Podcasts about nea literature fellowship

We're celebrating National Poetry Month with 2021 NEA Literature Fellow, poet Leslie Sainz who discusses her debut poetry collection, "Have You Been Long Enough at Table."  Sainz reads from her collection and talks about its major themes including the ambiguity, displacement, and impact of cultural heritage as a daughter of Cuban immigrants. She discusses the variety of poetic forms used in her collection, allowing form to be guided by the emotional and thematic demands of her work. Sainz also talks about the impact of receiving a 2021 NEA Literature Fellowship for Poetry on her career and the validation it provided and offers advice to other poets and writers, especially regarding the NEA fellowship application process. Sainz  also discusses her involvement as a judge in the NEA's Poetry Out Loud competition and  shares her experiences from organizing regional competitions to judging the national semifinals and her appreciation for the performative and memorization components that enhance both the understanding and the emotional experience of poetry.  She also gives us a glimpse into her upcoming project, tentatively titled "I Believe in Evil and Evil Believes in You," exploring new thematic territories and expanding her creative boundaries.  And, on April 17,  the day after our conversation, Leslie Sainz's collection , "Have You Been Long Enough at Table" was awarded the 2024 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry

We're celebrating National Poetry Month with 2021 NEA Literature Fellow, poet Leslie Sainz who discusses her debut poetry collection, "Have You Been Long Enough at Table."  Sainz reads from her collection and talks about its major themes including the ambiguity, displacement, and impact of cultural heritage as a daughter of Cuban immigrants. She discusses the variety of poetic forms used in her collection, allowing form to be guided by the emotional and thematic demands of her work. Sainz also talks about the impact of receiving a 2021 NEA Literature Fellowship for Poetry on her career and the validation it provided and offers advice to other poets and writers, especially regarding the NEA fellowship application process. Sainz  also discusses her involvement as a judge in the NEA's Poetry Out Loud competition and  shares her experiences from organizing regional competitions to judging the national semifinals and her appreciation for the performative and memorization components that enhance both the understanding and the emotional experience of poetry.  She also gives us a glimpse into her upcoming project, tentatively titled "I Believe in Evil and Evil Believes in You," exploring new thematic territories and expanding her creative boundaries.  And, on April 17,  the day after our conversation, Leslie Sainz's collection , "Have You Been Long Enough at Table" was awarded the 2024 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry

2020 NEA Literature Fellow Danielle Evans is author of two collections of stories  Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and The Office of Historical Corrections, published ten years apart and to great acclaim. Today, we're revisiting my 2021 interview with Danielle. In this podcast, we explore her intricate narratives that weave through the themes of history, race, and grief. Danielle shares her approach to writing, the importance of allowing stories to develop organically, and her commitment to fostering depth and cohesion in her collections. She discusses the recurring motifs in her work, including the impact of history and memory on identity, the complexities of grief, and the nuances of racial and societal dynamics. We discuss *The Office of Historical Corrections *and the titular novella which introduces an imaginative agency dedicated to correcting historical inaccuracies. Evans explains the genesis of this idea and its reflection on our contemporary struggles with truth and reconciliation. She reflects on the shifts in the publishing industry regarding diversity and representation, acknowledging progress while also pointing to the ongoing challenges in creating equitable spaces for diverse voices. And finally, Danielle shares how the NEA Literature Fellowship has supported her creative process, allowing her to research and develop her forthcoming work.

2020 NEA Literature Fellow Danielle Evans is author of two collections of stories  Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and The Office of Historical Corrections, published ten years apart and to great acclaim. Today, we're revisiting my 2021 interview with Danielle. In this podcast, we explore her intricate narratives that weave through the themes of history, race, and grief. Danielle shares her approach to writing, the importance of allowing stories to develop organically, and her commitment to fostering depth and cohesion in her collections. She discusses the recurring motifs in her work, including the impact of history and memory on identity, the complexities of grief, and the nuances of racial and societal dynamics. We discuss *The Office of Historical Corrections *and the titular novella which introduces an imaginative agency dedicated to correcting historical inaccuracies. Evans explains the genesis of this idea and its reflection on our contemporary struggles with truth and reconciliation. She reflects on the shifts in the publishing industry regarding diversity and representation, acknowledging progress while also pointing to the ongoing challenges in creating equitable spaces for diverse voices. And finally, Danielle shares how the NEA Literature Fellowship has supported her creative process, allowing her to research and develop her forthcoming work.

Author and 2020 NEA Literature Fellow Vanessa Hua is getting a lot of well-deserved praise for her recently released novel, Forbidden City which tells the story of the Chinese Cultural revolution as experienced by a woman who is a member of Chairman Mao's dance troupe. In fact, Vanessa ‘s NEA Literature Fellowship enabled her to finish the book, so it seemed like a good time to revisit my 2020 interview with her—which remains one of my favorites both because of the books and because of Vanessa—she has a wonderful sense of humor and a feel for an apt turn of phrase. In this podcast, she talks about her novel A River of Stars  which she describes as “a pregnant Chinese Thelma and Louise” and her book of short stories Deceit and Other Possibilities whose theme she says is “model minorities behaving badly.” These two books explore the lives of immigrants in San Francisco's Chinatown and the divide between 1st generation parents and 2nd generation children.  She also discusses the 2020 Lit Fellowship which allowed her work on Forbidden City, as well as her experiences as a journalist, as a writer of fiction, as a mother and as a 2nd generation Chinese-American.  She is clear these experiences don't exist in silos but are always informing one another.

Author and 2020 NEA Literature Fellow Vanessa Hua is getting a lot of well-deserved praise for her recently released novel, Forbidden City which tells the story of the Chinese Cultural revolution as experienced by a woman who is a member of Chairman Mao's dance troupe. In fact, Vanessa ‘s NEA Literature Fellowship enabled her to finish the book, so it seemed like a good time to revisit my 2020 interview with her—which remains one of my favorites both because of the books and because of Vanessa—she has a wonderful sense of humor and a feel for an apt turn of phrase. In this podcast, she talks about her novel A River of Stars  which she describes as “a pregnant Chinese Thelma and Louise” and her book of short stories Deceit and Other Possibilities whose theme she says is “model minorities behaving badly.” These two books explore the lives of immigrants in San Francisco's Chinatown and the divide between 1st generation parents and 2nd generation children.  She also discusses the 2020 Lit Fellowship which allowed her work on Forbidden City, as well as her experiences as a journalist, as a writer of fiction, as a mother and as a 2nd generation Chinese-American.  She is clear these experiences don't exist in silos but are always informing one another.

Novelist and 2022 NEA Literature Fellow Marjan Kamali talks about her recent novel The Stationery Shop a story that begins in 1953 in Iran and spans 60 years. It's a book that is steeped in Persian culture, poetry and food even as its protagonist spends the majority of her life in the United States. Marjan discusses her decision to write about a lost love but a life fully lived, the balancing act of telling a story shaped by a political moment that isn't subsumed by politics,  the centrality of poetry in the lives of Iranians and Iranian-Americans, living on the hyphen between Iranian and American, her plans for her 2022 NEA Literature Fellowship, and the absolute joy of writing about the food at the heart of Persian culture.   And from Marjan, below are links to food blogs she mentions in the podcast: “There are many great food blogs out there that explain everything in Persian cooking so well. I highly recommend: https://turmericsaffron.blogspot.com mypersiankitchen.com Nooshe jân! (May it nourish your soul!)” Follow us on Apple Podcasts!  

Novelist and 2022 NEA Literature Fellow Marjan Kamali talks about her recent novel The Stationery Shop a story that begins in 1953 in Iran and spans 60 years. It's a book that is steeped in Persian culture, poetry and food even as its protagonist spends the majority of her life in the United States. Marjan discusses her decision to write about a lost love but a life fully lived, the balancing act of telling a story shaped by a political moment that isn't subsumed by politics,  the centrality of poetry in the lives of Iranians and Iranian-Americans, living on the hyphen between Iranian and American, her plans for her 2022 NEA Literature Fellowship, and the absolute joy of writing about the food at the heart of Persian culture.   And from Marjan, below are links to food blogs she mentions in the podcast: “There are many great food blogs out there that explain everything in Persian cooking so well. I highly recommend: https://turmericsaffron.blogspot.com mypersiankitchen.com Nooshe jân! (May it nourish your soul!)” Follow us on Apple Podcasts!  

John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

“For a writer of non-fiction or essayist that's very difficult to work with because we aren't, or at least some of us don't consider ourselves journalists. The tools that we are working with aren't–What your favorite color is. Where you grew up. Or what your favorite number is. If we're writing a profile of something, the tools that we're working with are long conversations in which people are sharing anecdotes about themselves. When I do an interview with somebody, I don't take out a tape recorder. I don't have a notebook. I invite them on a walk so that we can feel at least that we're just chatting.”John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

“For a writer of non-fiction or essayist that's very difficult to work with because we aren't, or at least some of us don't consider ourselves journalists. The tools that we are working with aren't–What your favorite color is. Where you grew up. Or what your favorite number is. If we're writing a profile of something, the tools that we're working with are long conversations in which people are sharing anecdotes about themselves. When I do an interview with somebody, I don't take out a tape recorder. I don't have a notebook. I invite them on a walk so that we can feel at least that we're just chatting.”John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

“For a writer of non-fiction or essayist that's very difficult to work with because we aren't, or at least some of us don't consider ourselves journalists. The tools that we are working with aren't–What your favorite color is. Where you grew up. Or what your favorite number is. If we're writing a profile of something, the tools that we're working with are long conversations in which people are sharing anecdotes about themselves. When I do an interview with somebody, I don't take out a tape recorder. I don't have a notebook. I invite them on a walk so that we can feel at least that we're just chatting.”John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

“For a writer of non-fiction or essayist that's very difficult to work with because we aren't, or at least some of us don't consider ourselves journalists. The tools that we are working with aren't–What your favorite color is. Where you grew up. Or what your favorite number is. If we're writing a profile of something, the tools that we're working with are long conversations in which people are sharing anecdotes about themselves. When I do an interview with somebody, I don't take out a tape recorder. I don't have a notebook. I invite them on a walk so that we can feel at least that we're just chatting.”John D'Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa, and recently his essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, Gulf Coast, and Conjunctions. John D'Agata lives in Iowa City where he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. The Lifespan of Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.· www.johndagata.com· www.creativeprocess.info

Frank Wilderson III in conversation with Justin Desmangles, discussing Frank's new book, "Afropessimism." This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Josiah Luis Alderete. Professor and chair of African American studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid, Frank B. Wilderson III has received an NEA Literature Fellowship and a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award for Creative Nonfiction, among other awards. Justin Desmangles is chairman of the Before Columbus Foundation, administrator of the American Book Award, and host of the radio broadcast New Day Jazz, now in its fifteenth year. A member of the board of directors of the Oakland Book Festival, Mr. Desmangles is also a program producer at the African-American Center of the San Francisco Public Library.

On April 25, Tania Runyan taught a workshop on poetry during the Digital Karitos Experience.Tania Runyan is the author of the poetry collections What Will Soon Take Place, Second Sky, A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which was awarded Book of the Year by the Conference on Christianity and Literature in 2007. Her guides How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay are used in classrooms across the country. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Saint Katherine Review, and the Paraclete book Light upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. When not writing, Tania plays fiddle and mandolin, drives kids to appointments, and gets lost in her Midwestern garden.http://www.taniarunyan.com/About_Me.htmlSupport the show! Thanks!!Intro/Outro Music by Vivien HibbertSupport the show (https://www.karitosnation.org/blog )Support the show (https://www.karitosnation.org/blog )

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for 30 years and is the author of eight books. Her most recent book is The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think, forthcoming from Penguin Press in May 2020. Jennifer is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including an NEA Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Institute Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her work aims to explain and interpret science for a lay audience and to explore the riddle of humanity’s place in the natural world, blending scientific knowledge with imaginative vision. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Recorded at our second online 5x15 via Zoom on 18th May 2020. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Frank B. Wilderson III spent more than five years in South Africa, where he was one of two Americans elected to the African National Congress during the country's transformation after apartheid. His books include Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid and Red, White & Black: Cinema and the Structure of U.S. Antagonisms, and he served as a dramaturge for the Lincoln Center Theater in New York and the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. Chair of African American Studies and professor in the Culture & Theory Doctoral Program at the University of California, Irvine, he has been honored with the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award for Creative Nonfiction and an NEA Literature Fellowship. In Afropessimism, Wilderson fuses innovative philosophy with trenchant memoir to argue slavery's unique historical social position and its pervasiveness even today. (recorded 4/28/2020)

Where is all of the literary love for Queens? It’s right here at LIC Reading Series. Join them each week for stories, readings, and discussions with acclaimed writers, recorded with a live audience in the cozy carriage house of a classic pub in Long Island City, Queens, New York, and hosted by founder Catherine LaSota. This week, the podcast features the reading and panel discussion from the LIC Reading Series event on December 12, 2017, with Abeer Hoque (Olive Witch), Sarah Perry (After the Eclipse), and Jason Tougaw (The One You Get). Listen to this week's reading here. Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer. She published a book of linked stories, poems, and photographs called The Lovers and the Leavers, and a monograph of travel photographs and poems called The Long Way Home. Her memoir, Olive Witch, was published by Harper360 in 2017. She is the recipient of a 2018 Queens Council for the Arts grant, a 2014 NYFA grant, a 2012 NEA Literature Fellowship, a 2007 Fulbright Scholarship, and the 2005 Tanenbaum Award, and has received writing fellowships to attend Sacatar, Saltonstall Arts Colony, SLS St. Petersburg, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Millay Colony, and the Albee Foundation. Sarah Perry holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction from Columbia University, where she served as publisher of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art and was a member of the journal’s nonfiction editorial board. She is the recipient of a Writers’ Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation and a Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education, and has attended residencies at Norton Island in Maine and PLAYA in Oregon. Perry’s prose has appeared in Blood & Thunder magazine, Bluestockings Literary Journal, Elle.com, and The Guardian. Her memoir After the Eclipse was published in Fall 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She lives in Brooklyn. Jason Tougaw is associate professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York. He is the author of The One You Get: Portrait of a Family Organism and Strange Cases: The Medical Case History and the British Novel. He blogs at californica.net. * This event was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where is all of the literary love for Queens? It’s right here at LIC Reading Series. Join them each week for stories, readings, and discussions with acclaimed writers, recorded with a live audience in the cozy carriage house of a classic pub in Long Island City, Queens, New York, and hosted by founder Catherine LaSota. This week, the podcast features the reading and panel discussion from the LIC Reading Series event on December 12, 2017, with Abeer Hoque (Olive Witch), Sarah Perry (After the Eclipse), and Jason Tougaw (The One You Get). Check back Thursday for the discussion! Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer. She published a book of linked stories, poems, and photographs called The Lovers and the Leavers, and a monograph of travel photographs and poems called The Long Way Home. Her memoir, Olive Witch, was published by Harper360 in 2017. She is the recipient of a 2018 Queens Council for the Arts grant, a 2014 NYFA grant, a 2012 NEA Literature Fellowship, a 2007 Fulbright Scholarship, and the 2005 Tanenbaum Award, and has received writing fellowships to attend Sacatar, Saltonstall Arts Colony, SLS St. Petersburg, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Millay Colony, and the Albee Foundation. Sarah Perry holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction from Columbia University, where she served as publisher of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art and was a member of the journal’s nonfiction editorial board. She is the recipient of a Writers’ Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation and a Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education, and has attended residencies at Norton Island in Maine and PLAYA in Oregon. Perry’s prose has appeared in Blood & Thunder magazine, Bluestockings Literary Journal, Elle.com, and The Guardian. Her memoir After the Eclipse was published in Fall 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She lives in Brooklyn. Jason Tougaw is associate professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York. He is the author of The One You Get: Portrait of a Family Organism and Strange Cases: The Medical Case History and the British Novel. He blogs at californica.net. * This event was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As you'll discover in this conversation with Tania Runyan, she's experimented with being a screenwriter and playwright and written several nonfiction books, including How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and one for college-bound high school students, called How to Write a College Application Essay. But Tania thinks of herself first and foremost as a poet. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Saint Katherine Review and the Paraclete book Light upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.  Here are a few snippets of our chat: "I write blog posts and articles for companies...and I realize that poetry and that kind of writing are not at odds with one another. In fact, I have found they complement one another really well because poetry is all about condensing language, and the efficiency of language, and audience and emotion, and when you're writing for businesses...tailoring my language to a certain audience, a certain emotion, and trying to do that in an efficient manner, I find has been easier to do because of my background as a poet." "This is very important. The very first thing I bought with my NEA grant, was a Roomba. To this day, I still use it every day. It's responsible for a lot of my writing." Advice for new poets: "When I work with newer poets, it seems they're consistently surprised with how much time I spend on my poems and how much time I think they should spend on their poems. So my advice would be to slow down and enjoy the process...You want to write, you want to produce, you want to publish...but really there's no reason to rush. You need to give yourself to the process and enjoy it." Enjoy learning about all the ways a writer can write as you get to know Tania Runyan. Tania Runyan is the author of the poetry collections What Will Soon Take Place, Second Sky, A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which was awarded Book of the Year by the Conference on Christianity and Literature in 2007. Her guides How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay are used in classrooms across the country. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. When not writing, Tania plays fiddle and mandolin, drives kids to appointments, and gets lost in her Midwestern garden. Resources: Website: TaniaRunyan.com Facebook Page: Tania Runyan Poet What Will Soon Take Place, Tania's most recent poetry collection, celebrating its one-year anniversary (affiliate link) How to Write a Poem: Based on the Billy Collins Poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Tania Runyan (affiliate link) How to Read a Poem: Based on the Billy Collins Poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Tania Runyan (affiliate link) Book that mentioned Nabakov in the bathtub: Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors, by Sarah Stodola (affiliate link) Writing book Tania recommends for poets, an anthology with simple explanations of forms: Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms (not affiliate link; only available used) Jennifer Dukes Lee interview Alison Hodgson interview Shawn Smucker interview Patrice Gopo interview Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

As you’ll discover in this conversation with Tania Runyan, she’s experimented with being a screenwriter and playwright and written several nonfiction books, including How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and one for college-bound high school students, called How to Write a College Application Essay. But Tania thinks of herself first and foremost as a poet. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Saint Katherine Review and the Paraclete book Light upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.  Here are a few snippets of our chat: "I write blog posts and articles for companies...and I realize that poetry and that kind of writing are not at odds with one another. In fact, I have found they complement one another really well because poetry is all about condensing language, and the efficiency of language, and audience and emotion, and when you're writing for businesses...tailoring my language to a certain audience, a certain emotion, and trying to do that in an efficient manner, I find has been easier to do because of my background as a poet." "This is very important. The very first thing I bought with my NEA grant, was a Roomba. To this day, I still use it every day. It's responsible for a lot of my writing." Advice for new poets: "When I work with newer poets, it seems they're consistently surprised with how much time I spend on my poems and how much time I think they should spend on their poems. So my advice would be to slow down and enjoy the process...You want to write, you want to produce, you want to publish...but really there's no reason to rush. You need to give yourself to the process and enjoy it." Enjoy learning about all the ways a writer can write as you get to know Tania Runyan. Tania Runyan is the author of the poetry collections What Will Soon Take Place, Second Sky, A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which was awarded Book of the Year by the Conference on Christianity and Literature in 2007. Her guides How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay are used in classrooms across the country. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. When not writing, Tania plays fiddle and mandolin, drives kids to appointments, and gets lost in her Midwestern garden. Resources: Website: TaniaRunyan.com Facebook Page: Tania Runyan Poet What Will Soon Take Place, Tania's most recent poetry collection, celebrating its one-year anniversary (affiliate link) How to Write a Poem: Based on the Billy Collins Poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Tania Runyan (affiliate link) How to Read a Poem: Based on the Billy Collins Poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Tania Runyan (affiliate link) Book that mentioned Nabakov in the bathtub: Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors, by Sarah Stodola (affiliate link) Writing book Tania recommends for poets, an anthology with simple explanations of forms: Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms (not affiliate link; only available used) Jennifer Dukes Lee interview Alison Hodgson interview Shawn Smucker interview Patrice Gopo interview Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Click here to download Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for 30 years. Her most recent book, The Genius of Birds (Penguin Press, April 2016), explores the intelligence of birds.   Her previous books include Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold(Twelve Press, 2010), Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body(Houghton Mifflin, 2007), Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity(Houghton Mifflin 2001), and Notes from the Shore (Viking Penguin, 1995). A contributor to Scientific American, National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, and many other publications, Jennifer is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including an NEA Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Institute Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her articles and essays have been included in several anthologies, among them, Best American Science Writing, The Nature Reader, Best Nature Writing, Flights of Imagination: Extraordinary Writings About Birds, and The Penguin Book of the Ocean. Jennifer’s work aims to explain and interpret science for a lay audience and to explore the riddle of humanity’s place in the natural world, blending scientific knowledge with imaginative vision. Learn more about Jennifer Ackerman by visiting her website.

Dog Years (University of Pittsburgh Press) Many of these richly layered stories juxtapose the miracles of modern medicine against the inescapable frustrations of everyday life: awkward first dates, the indignities of air travel, and overwhelming megastore cereal aisles. In “Go Forth,” an aging couple attends a kidney transplant reunion, where donors and recipients collide with unexpected results; in “Hounds,” a woman who runs a facial reconstruction program for veterans nurses her dying dog while recounting the ways she has used sex as both a weapon and a salve; and in “Consider this Case,” a lonely fetal surgeon caring for his aesthete father must reconsider sexuality and the lengths people will go to have children. Melissa Yancy’s personal experience in the milieus of hospitals, medicine, and family services infuse her narratives with a rare texture and gravity. Keenly observed, offering both sharp humor and humanity, these stories explore the ties that bind—both genetic and otherwise—and the fine line between the mundane and the maudlin. Whether the men or women that populate these pages are contending with illness, death, or parenthood, the real focus is on time and our inability to slow its progression, and to revel in those moments we can control. Praise for Dog Years “The smart, intricate, carefully crafted stories in Dog Years reminded me of Lauren Groff’s Delicate, Edible Birds for both their ambition and extraordinary beauty.”—Richard Russo “Melissa Yancy’s stories make me swoon with recognition. They’re funny and sad in the same breath; they’re incredibly well executed; they’re about the endlessly fascinating machinery of relationships, about the weird intersections of medical technology and human dignity, and about the ways time catches up with everyone in the end. I’ve been waiting a long time for her stories to be collected in a book; Dog Years is cause for celebration.”—Anthony Doerr Melissa Yancy’s short fiction has appeared in One Story, Glimmer Train, Zyzzyva, and other publications. She is the recipient of a 2016 NEA Literature Fellowship. Stories in Dog Years have won the Glimmer Train Fiction Open, The Missouri Review Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize, and received special mention in the Pushcart Prize. She lives in Los Angeles where she works as a fundraiser for healthcare causes.

Please welcome ZYZZYVA's Southern California All-Stars! Though a San Francisco publication, ZYZZYVA has championed writers, poets, and artists from the Southland since its founding in 1985. Come hear recent contributors Lou Mathews, Melissa Yancy, Jim Gavin, David Hernandez, and special guest Dana Johnson read from their work, and find out whyZYZZYVA is considered one of the country's finest literary journals. Emceed by ZYZZYVA Contributing Editor David L. Ulin. Issue No. 106 offers for your enjoyment more of the country’s finest stories, poetry, essays, and visual art. Jim Gavin is the author of Middle Men, published by Simon & Schuster. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Zoetrope,Esquire, The Mississippi Review, and ZYZZYVA. Dana Johnson is the author of the short story collection In the Not Quite Dark forthcoming from Counterpoint in August 2016. She is also the author of Break Any Woman Down, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and the novel Elsewhere, California. Both books were nominees for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Her work has appeared in the Paris Review, Callaloo, and the Iowa Review, among others. Born and raised in and around Los Angeles, she is a professor of English at the University of Southern California. David Hernadez's most recent book of poetry is Dear, Sincerely. His other collections include Hoodwinked, Always Danger and A House Waiting for Music. He has been awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship and two Pushcart Prizes. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, AGNI, and The Best American Poetry. David teaches creative writing at California State University, Long Beach and is married to writer Lisa Glatt. David L. Ulin is the author, most recently, of the novel Ear to the Ground, written with Paul Kolsby. A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, his other books includeSidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay; The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time; and the Library of America's Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, which won a California Book Award. Melissa Yancy is the recipient of a 2016 NEA Literature Fellowship, and winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press for her short fiction collection Dog Years, which will be published in late 2016. Her stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, One Story,Prairie Schooner, Zyzzyva, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles and works as a fundraiser for health care causes. Lou Mathews has received a Pushcart Prize, a Katherine Anne Porter Prize, National Endowment for the Arts and California Arts Commission fellowships in fiction. His stories have been published in Black Clock, Tin House, New England Review, 40+ other literary magazines, ten fiction anthologies and several textbooks. His first novel, L.A. Breakdown was an L.A. Times Best book. This is his first appearance in ZYZZYVA.

Sandra Beasley is author of three poetry collections: Count the Waves; I Was the Jukebox, winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Theories of Falling, winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize. Honors for her work include a 2015 NEA Literature Fellowship, the Center for Book Arts Chapbook Prize, and two DCCAH Artist Fellowships. She is also the author of the memoir Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life. She lives in Washington, D.C., and is on the faculty of the low-residency MFA program at the University of Tampa.Leslie Harrison is the author of Displacement, published by Mariner Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in 2009. She holds graduate degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Irvine. Her poems have appeared in journals including Poetry, The New Republic, The Kenyon Review, FIELD, Subtropics, Pleiades, and Orion. Harrison has held a scholarship and fellowship at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and a fellowship at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. In 2011 she was awarded a fellowship in literature from The National Endowment for the Arts. She was the 2010 Philip Roth resident in poetry at Bucknell University, and then a visiting assistant professor in poetry and creative nonfiction at Washington College. In the fall of 2012 she joined the full-time faculty at Towson University. In 2014 The Maryland State Arts Council awarded her an Individual Artist Award in poetry.Read "Grief Puppet" and "Parable" by Sandra Beasley.Read "[That]" and "Autobiography--As a Vase" by Leslie Harrison.Recorded On: Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Sandra Beasley is author of three poetry collections: Count the Waves; I Was the Jukebox, winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Theories of Falling, winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize. Honors for her work include a 2015 NEA Literature Fellowship, the Center for Book Arts Chapbook Prize, and two DCCAH Artist Fellowships. She is also the author of the memoir Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life. She lives in Washington, D.C., and is on the faculty of the low-residency MFA program at the University of Tampa.Leslie Harrison is the author of Displacement, published by Mariner Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in 2009. She holds graduate degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Irvine. Her poems have appeared in journals including Poetry, The New Republic, The Kenyon Review, FIELD, Subtropics, Pleiades, and Orion. Harrison has held a scholarship and fellowship at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and a fellowship at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. In 2011 she was awarded a fellowship in literature from The National Endowment for the Arts. She was the 2010 Philip Roth resident in poetry at Bucknell University, and then a visiting assistant professor in poetry and creative nonfiction at Washington College. In the fall of 2012 she joined the full-time faculty at Towson University. In 2014 The Maryland State Arts Council awarded her an Individual Artist Award in poetry.Read "Grief Puppet" and "Parable" by Sandra Beasley.Read "[That]" and "Autobiography--As a Vase" by Leslie Harrison.

Espada, a Pulitzer Prize finalist called "the Latino poet of his generation" by the New York Times, has published over fifteen books of poetry, translation, and essays. Girmay is the author of two collections of poetry, for which she has won awards including the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award and the NEA Literature Fellowship, and teaches poetry at Hampshire College. Following the readings, Marjorie Agosín, professor of Spanish at Wellesley College and winner of the Latino Literature Prize for Poetry, led a discussion on bilingual literature and the social value of poetry. Wellesley's Newhouse Center for the Humanities featured readings from Martín Espada and Aracelis Girmay as part of the Distinguished Writers Series in October 2011. 

Natasha Wimmer was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2007 to translate Roberto Bolaño's epic novel 2666. In this interview, she discusses the complexities of translating Bolaño's work and other tribulations of working as a translator. [27:08]

Natasha Wimmer was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2007 to translate Roberto Bolaño's epic novel 2666. In this interview, she discusses the complexities of translating Bolaño's work and other tribulations of working as a translator. [27:08]

Natasha Wimmer was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2007 to translate Roberto Bolaño's epic novel 2666. In this interview, she discusses the complexities of translating Bolaño's work and other tribulations of working as a translator. [27:08]

Natasha Wimmer was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2007 to translate Roberto Bolaño's epic novel 2666. In this interview, she discusses the complexities of translating Bolaño's work and other tribulations of working as a translator. [27:08]