Podcast appearances and mentions of Peter Orner

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss “Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired" by Richard Yates. It's a story narrated by a man looking back on his childhood during the Depression. He recalls difficult moments that are brutally honest but told with a tender acceptance of what was.

Acclaimed writer ZZ Packer joins Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides to discuss “Gold Coast” by James Alan McPherson.

Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner welcome internationally renowned cartoonist, Ricardo Siri— known professionally as Liniers—to discuss “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” by Herman Melville.

Breece D'J Pancake died young in 1979 at age 26 but since then he has continued to be considered a great American story writer. Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss two stories by this native of West Virginia.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss "New Year's Eve," a short story by Mavis Gallant.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss a sad story that makes them happy—"Stolen Pleasures" by Gina Berriault.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss Franz Kafka's "The Judgment."

In this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Peter Orner, fiction writer and professor of English and Creative writing at Dartmouth College, for a special Bloomsday episode. For memory, they offer up James Joyce's "On the Beach at Fontana," a poem from a tiny chapbook called Pomes Penyeach, which offers a window into Joyce's family life in Trieste during the period when he was writing his masterpiece Ulysses.Recitation begins at 35:20On the Beach at FontanaWind whines and whines the shingle,The crazy pierstakes groan;A senile sea numbers each singleSlimesilvered stone.From whining wind and colderGrey sea I wrap him warmAnd touch his trembling fineboned shoulderAnd boyish arm.Around us fear, descendingDarkness of fear aboveAnd in my heart how deep unendingAche of love!

On this episode of The Lonely Voice, Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner offer a brief tribute to Alice Munro and discuss her story "Illinois" from The View from Castle Rock.

On this episode of The Lonely Voice, Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss Sherwood Anderson's story “Death in the Woods.”

The Lonely Voice: Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss one of Mavis Gallant's most beloved stories, 'The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street.'

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides welcome special guest, internationally acclaimed cartoonist Liniers (Ricardo Siri) to discuss two stories by Jorge Luis Borges.

“We were thirteen and conspiratorial and what was said is now out of reach. As it should be.” Jim Fletcher reads Peter Orner's “Foley's Pond” (Issue No. 202, Fall 2012), a quietly devastating short story about the effects of a tragic accident. This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed and sound designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this season is “Shadow,” composed and performed by Ernst Reijseger. Additional Links: https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/6173/foleys-pond-peter-orner Subscribe to the Paris Review

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss two stories by Luica Berlin—"Strays" and "Step."

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss Denis Johnson's story "Steady Hands at Seattle General."

Hoy con 'Mester de batería', artefacto literario a medio camino entre el ensayo y la carta de amor a ese instrumento escrito por Ce Santiago, con el balance literario de este 2023 de Inés Martín Rodrigo y con 'La Casa de la Arquitectura', un nuevo museo que se ha presentado hoy en Madrid. LIBROS QUE HAN APARECIDO EN ESTE PROGRAMA:'Mester de batería. La triada en el texto' de Ce Santiago'Sinfonía corporal' de Fernando Aramburu'Escribe si vendrás' de Wislawa Szymborska y Kornel Filipowicz'Una estela salvaje' de Kathryn Schulz'La mala costumbre' de Alana S. Portero'Cuentos completos' de James Salter'Relatos' de Deborah Eisenberg'Aurelia, Aurelia' de Kathryn Davis'Sigo sin saber de ti' de Peter OrnerEscuchar audio

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss "Cryptology" and "Murderers" by Leonard Michaels

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss "Lonesome Road" by Gina Berriault.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss two stories by Grace Paley—"Goodbye and Good Luck" and "Living."

The Lonely Voice is hosted by acclaimed author Peter Orner and TPR contributor Yvette Benavides. The podcast is inspired by their shared passion for the short story. On each episode they discuss a story, raise interesting questions, share details about the author's life and more. Listeners will feel like they are eavesdropping on a couple of people who really love stories.

De la mano de Chai Editora y con motivo de la publicación de su nueva novela Sigo sin saber de ti (2023, finalista del PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay), una continuidad en contenido y estilo con ¿Hay alguien ahí? (2023, finalista del National Book Critics Circle Award), recibimos en nuestro auditorio al escritor estadounidense Peter Orner, un autor que reivindica el amor por la literatura y la lectura como una parte fundamental de la vida. Acompañado de la también escritora Inés Martín Rodrigo hablarán de cómo los libros impactan en las personas y cómo nuestras biografías están marcadas por los autores que nos han acompañado. #PeterOrner Puedes verlo en nuestro canal del YouTube en: CASTELLANO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3M5YYTu_w&t=56s INGLÉS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIb3f7ESvsY Mas información en: https://espacio.fundaciontelefonica.com/evento/vivir-para-leer-y-leer-para-vivir-encuentro-con-peter-orner/ Un nuevo espacio para una nueva cultura: visita el Espacio Fundación Telefónica en pleno corazón de Madrid, en la calle Fuencarral 3. Visítanos y síguenos en: Web: https://espacio.fundaciontelefonica.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EspacioFTef Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/espaciofundaciontef Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espacioftef/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CulturaSiglo21

Antonio Soler encontró un diario por casualidad dentro de un libro de 2ª mano y de ahí publica 'Yo que fui un perro'. Seguimos con el dibujante Chris Ware, autor de 'Jimmy Corrigan', de visita por España para recibir a Use Lahoz con lo último de Peter Orner. Terminamos con Sitges, SEMINCI y un descubrimiento que une el acelerador de particular con Leonador da Vinci. Escuchar audio

Independent Bookstore Day is over, and we have thoughts. It was great, but it could have been better (this leads to a long conversation on why we need new art, if we do, and a discussion of Hannah's new favorite book "Chain-Gang All-Stars," which is better than "The Hunger Games," for lots of reasons). Then we talk about Hannah's coming-of-age-novel panel from the Newburyport Literary Festival (sex! Going through trials!), before moving into the books we've read: "Whalefall," by Daniel Kraus (out in August, not as good as the Mario movie); Peter Orner's "Still No Word from You" (headliner at Newburyport, where Andre Dubus wasn't sure he'd met Hannah before, but he has); Emily Henry's "Happy Place" (so comforting); "Game of Edges," by Bruce Schoenfeld (it makes Sam sad); Jo Nesbo's "Macbeth" (Scandinavian cops hold themselves to a higher standard); and "The Midnight News," by Jo Baker (another WW2 book!). Oh, and there's a bit on audiobook narrators and how they get paid. Huge number of books discussed this week.

Actually, there is no action without anxiety. We all feel it, and we're all driven by it—and almost no one is completely at peace with it. Morra Aarons-Mele, author of The Anxious Achiever and Hiding in the Bathroom: How to Get Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home), has been working for years to normalize those feelings and the spectrum on which they appear to bring mental health struggles out into the open and encourage people to rethink the relationship between their mental health and their success. We talk about harnessing every degree of anxiety and finding ways to keep going—and even go better—when things get hard.LINKS FROM THE PODThe Anxious AchieverHiding in the Bathroom: How to Get Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home)The Anxious Achiever PodcastMorra Aarons-MeleUsing tropes and genres like a pro: Ep 334 with Alexis Hall#AmReadingMorra: Robertson Davies The Deptford Trilogy, The Cornish TrilogyWhich sent us onto a tangent that included: Peter Orner, author of Still No Word From You, Katie Crouch, author of Embassy Wife, Andy Borowitz of The Borowitz Report, Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of A Stolen Child and The Drowning Sea who appeared on the podcast in episode 298 and Lisa Christie's The Book Jam, which hosted the event KJ refers to along with her podcast, Shelf Help, and then another podcast, This Jungian Life.KJ: The Murderbot Diaries, Martha WellsIf you love a good writing retreat—especially one that comes with good solid coaching and the chance to meet others who are working on similar projects—here's one to check out. This fall, three Author Accelerator certified book coaches are offering Mainely Memoir, a retreat for women writers in historic Biddeford, Maine, held over three days in the gorgeous Maine woods in September, with one-on-one coaching both before and after the retreat. It's the perfect opportunity to give yourself the gift of time and focus so that you can make real progress on your memoir this year. Find out more at www.mainelymemoir.comHey listener - have you followed Jess on TikTok yet? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

A conversation between JLJ EiC, Aaron Berkowitz, and author, Peter Orner, on his newest book, "Still No Word From You; Notes in the Margin." Youtube Patreon Paypal Donations --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss ‘With Reference to an Incident at a Bridge' by William Maxwell.

Peter Orner is the author of the novels "The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo" and "Love and Shame and Love" and the story collections "Esther Stories," "Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge," and "Maggie Brown & Others." His previous collection of essays, "Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live," was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. His new essay collection is "Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin."

Chicago-born Peter Orner is the author of two novels: The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and Love and Shame and Love, and three story collections Esther Stories, Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, and Maggie Brown & Others. Peter's essay collection/ memoir, Am I Alone Here? Notes on Reading to Live and Living to Read was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His new collection is called Am I Alone Here? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warum Fokus das Wichtigste ist – und wie man ihn erreicht. Was jede Geschichte braucht. Und Tipps, wie man Flash Fiction schreibt.Das Wichtigste aus der Folge zum Nachlesen:Ich beziehe mich auf das Buch "Story" von Robert McKeeWerkzeug der Woche: Story Values.Hausaufgabe der Woche: Schreibe eine Flash Fiction mit höchstens 1.000 Wörter, in der eine Figur an ihrem Schlüsselbund einen Schlüssel findet, den sie nicht kennt.Fundstücke der Woche: Diverse Flash FictionsSammlung des New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction"Taylor Swift" von Hugh Behm-Steinberg"A Telephonic Conversation" von Mark Twain: https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/Telephonic.html"A Haunted House" von Virgina Wolf: https://www.bartleby.com/85/1.htmlFabeln von Aesop im Projekt Guttenberg: https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/autoren/namen/aesop.html"Everyone cried" von Lydia Davis: https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/everyone-cried"Sticks" von George Saunders: https://www.unm.edu/~gmartin/535/Sticks.htm"My Dead" von Peter Orner: https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/my-deadFeedback & Wünsche an: geschichtenmacher@posteo.de

Peter Orner http://peterorner.com @Peter_orner Still No Word From You is available from https://books.catapult.co/books/still-no-word-from-you/ Gateway books To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf Sound and the Fury - Faulkner Invisible Man - Ellison Ulysses - Joyce Current reads - Javier Cercas - Anatomy of a Moment Lydia Davis - (translation) Madame Bovary Isaac B Singer - Stories Desert Island Books Edna O'Brian James Wright Eudora Welty Absolom, Absolom - Faulkner Isaac Babal John McGahern Mavis Gallant Wright Morris Chekov Ellison - Essays Giovanni's Room - Baldwin

Can your life story be defined by books? Tune in for an inspiring discussion with Peter Orner on his new #book Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin.Peter Orner is the author of the novels The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, Love and Shame and Love and the story collections. His previous collection of essays, Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. A three-time recipient of the Pushcart Prize, Orner's work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney's, and has been translated into eight languages. He has been awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a two-year Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, the California Book Award for fiction, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish fiction, as well as a Fulbright in Namibia.#MomentsWithMarianne with host Marianne Pestana airs every Tuesday at 3PM PST / 6PM EST and every Friday at 10AM PST/ 1PM EST in the Southern California area on KMET1490AM & 98.1 FM, ABC Talk News Radio affiliate! Not in the area? Click here to listen! https://tunein.com/radio/KMET-1490-s33999/ For more show information or to view the book club visit:https://www.mariannepestana.com#bookclub #readinglist #books #bookish #healing #MariannePestana #author #authorinterview #nonfiction #kmet1490am #lifejourney #lifestory #PeterOrner #literarywork

Host Cyrus Webb welcomes author Peter Orner to #ConversationsLIVE to discuss the book STILL NO WORD FROM YOU. 

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" by James Joyce

Author of two novels and three short story collections, Peter Orner, shares with us his new book, Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin. Filled with personal essays and short stories, Still No Word from You was named after a line in a letter Orner found written from his grandfather to his grandmother. Read More

Peter Orner discusses the short story "Blue in Chicago" by Bette Howland.

Peter Orner, an acclaimed writer of fiction, explores the power of reading in a series of essays and intimate stories that meld his life and writing with that of other writers, collected in the book Still No Word From You.

Peter Orner is the author of the novels "The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo" and "Love and Shame and Love" and the story collections "Esther Stories," "Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge," and "Maggie Brown & Others." His previous collection of essays, "Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live," was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. His new essay collection is "Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin."

Peter Orner's new memoir-in-essays is an ode to other books. He helps us see the ways they contain the stories of our lives, too, and understand that reading is essential.

A new collection of pieces on literature and life by the author of Am I Alone Here?, a finalist for the NBCC Award for Criticism. Stationed in the South Pacific during World War II, Seymour Orner wrote a letter every day to his wife, Lorraine. She seldom responded, leading him to plead in 1945, “Another day and still no word from you.” Seventy years later, Peter Orner writes in response to his grandfather's plea: “Maybe we read because we seek that word from someone, from anyone.” From the acclaimed fiction writer about whom Dwight Garner of The New York Times wrote, “You know from the second you pick him up that he's the real deal,” comes Still No Word from You, a unique chain of essays and intimate stories that meld the lived life and the reading life. For Orner, there is no separation. Covering such well-known writers as Lorraine Hansberry, Primo Levi, and Marilynne Robinson, as well as other greats like Maeve Brennan and James Alan McPherson, Orner's highly personal take on literature alternates with his own true stories of loss and love, hope and despair. In his mother's copy of A Coney Island of the Mind, he's stopped short by a single word in the margin, “YES!”—which leads him to conjure his mother at twenty-three. He stops reading Penelope Fitzgerald's The Beginning of Spring three quarters of the way through because he knows that finishing the novel will leave him bereft. Orner's solution is to start again from the beginning to slow the inevitable heartache. Still No Word from You is a book for anyone for whom reading is as essential as breathing. MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Book Public Episode 100 with Peter Orner and The Lonely Voice

Audrey Mayer, an ecologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is on the pod today! She was a professor living in the UP of Michigan with her son, Lucas, until she recently left her job and she and Lucas moved to New Hampshire. It turns out even if you're working in the highest echelons of academia, you still might have feelings of doubt, failure, and regret from time to time. Listen now to hear Audrey's story of change, plus a short about me slinging pizza after college. (Peter, if you're out there, hi.) Enjoy! 

Peter Orner's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, McSweeney's, The Southern Review, Ploughshares and many other publications. Stories have been anthologized in Best American Stories and twice received a Pushcart Prize. Peter has been awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a two-year Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship. His fiction titles include Maggie Brown and Others, Esther Stores, Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, Love and Shame and Love, and The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo. His non-fiction book is Am I Alone Here? He edited the titles Hope Deferred, Underground America, and Lavil: Life, Love and Death in Port-au-Prince. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Baron Vaughn presents three works where the personal and the political collide.  In “Parent Night at Confidence Academy,” by Kiley Reid, a teacher lets parents know what she really sees in their kids.  The reader is Juliana Canfield.  Two kingdoms have created ideal societies, as long as you don't mind a little restraint, in this playful fable by Berlin Alexanderplatz author Alfred Doblin, read by Kate Burton.  And local politics gets ugly (even the dog is involved) in Peter Orner's “Shouting Wenkie,” performed by Liev Schreiber.   Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss "The Children Stay" by Alice Munro.

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents stories about transgression, misunderstandings, and betrayal. “Initials Etched on a Dining Room Table Lockeport Nova Scotia” call up a host of memories in this story by Peter Orner, performed by Maulik Pancholy. A chef down on his luck gets a new start in “Ollie’s Back,” by Lynn Sloan, performed by Nate Corddry. And parents disagree about the raising of a lively daughter, in “Light,” by Lesley Nneka Arimah, performed by Crystal Dickinson. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss “The Betrothed” by Anton Chekhov.

This week on "The Lonely Voice" from Book Public, Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides welcome special guest, author Thomas O'Malley, to discuss "Irish Revel" by Edna O'Brien.

The Lonely Voice with Peter Orner discusses Edna O’Brien's short story “The Love Object.” O’Brien is an award-winning Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and writer of short stories.

Book Public host Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss "The Doll" by Edna O'Brien.

Texas Public Radio's Book Public host Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss the joy of reading.

“The Lonely Voice with Peter Orner” from Book Public on Texas Public Radio with Host Yvette Benavides discusses “Remember” by Juan Rulfo with writer Peter Orner and guest Alberto Reyes Morgan.

TPR Book Public “The Lonely Voice with Peter Orner” with host Yvette Benavides, with a special guest, Alberto Reyes Morgan, discussing Juan Rulfo's story Luvina” from the collection "El Llano en Llamas."

A discussion of the short story "It's Because We're So Poor" by Juan Rulfo with Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner.

¿Qué canciones y qué libros eligió Julieta Venegas para pasar mejor la cuarentena?

“The Lonely Voice” #1 features acclaimed author Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discussing The Overcoat by Gina Berriault ,

This week on "Book Public," the mid-pandemic release of the paperback edition of "Maggie Brown & Others" by Peter Orner.

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. This year, we will be saluting the winners virtually. The California Book Awards have often been on the vanguard, honoring previously unknown authors who go on to garner national acclaim. John Steinbeck received three gold medals—for Tortilla Flat in 1935, In Dubious Battle in 1936 and The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Award winners in recent years include Adam Johnson, Jared Diamond, Karen Fowler, Kay Ryan, Bill Vollman, Joyce Maynard, Andrew Sean Greer, Yiyun Li, Adrienne Rich, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Rodriguez, Michael Chabon, Philip Levine, Rebecca Solnit, Galen Rowell, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Orner and Kevin Starr. Join us for this special celebratory event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 380 also includes an E.W. Essay titled "The Caves." We share a brand new Uncle Cesare Essay written by our Associate Producer Dr. Michael Pavese titled "Squirrel Tale." We have an E.W. poem called "Isabella." Our music this go round is provided by these wonderful artists: Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grapelli, Tri Los Chapas, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Nina Simone, Branford Marsalis and Terrence Blanchard. Commercial Free, Small Batch Radio Crafted In the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania... Heard All Over The World. Tell Your Friends and Neighbors... 

Characters with DNA, blood and soul populate forty three stories and a novella by Peter Orner: Maggie Brown & Others.

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. The California Book Awards have often been on the vanguard, honoring previously unknown authors who go on to garner national acclaim. John Steinbeck received three gold medals—for Tortilla Flat in 1935, In Dubious Battle in 1936 and The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Recent award winners include Adam Johnson, Jared Diamond, Karen Fowler, Kay Ryan, Bill Vollman, Joyce Maynard, Andrew Sean Greer, Yiyun Li, Adrienne Rich, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Rodriguez, Michael Chabon, Philip Levine, Rebecca Solnit, Galen Rowell, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Orner and Kevin Starr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Orner is the author of Am I Alone Here? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft interview with Peter Orner

Peter Orner Not Alone Tonight at Least ~Co-presented by the Bolinas Library, The New School at Commonweal, and Point Reyes Books~ Join us for a reading and conversation with TNS Host Steve Heilig and writer Peter Orner. Peter teaches at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers as well as at San Francisco State University, where he is currently chair of the Creative Writing Department. He is a member of the Bolinas Volunteer Fire Department. Peter Orner Chicago-born Peter Orner has lived in the San Francisco Bay area for sixteen years. He is the author of two novels (The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, 2006, Love and Shame and Love, 2010) and two story collections (Esther Stories, 2001, and Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, 2013), as well as the editor of two oral histories (Voice of Witness). Orner’s fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, The Southern Review, and many other publications. His stories have been anthologized in Best American Stories and twice received a Pushcart Prize. Orner has been awarded a the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a two-year Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, as well as a Fulbright to Namibia. A new book of oral history set in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, co-edited with Evan Lyon, will be published in January, 2017. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

An introduction to author Peter Orner and a reading from his new book AM I ALONE HERE?: NOTES ON LIVING TO READ AND READING TO LIVE, published by Catapult.

When novelist Peter Orner's father died, he found himself unable to write. At the same time, his marriage fell apart. He consoled himself by reading and started to write responses to the literature that gave him comfort. 

Natalie is the author of Queen Sugar, soon to be adapted for television by writer/director Ava DuVernay of “Selma” fame, and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey for OWN, Oprah’s television network. Natalie has an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from UCLA  and is a graduate of Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program for Writers where she was a Holden Minority Scholar. An early version of Queen Sugar won the Hurston Wright College Writer’s Award, was a co-runner-up in the Faulkner Pirate’s Alley Novel-in-Progress competition, and excerpts were published in Cairn and ZYZZYVA. She has had residencies at the Ragdale Foundation where she was awarded the Sylvia Clare Brown fellowship, Virginia Center for the Arts, and Hedgebrook. Her non-fiction work has appeared in The Rumpus.net, Mission at Tenth, and in The Best Women’s Travel Writing Volume 9. She is a former fiction editor at The Cortland Review and is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Natalie grew up in Southern California and lives in San Francisco with her family. Queen Sugar - Now available in Paperback, Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bam! | IndieBound | iTunes . Queen Sugar; A mother-daughter story of reinvention—about an African American woman who unexpectedly inherits a sugarcane farm in Louisiana. Why exactly her late father left her eight hundred acres of prime sugarcane land in Louisiana is as mysterious as it is generous. But for Charley Bordelon, it’s also an opportunity start over: to get away from the smog and sprawl of Los Angeles, and to grow a new life in the coffee-dark soil of the Gulf coast. Accompanied by her eleven-year-old daughter Micah, Charley arrives with high hopes and just in time for growing season. Charley is as unfamiliar with Southern customs as she is with cane farming—which poses serious challenges both on and off the farm, especially when her farm manager leaves without warning. But, rolling up her sleeves and swallowing her pride, Charley finds the help of a colorful cast of characters—blood relatives and townspeople alike—who all become a family to her and Micah. As the cane grows, Charley is tested by a brother who is quickly using up her patience, and it will take all of her heart to keep the sugar growing and her family intact. Queen Sugar is a story of Southern wisdom, unexpected love, and one family flourishing against all odds. Reviews : Baszile is an eloquent and descriptive writer. . . [Queen Sugar] artfully captures the timelessness of the struggle to survive, the virtues of perseverance, and the undying bonds of blood. —Bust Magazine “Queen Sugar is a page-turning, heart-breaking novel of the new south, where the past is never truly past, but the future is a hot, bright promise. This is a story of family and the healing power of our connections—to each other, and to the rich land beneath our feet.” —Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow “In her heartfelt and beautiful debut novel, Natalie Baszile tells a tale of the South that is as deeply rooted in time and place as it is universal. How do we make sense of family? Loss? The legacies passed down to us? These are the questions that Charley, a young widowed mother, grapples with as she tries to save the sugarcane plantation that is her inheritance and which, unbeknownst to her, holds the answers to both her past and her future.” —Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being “After turning the last page of Queen Sugar, I already miss the gutsy, contemporary African American woman who ditches California and migrates to Louisiana to run her inherited cane farm. Natalie Baszile is a fresh, new voice that resists all Southern stereotypes, and delivers an authentic knock-out read.” —Lalita Tademy, New York Times bestselling author of Cane River and Red River “Natalie Baszile debuts with an irresistible tale of family, community, personal obligation, and personal reinvention. The world is full of things that keep you down and things that lift you up—Queen Sugar is about both and in approximately equal measure. Smart and heart-felt and highly recommended.” —Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves “Raw with hardship and tender with hope, Queen Sugar digs deep to the core of a courageous young widow’s life as she struggles to keep her farm in Louisiana’s sugarcane country. Natalie Baszile writes with a bold and steady hand.” —Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Looking for Me and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt “Queen Sugar is a gorgeous, moving story about what grounds us as brothers and sisters, as mothers and daughters, and all the ways we fight to save each other. Natalie Baszile’s characters put brave roots into inhospitable ground, looking for a place, a person, a community to call home home. I alternately laughed and wept as they failed each other, forgave each other, lost each other, found themselves. It’s a wise, strong book, and I loved it. You will, too.” —Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Gods in Alabama “Natalie Baszile’s Queen Sugar is a sweeping, beautifully wrought, and uniquely American story that brings to vibrant life the little-known world of Louisiana’s sugarcane country. I fell in love with Charley Bordelon—her huge heart, her kindness, her courage, and her resilience. A lyrical and page-turning meditation on second chances, reinvention, family, and race, Queen Sugar casts quite a spell.” —Melanie Gideon, author of The Slippery Year and Wife 22 “Queen Sugar is an accomplished, confident narrative that announces the arrival of a writer to watch.” —Krys Lee, author of Drifting House “Gorgeous . . . an exquisitely written book about the joys and sorrows of family, love, endurance, and hard work. I can’t ask much more of any novel.” —Peter Orner, author of Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge “Queen Sugar is story of reinvention and reconciliation about an African American woman who unexpectedly inherits a sugarcane farm in Louisiana. It is a remarkable tale of hope, endurance, and love.” —Ann Trice, Garden District Bookshop Thank You for checking out Hollywood Breakthrough Show This podcast main purpose is to serve up positive information. Join us at Hollywood Breakthrough Show, as we interview some of the most talented people in the business, which names you may, or may not know! But you have seen their work! Whether they're well- established veterans of the business, or current up and comers, these are the people who are making a living in Hollywood. Screenwriters, directors, producers and entertainment industry professionals share inside perspective on writing, filmmaking, breaking into Hollywood and navigating SHOW BUSINESS, along with stories of their journey to success! HELP SPREAD THE WORD PLEASE! SCREENWRITERS, DIRECTORS, AUTHORS, we would love to help spread the word about your Film, Book, Crowdfunding, etc., Contact us! (EMAIL: Info@hollywoodbreakthrough.com ) See Videos of all interviews at Hollywood Breakthrough Show Please subscribe in iTunes and write us a review! Follow us on: Social Media Sites | Twitter @TheBreakThur| Facebook: facebook.com/HollywoodBreakthroughPodcast Subscribe! 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The Given World (Simon & Schuster)  Spanning over twenty-five years of a radically shifting cultural landscape, The Given World is a major debut novel about war's effects on those left behind, by an author who is "strong, soulful, and deeply gifted" (Lorrie Moore, "New York Times" bestselling author of Birds of America).  In 1968, when Riley is thirteen, her brother Mick goes missing in Vietnam. Her family shattered, Riley finds refuge in isolation and drugs until she falls in love with a boy from the reservation, but he, too, is on his way to the war. Riley takes off as well, in search of Mick, or of a way to be in the world without him. She travels from Montana to San Francisco and from there to Vietnam. Among the scarred angels she meets along the way are Primo, a half-blind vet with a secret he can't keep; Lu, a cab-driving addict with an artist's eye; Phuong, a Saigon barmaid, Riley's conscience and confidante; and Grace, a banjo-playing girl on a train, carrying her grandmother's ashes in a tin box. All are part of a lost generation, coming of age too quickly as they struggle to reassemble lives disordered by pain and loss. At center stage is Riley, a masterpiece of vulnerability and tenacity, wondering if she'll ever have the courage to return to her parents' farm, to its ghosts and memories--resident in a place she has surrendered, surely, the right to call home. Praise for The Given World: In The Given World, Marian Palaia has assembled a collection of restive seekers and beautifully told their stories of love and lovelessness, home and homelessness, with an emphasis on both makeshift and enduring ideas of family. It has been a long time since a first book contained this much wisdom and knowledge of the world. She has a great ear for dialogue, a feel for dramatic confrontation, and a keen understanding of when background suddenly becomes foreground. She is a strong, soulful, and deeply gifted writer--Lorrie Moore, author of Bark "The Given World is astonishing in every regard: the voice, the range of characters, the charismatic, colloquial dialogue, the ability to summon, through telling detail, geographically diverse worlds that are far flung, but still cohere. Vietnam, counter-cultural San Francisco, the Vietnam War draft's resonance on a Montana reservation, all give evocative shape and texture to an historical era. It's edgy, often cutting, humorous, and impassioned.--Rob Nixon From the moment I met Riley I was drawn into her world, which is really ours, America in the last century as it careened into this one. I found this novel as thrilling and surprising as a ride on a vintage motorcycle, along the winding, sometimes hair-raising but always arresting ride that is Riley's life. It is a trip I will always remember.--Jesse Lee Kercheval, author ofMy Life as a Silent Movie "Marian Palaia has imaginatively engaged the Vietnam War these many decades later and transformed it into a brilliant and complex narrative able to transcend that war, all wars, all politics, all eras and illuminate the great and eternally enduring human quest for self, for an identity, for a place in the universe. The Given World is a splendid first novel by an exciting new artist."--Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize "Marian Palaia is a writer of remarkable talent. In Riley, she has captured Vietnam's long shadow with prose that cuts straight to the bone. Readers who enjoyed Jennifer Egan's The Invisible Circus will love The Given World.--Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist "Not all the American casualties of Vietnam went to war. In stunning, gorgeous prose, in precise, prismatic detail, Palaia begins with that rupture and works her way deep into the aftermath -- its impact on one person, on one family, on one country. Riveting and revelatory."--Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves "Some rare books give you the sense that a writer has been walking around with a story for years, storing it up, ruminating on it. This is one of those books. I'm grateful for the slow and patient emergence of these words on the page. No sentence is wasted. However long The Given World took, it was worth every minute."--Peter Orner, author of The Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge "Marian Palaia is a writer of startling grace and sensuous lyricism--reading her, you feel as if you've never heard language this beautiful and this true."--Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife Marian Palaia was born in Riverside, California, and grew up there and in Washington, DC. She lives in San Francisco and has also lived in Montana, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nepal, where she was a Peace Corps volunteer. She is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received the 2012 Milofsky Prize. She was a 2012-2013 John Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University and is a recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship. Her work has been published in The Virginia Quarterly Review and TriQuarterly. Marian has also been a truck driver, a bartender, and a logger.

Andrew Leonard talks about his new article for San Francisco Magazine, "Long Live The Empress"; keeping memories of Chinatown alive and kicking; Local author Peter Orner's Book Report, and local band Corner Laughers.

Launch event for DRIVEL, Litquake's first book, edited by Julia Scott. Great authors share their earliest, worst writings! Hear excerpts from this hilarious collection read aloud by everyone from Peter Orner to Andrew Sean Greer. Co-presented by the SF Writers' Grotto, and recorded live at Z Space during Litquake 2014. More book details at litquake.org/drivel.

Alexis Coe is the guest. She is the author of Alice + Freda Forever, available now from Pulp/Zest Books. Peter Orner says "Alexis Coe rescues a buried but extraordinarily telling episode from the 1890's that resonates in all sorts of ways with today. That in itself would be an accomplishment. But this is a book that is truly riveting, a narrative that gallops. Lizzy Borden eat your heart out. Here's a real crime of passion. Or was it? 'And so Alice carried the razor around every day in her dress pocket, just in case Freda came to town…' I dare you to pick this one up and try, just try to put it down." And Vol. 1 Brooklyn says "Though the history recounted in Alexis Coe's Alice + Freda Forever is captivating in its own right, Coe also provides a larger context for it, elevating this to the level of a societal indictment. This story of a star-crossed love with a violent ending at times reads like a microcosm of Memphis at the end of the 19th century. As Coe's narrative delves into perceptions of sexuality and the ways in which the case touched on different aspects of daily life, it never loses sight of the tragic romance at its core." Monologue topics: mail, Chelsea Hodson, prurience, sex, manners, gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I really want to be a writer," said countless lawyers. Sound like you? Wanting to write on the side or hope to leave law to be a full-time writer? Come hear from critically acclaimed writer Peter Orner, JD, on what it's like to be a writer.

In his story "The Last Cribkeeper," Peter Orner introduces us to Harry Osgood--the last man to work on Chicago's water cribs. Harry spends his days walking along the shores of Lake Michigan, peering out at the water that has shaped the city's identity and his own. Author Peter Orner sat down with WBEZ's Shannon Heffernan to talk about his lifelong obsession with those tiny houses off Chicago's shores and his homesickness for the blue of Lake Michigan. (Flickr/Steve Rhodes)

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world. In "The Last Cribkeeper" by Peter Orner, we meet Harry Osgood as he walks along the shores of Lake Michigan. For years, he served as the guard for one of the water intake cribs miles from Chicago's shores. Now an old man, Harry looks out over the lake and reflects on how it has shaped the city's identity and his own. (Flickr/josh s jackson)

Ethel Rohan is the guest. Her new story collection, Goodnight Nobody, is now available from Queen's Ferry Press. Peter Orner raves “Ethel Rohan speaks in many voices, all of which need to be heard. She goes so deeply into the hearts and souls of her people. And she wounds, she heals, often in the same sentence. Plain and simple, Goodnight Nobody is a great and unique collection of stories.” And Roxane Gay says “Fans of Ethel Rohan’s writing will find, in her latest and outstanding collection, Goodnight Nobody, a writer who has never been more intelligent, more graceful, more moving. Whether it’s a young girl torn between a loving father and an abusive mother, or a photographer who is losing her eyesight while her husband bears witness, or a woman who wants nothing more than a sign from her husband that he sees her, Rohan writes about people searching for a place to belong or a place to breathe or simply, a place to be. In Rohan’s eminently capable hands and words, these stories give us that hope that these searching people she writes will find everything they want or need.” Monologue topics: Americans' reading habits, polls, sex, sexual dysfunction, lying about sex and reading Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Orner is the guest. His new story collection, Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, is now available from Little, Brown.  Tom Bissell says “Peter Orner is a true writers’ writer, which is to say a writer writers complain to writers about readers not reading. His novel The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo (a title, one senses, Orner had to fight hard to retain) ranks high among the best works of fiction about Africa ever written by an American, and his collection Esther Stories contains work to rival that of David Means and Tobias Wolff. Orner’s latest collection, Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, is bundled into four sections and includes more than fifty pieces of fiction…Imagine Brief Interviews with Hideous Men written by Alice Munro.” And Booklist says "Orner is an undisputed master of the short short story." Monologue topics: feedback, Max Millwood, Gregory Sherl, the show's format, my dullness and incompetence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Orner says his poignantly distilled, often tiny short stories are attempts to "create silence on the page."

Peter Orner is the author of Esther Stories, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, Love and Shame and Love, and his newest collection, Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, which was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “storytelling mastery.” In conversation with Isaac Fitzgerald from McSweeney’s, and with music by Paul Griffiths. Recorded live at Litquake’s Epicenter at Hotel Rex, and co-presented by Books, Inc.

Peter Orner's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many publications and received numerous awards. He is the editor of two non-fiction books and is a long time permanent faculty member at San Francisco State. He reads before an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24371]

Peter Orner's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many publications and received numerous awards. He is the editor of two non-fiction books and is a long time permanent faculty member at San Francisco State. He reads before an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24371]

Colin Marshall sits down in San Francisco's Bernal Heights with Peter Orner, author of the novels Love and Shame and Love and The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and the short story collection Esther Stories as well as co-editor of the nonfiction collections Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives and Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives. They discuss the heightened Americanness of Chicago and what it has offered his literary sensibility; our tendency as Americans, for good and ill, to chase stuff, whether in the city or the suburbs; his fascination with how life simply goes on amid grand (and possibly meaningless) power struggles; how, as a fresh college graduate, he found his was to Namibia; how his experience compares with the fictional Scottish doctor who falls in with Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, especially in the sense of the gnawing burden of non-belonging; life in a country where things slow down, and the space for thought that provides; how Namibia inspired him to write a story of a man lost in a Kafkanly inescapable shopping mall, and how he used a school's sole typewriter to compose it; his constant aspirations to the condition of the short story collection, the "highest form," and how even his novels secretly take that form; the experimentalism of great books that don't seem experimental, like Bleak House or Moby Dick; how Namibia's situation compares to that of Zimbabwe, and how many of Zimbabwe's problems can be laid at the feet of Robert Mugabe; how he experiences a San Francisco beyond the Fisherman's Wharves and the Transamerica Pyramids; and his criticism of the city's increasing pricing out of families that leads, ultimately, to a loss of stories.

Herself When She's Missing (Soft Skull Press) "Herself When She's Missing explores the irrationality of sex with uncommon wit and fearlessness. I can never resist the story of a bad romance and this one grabbed me by the collar and dragged me through a love-sick mind's tilted, temporally disordered terrain. Don't forget to drink a glass of water and eat a protein bar before reading. This book might leave you faint." --Sara Levine, author of Treasure Island!!! "Sarah Terez Rosenblum's Herself When She's Missing marks the emergence of a riveting and beautifully strange new voice in American fiction. And Andrea and The Criminal Mastermind are unforgettable characters. I especially love Andrea because she jogs in cemeteries. The book made me feel more alive, I can't ask for much more from any novel." --Peter Orner, author of Love and Shame and Love Sarah Terez Rosenblum is a writer whose work has been featured in Pop Matters, The Chicago Sun Times and The Shepherd Express. When not writing, Sarah supports herself as a figure model, spinning instructor, and creative writing teacher at Chicago's Story Studio. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 20, 2012.

"...the humor of hard things is what gets us through it."

As countries across the continent celebrate 50 years of independence, millions of Africans still face daily violence and human rights abuses. From Guinea to Kenya, Sudan to Zimbabwe, African nations continue to deal with despotic leaders’ attempts to stay in power. Although the American media occasionally provides a picture of violence in Africa, what does life on the ground really look like? Peter Orner and Annie Holmes, co-authors of Hope Deferred, and Patrick Vinck, the director of the Initiative for Vulnerable Populations Project at UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center, will describe two countries, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic, with strikingly different histories but who are both dealing with crippling poverty and ongoing human rights abuses. They will also offer their thoughts and insights as to what steps the continent must take to move forward. Is it more important to a national psyche to try and convict a former warlord, or should more effort be put into recreating a peaceful society? Can economic growth seriously take hold in a place where corruption and violence is such a large disincentive? Is Africa ready for takeoff, or stalled at the gate?

Namibia at the time of its independence.