vanishes under mysterious circumstances. An estranged (and possibly deranged) sister devises her reunion by throwing together a DIY wedding shower. A man who wears a Chewbacca costume feels he is uniquely qualified to divide the world into winners and losers. And a call center representative tries to give himself a pep talk after a particularly egregious client interaction. With a wit and voice all its own, with Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday, Debbie Graber announces herself as a literary talent to watch. Praise for Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday “The stories in Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday are funny and funny-sad, formally bold, and a total delight to read. Graber captures perfectly the absurdities of contemporary, corporate America and her fabulous debut reminds us that we are all searching for meaning and human connection, whether it be from friends, family, or reply-all emails.”-Edan Lepucki, author of California “Debbie Graber's stories are crisp, sardonic, and funny—as antic and acerbic as they are intelligent and alert. A sly and incisive observer of human nature, Debbie Graber will win you over with this delightful debut.”-Sara Levine, author of Treasure Island!!! "Evil, evil, evil stories-- If you know the devil, you should buy him this for Christmas."-Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day “Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday offers satirical fiction that causes you to howl with laughter at the same moment its sharply exposed horrors cut into you. Debbie Graber's stories capture the absurdities of the 21st century corporate workplace in which white-collar millenials find their inboxes always brimming with new incentives for betrayal and self-betrayal. Neither the powerless nor the powerful outrun their demons in these brilliantly funny and bruising tales of American "enterprise."-Kevin McIlvoy, author ofThe Fifth Station “Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday skewers that place where so many of us spend our days and about which we spend the other hours of our lives complaining: the modern workplace. In this bitingly funny, precisely crafted collection, Debbie Graber takes on office excess: happy hours, overtime, trysts, and petty grievances. In doing so, she questions our societal notions of success and failure and invites us to laugh at our bosses and coworkers and, perhaps most of all, ourselves—knowing that if we don’t laugh, we just might cry. Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday is satire at its most incisive.”-Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade "With laugh-out-loud humor and a wildly keen eye for detail, Graber doesn't just brilliantly satirize our heavily corporate and medicated world, she wonderfully eviscerates it."-J. Ryan Stradal, author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest Debbie Graber has performed at Second City, worked in an office, and received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from U.C. Riverside at Palm Desert.  Her stories have appeared in The Nervous Breakdown, Harpers, Zyzzyva, Hobart, and elsewhere. Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday is her first collection of stories. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Matt Flanagan began his career as a writer for The Late Show With David Letterman, wrote movies you haven't seen, and several shows that were canceled after 13 episodes. He currently writes for Disney Channel's Stuck In The Middle and co-hosts a storytelling podcast called Tell It Anyway with his wife Jennie Josephson.

Joshua Ferris discusses To Rise Again at a Decent Hour.

If you've ever worked in an office, at least a passage or two in Joshua Ferris' Then We Came To The End is going to resonate with you. Few books so accurately capture the extremely important, unimportant minutiae of office life. Join us for our office ruminations, some fall follies, and some email-related observations. It's just as fun as it sounds!

If you've ever worked in an office, at least a passage or two in Joshua Ferris' Then We Came To The End is going to resonate with you. Few books so accurately capture the extremely important, unimportant minutiae of office life. Join us for our office ruminations, some fall follies, and some email-related observations. It's just as fun as it sounds!

Regn i P1 är en berättande, poetiskt, musikaliskt kulturprogram om människan och dess relation till naturen och hur det kan förändra våra liv. I det farliga regnet möter vi Luis Lineo som när han var barn bara var två mil ifrån Tjernobyl när katastrofen inträffade. Naturen bryr sig inte om oss. Den bryr sig inte fall vi lever eller dör. Vi kallar det katastrofer. Men vissa katastrofer väcks inte ur naturen, de kommer inte likt jordbävningarna eller vulkanutbrotten. De kommer från oss. Och de sprider sig med vinden, med de stora molnen, med regnet som ofrånkomligen faller. När Luis Lineo var tio år gammal förändrades allt. Två mil norr om Kiev där han bodde exploderade en dag en reaktor i kärnkraftverket Tjernobyl.  Det går också att resa in inuti molnen för att möta sig själv, för att mäta sina rädslor. Efter att den amerikanska författaren Joshua Ferris pappa dött bestämde han sig för att utmana sin egen dödlighet, genom att göra det mest obehagliga han kunde föreställa sig. Lära sig att flyga.

In this episode we get recommendations for two great books, plus a movie you might have missed, and a book that hasn’t even been released yet. We start our show with a quick discussion of deep fried hamburgers and other delicious, wacky food, with producer Gary Lucy, then quickly jump into a discussion of the film “Janeane From Des Moines”, which I loved and highly recommend. Next, we talk to writer/comedian Adam Gropman about the terrific one person show “A Carlin Home Companion” by Kelly Carlin, which we both enjoyed immensely and will soon be released as a book. Then, we get to the books, and we’ve got two great ones, “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble” by Zac Bissonnette, a fascinating non-fiction account of the craze that swept the nation and the insane financial bubble that formed within the collectors market. Finally, we discuss a really interesting work of modern fiction, “Then We Came To The End” by Joshua Ferris, a highly acclaimed debut novel that tells a fairly common story in an very uncommon style. Gary Lucy - “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble” by Zac Bissonnette - Penguin - ISBN - 978-1-101-60698-8 Adam Gropman - “Then We Came To The End" by Joshua Ferris - Little, Brown and Company ISBN - 978-0-316-01638-4 ALSO RECOMMENDED: “A Carlin Home Companion” by Kelly Carlin, available for pre-order on amazon.com, release date Sept. 15, 2015 “Janeane From Des Moines” - Film available for rental on amazon.com and iTunes.

Joshua Ferris joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss Robert Coover’s “Going for a Beer,” from a 2011 issue of the magazine.

We ponder the Cyberman's lack of logic and marvel at Missy as the eighth season of Doctor Who comes to a close. With special guest Joshua Ferris. Bonus: Get scared just like James with the short film "Lights Out": http://youtu.be/-fDzdDfviLI

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (Picador) Adelle Waldman, whose novel The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. has been on our bestseller list for months, discusses her book with film director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man). A debut novel by a brilliant young woman about the romantic life of a brilliant young man. Writer Nate Piven's star is rising. After several lean and striving years, he has his pick of both magazine assignments and women: Juliet, the hotshot business reporter; Elisa, his gorgeous ex-girlfriend, now friend; and Hannah, "almost universally regarded as nice and smart, or smart and nice," who holds her own in conversation with his friends. When one relationship grows more serious, Nate is forced to consider what it is he really wants. In Nate's 21st-century literary world, wit and conversation are not at all dead. Is romance? Novelist Adelle Waldman plunges into the psyche of a flawed, sometimes infuriating modern man--one who thinks of himself as beyond superficial judgment, yet constantly struggles with his own status anxiety, who is drawn to women, yet has a habit of letting them down in ways that may just make him an emblem of our times. With tough-minded intelligence and wry good humor The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. is an absorbing tale of one young man's search for happiness--and an inside look at how he really thinks about women, sex and love. Praise for The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.: "Deliciously funny, sharply observed, elegantly told, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. is the best debut I've encountered in years, the best novel about New York, and the best novel about contemporary manhood and the crazy state of gender roles and just "contemporary" life. With a pitch perfect balance of satire and sympathy, reminiscent of Mary McCarthy's The Group, Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End, and Jay McInerney'sBrightness Falls, Adelle Waldman's voice is nevertheless entirely--and unabashedly--her own." --Joanna Smith Rakoff, author of the novel A Fortunate Age "Novelist Adelle Waldman does a very tricky thing: she succeeds in crossing the gender line, imagining the world from behind the eyes of a male character both sympathetically and unsentimentally. This former young-literary-man-in-Brooklyn found himself cringing in recognition." --William Deresiewicz, author of A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter "I can't remember the last novel this good about being young and smart and looking for love in the big city. The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. reads as if one of the top tier 19th-century novelists zeroed her social x-ray eyes onto present-moment Brooklyn. Up-and-coming writers and artists everywhere will be squirming with uncomfortable recognition of themselves, their friends, and their psyches; far more readers will be thanking Adelle Waldman for this hilarious, big-hearted, ruthlessly intelligent, and ridiculously well-written novel." --Charles Bock, author of the best-selling novel Beautiful Children ""Bracing and astute. Waldman writes these crisp, smart sentences that are every bit as thoughtful as her characters--people whose relationships founder and flourish in ways that will captivate readers from page one." --Fiona Maazel, author of Last Last Chance and "Woke Up Lonely Adelle Waldman is the author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Slate, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband. Filmmaker Marc Webb most recently directed The Amazing Spider-Man 2, after helming the critically acclaimedThe Amazing Spider-Man which grossed over $750 million worldwide. Webb will direct the third installment in the series, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, scheduled for release in 2018. Webb made his feature film debut with the two-time Golden Globe nominated (500) Days of Summer for which he received The National Board of Review's Spotlight Award, recognizing outstanding directorial debuts.

An audio recording of the Man Booker Prize 2014 shortlisted To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

Alex Clark talks to five Man Booker 2014 shortlisted authors from across Penguin Random House in this special episode featuring past winner Howard Jacobson, Ali Smith, Richard Flanagan, Neel Mukherjee and Joshua Ferris.Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/vintagebooksSign up to our bookish newsletter to hear all about our new releases, see exclusive extracts and win prizes: po.st/vintagenewsletter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matthew Sweet discusses online identity theft and religious belief with American novelist Joshua Ferris, as he publishes his new novel To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. As the London Festival of Architecture opens with a debate on whether London needs more tall towers, Matthew talks to Sir Terry Farrell, Owen Hatherley, Nicholas Boys Smith, Angela Brady, about how London should look in the future. And we head to the Foundling Museum, whose latest exhibition marks the 250th anniversary of the death of William Hogarth to find out how artist Jessie Brennan has re-imagined ‘A Rake's Progress' without people, just a famous London tower block.

Fruitvale Station is the debut film from director Ryan Coogler and it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance in 2013. It narrates the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young African American man who was shot by transport police in California on New Year's Day in 2009. Gaylene Gould reviews the film. Clean Bandit scored a number one with their single Rather Be which fused classical music with electronic dance rhythms. As they release their debut album, they discuss how they found their musical style and the reaction from the classical world. Terry Gilliam is returning to the English National Opera to direct Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, teaming up again with music director Edward Gardner. Terry and Edward discuss the director/conductor relationship and the appeal of Berlioz's seldom performed work. Author Joshua Ferris, best known for his debut novel Then We Came to the End, discusses his latest book, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. Set in a Manhattan dental practice, it explores faith, belonging and the power of the internet.

The novelist Joshua Ferris made a splash in 2007 with his debut Then We Came to the End. The critically acclaimed book was a hilarious, biting satire about employees in a collapsing ad agency in Chicago at the end of the dot-com era. Ferris followed it up in 2010 with The Unnamed, a somewhat darker novel about a Manhattan lawyer who just wants to be walking; it’s an urge he cannot resist, and it undoes his life. Now Ferris is out with a new novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. With the help of a somewhat petulant, loner dentist the book takes on existential dread, what it means to be a Jew, and Red Sox fandom in a mix of the absurd, the droll, and the profound. Ferris joins... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lionel Shriver discusses her controversial novel The New Republic which looks at the relationship between terrorism, the media and achieving political goals. We speak to the author of the classic novel Mrs Bridge - a tale of a woman trapped in her comfortable 1930s mid America world - and to Joshua Ferris about its enduring appeal. And Francine Prose, who has lectured in literature for over twenty years, argues there is much to learn for writers and readers alike in the mining of the classic.

Monica Ali reads Joshua Ferris's "The Dinner Party."

The Unnamed (Little, Brown) Josh Ferris, who won a huge audience with his hilarious office novel, Then We Came to the End, has done an about-face — he's left the office....

Bestselling author Joshua Ferris talks the walk… Renassance Italy burns in vain… and Rico learns what locavores do when it snowcavores.

Joshua Ferris reads George Saunders's "Adams" and discusses it with The New Yorker's fiction editor, Deborah Treisman.