Podcasts about pen martha albrand award

In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, authors Warren Zanes and Thad Ziolkowski talk about writing and addiction. From their personal struggles in using drugs while creating art to the complexities in writing about addiction in general, their conversation is thought-provoking, sincere, and often very funny. Our Guests:Warren Zanes is the New York Times bestselling author of Dusty in Memphis, the first volume in the celebrated 33 1/3 Series, Petty: The Biography; Revolutions in Sound: Warner Bros. Records; and Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. With Garth Brooks, Zanes has worked on five books in the artist's Anthology Series. As a teenager he was a member of the Del Fuegos and made three records for Slash/Warner Bros.  Zanes holds a PhD in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester and presently teaches at New York University. He is a Grammy-nominated producer of the PBS series Soundbreaking and was a consulting producer on the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom. He conducted interviews for Martin Scorsese's George Harrison: Living in the Material World, and served as writer for The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash. Zane's work has appeared in Rolling Stone and the Oxford American, and he has served as Vice President of Education and Public Programs at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, for ten years, Executive Director of The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation.  Thad Ziolkowski is the author of Our Son the Arson, a collection of poems, the memoir On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003, and Wichita, a novel. His most recent book, The Drop, which explores the relationship between surfing and addiction, was published by HarperWave, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2021. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure, Interview Magazine, 4Columns, and Galerie. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University. Books:A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available on our website.Resources:The Washington Post George Harrison: Living in the Material WorldRoom at the Top - Tom PettyRThe Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup. Recording and editing by Timmy Kellenyi, Bree Testa, and Derek Mattheiss at Silver Stream Studio in Montclair, NJ. Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff. Thank you to the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids' Room for their hard work and love of books! If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share! Stay in touch!Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.comSocial: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

Mark Doty is a poet, essayist, memoirist and author of nine books of poetry. His book Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems won the 2008 National Book Award. He has also received other literary awards, including the Whiting Writers Award, the T. S. Eliot Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, two Lambda Literary Awards and the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. His poetry collection “My Alexandria” was chosen for the National Poetry Series. Doty has also received two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships, a Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Award, and the Witter Bynner Prize. Doty's most recent book is What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life (Norton), a memoir about his poetic relationship with Walt Whitman. Doty is a distinguished professor of English and the director of Writers House at Rutgers University.-bio via Library of Congress Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

In this new episode Steven sits down with philosopher, neuroscientist, podcast host and author Sam Harris. In 2004, Sam published his first book, ‘The End of Faith', this stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 33 weeks and won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. He has gone on to author 5 New York Times bestselling books published in over 20 languages. In 2009, Sam obtained his Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2013, he began the ‘Waking Up' podcast which covers subjects from meditation to AI. Sam is also the co-founder and CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. In this conversation Sam and Steven discuss topics, such as: How to change peoples beliefs Why he is not optimistic about AI How to live an examined life Why you become what you pay attention to The reason the mind is all you really have moment by moment Why AI is not aligned with human wellbeing How it is too late to turn back the progression of AI The danger of misinformation Why we're going to have to abandon the internet You can purchase Sam's book, 'Waking Up', here: https://bit.ly/3Qp51D7 Sam has kindly given DOAC listeners 30 days free trial on his app - Waking Up. Here is the link: https://bit.ly/3QxIrrZ Follow Sam: Instagram: https://bit.ly/3DHwOHy YouTube: https://bit.ly/3DE8RAy Watch the episodes on Youtube - https://g2ul0.app.link/3kxINCANKsb My new book! 'The 33 Laws Of Business & Life' pre order link: https://smarturl.it/DOACbook Follow me:  Instagram: http://bit.ly/3nIkGAZ Twitter: http://bit.ly/3ztHuHm Linkedin: https://bit.ly/41Fl95Q Telegram: http://bit.ly/3nJYxST Sponsors:  Huel: https://g2ul0.app.link/G4RjcdKNKsb Whoop: http://bit.ly/3MbapaY

So much of our modern life is built upon simplifying the complex. We reduce social interactions to likes and follows on social media and dilute the “news” in our favorite echo chambers. But Azar Nafisi warns that life is not simple, and the complexity found in great literature is ultimately liberating of the mind and essential to the health of our democracy. Nafisi is a best-selling author and professor. She was a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., from 1997 and 2017. She taught as professor of aesthetics, culture and literature there, as well as acting as Director of The Dialogue Project & Cultural Conversations. She released her nationally best-selling book “Reading Lolita in Tehran” in 2003, which went on the spend over 117 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The book has been translated in 32 languages and won many awards such as the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, the Frederic W. Ness Book Award, Non-fiction Book of the Year Award by Booksense, the Latifeh Yarsheter Book Award, an achievement award from the American Immigration Law foundation and the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle. It has also been a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Memoir. Nafisi won a Persian Golden Lioness Award for literature in 2005, presented by the World Academy of Arts, Literature and Media. The Times named Reading Lolita in Tehran one of the “100 Best Books of the Decade,” in 2009. She has worked with both policy makers and human rights organizations to improve human rights for the women and girls of Iran. She was awarded the Cristóbal Gabarrón Foundation International Thought and Humanities Award in 2011 and was named a Georgetown University/Walsh School of Foreign Service Centennial Fellow in 2018. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from Susquehanna University (2019), Pomona College (2015), Mt. Holyoke College (2012), Seton Hill University (2010), Goucher College (2009), Bard College (2007), Rochester University (2005) and Nazareth College.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently announced the achievement of fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) — a major scientific breakthrough decades in the making that will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power. On Dec. 5, a team at LLNL's National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in history to reach this milestone, also known as scientific energy breakeven, meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. This first-of-its-kind feat will provide unprecedented capability to support NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program and will provide invaluable insights into the prospects of clean fusion energy, which would be a game-changer for efforts to achieve President Biden's goal of a net-zero carbon economy. “This is a landmark achievement for the researchers and staff at the National Ignition Facility who have dedicated their careers to seeing fusion ignition become a reality, and this milestone will undoubtedly spark even more discovery,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. https://lasers.llnl.gov/ Charles Seife, a professor of journalism at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, has been writing about physics and mathematics for two decades. He is a critic of the hype surrounding fusion. He is the author of nine books books, SUN IN A BOTTLE AND including Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (2000), which won the 2000 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction; Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception (2010); and a forthcoming biography of physicist Stephen Hawking (2021). Before arriving at NYU, Seife was a writer for Science magazine and had been a U.S. correspondent for New Scientist. His writing has also appeared in The Economist, Scientific American, ProPublica, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Discover, Slate, Smithsonian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and numerous other publications. He has also been a scientific consultant and writer for television documentaries about science and mathematics. Seife holds an A.B. in mathematics from Princeton University, an M.S. in mathematics from Yale University, and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University https://www.charlesseife.org/ Connect with Professor Keating:

#20: Award-winning author Thad Ziolkowski joins us on the podcast today to discuss the unexpected connections between surfing, addiction, and recovery.  In a conversation ripe with metaphors, we hear about Thad's own story and complex relationship with the waves.  In addition to the wisdom of his lived experience, Thad employs  philosophy, spirituality, and science to better understand the mechanism of addiction.  This conversation takes us in directions you may not expect!  You'll hear about the "psychic surgery" that Thad performed to shift his relationship with substances.Thad shares stories of his youthful snake hunting expeditions.We discuss the concept of "intermittent reinforcement" as it relates to motivation and substance use.And a dialog about how we each view and approach labels used in the recovery space. Thad's most recent book, The Drop, is the featured read for virtual book club on The Phoenix Live Stream platform in November!  Join us Wednesdays at 6pm EST, and enjoy a special appearance of the author himself for a live Q & A at the end of the month!  Sign up on The Phoenix App or www.thephoenix.org. Thad Ziolkowski is the author of Our Son the Arson, a collection of poems, the memoir On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003, and Wichita, a novel. His most recent book, The Drop, which explores the relationship between surfing and addiction, was published by HarperCollins in 2021. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure, Interview Magazine and Index. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University.Find Thad's work wherever books are sold, or use this link to learn more about The Drop: https://www.harperwave.com/book/9780062965936/The-Drop-Thad-Ziolkowski/Find Phoenix events and more when you download The Phoenix App!  In the app, you can connect with Liz, Bryce and other listeners in The Rise Recover Live Podcast Group.  We can't wait to chat with you there!Learn more about The Phoenix at https://thephoenix.org/ .

Is surfing the most addictive sport? How did surfing help a writer with a substance use disorder enter into recovery? What activities can be a form of therapy for you? Thad Ziolkowski is a lifelong surfer, person in recovery, and the author, most recently, of The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery, which was published in 2021 by Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins. His memoir On a Wave (Grove/Atlantic) was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003 and his novel, Wichita (Europa Editions) appeared in 2012 to critical acclaim. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure, Interview Magazine and Index. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University. Episode website link: ​​https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/thadziolkowski More episode sources & links Sign-up for Design Lab Podcast's Newsletter Newsletter Archive Follow @DesignLabPod on Twitter Instagram and LinkedIn Follow @BonKu on Twitter & Instagram Check out the Health Design Lab Production by Robert Pugliese Cover Design by Eden Lew Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Miami Book Fair Author of "The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery" T had Ziolkowski is is the author of Our Son the Arson, a collection of poems; the memoir, On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003; the novel, Wichita; and The Drop, a nonfiction exploration of surfing and addiction. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure, and Interview Magazine. He has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University and is the recipient, among other honors, of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the Associate Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

 Thad Ziolkowski is is the author of Our Son the Arson, a collection of poems; the memoir, On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003; the novel, Wichita; and The Drop, a nonfiction exploration of surfing and addiction. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure, and Interview Magazine. He has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University and is the recipient, among other honors, of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the Associate Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

What is an encore quest? What's it have to do with Serena Williams? Matt talks with celebrated author Gerald Marzorati about picking up serious tennis in his 60s and his new book on Serena Williams. Gerry shares his love of the sport, lessons learned trying to master the game, and what he observed spending more than a year following Serena Williams, plus what Gerry says should be Williams' “Disney Movie ending” triumph. About Gerald Marzorati Gerald Marzorati was the editor of The New York Times Magazine from 2003 until 2010. He previously worked as an editor at Harper's magazine and The New Yorker. He is the author of Seeing Serena, Late to the Ball, and A Painter of Darkness, which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for a first book of nonfiction. His writing about tennis has appeared in The New York Times and on NewYorker.com. Thanks for listening!Be sure to subscribe now on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Follow the Take the Long View Podcast on Instagram @takethelongviewpodcast and Facebook, and follow host Matt Hall on Instagram @matthallstl, Twitter @matthallhig, or on LinkedIn Connect with the Hill Investment Group on Instagram @hill_investment_group, Facebook @hillinvestmentgroup, Twitter @takethelongview, and on LinkedIn We love our listeners! If you would like to drop us a line or be a guest on the show, please contact Matt.  

In this episode, I dive into a discussion with author Thad Ziolkowski about the interesting and unexpected parallels between surfing and addiction, and his discoveries from his new book The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery. Thad explains why it makes sense that he turned back to his first love - surfing - to get away from an unsustainable life of alcohol and drugs, the importance of finding joy to fill the void where addiction once lived - even finding healthier addictions - and how others can use similar tools to do the same.   Thad Ziolkowski is the author of the memoir On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003, and Wichita, a novel. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure and Interview Magazine. He has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the Associate Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, CUNY. You can be one of the first to get a copy of Thad's book The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery, releasing July 6th. I'm also obsessed with knowing all about you, so please follow (and DM!) me on Instagram, Facebook and my website. We're in this together and the journey is going to be so awesome. Produced by Dear Media

Podcast: The Tim Ferriss Show (LS 81 · TOP 0.01% what is this?)Episode: #479: Mary Karr — The Master of Memoir on Creative Process and Finding Gifts in the SufferingPub date: 2020-11-12Mary Karr — The Master of Memoir on Creative Process and Finding Gifts in the Suffering | Brought to you by Wealthfront automated and intelligent investment service, ShipStation trusted and comprehensive shipping software, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses. "For me, the solution to fear is curiosity and presence. I can't be terrified and curious at the same time." — Mary KarrMary Karr (@marykarrlit) is the author of three award-winning, bestselling memoirs: The Liars' Club, Cherry, and Lit. She is also the author of The Art of Memoir, which lays bare her own process as she breaks down the craft of memoir, and Tropic of Squalor, her latest volume of poetry.A Guggenheim fellow in poetry, Karr has won Pushcart Prizes for both verse and essays. Other grants include the Whiting Award, PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and a Radcliffe/Bunting Institute Fellowship. Karr is also the Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University.Please enjoy!*This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,' and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost. Smart investing should not feel like a rollercoaster ride. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today, and you'll get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life. Wealthfront will automate your investments for the long term. Get started today at Wealthfront.com/Tim.*This episode is also brought to you by ShipStation. Do you sell stuff online? Then you know what a pain the shipping process is. ShipStation was created to make your life easier. Whether you're selling on eBay, Amazon, Shopify, or over 100 other popular selling channels, ShipStation lets you access all of your orders from one simple dashboard, and it works with all of the major shipping carriers, locally and globally, including FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Tim Ferriss Show listeners get to try ShipStation free for 60 days by using promo code TIM. There's no risk, and you can start your free trial without even entering your credit card info. Just visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, and type in TIM!*This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 best overall mattress pick of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there's a specific mattress for each and every body's unique taste. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They'll even pick it up from you if you don't love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim's email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissThe podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Mary Karr — The Master of Memoir on Creative Process and Finding Gifts in the Suffering | Brought to you by Wealthfront automated and intelligent investment service, ShipStation trusted and comprehensive shipping software, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses. "For me, the solution to fear is curiosity and presence. I can’t be terrified and curious at the same time." — Mary KarrMary Karr (@marykarrlit) is the author of three award-winning, bestselling memoirs: The Liars’ Club, Cherry, and Lit. She is also the author of The Art of Memoir, which lays bare her own process as she breaks down the craft of memoir, and Tropic of Squalor, her latest volume of poetry.A Guggenheim fellow in poetry, Karr has won Pushcart Prizes for both verse and essays. Other grants include the Whiting Award, PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and a Radcliffe/Bunting Institute Fellowship. Karr is also the Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University.Please enjoy!*This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost. Smart investing should not feel like a rollercoaster ride. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today, and you’ll get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life. Wealthfront will automate your investments for the long term. Get started today at Wealthfront.com/Tim.*This episode is also brought to you by ShipStation. Do you sell stuff online? Then you know what a pain the shipping process is. ShipStation was created to make your life easier. Whether you’re selling on eBay, Amazon, Shopify, or over 100 other popular selling channels, ShipStation lets you access all of your orders from one simple dashboard, and it works with all of the major shipping carriers, locally and globally, including FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Tim Ferriss Show listeners get to try ShipStation free for 60 days by using promo code TIM. There’s no risk, and you can start your free trial without even entering your credit card info. Just visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, and type in TIM!*This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 best overall mattress pick of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress for each and every body’s unique taste. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss

JOSEPH MAZUR is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Marlboro College, in Marlboro, Vermont.He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from M.I.T., is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Bogliasco, and Rockefeller Foundations, among others. His works have appeared in Nature, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Science, and other publications. He has been profiled in media venues such as NPR's "The Hidden Brain" and PRI's "Innovation Lab", CBS, the BBC, Vox, Radio Australia, Radio Ireland, and dozens of others. He is the author of Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Mathematics (Finalist of the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award and chosen as one of Choice’s 2005 Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year); The Motion Paradox: The 2,500-Year Old Puzzle Behind All the Mysteries of Time and Space (Choice’s 2007 Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year); What’s Luck Got to Do with It? The History, Mathematics, and Psychology behind the Gambler’s Illusion; Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Powers; and, his most recent book, Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages.

JOSEPH MAZUR is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Marlboro College, in Marlboro, Vermont.He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from M.I.T., is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Bogliasco, and Rockefeller Foundations, among others. His works have appeared in Nature, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Science, and other publications. He has been profiled in media venues such as NPR's "The Hidden Brain" and PRI's "Innovation Lab", CBS, the BBC, Vox, Radio Australia, Radio Ireland, and dozens of others. He is the author of Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Mathematics (Finalist of the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award and chosen as one of Choice’s 2005 Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year); The Motion Paradox: The 2,500-Year Old Puzzle Behind All the Mysteries of Time and Space (Choice’s 2007 Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year); What’s Luck Got to Do with It? The History, Mathematics, and Psychology behind the Gambler’s Illusion; Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Powers; and, his most recent book, Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages.

Azar Nafisi is the author of the national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, a harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. The book was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Memoir and was named one of the “100 Best Books of the Decade” by The Times (London). It has spent over 117 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated in 32 languages.

A Murder Over a Girl (Henry Holt & Company) On February 12, 2008, a beautiful morning in Oxnard, CA, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney and the rest of his eighth grade class walked to the computer lab with their teacher, Dawn Boldrin. As his classmates typed their history papers, Brandon quietly stood and shot 15-year-old Larry King—who for just two weeks had been wearing traditionally female accessories and identifying as “Leticia”—twice in the head.  Larry died in the hospital two days later. Psychologist and NYU professor Ken Corbett was unsettled by the media coverage that sidestepped the issues of gender identity and race, and went to California to attend the trial. In , A Murder Over a Girl, Corbett, a leading expert on gender and masculinity, details the case, and all the social issues still littering the American landscape eight years later.  The brutal murder begged the question: How this could happen? Ellen DeGeneres spoke out; Newsweek and The Advocateran cover stories. Once again, "a normal boy” like Brandon had taken a gun into a school and killed another student in cold blood. But others, still, wondered: How could this not happen?  In many ways this was a “perfect storm” of race, poverty, gun violence, and gender identity fueled by ignorance and fear. Brandon had been raised by drug-addicted parents. His mother shot his father days before their wedding, and his father later shot his mother in front of him. His home was a veritable culture of guns. Larry’s birth mother was a 15-year-old drug addicted prostitute. He had recently been removed from his adoptive parents’ home after reporting abuse. Larry identified as gay from the age of 10, and by 15 had realized he was a girl. He wore makeup and stilettos to school with his uniform and had asked the boy who would be his killer to be his valentine. Brandon says he was being sexually harassed by Larry and sought peace the only way he knew how. Nearly eight years later, we as a country are not on the same page on so many of the major issues at play: gender identity; sexual and racial equality; gun control; drug laws. Neither experts nor lawmakers nor voters can come to a consensus, and yet, teachers—most of whom have received no training in any of these areas—are thrust to the forefront in the classroom. Praise for A Murder Over A Girl: “Harrowing, humane, and utterly engaging, A Murder Over a Girl is a triumph of storytelling, delivering deep insight into gender and adolescence while drawing us into a fascinating narrative. It is a book very much of the moment, but at its heart it is a classic tale of human emotion.”—Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid Thief “Ken Corbett was put on earth to write this stunning book, now, at a moment in our history when we need him to be our secret agent, our witness, our guide inside the maelstrom of this mad hatter court.”—PETER CAREY, Booker Prize-winning author of Oscar and Lucinda and The True History of the Kelly Gang “With great compassion, insight, and care, Ken Corbett takes us to the scene in which one transgendered child’s daring and vibrant bid to become a girl met with the murderous rage of a boy well taught in using a gun. A murdered girl is gone, a nearly undocumented life, yet her spectre lives on in this remarkable book, a narration that enters us into the minds of those who make hatred into a form of pernicious reasoning. A Murder Over a Girl is about youth culture, gender, school, and the failures of the legal system, about cunning reversals in argument whereby murderers are cast as victims, and the traces of the dead are nearly effaced. Corbett does justice to this death and to this life with a book both intelligent and loving, exposing a world tragically lacking in those very qualities, calling upon us all to intervene to halt gender violence before it begins.”—Judith Butler, author of Gender Trouble  “A Murder Over a Girl narrates a searing tragedy, meticulously laying out the aftermath of the crime, exposing the pathos not only of the victim, but also of the classmates, parents, jurors, lawyers, and others who had to grapple with the troubling nuance of the case. And in doing so Corbett unforgettably reveals the flaws of the American judicial system, the destructive influence of sensationalizing mass media, and the blindness of good intentions at the intersection of masculinity, grief, prejudice, and empathy.”—Andrew Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of Far from the Tree “I’ve never read a book like A Murder Over a Girl. It’s an account of a murder trial, the outcome of which is known; yet, the book is a hard-to-put-down page-turner. It achieves its extraordinary narrative intensity not through any sensationalizing of the facts, but rather through its author’s quiet authority, piercing insights, and his refusal to deliver hasty or easy judgments. Through patience, respect and empathy, Corbett allows us to see how dehumanization conceals a consequential and potentially fatal refusal to confront loss. And in confronting loss, this book renders justice, restoring to the memory of the victim her dignity, her vital subjectivity and her agency.  A Murder Over A Girl is magnificently written, shattering, original and immensely valuable."—Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angels in America “There are events that break out of a culture as illness breaks out of a body. Ken Corbett has written an account of a crime yes, a trial yes, a tragedy, but he has also perceived a way for us to comprehend the gender dis-ease just below our cultural skin. This is a brilliant and necessary book.” —Marie Howe, author of What the Living Do and The Kingdom of Ordinary Time "One young teenager is dead. Another is a murderer. And all of our contemporary dividing lines--race, gender, class, orientation, homophobia, privilege, and fear of the unknown--are drawn in a California courtroom. Telling this devastating story with clarity, empathy, and insight, Ken Corbett brings his profound understanding of the minds of boys--their hopes, their dreams, their terrors, their longings--to bear in the service of making the unimaginable clear to us. This essential book will broaden your mind even as it breaks your heart." —Mark Harris, author of Pictures at A Revolution and Five Came Back  “Ken Corbett corrals the chaos and trauma of the King murder trial into a riveting story of the “cratered minds” that result from, and perpetrate, violence.  With an analyst’s attunement, he also takes us beyond the courtroom, imagining his way into the lives and minds of Brandon McInerney and Leticia King with nuance and tremendous compassion.  He gives a devastating account of the emotional landscapes of the school, the families, and the communities in which both murderer and victim were and were not held. Corbett’s determination that this crime be named and these lives be told results in a powerful and heartbreaking book.”—GAYLE SALAMON, author of Assuming a Body: Transgender and Rhetorics of Materiality Ken Corbett is a clinical assistant professor at NYU in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy with a private practice in New York City. He is the author of Boyhoods: Rethinking Masculinities. Maggie Nelson is the author of The Argonauts, as well as an American poet, art critic, lyric essayist and nonfiction author of books such as The Red Parts: A Memoir, The Art of Cruelty, Bluets, and Jane: A Murder. The Art of Cruelty was a 2011 Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Jane: A Murder was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir. Nelson has taught at the Graduate Writing Program of the New School, Wesleyan University, and the School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute; she currently teaches in the CalArts MFA writing program. She was awarded an Arts Writers grant in 2007 from the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation. In 2011, she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry.

A Collapse of Horses (Coffee House Press)A stuffed bear’s heart beats with the rhythm of a dead baby, Reno keeps receding to the east no matter how far you drive, and in a mine on another planet, the dust won’t stop seeping in. In these stories, Evenson unsettles us with the everyday and the extraordinary–the terror of living with the knowledge of all we cannot know. Minimalist literary horror, Evenson’s stories work a nightmare axis of doubt, paranoia, and everyday life. Praise for Brian Evenson:“Brian Evenson is one of the treaures of American story writing, a true successor both to the generation of Coover, Barthelme, Hawkes and Co., but also to Edgar Allan Poe.”--Jonathan Lethem“One of the most provocative, inventive, and talented writers we have working today.”--The Believer“The bloodfests that sometimes ensue are metaphoric as miniature Francis Bacons. . . [Evenson’s] fiction is repulsive but more ‘moral’ that anything than comes from Bret Ellis or A. M. Homes.”--The Stranger“There is not a more intense, prolific, or apocalyptic writer of fiction in America than Brian Evenson.”--George SaundersPraised by Peter Straub for going “furthest out on the sheerest, least sheltered narrativeprecipice,” Brian Evenson has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the World Fantasy Award and the winner of the International Horror Guild Award, the American Library Association’s award for Best Horror Novel, and one of Time Out New York’s top books. The recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and three O. Henry Prizes, Evenson lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he directs Brown University’s Literary Arts Program.Maggie Nelson is the author of The Argonauts, as well as an American poet, art critic, lyric essayist and nonfiction author of books such as The Red Parts: A Memoir, The Art of Cruelty, Bluets, and Jane: A Murder. The Art of Cruelty was a 2011 Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Jane: A Murderwas a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir.Nelson has taught at the Graduate Writing Program of the New School, Wesleyan University, and the School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute; she currently teaches in the CalArts MFA writing program. She was awarded an Arts Writers grant in 2007 from the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation. In 2011, she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry.

Thad Ziolkowski is today's guest.  He's the author of the memoir On a Wave (Grove/Atlantic), which was nominated for the 2003 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and his debut novel, Wichita, is now available from Tonga Books, an imprint of Europa Editions.  ... Continue reading → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our first interview this semester is with poet and essayist Mark Doty. Doty has written more than ten books of poetry and prose, and for his efforts has won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Martha Albrand Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. His new and selected poems, Fire To Fire, will be published next month. He lives in New York City, but this spring is one of three visiting writers spending the semester at Cornell.Mark Doty read from his work on February 15th, 2008, at the Schwartz Auditorium of Cornell’s Rockefeller Hall. This interview took place the following week.