Podcasts about pen faulkner foundation

Do we get the nonfiction we deserve? LATimes book critic Bethanne Patrick wrestles with this question through five new books that both mirror and address our fractured psyche. From Melissa Fibos' choice of celibacy over toxic sexual romance to a lone wolf crossing impossible borders, all these works expose a world grappling with isolation, AI empires, and the collapse of meaningful discourse. Whether it's Thomas Chatterton Williams's critique of wokeness, Damon Young's biting anthology of new black comedy, or Karen Hao's disturbing portrait of OpenAI as our new imperial reality ( Tomorrow's show features a full interview with Hao), each book reflects our deeper crisis: the inability to connect authentically in our age of social isolation and anxiety. The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex - Melissa Fibos. Melissa Fibos, a writer with a history of intense romantic fixations, realizes she's addicted to the chase rather than genuine connection. She embarks on a year-long celibacy experiment, allowing masturbation and fantasies but avoiding all dating and partnered sex. It's a transformative journey of empowerment as Fibos discovers authentic pleasure in solitude, food, and simple experiences, ultimately meeting her future wife before completing the full year.Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and The Demise of Discourse - Thomas Chatterton Williams. This multiracial critic argues that America's obsession with racial categories perpetuates the very divisions we claim to fight, insisting that race is purely a social construct with no biological basis. Writing from his perspective as an American expat in France, Williams contends that woke discourse and "correct" language distract from addressing real structural problems. His book challenges readers to move beyond tired black-versus-white frameworks toward more nuanced conversations about power and identity.That's How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor - Edited by Damon Young This collection features sharp satirical pieces from top Black American writers who skewer everything from Karen culture to Disney's racial blindness to tech company exploitation. Contributors include Mateo Askaripour (who wrote the acclaimed "Black Buck") offering biting commentary on workplace racism and cultural appropriation. The anthology demonstrates how humor serves as both weapon and shield, allowing writers to expose systemic absurdities while maintaining their sanity in an often hostile world.Lone Wolf: Walking the Line Between Civilization and Wildness - Adam Weymouth In 2011, a wolf named Slavc traveled over 1,000 miles from Slovenia to the Italian Alps, becoming the first wolf in that region for decades and eventually establishing a pack of over 100. Weymouth follows this remarkable journey to explore how artificial barriers—from the Iron Curtain to Trump's border wall—prevent both wildlife and human refugees from reaching safety. The book uses the wolf's migration as a lens to examine what happens when the wild refuses to respect human boundaries and how life persistently seeks ways to thrive despite our attempts to control it.Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI - Karen Hao. Based on 90 interviews with current and former OpenAI executives plus dozens more from competing tech companies. Hao argues that without proper regulation and transparency, AI could evolve into a modern version of the British East India Company—a technological monopoly that serves elite interests while reshaping global power structures. Tomorrow's show features a full interview with Hao. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Do we get the serial killers & heroes we deserve? The always generous literary critic Bethanne Patrick uses five new non-fiction books to respond to this rather absurd question. From French women resisting Nazis at Ravensbrück concentration camp to the CIA's Cold War book smuggling operation, these new books examine human behavior under the most extreme circumstances. Caroline Fraser's Murderland investigates whether environmental toxins in the Pacific Northwest bred serial killers like Ted Bundy, and Maria Blake's They Poison the World explores forever chemicals' deadly impact on the environment. While Kevin Sack's Mother Emanuel offers Charleston's story of African-American forgiveness for the 300-year injustice of slavery and Jim Crow. Together, these books suggest our environment shapes us—sometimes tragically, sometimes triumphantly. a takeaway from each book * The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück - French women's resistance efforts were systematically ignored in post-war recognition, with only 6 women receiving medals compared to 1,100 men, highlighting how women's contributions to liberation movements have been marginalized. Vive La France!* Murderland - Environmental toxicity from lead and arsenic smelting in the Pacific Northwest may have contributed to the region's concentration of serial killers in the 1950s-70s, with cases declining as environmental protections increased.* They Poisoned the World - The highly toxic PFAS "forever chemicals" were originally developed by the U.S. government for uranium processing, later causing widespread contamination linked to cancers, stillbirths, and weakened immune systems.* The CIA Book Club - The CIA successfully smuggled literature behind the Iron Curtain, with people craving not just political texts but also Agatha Christie mysteries and Shakespeare—proving culture, not just politics, sustained resistance.* Mother Emanuel - For Charleston's African-American congregation of Mother Emanuel church, forgiveness after the 2015 massacre wasn't about excusing the killer but about self-preservation—choosing to move forward rather than be consumed by hatred.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

According to the LA Times book critic Bethanne Patrick, every generation gets the Gatsby it deserves. And our generation, the social media generation, has gotten it with Careless People, by the Sarah Wynne Williams, Facebook's former global policy director, which draws obvious parallels between Facebook and The Great Gatsby. Williams explicitly compares Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to Fitzgerald's lazily destructive Tom and Daisy Buchanan. She describes how the company prioritized business growth over ethical concerns, focusing on particularly disgraceful incidents in Myanmar and Brazil. And she reveals Sandberg's extravagant lifestyle ($13,000 on lingerie) and Zuckerberg's awkward interactions with world leaders. Patrick suggests the now best-selling book serves as a cautionary tale about powerful tech companies that "will do whatever it takes to get what they want."Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Paula Whyman joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about getting out of our comfort zone,  her attempt to restore native meadows in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, becoming obsessed with subjects and deep diving, writing about science and nature, controlling and selecting details for impact, being attentive to what readers need, writing tangentially, the need for deadlines, when your editor calls you a meanderer, leaning into exploration and not shutting ourselves down, allowing our writing to reflect the way our minds work, and her new memoir Bad Naturalist.   Also in this episode: -jumping from fiction to nonfiction -talking with experts -reading work aloud   Books mentioned in this episode: The Leaving Season by Kelly McMasters H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl A Buzz in the Meadow by Dave Goulson The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy  Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy  Real Estate by Deborah Levy    Paula Whyman's new book, Bad Naturalist: One Woman's Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop, is forthcoming from Timber Press/Hachette Book Group in January 2025. It's a blend of memoir, natural history, and conservation science, a chronicle of her attempts to restore retired farmland to natural habitat and what she discovered along the way. Her first book, the linked short story collection You May See a Stranger, won praise from The New Yorker and a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and won the Towson Prize for Literature. Her stories have appeared in journals including McSweeney's Quarterly, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, The Hudson Review, and The Southampton Review. Her fiction was selected for the anthology Writes of Passage: Coming-of-Age Stories and Memoirs from The Hudson Review. Her nonfiction has been featured on NPR, and in the Washington Post, The American Scholar, and The Rumpus. She is co-founder and editor in chief of the literary journal Scoundrel Time.   Whyman has taught in writers-in-schools programs through the Pen/Faulkner Foundation in Washington, DC, and the Hudson Review in Harlem and the Bronx, New York. Her fiction is part of the curriculum at The Young Women's Leadership School in Harlem.   Whyman's work has been supported by fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, The Studios of Key West, and VCCA. She was a Tennessee Williams Scholar in Fiction at the Sewanee Writers Conference. She served two terms as Vice President of the MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee.   Whyman is the recipient of grants from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. She was awarded an MSAC Creativity Grant and 2023 and 2024 Oak Spring Garden Foundation residencies and grants to support her work on Bad Naturalist.  Connect with Paula: Website: paulawhyman.com Instagram: @paulawhymanauthor Bluesky: @paulawhym  Mastodon: @paulawhyman@writing.exchange  – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Yesterday, we ran Bethanne Patrick's five best novels of 2024. Today, we feature her top non-fiction of the year including new books about reality television, Robert Louis Stevenson's wife and Handel's Messiah. ‘Tis the season. Enjoy!Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Pity the novelist. In a year which brought us the unbelievable non-fiction of a second Trump victory and the establishment of Luigi Mangione as an American folk hero, what can novelists do to stretch our imagination? But according to the LA Times literary critic, Bethanne Patrick, novelists do, indeed, still have something to tell us. And to make her case, she discusses her five favorite works of fiction of 2024 from masterful novelists like Percival Everett, Yael van der Wouden and Danzy Senna. Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Last week, the Los Angeles Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, came on the show to talk about the best new non-fiction books for the Fall. Today she is back to talk new novels by great fictional writers like Allan Hollinghurst, Rachel Kushner and Paula Hawkins. For those of you for whom American reality is currently too depressing, Patrick's list of great new literature will be of particular solace. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

There are some seriously heavyweight new non-fiction books this Fall including memoirs by Al Pacino and Ketanji Brown Jackson, as well as an intriguing new historical analysis of the recently departed Queen Elizabeth and that inevitable pre-election Bob Woodward tome on the misbehavior of you-know-who. But for our resident book maven, Bethanne Patrick, the most intriguing non-fiction release of the Fall is by a much less well known author. The Harvard art and culture historian Sarah Lewis' The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America, Patrick believes, is a major work that allows us to perceive the real truth about America in our age of hyperreality. And Sarah Lewis, she suggests, is up there with Isabel Wilkerson as an American treasure of truth-telling. So expect to see Lewis on the show in the not too distant future.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Writers are nothing if not ambitious, but what does success really look like for a writer? Gwydion Suilebhan, cultural critic, essayist, playwright, and Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, joins us to discuss the journey, the destination, and the aftermath of what some consider literary success, and he proposes a different way to achieve writerly fulfillment. Plus, writers like to think of themselves as different in kind from other professions, but how different are we? We play a little game called Who Said It? to find out.

What do Hum, Hitler's People and The Hypocrite have in common? They are all recommended new books from KEEN ON's best read regular guest, Los Angeles Times book critic Bethanne Patrick. As usual, she recommends six books, but - whether you are looking for a magically realistic novel about the Dutch resistance to Nazism or new non-fiction on Putin's Russia or the Scopes Trial - they all offer great late summer reading. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

What a treat. LA Times book critic Bethanne Patrick and I got the opportunity to talk today with the great Andrew O'Hagan, author of Caledonian Road, his new blockbuster novel about the state of contemporary Britain. It's a fabulous read and O'Hagan was no less fab, generously dedicating an hour to our questions. As O'Hagan explained, for all his horror at the Dickensian squalor of contemporary Britain, Caledonian Road remains his most defiantly optimistic novel, particularly in its brilliantly uplifting ending. And it's his most personally generous novel too. Caledonian Road took 10 years to finish and he acknowledges pouring the experience of his own life as a glamorous north London literati into its quasi-autobiographical narrative. Enjoy. Andrew O'Hagan, a Scottish novelist and essayist, is a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, a three-time nominee for the Booker Prize, the editor-at-large of the London Review of Books, and a contributor to The New Yorker. He lives in London.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Bethanne Patrick, the world's best read woman and KEEN ON's official literary maven, has six recommended new books to read this June. Three non-fiction works and three novels, they extend from books all about women, to the dangers of jelly fish to a gay Hungarian in the Lavender Scare Hollywood of the Fifties. So something for everyone and Bethanne even suggests whether each book should be read on the porch or the porch. No excuses. Y'all have something to read in June. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

This is a recap of the top 10 posts on Hacker News on June 13th, 2024.This podcast was generated by wondercraft.ai(00:36): Microsoft Chose Profit over Security, Whistleblower SaysOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40667976&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(02:12): MLow: Meta's low bitrate audio codecOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40670612&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(03:58): Indian startup 3D prints rocket engine in 72 hoursOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40668088&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(05:58): AMD CEO Lisa Su reminisces about designing the PS3's infamous Cell processorOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40670898&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(07:42): AMD's MI300X Outperforms Nvidia's H100 for LLM InferenceOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40667102&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(09:16): U.S.-Saudi petrodollar pact ends after 50 yearsOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40673567&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(10:53): Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8 Max Experienced Dutch RollOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40668504&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(12:15): Ted Chiang has won the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's short story prizeOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40672158&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(13:53): Arm says it wants all Snapdragon X Elite laptops destroyedOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40667606&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(15:18): Please maintain eye contact for the duration of the adOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40671381&utm_source=wondercraft_aiThis is a third-party project, independent from HN and YC. Text and audio generated using AI, by wondercraft.ai. Create your own studio quality podcast with text as the only input in seconds at app.wondercraft.ai. Issues or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: team@wondercraft.ai

Join Ocean House owner, actor, and bestselling author Deborah Goodrich Royce for a conversation with New York Times bestselling authors and mother/son duo Elliott Ackerman and Joanna Leedom-Ackerman. They discuss their books: Joanne Leedom-Ackerman's The Far Side of the Desert and Elliott Ackerman's 2054. About the Authors:  Elliot Ackerman is the author of the novels Halcyon, Red Dress in Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, Green on Blue, and the memoirs The Fifth Act and Places and Names. His books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a Marine veteran, having served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. About 2054: From the acclaimed authors of the runaway New York Times bestseller 2034 comes another explosive work of speculative fiction set twenty years further in the future, at a moment when a radical leap forward in artificial intelligence combines with America's violent partisan divide to create an existential threat to the country, and the world It is twenty years after the catastrophic war between the United States and China that brought down the old American political order. A new party has emerged in the US, holding power for over a decade. Efforts to cement its grip have resulted in mounting violent resistance. The American president has control of the media but is beginning to lose control of the streets. Many fear he'll stop at nothing to remain in the White House. Suddenly, he collapses in the middle of an address to the nation. After an initial flurry of misinformation, the administration reluctantly announces his death. A cover-up ensues, conspiracy theories abound, and the country descends into a new type of civil war. A handful of elite actors from the worlds of computer science, intelligence, and business have a fairly good idea of what happened. All signs point to a profound breakthrough in AI, of which the remote assassination of an American president is hardly the most game-changing ramification. The trail leads to an outpost in the Amazon rainforest, the last known whereabouts of the tech visionary who predicted this breakthrough. As some of the world's great powers, old and new, state and nonstate alike, struggle to outmaneuver one another in this new Great Game of scientific discovery, the outcome becomes entangled with the fate of American democracy. Combining a deep understanding of AI, biotech, and the possibility of a coming Singularity, along with their signature geopolitical sophistication, Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis have once again written a visionary work. 2054 is a novel that reads like a thriller, even as it demands that we consider the trajectory of our society and its potentially calamitous destination. Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Her works of fiction include Burning Distance, The Dark Path to the River, and No Marble Angels. She has published PEN Journeys: Memoir of Literature on the Line and was the editor for The Journey of Liu Xiaobo: From Dark Horse to Nobel Laureate. Former International Secretary of PEN International, she is a Vice President of PEN International and a former board member and Vice President of PEN American Center. She serves on the boards of Refugees International, the International Center for Journalists, the American Writers Museum, and Words Without Borders and is an emeritus director of Poets and Writers, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, and Human Rights Watch and an emeritus trustee of Brown University and Johns Hopkins University. Joanne is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Texas Institute of Letters. A former The Christian Science Monitor reporter, Joanne has taught writing at New York University, City University of New York, Occidental College, and the University of California at Los Angeles extension. About The Far Side of the Desert: A terrorist attack—a kidnapping—the ultimate vacation gone wrong Sisters Samantha and Monte Waters are vacationing together in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, enjoying a festival and planning to meet with their brother, Cal—but the idyllic plans are short-lived. When terrorists' attacks rock the city around them, Monte, a U.S. foreign service officer, and Samantha, an international television correspondent, are separated, and one of them is whisked away in the frenzy. The family mobilizes, using all their contacts to try to find their missing sister, but to no avail. She has vanished. As time presses on, the outlook darkens. Can she be found, or is she a lost cause? And, even if she returns, will the damage to her and those around her be irreparable? Moving from Spain to Washington to Morocco to Gibraltar to the Sahara Desert, The Far Side of the Desert is a family drama and political thriller that explores links of terrorism, crime, and financial manipulation, revealing the grace that ultimately foils destruction.  

May might be almost finished, but you've still got time this Memorial weekend to begin reading one of Bethanne Patrick's recommended new books. And this month, Patrick's list is really scintillating - extending from fresh fiction by Claire Messud, Kaliane Bradley and Colm Toibin to new non-fictional books by George Stephanopoulos, Nina St. Pierre and Alan M. Taylor. So no excuses. Watch/listen to Patrick - the best read person in the world - and then beg, buy or steal one of her recommended new books.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

I do enjoy our regular new books show with Bethanne Patrick, the astonishingly widely read book critic of Los Angeles Times. For April, she recommends freshly published books by Salman Rushdie, Erik Larsen, Amor Towles, Mohamed Amer Meziane, Patric Gagne & Leif Enger. Of these, she picks Leif Enger's new novel, I Cheerfully Refuse, as the best book for April. But I'm so intrigued by Mohamed Amer Meziane's The States of the Earth, that I've already booked him to appear on the show. I'd also like to get Patric Gagne on KEEN ON - after all, who wouldn't want a psychopath on their show?Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

We would all be way more ignorant without omnivorous book critic and regular KEEN ON guest Bethanne Patrick. This month she recommends six new books by Russell Banks, Adam Philips, Percival Everett, Andrew Dubus III, Marie Mutsuki Mockett & Adelle Waldman. So don't complain you've got nothing to read. No excuses. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 1991, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, about six intriguing new non-fiction books about our contemporary age of inequality, existential anxiety and political and environmental upheaval. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1973: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, about six intriguing new fiction and non-fiction books to read in February.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Notes and Links to Martha Anne Toll's Work         For Episode 221, Pete welcomes Martha Anne Toll, and the two discuss, among other topics, her early reading and writing and written word-heavy household, her love of music and other artistic pursuits, and the way muses have worked in her life and in her novel, ideas of grief, survivor's guilt and connection, real-life tragedies and heroes from the Holocaust that informed her writing, and other salient themes from her book like permanence, memory, and connection.     Martha Anne Toll's debut novel, THREE MUSES, was shortlisted for the Gotham Book Prize and won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction. THREE MUSES has received glowing tributes since it came out in September 2022. She writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that's not nailed down.     She brings a long career in social justice to her work covering authors of color and women writers as a critic and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, Pointe Magazine, The Millions, and elsewhere. She also publishes short fiction and essays in a wide variety of outlets. Toll is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and serves on the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. ' Her second novel, DUET FOR ONE, will be out in early 2025. Buy Three Muses   Martha's Website   New York Journal of Books Review of Three Muses     At about 2:00, Martha provides a cool definition At about 2:25, Martha talks about her future project-her book coming out in 2025, and she shouts out places to buy Three Muses At about 4:20, Martha discusses her early reading and writing life, and the ways in which her parents influenced her habits At about 7:15, Martha traces her writing journey At about 8:40, Martha talks about inspiring and beloved writers (like Alex Chee, Garth Greenwell, Kiese Laymon, Vikram seth and shirley hazzard) and writing in contemporary times, as well as how working as a book reviewer affects her own reading for pleasure At about 10:55, Martha speaks to Pete's questions  At about 12:10, Martha gives seeds for Three Muses, including how she had ideas based on a real-life story from the Holocaust and the Greek view of three muses At about 14:10, Pete and Martha lay out some of the book's exposition  At about 15:30, Martha responds to Pete wondering about how the protagonist John was roused by a dance from Katya/Katherine At about 16:45, Martha reflects on Katya's problematic and ongoing collaboration and personal relationship with the director Boris At about 20:05, Pete lays out some of Katya's traumas At about 20:50, Martha talks about Janko/John's horrific childhood and the loss of his family in Mainz, Germany, in the Holocaust-Martha describes how her cousin Alan Boucher's memoir informed some parts of the book At about 22:25, Martha speaks about the guilt-inducing “Sophie's Choice” that afflicts and saves John/Janko's; she expounds upon his survivor's guilt At about 24:30, Pete and Martha compare Janko's story with that of Elie Wiesel and the ways in which iit was so gutting to see people killed in the camps so close to Liberation  At about 26:30, The two discuss the idea of reinvention as seen through John in the book, and Martha expands on “unlikely heroes” who helped John to survive At about 29:20, Martha discusses Barney and Selma Katz, who “adopt” John, and she talks about John's own psychoanalysis and psychologist training At about 31:05, The two discuss themes in the book of memorializing, living “in the present tense,” and how memory guides the characters' actions At about 33:05, Pete traces John and Katya's connections, and Martha debates how and if the “innate” connections are there At about 36:00, Pete asks Martha about any responsibilities/urgency to get Holocaust stories on the page  At about 37:45, Martha speaks of art and its “incredibl[e] importan[ce]” and the power of fiction At about 38:55, Martha shouts out Forgottenness by Tanja Maljartschuk as an example of the power of memory At about 39:55, Martha responds to Pete's question about the emotional toll of writing her book    You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.    I am very excited that starting in February with Episode 220, I will have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review-I'm looking forward to the partnership!    Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl     Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    NEW MERCH! You can browse and buy here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChillsatWillPodcast    This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 221 with Andrew Leland, a writer, audio producer, editor, and teacher. His first book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight, about the world of blindness (and figuring out his place in it), was published in July 2023 by Penguin Press, to great acclaim and receiving many awards.    The episode will air on January 31.

EPISODE 1926: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, about her 10 must read books for 2024Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

EPISODE 1902: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, about her six favorite novels of the yearBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

EPISODE 1888: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic Bethanne Patrick about her five favorite non-fiction books of the yearBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

EPISODE 1865: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, the book critic of the LA Times, about 8 brilliant books to give as gifts this XmasBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

EPISODE 1857: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, book critic at the Los Angeles Times, about the mavens, mavericks and mythology determining our smart machine futureBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

EPISODE 1842: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, book critic at the Los Angeles Times, about new feminist takes on George Orwell, the man and the writer.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Is ten years long or short in the life of a writer? Fiction writer and journalist Joanne Leedom-Ackerman shows us how her perspective on this has shifted. She offers us a prompt via Rainer Maria Rilke to get us thinking about our own writing lives and to get us to build narrative with what she describes as concentric circles in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little dose of inspiration. Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Her works of fiction include upcoming novel The Far Side of the Desert and also Burning Distance, The Dark Path to the River, and No Marble Angels. Her nonfiction book PEN Journeys: Memoir of Literature on the Line was recently published, and she is the senior editor and contributor to The Journey of Liu Xiaobo: From Dark Horse to Nobel Laureate. She has also published fiction and essays in books and anthologies, including Short Stories of the Civil Rights Movement; Remembering Arthur Miller; Snakes: An Anthology of Serpent Tales, Fiction and Poetry by Texas Women, the Bicentennial Collection of Texas Short Stories and Beyond Literacy. A reporter for The Christian Science Monitor early in her career, Joanne has won awards for her nonfiction and published articles in newspapers and magazines, including World Literature Today, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, GlobalPost, and others. Joanne is a Vice President of PEN International and the former International Secretary of PEN International and former Chair of International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee. She also serves on the boards of the International Center for Journalists, Refugees International, the American Writers Museum and Words Without Borders and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Edward R. Murrow Center at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the ICRW Leadership Council. She is a former board member and Vice President of PEN American Center and past President of PEN Center USA. She is an Emeritus Director of Poets and Writers, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and Human Rights Watch, where she served as Chair of the Asia Advisory Committee. She is an Emeritus Trustee of Johns Hopkins University and Brown University and has served on the Board of Trustees of Save the Children and the International Crisis Group.

EPISODE 1828: In this regular KEEN ON show with LA Times book critic Bethane Patrick, Bethanne talks about eight scary new books to keep you awake this HalloweenBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In episode 1755 of KEEN ON, Andrew talks to LA Times book critic Bethanne Patrick about 8 books reimagining the experience of first generation immigrantsBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

This week, writers Joanne Leedom-Ackerman and Sara Paretsky discuss their craft, the writing process, and the dangers of censorship and book bans. This conversation originally took place June 15, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. This episode is presented in conjunction with Banned Books Week. Follow the link to learn more about this initiative from the American Library Association and see how you can take action to preserve open access to literature in your community. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About the speakers: JOANNE LEEDOM-ACKERMAN is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Her works of fiction include Burning Distance and The Far Side of the Desert. She is editor of The Journey of Liu Xiaobo: From Dark Horse to Nobel Laureate. A former reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, Joanne is a Vice President Emeritus and former International Secretary of PEN International. She serves on the boards of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, the International Center for Journalists, Words Without Borders and Refugees International. She is an emeritus board member of Poets and Writers and Human Rights Watch and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and PEN American Center, where she served as a trustee. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Writers Museum. SARA PARETSKY revolutionized the mystery world in 1982 when she introduced V.I. Warshawski in Indemnity Only. By creating a detective with the grit and smarts to take on the mean streets, Paretsky challenged a genre in which women historically were vamps or victims. V.I. struck a chord with readers and critics; Indemnity Only was followed by twenty more V.I. novels. Paretsky detailed her journey from Kansas farm-girl to New York Times bestseller in her 2007 memoir, Writing in an Age of Silence, which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. In addition, Paretsky has written two stand-alone novels, Ghost Country, and Bleeding Kansas, set in the part of rural Kansas where Paretsky grew up. She has published several short story collections, most recently Love & Other Crimes, and has edited numerous other anthologies.

EPISODE 1747: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, book critic at the LA Times, about six speculative novels which imagine a world saturated by AI Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1722: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick , the LATimes book critic, about eight of the best novels she recommends for the Fall. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank Schaeffer In Conversation with Martha Anne Toll, Author of Three Muses._____LINKShttps://www.marthaannetoll.com/BOOKThree Muses - Celebrating its one-year birthday!_____Martha Anne Toll's debut novel, THREE MUSES, was shortlisted for the Gotham Book Prize and won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction. THREE MUSES has received glowing tributes since it came out in September 2022. She writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that's not nailed down. Toll brings a long career in social justice to her work covering authors of color and women writers as a critic and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, Pointe Magazine, The Millions, and elsewhere. She also publishes short fiction and essays in a wide variety of outlets. Toll is a member of the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.Toll's second novel, DUET FOR ONE, will be out in early 2025._____An ex-evangelical boomer, a middle-aged gay artist, and a frazzled stay-at-home mom walk into a bar, share a table, and go deep about some of life's big questions.Join Frank, Ernie, and Erin as they share stories of love, sex, grief, religion and so much more. This is “Love in Common.”Visit LoveInCommon.org to Subscribe on your favorite Podcast platform. Support the show_____In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer is a production of the George Bailey Morality in Public Life Fellowship. It is hosted by Frank Schaeffer, author of Fall In Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy. Learn more at https://www.lovechildrenplanet.comFollow Frank on Substack, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and YouTube. https://frankschaeffer.substack.comhttps://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16https://twitter.com/Frank_Schaefferhttps://www.instagram.com/frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.threads.net/@frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.youtube.com/c/FrankSchaefferYouTube In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-conversation-with-frank-schaeffer/id1570357787NEW: Love In Common Podcast with Frank Schaeffer, Ernie Gregg, and Erin BagwellApple Podcasts: ...

Often stories come to us in fragments: as a vivid image or a perfect sentence, but how do we turn those fragments into stories? Fiction writer, Jung Yun, shows how to create linear stories from nonlinear fragments and what happens when patience runs thin in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little dose of inspiration. Jung Yun was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. She studied at Vassar College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Tin House, the Massachusetts Review, the Indiana Review, the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. She is the recipient of individual artist's grants in fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. She has also received residential fellowships from MacDowell, the Ucross Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the National Humanities Center. Currently, Jung lives in Baltimore with her husband and is an associate professor of English at the George Washington University. She serves on the board of directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

EPISODE 1702: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick , the LATimes book critic, about eight non-fiction books she recommends for the Fall. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1678: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick , the LATimes book critic, about nine noteworthy novels she recommends for the dying days of summer Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1659: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, the LA Times book critic, about new non-fiction from Alexander Stille, Darrin Bell, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Rush, Yepoka Yeebo, Eliot Page, Brooke Kroeger and Lena Andrews Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1643: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, the LA Times book critic, about new fiction from Tania James, Colson Whitehead, Jenny Erpenbeck, Emma Cline, Jamel Brinkley and Luis Urrea Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1634: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, prolific on social media as @TheBookMaven, about her memories of Twitter's glory years and what she calls the "dopamine hangover" after 2012 Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1625: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, who recommends five of the most interesting books published this week Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE 1556: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks Bethanne Patrick, the author of LIFE B, about how she escaped her double depression and wrote a memoir about it Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. She is the author of LIFE B OVERCOMING DOUBLE DEPRESSION: A MEMOIR (2023) Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talked with:Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of "Wench," "Balm," and most recently "Take My Hand." In 2011, she was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. Dolen is the current chair of the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. She is currently associate professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, D.C., with her family.Swapna Reddy, J.D., DrPH, M.P.H., is a clinical associate professor at Arizona State University's College of Health Solutions. At Arizona State University, Dr. Reddy teaches undergraduate and graduate coursework — including as faculty at Arizona State University's Barrett, the Honors College in Medical Studies. Additionally, she is an adjunct assistant professor in Health Care Administration at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Reddy also was named a Fulbright Specialist.We talked about:In this episode, Dr. Millstine and her guests discuss:Historical fiction that's not that historical … or fictitious. "We're still living many of the issues that are being discussed in this book," Dr. Reddy says. Women and girls are still fighting for the right to control their own reproductive choices — whether that's to reproduce or not to reproduce.The need to feel heard. There are too many anecdotes about women not being heard in the doctor's office. You may know Serena William's story of repeatedly asking doctors to take her risk of blood clots seriously after giving birth, but you probably know someone much closer to you who's experienced the same thing.The road to hell … How could so many people allow the forced sterilization of women to happen in the U.S.? In Dolen's book (as in life) good intentions aren't a barrier to doing real harm. We talk about the need to examine our own culpability in harmful systems.Can't get enough?Purchase "Take My Hand."From Bookshop.orgFrom AmazonFrom Barnes & NobleWant to read more on the topic? Check out our blog:Racism, accelerated aging and the biases of health careAsk the Gynecologist: Is abortion illegal?Beyond contraception: Other uses for birth control Got feedback?If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu. We invite you to complete the following survey as part of a research study at Mayo Clinic. Your responses are anonymous. Your participation in this survey as well as its completion are voluntary.

Bethanne Patrick is a renowned book critic, host of the podcast Missing Pages, and author of the forthcoming memoir Life B: Overcoming Double Depression. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NPR Books, and she sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Bethanne talks about overcoming her lifelong struggle with "double depression" and her dog Molly Bloom's "resting schnauzer face." Bethanne also tells Gabe what she loves about the writing community on Twitter. Visit Bethanne Patrick's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram Buy Bethanne's memoir Plan B: Overcoming Double Depression Listen to Bethanne on Missing Pages Read Bethanne in Washington Post Watch Bethanne on YouTube Email Gabe Hudson: gabehudsonsays@gmail.com Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram Other episodes you may enjoy: Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist) Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker) Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner) Rebecca Makkai (author of The Great Believers) About the Host: Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta's “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney's, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney's for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More Than Tutus and Pointe Shoes: A Reading List of Ballet Books Martha Anne Toll writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that's not nailed down. Her debut novel, Three Muses, won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction. Toll brings a long career in social justice to her work covering writers of color and women writers. She is a book reviewer and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, Pointe Magazine, The Millions, and elsewhere. She also publishes short fiction and essays in a wide variety of outlets. Toll has recently joined the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

In Three Muses (Regal House Publishing, 2022) by Martha Toll, John Curtin survives the Holocaust by singing for the entertainment of the kommendant who murdered his family. He's sent to America, probably by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, to be adopted by a family whose son was killed fighting the war. The nourishment, love, and kindness of his new parents allows him to thrive. Years later, John is forced by Dr Roth to relive the worst moments of his life during therapy he's required to do as part of his psychiatric training. Meanwhile, after seven-year-old Katherine loses her mother, her aunt enrolls her in ballet classes, never realizing how it will change Katherine's life. The first thing to change is her name – Boris Yanakov, the director and choreographer, changes her name to the more Russian-sounding Katya Symanova. He seduces Katya and makes her a star, but also controls her every movement. When John sees Katya perform in Paris in 1963, he's bewitched and can't stop thinking about her. The next time they meet, in New York, John thinks he's found the love of his life, but Katya is still under Boris's control. John's experience with the three muses of Song, Discipline, and Memory is completely different than Katya's, but they are both forced to claw their way through doubt, despair and loneliness. Martha Anne Toll, whose debut novel, Three Muses, won the Petrichor prize for Finely Crafted Fiction, writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that's not nailed down. Martha brings a long career in social justice to her work covering BIPOC and women writers. She is a book reviewer and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, The Millions, and elsewhere; and publishes short fiction and essays in a wide variety of outlets. She has recently joined the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. When she's not interviewing or writing Martha likes to have lunch with friends, swim, walk, and spend time with her family. She lives just outside Washington D.C. area. G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com). 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

In Three Muses (Regal House Publishing, 2022) by Martha Toll, John Curtin survives the Holocaust by singing for the entertainment of the kommendant who murdered his family. He's sent to America, probably by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, to be adopted by a family whose son was killed fighting the war. The nourishment, love, and kindness of his new parents allows him to thrive. Years later, John is forced by Dr Roth to relive the worst moments of his life during therapy he's required to do as part of his psychiatric training. Meanwhile, after seven-year-old Katherine loses her mother, her aunt enrolls her in ballet classes, never realizing how it will change Katherine's life. The first thing to change is her name – Boris Yanakov, the director and choreographer, changes her name to the more Russian-sounding Katya Symanova. He seduces Katya and makes her a star, but also controls her every movement. When John sees Katya perform in Paris in 1963, he's bewitched and can't stop thinking about her. The next time they meet, in New York, John thinks he's found the love of his life, but Katya is still under Boris's control. John's experience with the three muses of Song, Discipline, and Memory is completely different than Katya's, but they are both forced to claw their way through doubt, despair and loneliness. Martha Anne Toll, whose debut novel, Three Muses, won the Petrichor prize for Finely Crafted Fiction, writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that's not nailed down. Martha brings a long career in social justice to her work covering BIPOC and women writers. She is a book reviewer and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, The Millions, and elsewhere; and publishes short fiction and essays in a wide variety of outlets. She has recently joined the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. When she's not interviewing or writing Martha likes to have lunch with friends, swim, walk, and spend time with her family. She lives just outside Washington D.C. area. G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

In Three Muses (Regal House Publishing, 2022) by Martha Toll, John Curtin survives the Holocaust by singing for the entertainment of the kommendant who murdered his family. He's sent to America, probably by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, to be adopted by a family whose son was killed fighting the war. The nourishment, love, and kindness of his new parents allows him to thrive. Years later, John is forced by Dr Roth to relive the worst moments of his life during therapy he's required to do as part of his psychiatric training. Meanwhile, after seven-year-old Katherine loses her mother, her aunt enrolls her in ballet classes, never realizing how it will change Katherine's life. The first thing to change is her name – Boris Yanakov, the director and choreographer, changes her name to the more Russian-sounding Katya Symanova. He seduces Katya and makes her a star, but also controls her every movement. When John sees Katya perform in Paris in 1963, he's bewitched and can't stop thinking about her. The next time they meet, in New York, John thinks he's found the love of his life, but Katya is still under Boris's control. John's experience with the three muses of Song, Discipline, and Memory is completely different than Katya's, but they are both forced to claw their way through doubt, despair and loneliness. Martha Anne Toll, whose debut novel, Three Muses, won the Petrichor prize for Finely Crafted Fiction, writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that's not nailed down. Martha brings a long career in social justice to her work covering BIPOC and women writers. She is a book reviewer and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, The Millions, and elsewhere; and publishes short fiction and essays in a wide variety of outlets. She has recently joined the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. When she's not interviewing or writing Martha likes to have lunch with friends, swim, walk, and spend time with her family. She lives just outside Washington D.C. area. G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/historical-fiction

Historical fiction at its finest, TAKE MY HAND is a fictional retelling of a truly shocking practice in Alabama in the early 1970s: the forced sterilization of poor, mostly Black, women and girls. Dolen Perkins-Valdez joins the podcast to talk with Olivia about the moving novel, told from the perspective of Civil Townsend, a nurse at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, who must advocate for her patients in ways she never expected. After researching the history of the time and events, she approached the fiction with an emotional question: “What would it have been like to be a nurse at that time, under your watch…and how do you live with yourself?” Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a New York Times bestselling author, Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, and an Associate Professor of Literature at American University. For more on the author visit: https://dolenperkinsvaldez.com/

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, as well as an associate professor of English at American University in Washington, D.C. However, for Book Talk listeners, she is a highly respected writer of fiction. Her debut novel was Wench, followed by Balm, and today we'll be talking about her newest book, Take My Hand, which is published by Berkley.   

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

In Episode 111, Dolen Perkins-Valdez (author of Take My Hand) shares details about the real-life events that inspired the book about a tragic story and historical landmark in the battle for women's rights. Dolen also talks about her research methods and a couple of key themes from the book. Take My Hand was a 5-star book for me and will be one of my favorite books of 2022! This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). Highlights What compelled Dolen to write this book, based on the true story of the Relf sisters. How Dolen shaped this real-life story into fiction and the liberties she allowed for her novel. Dolen's research process and a bit of the behind the scenes of crafting the book. The theme of governmental coercion and exploitation of poor people. Dolen's favorite genre of fiction as a reader. How Dolen first resisted defining herself as a Historical Fiction writer. The secret genre Dolen would like to explore one day. Dolen's Book Recommendations [24:31] Two OLD Books She Loves We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:08] The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:06] Two NEW Books She Loves The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:00] Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:58] One Book She DIDN'T LOVE A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:12] One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (March 29) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:49] Last 5-Star Book Dolen Read Miss Chloe by A. J. Verdelle (May 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:22] Other Books Mentioned Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez [1:02] Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez [1:02] Black No More by George S. Schuyler [28:19] Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora by Sheree Renée Thomas (ed.), with short story “Sister Lilith” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers [32:23] The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers [33:31] The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois [33:39] The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway [41:05] The Alice Network by Kate Quinn [42:40] Other Links Reuters | Henrietta Lacks' Heirs Sue for Cut of Medical Research Profits.  Are They Too Late? NPR | Henrietta Lacks' family sues biotech company for profiting from ‘stolen' cells About Dolen Perkins-Valdez Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing.   She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.

In conversation with Asali Solomon, author of the novels Disgruntled and Days of Afrekete Using ''gorgeous, compassionate prose'' to continue ''our national conversation about people working together to heal our communities'' (The Washington Post), Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the author of The New York Times bestselling novels Wench and Balm. She has been a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards, the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, and the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Award, and she won the 2011 First Novelist Award from Black Caucus of the American Library Association. The current chair of the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, she teaches creative writing at American University in Washington, D.C. In Take My Hand, inspired by shocking real-life events, Perkins-Valdez tells the story of Civil Townsend, a Black doctor who seeks justice for wrongs done to her patients decades before in 1970s Alabama. (recorded 4/20/2022)

*SPOILER ALERT* - This bonus episode contains spoilers for the entire Grishaverse (that means ALL the books). Leigh Bardugo recently did an interview as part of the PEN/Faulkner Literary Conversations series, and Geoff and Julianna were in the virtual audience. We decided to record our thoughts and share them with our listeners. Enjoy! CONTACT US: You can listen to us everywhere pods are cast! Youtube we are Into the Fold Podcast You can find us on Twitter & Instagram: @Intothefoldpod You can email us: intothefoldpod@gmail.com Leave us a rating and review on apple podcasts and we will read it on the show! TELL PEOPLE YOU KNOW TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/intothefold/message

In this episode, I speak with advocate, storyteller, and minimalist, Christine Platt.Christine Platt is a passionate advocate for social justice and policy reform. From serving as an advocate for policy reform to using the power of storytelling as a tool for social change, Christine’s work reflects her practice of living with intention. She holds a B.A. in Africana Studies, M.A. in African-American Studies, and a J.D. in General Law.Christine has written over two dozen literary works for people of all ages. When she’s not writing, Christine spends her time curating The Afrominimalist—a creative platform chronicling her journey to intentional living.Christine is a member of the Association of Black Women Historians, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and serves as an Ambassador for Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.Christine regularly partners organizations on educational initiatives including Teaching for Change, Turning the Page, An Open Book Foundation, First Book, Eaton Workshop, PEN/Faulkner Foundation, and Writers and Artists Across the Country.She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Lee Montessori Public Charter School in Washington, DC.

“We are all healthier when we live in a culturally diverse world. When there are more stories that are accessible to us when every voice is part of every cultural conversation. It's not about excluding traditional voices. It's about expanding the range of what people know is there.” If you are a playwright or someone who is just starting to write plays, then you must know the New Play Exchange. We had the pleasure of interviewing writer, innovator, and arts advocate, Gwydion Suilebhan. He serves as both the Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the chief architect and evangelist of the New Play Exchange for the National New Play Network. He is also a co-founder of The Welders, award-winning playwrights collective in Washington DC. He's the author of several plays, and he has a Master of Arts in poetry from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. His forthcoming series All Souls is currently in post-production. To learn more about Gwydion and his work, you can visit the following links Website: www.suilebhan.com NPX Profile: newplayexchange.org/users/104/gwydion-suilebhan Or follow him on Twitter @GwydionS RELATED LINKS: Gwydion's New Series “For All Souls” www.forallsouls.com/ Tanuja Jagernauth's “Public Newsroom 124: Creating A World Beyond Racism and Fascism" on Nov 7th at City Bureau in Chicago. www.facebook.com/events/2446259125645248/ _____________________________________________ Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com38. Interview with Gwydion Suilebhan --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/support

“We are all healthier when we live in a culturally diverse world. When there are more stories that are accessible to us when every voice is part of every cultural conversation. It’s not about excluding traditional voices. It’s about expanding the range of what people know is there." If you are a playwright or someone who is just starting to write plays, then you must know the New Play Exchange. We had the pleasure of interviewing writer, innovator, and arts advocate, Gwydion Suilebhan. He serves as both the Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the chief architect and evangelist of the New Play Exchange for the National New Play Network. He is also a co-founder of The Welders, award-winning playwrights collective in Washington DC. He’s the author of several plays, and he has a Master of Arts in poetry from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. His forthcoming series All Souls is currently in post-production. To learn more about Gwydion and his work, you can visit the following links Website: http://www.suilebhan.com NPX Profile: https://newplayexchange.org/users/104/gwydion-suilebhan Or follow him on Twitter @GwydionS LINKS: Gwydion’s New Series “For All Souls” http://www.forallsouls.com/ Tanuja Jagernauth’s “Public Newsroom 124: Creating A World Beyond Racism and Fascism" on Nov 7th at City Bureau in Chicago. https://www.facebook.com/events/2446259125645248/ _____________________________________________ Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Derrick Weston Brown holds an MFA in creative writing, from American University. He has studied poetry under Dr. Tony Medina at Howard University and Cornelius Eady at American University. He is a graduate of the Cave Canem and VONA Voices summer workshops. His work has appeared in such literary journals as The Little Patuxent Review, Colorlines, The This Mag, and Vinyl online. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012.    He worked as a bookseller andbook buyer for a bookstore which is operated by the nonprofit Teaching for Change. He was thefounder of The Nine on the Ninth, a critically acclaimed monthly poetry series that ran from 2005-2015 at the 14th & V street location of Busboys and Poets. He was the 2012-2013 Writer-In-Residence of the Howard County Poetry Literary Society, of Maryland. He is also a participating DC area author for the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s Writers-in-Schools program. He’s performed at such esteemed venues as The Nuyorican Poets’ Cafe and the Bowery. He has lead workshops and performed at Georgetown University, George Washington University, Sweet Briar College and Chicago State. He has appeared on Al-Jazeera and NPR as well. In May of 2014 he was also the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. He is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and resides in Mount Rainier, Maryland. His debut collection of poetry entitled, Wisdom Teeth, was released in April 2011 on Busboys and Poets Press/PM Press. His second collection of poetry, a chapbook entitled On All Fronts , was released along with two other poetry chapbooks in a bound series from Upper Rubber Boot Press entitled Floodgates Vol.5 , this March of 2019. You can follow him on social media on Facebook and on Instagram @theoriginalDerrickWestonBrown as well as his author website DerrickWestonBrown.com

Susan Richards Shreve, author and former chairman of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, joins Daniel Ford on Friday Morning Coffee to discuss her new book More News Tomorrow (out June 4 from W.W. Norton). Caitlin Malcuit also chats about Sesame Street’s 50th anniversary. To learn more about Susan Richards Shreve, visit her official website.  Today’s episode is sponsored by Libro.fm and OneRoom.

What is a demagogue? Are we seeing the end of our republic and the rise of an empire? Matt Burriesci has studied the foundations of our Western civilization. He knows that history has given us many great teachers to learn from at this moment. Join us for a candid conversation about these troubling times and what we need to think about so we don't repeat past mistakes. About the GuestMatt Burriesci is the author of Dead White Guys: A Father, his Daughter, and the Great Books of the Western World (Viva Editions, June 2015), and Nonprofit (New Issues Press, 2015), which won the AWP Award for the Novel. He is currently the Executive Director of the Providence Athenaeum, a library and cultural institution dedicated to the advancement of the humanities. He began his career at the Tony Award Winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, and later served as Executive Director for both the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. During his tenure at AWP, he helped build the largest literary conference in North America, and he served as a national advocate for literature and the humanities. In his work as a consultant, he has interviewed dozens of global leaders in healthcare, scientific research, and higher education. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife Erin and their children, Violet and Henry.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Mitchell Jackson is the author of The Residue Years, a novel set in inner northeast Portland neighborhoods in the 1990s. Based on Jackson's own life, the novel tells the story of Grace, a mother battling crack addiction, and Champ, her son, who sells the drug that has ravaged his family and his neighborhood. The Residue Years, which was Multnomah County Library's Everybody Reads selection for 2015, just won the prestigious Whiting Award, with a prize of $50,000. Jackson teaches at NYU and Columbia and is also the author of Oversoul, a collection of stories and essays. Mitchell now lives in Brooklyn, New York. He received an M.A. in writing from Portland State University and an M.F.A in Creative Writing from New York University. He has been the recipient of fellowships from TED, the Lannan Foundation, The Center For Fiction, and The Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. His novel also won The Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and was a finalist for the Center For Fiction's Flaherty-Dunnan First novel prize, the PEN/ Hemingway award for first fiction, The Hurston / Wright Legacy Award for best fiction by a writer of African descent; it was long-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize for writing and the Chautauqua Prize, and named an “Honor Book” by the BCALA. Jackson has become a well-regarded speaker who was read and/or and lectured at institutions including Brown University, Columbia University, Yale University, Middlebury College, and UMASS; at events including The Brooklyn Book Festival, The Miami Book Festival, and the Sydney Writers' Festival; at various adult prisons and youth facilities; and for organizations including The Pathfinders of Oregon, The PEN / Faulkner Foundation, and The Volunteers of America. He serves on the faculty of New York University and Columbia University. In this conversation, a part of the MHCC Mouths of Others literary speaker series, Mitchell discusses his life growing up in "The Whitest City in America," the surprising links between the social constructs of "whiteness" and "blackness," the need to be visible when the culture wants to blank you, and how his story of transformation is one in which he is both a casualty and a survivor.

Today, maDCap visits with the profound and prolific novelist T.C. Boyle. His 25th work of fiction is titled "The Harder They Come," and if you're already humming Jimmy Cliff, keep listening because it's in here. If you think T.C. Boyle didn't do that on purpose, you don't yet know him well enough. The Hudson Valley native has been going westward for many years, first earning a Master's degree at the Iowa Writer's Workshop and eventually planting roots in Southern California, where he was crucial to the founding of USC's Creative Writing Program in 1978. Above all, T.C. Boyle wants to create and refine his art every day. He wants to do it his way, unabashedly so, and with such ability to translate our world's paradoxes to the page, we hope he keeps on going for 25 more...at least. This conversation was enabled by the good folks at the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, hosting an event in Washington DC with T.C. Boyle on Friday, March 27th at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, located across the street from the Folger Shakespeare Library. The event begins at 7 PM and the address is 212 East Capitol Street, NE Washington DC. For more information visit http://PenFaulkner.org http://penfaulkner.org/2014/08/28/tc-boyle/ "The Harder They Come" is available on Ecco books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in hardback, digital and @harperaudio_us on March 31st. http://harpercollins.com/9780062349378/the-harder-they-come Special thanks to T. C. Boyle, PEN/Faulkner, Ecco Books, and especially Lily Meyer, Ashley Garland and our narrator, Andy Duke. photo credit: Jamieson Fry -- madcapdc.org | twitter.com/madcapdc | fb.com/madcapdc

Today, maDCap visits with the profound and prolific novelist T.C. Boyle. His 25th work of fiction is titled "The Harder They Come," and if you're already humming Jimmy Cliff, keep listening because it's in here. If you think T.C. Boyle didn't do that on purpose, you don't yet know him well enough. The Hudson Valley native has been going westward for many years, first earning a Master's degree at the Iowa Writer's Workshop and eventually planting roots in Southern California, where he was crucial to the founding of USC's Creative Writing Program in 1978. Above all, T.C. Boyle wants to create and refine his art every day. He wants to do it his way, unabashedly so, and with such ability to translate our world's paradoxes to the page, we hope he keeps on going for 25 more...at least. This conversation was enabled by the good folks at the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, hosting an event in Washington DC with T.C. Boyle on Friday, March 27th at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, located across the street from the Folger Shakespeare Library. The event begins at 7 PM and the address is 212 East Capitol Street, NE Washington DC. For more information visit http://PenFaulkner.org http://penfaulkner.org/2014/08/28/tc-boyle/ "The Harder They Come" is available on Ecco books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in hardback, digital and @harperaudio_us on March 31st. http://harpercollins.com/9780062349378/the-harder-they-come Special thanks to T. C. Boyle, PEN/Faulkner, Ecco Books, and especially Lily Meyer, Ashley Garland and our narrator, Andy Duke. photo credit: Jamieson Fry -- madcapdc.org | twitter.com/madcapdc | fb.com/madcapdc

Kuwana Haulsey co-teaches classes on spirituality with Reverend Michael Beckwith. Many know her critically acclaimed novels, Angel of Harlem and The Red Moon. Now she brings readers a non-fiction piece that celebrates mothers through their own rites of passage. Hausley fuses memoir, spirituality, and self-development to share how babies are extraordinary and spiritual teachers. This book, Everthing I needed to know I learned from my six-month-old, has the power to speak directly to all moms and through any experience, but especially to those seeking a rich balance and clear identify as a mother. Haulsey has an experienced voice from leading seminars for PEN/Faulkner Foundation in Washington, D.C., and Rutgers University. She has also taught writing at UCLA. Rev. Beckwith attests that Kuwana Haulsey is, “an incomparable storyteller…” and that the pages of her book, “… are filled with moments of wonder, joy, heart-break, and revelation that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved a child.”.

Episode 84 - The Shadow Over Innsmouth - Part 1 Listen on Patreon This week, we're podcasting a Shadow Over Innsmouth! Joining us on our strange and secret investigation this week are guest Matt Burriesci and reader Andrew Leman. Please have a look at the PEN/Faulkner Foundation... More fishiness next week!

Episode 84 - The Shadow Over Innsmouth - Part 1 Listen on Patreon This week, we're podcasting a Shadow Over Innsmouth! Joining us on our strange and secret investigation this week are guest Matt Burriesci and reader Andrew Leman. Please have a look at the PEN/Faulkner Foundation... More fishiness next week!