Podcasts about Rumpus

Ally Ang buzzes into the hive to read poems from their book and also to share the poem "Friends with no Benefits" by Megan Fernandes.Ally is the author of Let the Moon Wobble (Alice James Books 2025). A National Endowment for the Arts fellow and MacDowell fellow, Ally's work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, The Seattle Met, and elsewhere. They co-host Other People's Poems, a poetry open mic and reading series in Seattle.

Hey folks! We're back to weigh in on AI, the World Cup, Ryan's triumphant return to Mill Creek, and Erik's garage fall.And for our science, we'll be evaluating the 2nd half of the 10 Commandments. To close things out, Ryan will watch as the Hit King himself, Pete Rose, has a close encounter with a different kind of Big Red Machine in Kane.Hard Mark Merch: https://hard-mark-podcast.creator-spring.com/Official Ryan Murphy Match Ranking: https://hardmarkpodcast.wordpress.com/Hard Mark Linktree: https://linktr.ee/hardmarkpodcast

Samina Najmi joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up under a military dictatorship in Pakistan, the colonial legacy in South Asia, writing about migration, race, and gender, teaching as a secular Muslim woman in the aftermath of 911, living displaced lives, leaning into bursts of memory, anchoring ourselves in moments, writing an essay collection over 10 years, learning from realistic fiction, lyrical essays grounded in research, allowing our writing to spill over into different categories, embracing an expansive literary community, how home is less a place than a moment in time, willing to be vulnerable on the page, building trust with readers, and her new memoir Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time.   Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: - entering writing contests - our expansive literary community - the different kinds of displacement  - fragments that come together later   Books mentioned in this episode:  - Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall - The Names by N. Scott Momaday - The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston - You and Yours by Naomi Shihab Nye   Samina Najmi teaches multiethnic US literature at California State University, Fresno. Her memoir-in-essays, Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time, won the Aurora Polaris Award in Creative Nonfiction and was published by Trio House Press in Oct, 2025. It has received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and is featured among Poets & Writers' five nonfiction debuts of the year and Debutiful's Best Nonfiction Debuts of 2025. The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) includes it among notable 2025 nonfiction debuts and its recommended reading lists for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 2025 and Women's History Month 2026. Daughter of multiple migrations, Samina grew up in Pakistan and England, began her American life in Boston, and has called Fresno home since 2006.  Connect with Samina: Website: saminanajmi.com Instagram: samina.najmi Facebook: Samina Najmi Purchase book: https://www.triohousepress.org/samina-najmi – 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

Whitney Vale is the author of two chapbooks, Journey with the Ferry Man, and her latest, Sermon of Swallows, which is out now. Her poetry and prose have been published in Anti-Heroin Chic, Rogue Agent, Black Fork Review, and The Rumpus, among many others. In today's episode, Whitney and Annmarie discuss the joy of a creative life, the pain of beginning again, and what it might look like if we committed ourselves to filling the world with just a little more beauty. Bookstore Spotlights: Newtonville Books – An independent bookstore located at 10 Langley Rd, in Newton, Massachusetts -- in the old stone building at the north corner of the triangle parking lot. Come for the books. Stay for the books. Learn more and shop online at newtonvillebooks.com. Carmichael's Bookstores – In Louisville, Kentucky. From the very beginning Carmichael's has been committed to being a community gathering place, open seven days a week and every evening. Our stores are in neighborhoods that hum with activity—walkers, joggers, dogs and children, families and couples—lively streetscapes never darkened by the shadow of a big box store. Carmichael's is actively committed to Keeping Louisville Weird and spreading the word about the importance of buying from locally-owned businesses. Stop by any of our locations or shop online at carmichaelsbookstore.com Authors and Titles Mentioned in This Episode: Journey with the Ferry Man Sermon of Swallows Kelli Russell Agodon Beth Ann Fennelly  Maggie Smith  Ada Limón Kathleen Driskell  Sarah Freligh Alison Hurwitz Kristi Maxwell Lung Hours, by Jessica Purdy Diane Seuss Aimee Nezhukumatathil Joy Harjo Follow Whitney Vale: Instagram: @whitneyvale Facebook: @whitneyvale whitneyvale.org **Writing Workshops:  If you liked this conversation and are interested in writing together, please consider the opportunities below.  For women interested in an online Saturday morning writing circle, you can sign up here.  For anyone interested in an August weekday accountability hour, you can sign up here.  For anyone looking for support writing their memoir, Annmarie is teaching a class here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenny Lisk joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about losing her husband to an aggressive brain cancer and becoming a widowed parent, learning how to do a job she never asked for, being a resource for widowed parents, feeling like you're doing grieving wrong, better understanding grieving children, launching a podcast to learn more about widowhood, incorporating a Caring Bridge blog into memoir, utilizing storytelling principles to flesh out a story and transform it into memoir, fear of vulnerability, defining book marketing broadly, assisting writers in self-publishing, memoir as an act of service, and her memoir Future Widow.   Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: - knowing where to end a memoir - instrumental and intuitive grievers - early marketing and building relationships   Books mentioned in this episode:  - The Anatomy of Story by John Truby - Real American Julie by Lythcott-Haims The Chicago Manual of Style from University of Chicago Press   Jenny Lisk is the founder of the Widowed Parent Institute. She is an award-winning author and widowed mom who is dedicated to helping widowed parents increase their family's well-being. Jenny's books, Future Widow and Widowed Parents Unite, and her show, The Widowed Parent Podcast, guide the journey of solo parenting after loss. Jenny's work has been featured in The Washington Post, Katie Couric Media, Yahoo Life, ParentMap, and more. She lives in Redmond, Washington, with her two college-age kids.   Connect with Jenny: Website: https://jennylisk.com https://jennyliskllc.com/ https://widowedparentinstitute.com/   - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

01. Flatty Tatcher - Time Machine 02. Paco Caniza - Release Me 03. Code02 - On Your Feet 04. Tchami, Niiko X Swae - Waiting 05. Ame, Busiswa, Tsha - Pha Na Pha 06. Bonetti, Sebb Junior - Hypnotize Me 07. Mph - Spend The Night 08. Alvaro Hylander, Demarkus Lewis - Salticidae 09. Alex Preston - Magnetic 10. Gousso - Gimme 11. Kc Lights, Welt - Fly 12. Sidney Charles, Kolter - I Like to Jam 13. Rumpus, Control Room, Rhiannon Roze - OMW 14. Kideko - Once Again 15. Hoxton Whores, Kevin Andrews - Want Me Baby 16. Dubsane, Радикальная Середина - Зеркальце 17. Eric Costa, Piem - Meua Opera 18. Baum, Lina Simons - Make It Pop 19. Re-Tide, Daniel Jaze - Don't Need U 20. Cabu, Akaciafabich, Ferdinand Weber - Gold 21. Kpd - FCK RACK 22. Jay Vegas, Mattei & Omich - Hypnotize 23. Dan Ojeda, Jaii O - Get Down Tonight 24. Sammy Virji - Blue Roll 25. Low3Nd Theory - Day & Night 26. Luke Alessi - Sex Machine 27. Anotr, 3Ddy - Faster 28. Dj Pp - That Funky Rhythm 29. Milo Passier - Sensitivity 30. Kinobe, Swag'S Flying High - Butterfly 31. Club De Combat - All The Single Ladies 32. Ben Remember - Waiting 4 You 33. Seeing Double - Run It Up 34. Booka Shade, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Pleasurekraft - Crossing Borders 35. Lee Freeman, Angie Brown - Let's Get Together 36. Fdf - Nina 37. Dhuss - Frequency 38. Ant Brooks - Playa 39. Erre - UNODOSTREZ 40. Anane, Manda Moor, Sirus Hood - It Looks Like Love 41. Noir & Haze, Eli Bury, Holmes John - Around 42. Andre Zimmer - When You Groove 43. Chico Rose - No Drama 44. Exyt, Lackmus - Lift Off 45. Kepler, Boss Priester - Use Ya Head 46. Samo - Better For Me 47. Dp-6 - Stella Maris 48. Chinonegro - Mi Gentee 49. Mattei & Omich, Bro Berri - Funk You Up 50. Kpd - The Ryth The Answer 51. Bellaire - Ghetto Dance 52. Funky Green Dogs, Malone Morez - Fired Up! 53. Leyo, Thierry Ganz - Dance Dance 54. Twolate, Boyz In Da Groove - Peligrosa 55. Jack Harlow, Sonny Fodera - First Class 56. Max Gigliotti - Inside 57. Carlita, Sofi Tukker - Manhattan 58. Maori, Adam Ten, Vintage Culture - Spring Girl 59. Denzel Jo Armani - Man I Just Woke Up 60. Dont Blink - Feel so right 61. Mason Clark - Groove Control 62. Mario Cruz, Peter Brown - Off Center 63. Jackie - Let's Talk 64. Mr. Belt, Wezol, Nicola Fasano, Steve Forest, Topazz - New Millenium 65. 2 Good Souls, Roland Clark, Martijn Ten Velden - Death of Technics 66. Swatkat, Dj Accia - Easy To Love 67. Vinnie Roussos - The Fading Echo 68. Discoplex - In The House Music 69. Brock Edwards - Better 70. Nuyorica - Loffi 71. Milo Passier - Patience 72. Akeem Raphael, Tiny Blue - Do It Again 73. Smokey Bubblin' B - Poison 74. Pornbugs, Deeplomatik - Awareness Raising 75. Groove Technicians - Don't Go Back 76. Michael Jackson, Mak - Bad

01. Flatty Tatcher - Time Machine 02. Paco Caniza - Release Me 03. Code02 - On Your Feet 04. Tchami, Niiko X Swae - Waiting 05. Ame, Busiswa, Tsha - Pha Na Pha 06. Bonetti, Sebb Junior - Hypnotize Me 07. Mph - Spend The Night 08. Alvaro Hylander, Demarkus Lewis - Salticidae 09. Alex Preston - Magnetic 10. Gousso - Gimme 11. Kc Lights, Welt - Fly 12. Sidney Charles, Kolter - I Like to Jam 13. Rumpus, Control Room, Rhiannon Roze - OMW 14. Kideko - Once Again 15. Hoxton Whores, Kevin Andrews - Want Me Baby 16. Dubsane, Радикальная Середина - Зеркальце 17. Eric Costa, Piem - Meua Opera 18. Baum, Lina Simons - Make It Pop 19. Re-Tide, Daniel Jaze - Don't Need U 20. Cabu, Akaciafabich, Ferdinand Weber - Gold 21. Kpd - FCK RACK 22. Jay Vegas, Mattei & Omich - Hypnotize 23. Dan Ojeda, Jaii O - Get Down Tonight 24. Sammy Virji - Blue Roll 25. Low3Nd Theory - Day & Night 26. Luke Alessi - Sex Machine 27. Anotr, 3Ddy - Faster 28. Dj Pp - That Funky Rhythm 29. Milo Passier - Sensitivity 30. Kinobe, Swag'S Flying High - Butterfly 31. Club De Combat - All The Single Ladies 32. Ben Remember - Waiting 4 You 33. Seeing Double - Run It Up 34. Booka Shade, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Pleasurekraft - Crossing Borders 35. Lee Freeman, Angie Brown - Let's Get Together 36. Fdf - Nina 37. Dhuss - Frequency 38. Ant Brooks - Playa 39. Erre - UNODOSTREZ 40. Anane, Manda Moor, Sirus Hood - It Looks Like Love 41. Noir & Haze, Eli Bury, Holmes John - Around 42. Andre Zimmer - When You Groove 43. Chico Rose - No Drama 44. Exyt, Lackmus - Lift Off 45. Kepler, Boss Priester - Use Ya Head 46. Samo - Better For Me 47. Dp-6 - Stella Maris 48. Chinonegro - Mi Gentee 49. Mattei & Omich, Bro Berri - Funk You Up 50. Kpd - The Ryth The Answer 51. Bellaire - Ghetto Dance 52. Funky Green Dogs, Malone Morez - Fired Up! 53. Leyo, Thierry Ganz - Dance Dance 54. Twolate, Boyz In Da Groove - Peligrosa 55. Jack Harlow, Sonny Fodera - First Class 56. Max Gigliotti - Inside 57. Carlita, Sofi Tukker - Manhattan 58. Maori, Adam Ten, Vintage Culture - Spring Girl 59. Denzel Jo Armani - Man I Just Woke Up 60. Dont Blink - Feel so right 61. Mason Clark - Groove Control 62. Mario Cruz, Peter Brown - Off Center 63. Jackie - Let's Talk 64. Mr. Belt, Wezol, Nicola Fasano, Steve Forest, Topazz - New Millenium 65. 2 Good Souls, Roland Clark, Martijn Ten Velden - Death of Technics 66. Swatkat, Dj Accia - Easy To Love 67. Vinnie Roussos - The Fading Echo 68. Discoplex - In The House Music 69. Brock Edwards - Better 70. Nuyorica - Loffi 71. Milo Passier - Patience 72. Akeem Raphael, Tiny Blue - Do It Again 73. Smokey Bubblin' B - Poison 74. Pornbugs, Deeplomatik - Awareness Raising 75. Groove Technicians - Don't Go Back 76. Michael Jackson, Mak - Bad

In this debut story collection Patchwork Dolls (Blair, 2026), Ysabelle Cheung weaves an eerie fabulism with tales that cross continents, technology, and time. Set in Hong Kong and America--between the present day and an uncannily altered future--this story collection warps the familiar rules of our world to ask: what does it mean to be Asian and a woman--living under the specter of state and technological surveillance--or trying to break free from it? In the title story, a young woman of color realizes she can make her fortune by surgically selling her facial features to whiter, wealthier clients. In "Please, Get Out and Dance," a group of rebels escapes a city that is literally disappearing around them--building by building, person by person--to migrate to a new home beneath the ocean, defying their government's mandate. "Herbs" follows an elderly widow who, when the clones of her dead husband start to appear uninvited in her home, must grapple with her memories. In each of these stories, Cheung tilts the world just slightly off its axis to bring together a haunting meditation on what it means to survive within our increasingly digitized and mechanized world. Ysabelle Cheung is a writer and art critic based in Hong Kong. Her Fiction has appeared in Granta, Slate, and The Rumpus. She was awarded the 2023 Aspen Words Fellowship and was in residence at the Jan Michalski Foundation in 2024. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Atlantic, Artforum, and Lit Hub. She is the co-founder of a contemporary art gallery in Hong Kong called the PhD Group. Recommended Books: Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life Sayumi Kamakura, Applause for a Cloud Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. 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 this debut story collection Patchwork Dolls (Blair, 2026), Ysabelle Cheung weaves an eerie fabulism with tales that cross continents, technology, and time. Set in Hong Kong and America--between the present day and an uncannily altered future--this story collection warps the familiar rules of our world to ask: what does it mean to be Asian and a woman--living under the specter of state and technological surveillance--or trying to break free from it? In the title story, a young woman of color realizes she can make her fortune by surgically selling her facial features to whiter, wealthier clients. In "Please, Get Out and Dance," a group of rebels escapes a city that is literally disappearing around them--building by building, person by person--to migrate to a new home beneath the ocean, defying their government's mandate. "Herbs" follows an elderly widow who, when the clones of her dead husband start to appear uninvited in her home, must grapple with her memories. In each of these stories, Cheung tilts the world just slightly off its axis to bring together a haunting meditation on what it means to survive within our increasingly digitized and mechanized world. Ysabelle Cheung is a writer and art critic based in Hong Kong. Her Fiction has appeared in Granta, Slate, and The Rumpus. She was awarded the 2023 Aspen Words Fellowship and was in residence at the Jan Michalski Foundation in 2024. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Atlantic, Artforum, and Lit Hub. She is the co-founder of a contemporary art gallery in Hong Kong called the PhD Group. Recommended Books: Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life Sayumi Kamakura, Applause for a Cloud Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Courtney Kocak joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about her Hollywood misadventures, facing coercion and exploitation as a young woman, systemic structures we bump up against, fighting the patriarchy, having compassion for the girl she was, landing on essays as a place to stretch out on the page, not terrorizing the people we write about, making dialogue feel alive, book incubators, engaging with other writers and finding community, writing as a means to create opportunities for ourselves, forgiving our younger selves, writing our own rules, taking power back, and her new memoir Girl Gone Wild.   Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: - being objectified - deadlines and accountability - small presses as champions for innovative memoir Books mentioned in this episode: - Draft Number 4 by John Mcphee - Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux - Wild  by Cheryl Strayed  - Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Stayed - The Wager by David Grann   Courtney Kocak is a writer, podcaster, and comedian who splits time between Austin and Los Angeles. She wrote for Amazon's Emmy-winning animated series Danger & Eggs and Netflix's Know It All. She's produced a slew of highly-ranked podcasts and currently hosts three of her own with over two million downloads to date: Private Parts Unknown, about love and sexuality around the world, The Bleeders, about book writing and publishing, and Podcast Bestie, a best friend to podcasters trying to grow and monetize their shows (and a popular Substack). As a writer, her bylines include The New York Times, The Cut, The Washington Post, LA Times, Cosmopolitan, Slate, HuffPost, and more. Her debut memoir, Girl Gone Wild, with Trio House Press, is out now!   Connect with Courtney: Website: https://www.courtneykocak.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtneykocak/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@courtneykocak Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/courtneykocak.bsky.social Twitter: https://x.com/courtneykocak Purchase Book via Bookshop: Girl Gone Wild on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/85623/9781949487541 Teaching: https://www.courtneykocak.com/teaching - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

The Author Events Series presents M Lin | The Memory Museum: Stories In Conversation with 'Pemi Aguda Stretching from the present day to the near future, from China to America and beyond, M Lin's piercing and melodious debut captures the spirit of China's One-Child Generation as its characters navigate homes and cultures, hopes and contradictions, survival and resistance. These frank, tender, and playful stories offer profound insight into the ambivalence of migration, the perverse ways race and class can operate, and what it means to be Chinese today. The collection begins with ''Scenes from Childhood,'' in which a lonely, elderly woman in a dystopian reality remembers her grandfather's village. In ''Magic, or Something Less Assuring,'' a politically divided couple goes on a divorce honeymoon in Morocco. ''You Won't Read This in the News'' features four migrant workers during one night of petty theft and connection. In ''Tough Egg,'' a filmmaker thwarted by censorship untangles her fraught relationship to motherhood. Other stories portray a photographer reuniting with her first love in Beijing; the historic White Paper protests that ended the zero-COVID policy; and generations into the future, a newly instated Memory Museum where two sensory architects share their vision for a utopian world. With daring political and creative commitment, The Memory Museum brims with joy even as Lin exposes the knife's edge between powerlessness and agency, pain and intimacy, our memories and our futures. M Lin is a Chinese writer living in the US. Her stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Swamp Pink, Joyland, Epiphany, Fence, and Best Debut Short Stories 2023, and her nonfiction can be read in The New York Times, Guernica, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. 'Pemi Aguda is the author of One Leg on Earth, and Ghostroots, a finalist for the National Book Award, the LA Times First Fiction Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She is from Lagos, Nigeria. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation when you register for this event to ensure that this series continues to inspire Philadelphians. Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night! All tickets are non-refundable. (recorded 4/29/2026)

Carol Odell joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about being methodically sexually groomed as a girl during her time working at a stable, sexual grooming as a slow desensitization process,  interrupting the patterns created from unprocessed trauma, including her experience as a therapist in her pages, trying to trace our behavior and thread the story in the narrative, taking risks and doing deeper work, the divisions within ourselves, writing self back into scenes we've emotionally splintered off from, recognizing ourselves as victims, hybrid publishing through She Writes Press, turning down the volume on critical self-talk, and her new memoir Girl Groomed: A Therapist's Memoir of Trauma.   Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: - vulnerability - practicing good self-care - being compassionate with ourselves   Books mentioned in this episode:  - Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - Educated by Tara Westover - Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg Carol Odell, LICSW, grew up riding horses on the show jumping circuit in Virginia. She has been a practicing psychotherapist facilitating groups and working with couples and individuals since 1984. Married for thirty-eight years and the mother of a grown son, her other passions include: squash, pickleball, partner-dancing, mosaics, writing, traveling and being in community with friends and family. She and her husband currently split their time between Seattle and Cle Elum, Washington.   Connect with Carol: Website and newsletter: www.carolodellmsw.com Instagram: mosaicofthoughts_ Professional FB page: www.facebook.com/cfodellmsw   - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

Cinelle Barnes joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about her brain aneurism rupture, writing a memoir two years after brain surgery, the healing modality that is writing personal narrative, memoir as a palimpsest, having multiple memoirs, narrating from the perspective of the adult, choosing to be in a place of discovery, alternating timelines, offloading thoughts onto sticky notes, when writing becomes episodic and collage like, gratitude as fertilizer for the brain, holding onto our words and art to keep holding onto who we are, investigating the many selves within the self, and her new memoir A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself and the Beauty of Returning.   Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -micromemoirs -fostering neuroplasticity -changing as we explore   Books mentioned in this episode:  -Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones -Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy -The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Contreras   Cinelle Barnes is the Philippine-born author of Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir, Malaya: Essays on Freedom, and A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself and the Beauty of Returning. She is also the editor of the New York Times “New and Noteworthy” A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South. Cinelle is a survivor of a brain aneurysm rupture and sits on the Brain Injury Leadership Council of South Carolina, and is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Sustainable Arts Fund, the Authors League Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, South Arts, and the North American Travel Journalists Association, among others. She has served on the jury panels for several literary awards, including the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Memoir. Her writing has appeared in Coastal Living, Travel + Leisure, Buzzfeed, Catapult, Electric Literature, and Longreads, among others. Cinelle lives in Charleston, SC, with her husband, daughter, and cat.    Connect with Cinelle: Webiste: cinellebarnes.com Instagram: @cinellebarnesbooks   Purchase Book via Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-way-home-a-memoir-of-losing-yourself-and-the-beauty-of-returning-cinelle-barnes/1a3f1cce1c657294?ean=9781662510618&next=t   - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

This book raised something that was running subterranean in my system back up to the surface again.Today we meet J. Brooke and we're talking about the queer book that saved their life: Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be by Chaz Bono.J's full-length poetry book, I Can Tell You The Version That Will Make You Take My Side won the Editor's Choice Prize at Driftwood Press. It is now available everywhere you get your books. J has received two Pushcart nominations, a 2025 Best of The Net nomination, and there were a Finalist for the 2025 Iowa Review Nonfiction Prize. Their autobiographical essay “HYBRID” won Columbia Journal's 2020 Special Issue Nonfiction Award. Their work appears in Electric Lit, The Rumpus, Harvard Review and elsewhere. J is the Prose Book Reviews Editor at The Rumpus, Poetry Editor at Trans Poetics Archive, former Nonfiction Editor at Stonecoast Review.In Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be Chaz Bono shares his deeply moving and ultimately triumphant account of the physical and emotional process that brought him to a place of peace, and finally happiness. With a message to anyone who has ever felt that they couldn't be who they really are, Transition is as inspirational as it is intimate.Chaz Bono is an LGBTQ rights advocate, acclaimed author, and the only child of famed entertainers Sonny and Cher. He has written three books, including Transition, his groundbreaking account of a forty-year struggle to match his gender identity with his physical body and his transformation from female to male.Connect with J. Brookewebsite: jbrookewrites.combluesky: jbrookewrites.bsky.socialinstagram: @jbrooke_writesOur BookshopVisit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbookBuy your copy of Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780452298002Buy your copy of I Can Tell You the Version That Will Make You Take My Side: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781949065435Become an Associate Producer!Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbookCreditsHost/Founder: John ParkerExecutive Producer: Jim PoundsAssociate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten VagnerPatreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy EricksonQuatrefoil LibraryQuatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1Real quick: yes, you too can be a guest on our podcast! If you have a queer book that had a life-saving impact for you, then please visit thisqueerbook.com and fill out the form on the homepage! Looking forward to hearing back from you!Support the show

We're back to the podcast mines, this time around we talk about underwear holes, Ryan's Alabama golf trip, and efeds.And for our science, for the first time ever, we embark on a two part ranking, as Ryan begins ranking the 10 Commandments. Lastly, we finish things off with viewing an intimate encounter between Kane and Shane McMahon.Hard Mark Merch: https://hard-mark-podcast.creator-spring.com/Official Ryan Murphy Match Ranking: https://hardmarkpodcast.wordpress.com/Hard Mark Linktree: https://linktr.ee/hardmarkpodcast

We're bringing back favorite episodes over the summer as encore editions. Since this episode first aired, poet Jen Siraganian won the 2026 Perugia Press Prize for her debut collection "Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead," which is forthcoming in September 2026. Congratulations, Jen!  Slushies, we invoke the retelling of a ghostly experience shared by Kathy and Marion at the Hotel Figueroa in California earlier this year partway into this episode. Two poems by Jen Siraganian are at the heart of our discussion, and it's the first of these that puts ghosts into our heads. This poem also causes us to consider at some length the physical form chosen by or for a poem, and how this can utterly enhance the experience of the poem when it's just right. It's also an opportunity for Jason to raise the spectre of the virgule (or slash) once again, and we even pause briefly to recall when WYSIWYG was a useful acronym. We end the episode with an ekphrastic that prompts an on-the-spot tie breaker (thanks to our sound engineer Lillie for saving the day!).   https://whitney.org/collection/works/2171 https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/gorky-the-artist-and-his-mother.html    At the table: Kathleen Volk Miller, Marion Wrenn, Lisa Zerkle, Jason Schneiderman, Dagne Forrest, Jodi Gahn, Derek Grebis (sound engineer)   Jen Siraganian is an Armenian-American writer, educator, and former Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, California. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in AGNI, Barrow Street, Best New Poets, Cortland Review, Poetry Daily, Prairie Schooner, The Rumpus, Smartish Pace, and other journals. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won the 2024 New Ohio Review Poetry Prize. A former managing director of Litquake: San Francisco's Literary Festival, she is a current Lucas Artist Fellow. jensiraganian.com      Social media handles:   Facebook @jen.siraganian, Instagram @jsiraganian, Bluesky @jsiraganian.bsky.social, Website   Walking into St. James Cathedral as If We Were Already Ghosts     My Father and I View Two Versions of Arshile Gorky's The Artist and his Mother   Lip corners sink, an upturned bowl dripping its contents onto the white   of her dress. Her eyes, Armenian saucers of round, outline hollows of darkness.   Sharing color only, no overlap of limbs or space, shades of pink echo his coat,   her lap, a paleness descends. My father nudges my elbow. He seldom mentions   his mothers, the one who raised him, the other who gave him away. I want him   to discuss the lack of daisies in the boy's hands, the mother's face swaddled in a cocoon of scarf.   Instead, he stands, cloud-drifts across the gallery. We bench in front of The Liver is the Cock's Comb.   He points to the ferns feuding with triangles, the thorned stems breathing blossom.  

Amil Niazi joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the pressure on children of immigrants, outsiderness, striving to change our circumstances, what happens to women in the workplace after becoming mothers, confronting misogyny and racism, The Hard Part - her series for The Cut, when people are threatened by ambition, avoiding the need to make memoir prescriptive, offering people perspective that is uniquely yours, sticking to our original vision, finding a way to get our books into the worlds, when work, motherhood, and ambition collide, the desire to have more, the journey of a life, and her new memoir Life After Ambition: A “Good Enough” Memoir. Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story Also in this episode: -pivoting -obligatory gratitude -asking ourselves what drives us   Books mentioned in this episode: Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion Daughter by Claudia Dey   Amil Niazi is a writer and producer. She writes The Cut's series on parenting, The Hard Part, and covers work and motherhood and how the two intersect. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.   Connect with Amil: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amilniazi/ Ami Niazi's column on The Cut: https://www.thecut.com/author/amil-niazi/ Life After Ambition: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Life-After-Ambition/Amil-Niazi/9781668056035   - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

The queens shine a rainbow spotlight on some fabulous, emerging queer poets.Support Breaking Form by reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts here.Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.  Notes:Xavier Searle is a poet and educator. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets University & College Prize, their work has appeared in The Broken Plate, Stone of Madness, and the anthology Broken Olive Branches. They hold an MFA from North Carolina State University. Read their poem "Elegy." Deon Robinson (he/him) is a Queer Afro-Latino poet born-and-raised in The Bronx. He received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Susquehanna University, where he was a two-time recipient of the Janet C. Weis Prize for Literary Excellence. Currently, he is a first year MFA Candidate in Poetry at the University of Urbana-Champaign where he is a recipient of a Graduate College Master's Fellowship and selected by Adrian Matejka for the 2022 Hobart L. and Mary Kay Peer Memorial Award. Read Deon Robinson's "(Pleasure-Knowledge) (Knowledge-Pain)" from The Adroit Journal. Visit his website: https://djrthepoet.weebly.com Kaitlin Hsu 徐欣 (she/她) is a queer Taiwanese poet, translator and editor from the Bay Area. Her work can be found in A Public Space, Poet Lore, Peach Mag and elsewhere. She is a 2024 Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers' Workshop and works at Kaya Press as an associate editor. Hsu was also a Brooklyn Poets Fellow. Check out Hsu's website at https://myrefoli.github.io and read her poem "As a Child, I Pretended to Be a Tree" here.Stefania Gomez is a 2025 Luminarts Fellow in Poetry and a 2023 Fulbright Research Award Grantee, and a finalist for the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship and 2023-2024 Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship Semifinalist. She has received additional fellowships from the Dirt Palace, Sewanee Writers Workshop, Lambda Literary, and the International Quilt Museum. She received her MFA in poetry at Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently a PhD candidate in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago and teaches Creative Writing at The Chicago High School for the Arts, Chicago's first public arts high school. Read her poem "Wreck" here and check out her website here. Another Gomez poem worth your time is "At the New York City AIDS Memorial"John Bonanni founded and edits the Cape Cod Review. His poems have appeared in North American Review, Foglifter, Black Warrior Review, Washington Square Review, Florida Review, and Gulf Coast, and his literary criticism has been featured in DIAGRAM, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, and The Kenyon Review. He teaches on Cape Cod. Visit his website and read "Elegy for Gaeton Dugas" here. Bonnani's book Retrovirology, won the Donald Hall Prize (judged by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers) and will be available in September from the Pitt Poetry Series. Alec Hershman is the author of the chapbooks Permanent and Wonderful Storage  (2019) and The Egg Goes Under (2017), both from Seven Kitchens Press. He lives in Michigan where he teaches literature and writing to college students. His poetry appears widely in literary journals and magazines such as Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, The Journal, Sycamore Review, DIAGRAM, Columbia, The National Poetry Review, and Harpur Palate. You can find links to his work online at https://alechershmanpoetry.com. Read Hershman's "Mercury Fields." Denice Frohman is a poet and performer from New York City. She has received support from The Pew Center for the Arts, Baldwin for the Arts, CantoMundo, Headlands Center for the Arts, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Poem-A-Day, The BreakBeat Poets: LatiNext, Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, The Rumpus and elsewhere. A former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, she's featured on hundreds of stages from The Apollo to The White House. Currently, she is developing her one-woman show, Esto No Tiene Nombre, which centers the oral histories of Latina lesbian elders. Read or listen to Frohman's poem "Lady Jordan" here and check her website out here: https://www.denicefrohman.comZachary Scalzo (he/they) is a queer writer, translator, and theatremaker. They can be found at azachofalltrades.com and on Instagram at @zjscalzo. Their poetry has appeared in journals including Dear Poetry, Ghost City Review, and &Change. Read their poem “Sometimes—there's God—so quickly.” Journalist Randy Shilts popularized the concept of "Patient Zero" in his 1987 book, And the Band Played On. By 1987, however, it was known that an infected individual might not display symptoms for several years, and that the study on which Shilts based his assumption was unlikely to have revealed a network of infection. Still, Shilts uncritically spread the story of the Los Angeles cluster study and its ‘Patient 0,' with long-standing consequences. For more about this, read here.Director Laurie Lynd released a documentary in 2019, Killing Patient Zero, which delves more into Gaeton Dugas's life. Read more about the documentary here.

EP 31 - "On Writing and Life" | Cleyvis Natera | Award-Winning Author of Neruda on the Park & The Grand Paloma Resort (2025)Cleyvis Natera is an award-winning author whose work spans fiction, essays, and cultural criticism. Her debut novel, Neruda on the Park, was a New York Times Editor's Choice, selected by Malala Yousafzai for her book club, and won a Silver Medal for Best First Book of Fiction from the International Latino Book Awards in 2023. The book was also featured by TIME, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and more. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, TIME, and The Rumpus. She's received fellowships from PEN America,Bread Loaf, the Vermont Studio Center, and was recently named a Fulbright Associate. She teaches creative writing at Barnard College and Montclair State University, where she's helping launch a new bilingual MFA program. Her second novel, The Grand Paloma Resort, was just published by Ballantine Books.

Melisa Febos joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about romantic obsessions, celibacy as a portal to freedom, living her way into a corner and having to fight her way out, leading with scene and story and plot, taking back the sovereignty of her own mind and body, approaching oneself as a protagonist, leaving out what isn't central to the story, remembering memoir is not a transcription of a time lived, radical feminists, exercising agency and self-reclamation, living an examined life, integrating memories that were indigestible to us in the moment, the project of looking at ourselves honestly, and her most recent book, now in paperback The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex. Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -deepending friendships  -memoir-plus digressions -writing about our obsessions   Books mentioned in this episode: Will and Attention by Meghan O'Gieblyn  Canon by Paige Lewis Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg   Melissa Febos is the national bestselling author of five books, including Abandon Me, Girlhood—which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, and, most recently, The Dry Season. Her awards and fellowships include those from the Guggenheim Foundation, LAMBDA Literary, the National Endowment for the Arts, The British Library, The Black Mountain Institute, MacDowell, the Bogliasco Foundation, The American Library in Paris, and others. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, The Sun, The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Essays, Vogue, The Best American Travel and Food Writing, and New York Review of Books. Febos is a Roy J. Carver Professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program. She lives in Iowa City with her wife, the poet Donika Kelly.   Connect with Melissa: Website: https://www.melissafebos.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissafebos Purchase book via bookshop: This is for the pre-order paperback for The Dry Season https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-dry-season-a-memoir-of-pleasure-in-a-year-without-sex-melissa-febos/f1c8367d8e351d91?ean=9780593685150&next=t - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

The choices we have here in America are different from the choices people have in Russia. We can vote. That is the most important right that has not been taken away. In Putin's Russia, elections have not been free for decades. Opposition candidates are barred from running, and even then the results are manipulated to deliver Putin a staggering victory. So this is what I can tell my American listeners: vote. – Svetlana SatchkovaSvetlana Satchkova is a Russian-born journalist and novelist who immigrated to the United States in 2016. She covers culture and politics, with bylines in the Rumpus, Newsweek, LARB, the Independent, and others. Currently a research fellow at the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia at NYU, she holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and lives in Brooklyn. Svetlana has published three novels in Russian; The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, is her English-language debut.

In celebration of the launch of season 8, Jill Christman joins Let's Talk Memoir to interview Ronit about growing up with no blueprint for making a relationship work, fending for ourselves in childhood, being driven by curiosity, writing about others with generosity and complexity, conveying to readers that we are not the only one, the use of speculation to move toward a deeper truth, the key to memoir structure, how the now-narrator reaches a hand back to help the character we were, finding a deeper empathy and understanding, opposite world, trying to look perfectly 1980s, trusting that our memories are trying to tell us something, and Ronit's memoir When She Comes Back.   Also in this episode: -Swedish Fish -The Love Boat -being prologue girls   Books mentioned in this episode: The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin Stop-Time by Frank Conroy This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolf To Show and to Tell by Pilllip Lopate Jill Christman bio and links: Jill Christman is the author of The Heart Folds Early: A Memoir (released March 2026 from the University of Nebraska Press). Christman's other books include If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays (2023 Foreword INDIES Silver Winner), Darkroom: A Family Exposure (winner of AWP Prize for CNF), and Borrowed Babies: Apprenticing for Motherhood. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies and in magazines such as Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Iron Horse Literary Review, Longreads, and O, The Oprah Magazine. A 2020 NEA Literature Fellow, she teaches at Ball State University and serves as editor of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative and Beautiful Things (a weekly online magazine of micro nonfiction). Visit her at jillchristman.com. Connect with Jill: https://www.instagram.com/jillchristmanwriter @jillchristman.bsky.social jillchristman.com Order for yourself and all your memoir-loving friends—directly from the University of Nebraska Press or your local independent or by using any of the handy links on my website. Use code 6AS26 for 40% off on any UNP book! Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

Inner Moonlight is the monthly poetry reading series at the Wild Detectives in Dallas. Curated by Dallas poet Logen Cure, the in-person show is the second Wednesday of every month in the Wild Detectives backyard. We love our podcast fans, so we release recordings of the live performances every month for y'all! On 5/13/26, we featured poet, essayist, and novelist Kendra Allen!Kendra Allen was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She's the author of the memoir Fruit Punch, the poetry collection The Collection Plate, and the essay collection When You Learn the Alphabet, which won the 2018 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction. She received an M.F.A. from the University of Alabama, and among other things she loves driving, pauses, and hands. Repetition is her favorite literary device. Some of her other works can be found on, or in, The Paris Review, Oxford American, The Rumpus, High Times, and more.⁠www.innermoonlightpoetry.com

Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about  going through almost a decade of conversion therapy, dismantling the dogma of pseudo science with its added layer of spiritual discipline, feeling desperate to change, yearning for a place to belong, keeping faith without losing soul, holding onto journals with the sense of using them someday, the difficulty of having to revisit traumatic experiences, weaving in dark humor, being a present-day witness to the past and honoring the more innocent, naive version of ourselves, getting sober and writing from a place of peace, making discoveries in the memoir-writing process, the importance of platform for nonfiction authors, being present and active on social media before our memoirs  come out, being a queer person of faith, loving the present day person we've become, and his new memoir Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith and Belonging.   Also in this episode: -finding a writing community -the generosity of other writers -having a therapist on speed dial Books mentioned in this episode: -Boy Erased by Garrard Conley -All Down Darkness Wide by Sean Hewitt -Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott -How to Write an AUtobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee -books by David Sedaris -books by Augusten Burroughs   Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez spent almost a decade in gay conversion therapy—all while working behind the scenes at some of the most influential Evangelical Christian megachurches. After embracing his identity as a gay Christian and stepping away from church work, he co-founded Church Clarity, an organization that helps queer people find affirming faith communities. His story and work have been featured by BBC Newshour, TIME, NBC, VICE, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and Religion News Service. Born in the Midwest, he now calls New York City home, where he continues his work as a writer, digital strategist, and advocate for queer people of faith. His first book is Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith and Belonging. Connect with Timothy:  Website: https://www.conversiontherapydropoutbook.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timothy.s.rodriguez Threads: https://www.threads.com/@timothy.s.rodriguez Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@timothy.s.rodriguez Substack: https://timothysrodriguez.substack.com   – 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  

Dr. Craig Yorke joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the toll of centuries of bigotry, being consumed by race, growing up with psychological financial desperation, living other people's lives, rethinking what Black studies are, processing shame, shedding identities assigned to us, the use of memory for liberation, being ruthless in our writing and revision process, the steep climb toward clarifying ourselves, bringing neuroscience to life, inviting people to wake up to how our history has controlled us, delighting in surprise, and his new memoir: STEEP: A Black Neurosurgeon's Journey.   Also in this episode: -growing up with scarcity -the price of success -listening for the music in our writing   Books mentioned in this episode: The Beautiful Brain:The Drawings of Santiago Ramon Y Cajal by Larry W. Swanson On Writing Well by William Zisner Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodran The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin Art is Therapy by Alain De Botton Brown by Kevin Young How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith The poem “Four Quartets” by T.S. Elliot Dr. Craig Yorke was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He received a BA from Harvard College in 1970 and an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1974. His parental directive insisted he avenge centuries of bigotry with a life of infinite success. After a neurosurgical residency at the University of California at San Francisco, he and his wife Mary found their way to an unlikely destination. He practiced in Topeka, Kansas, for 25 years, wrestling with his history and the armored identity it had imposed. He and Mary raised two admirable boys, Zack who lives in Brooklyn and Chris who calls Seattle home. Dr. Yorke brews coffee for two each morning in the colonial home they've occupied for 33 years. He's a credible violinist, having played the Bruch G Minor concerto with the Boston Pops at 17, and hits tennis balls with passion. Steep is his first book.   Connect with Craig: Website: https://www.craigyorke.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570269755209   Purchase book: https://www.amazon.com/Steep-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Craig-Yorke/dp/1953583989/ https://bookshop.org/p/books/steep-a-black-neurosurgeon-s-journey-craig-yorke/c5808fe0489a778c?ean=9781953583987&next=t&aid=107402&listref=our-authors-books – 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

After four years of Let's Talk Memoir, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for being here and share a few exciting updates about what's ahead for the podcast. In this short episode, I talk about some changes coming in Season 8, new ways to connect with the show and memoir community, and a few things I've been quietly working on behind the scenes. Thank you for listening, supporting the show, and being part of this space for writers, readers, and storytellers. I'm so excited for what's next. Ronit's in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story – 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

On the latest and greatest edition of the little program that could, we discuss bodybuilders, Ryan's pipe dream of moving states again, our recent outing to AEW Dynamite, and Erik's rat encounters.And for our science, Ryan ranks things that don't exist anymore, and we watch Booker T call out Hulk Hogan.Hard Mark Merch: https://hard-mark-podcast.creator-spring.com/Official Ryan Murphy Match Ranking: https://hardmarkpodcast.wordpress.com/Hard Mark Linktree: https://linktr.ee/hardmarkpodcast

Monica Macansantos joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about organizing her collection of essays around her father's very sudden and unexpected passing, not being sure she could write again, when common themes begin to emerge, connecting with loved ones through writing, recognizing and exploring complicated relationships with a home town and home country, feeling othered, the literary scene in the Phillipines, how writing takes a level of privilege, modeling literary citizenship, deepening our narrative journeys and allowing ourselves to go places we didn't plan, growing up in a colonized land, leaning into the discomfort of writing, giving shape to grief, taking risks, and her new essay collection Returning to My Father's Kitchen.   Ronit's in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story  https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -gatekeeping in writing -thinking about what home is -when the puzzle pieces come together   Books mentioned in this episode: The Art of Revision by Peter Ho Davies The Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco  Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway The Memory Eaters by Elizabeth  The Second Tree from the Corner by E.B. White cut after 37:40-37:54 start 37:55 begin “I think I connected”   Monica Macansantos is the author of the essay collection, Returning to My Father's Kitchen (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, 2025), and the story collection, Love and Other Rituals (Grattan Street Press, 2022). She was a 2024-25 Shearing Fellow with the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, and a 2025 Marguerite & Lamar Smith Fellow with the Carson McCullers Center in Columbus, Georgia. Her work has recently appeared in Electric Lit, River Styx, Lit Hub, Bennington Review, and Poor Yorick, among others. Her honors include a James A. Michener Fellowship from the University of Texas at Austin, and residencies from Hedgebrook, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Storyknife Writers Retreat, the I-Park Foundation, and Monson Arts.    Connect with Monica: Website: https://monicamacansantos.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madamebutchay/ Bluesky: @missmacansantos.bsky.social   Purchase Book: Purchase Returning to My Father's Kitchen from Northwestern University Press: https://nupress.northwestern.edu/9780810148390/returning-to-my-fathers-kitchen/ Or from Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/returning-to-my-father-s-kitchen-essays-monica-macansantos/8c4605e505fd4de8?ean=9780810148390&next=t&next=t Or from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-My-Fathers-Kitchen-Essays/dp/0810148390/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 – 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  

This episode of Moonbeaming is proudly sponsored by Clear Channels, the Moon Studio's upcoming newsletter and channeling course. Use code POD10 for 10% off through May 10th at midnight. What happens to your creativity when life gets full? In this deeply honest and expansive conversation, Sarah is joined by writer, artist, and creativity coach Catherine LaSota to explore what it actually means to live a creative life… especially when time, energy, and capacity are limited. Together, they dive into creativity as a practice of trust, presence, and self-definition, and unpack the tension between who we think we “should” be as artists and who we actually are in our real lives. On this episode of Moon Beaming, you'll hear: Why creativity is not just output How to stay connected to your creative identity during intense life seasons The role of time, capacity, and emotional energy in creative practice Why “not creating” is sometimes part of the creative cycle How caregiving, parenting, and real life can expand your creativity The connection between creativity, trust, and surrender Why defining yourself as an artist is an internal practice This episode is an invitation to redefine what it means to be creative, to honor the season you're in, and to trust that your creativity is still alive… even when it looks different than you expected. ----- Meet Catharine:  Catherine LaSota is a creative advisor & inspirer who is here to help you build and sustain a creative practice that works for you, taking into account your resources, capacity, deep desires, and unique vision. She parents two young children in Queens, NYC, and in addition to her MFAs in Sculpture and Creative Nonfiction, she has professional training and experience as a coach, singer, French horn player, and advanced SCUBA diver. A former bartender and retail manager, Catherine is also the founder of the LIC Reading Series, the former Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia, and the current Associate Director of Social Practice CUNY. Her writing can be found in Literary Hub, Vice, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Catapult, and elsewhere. She offers 1-on-1 coaching for writers and anyone ready to prioritize their creativity; online workshops; in-person writing parties; and occasional retreats. Catherine loves being in conversation and listening deeply, and you can hear more from her on Feed the Art, her podcast about nourishing your creative practice. website: catherinelasota.com Instagram: @catherinelasota Feed the Art podcast on Apple free resource: Creative Containers interview series ---  Join The Moonbeaming Community: Join the Moon Studio Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themoonstudio Buy the 2026 Many Moons Lunar Planner: https://moon-studio.co/products/many-moons-2026?srsltid=AfmBOopThx1yrmKl0tMjecc_EFeeN5DAiIafqPqvQ4Uke1WEi5droeam Subscribe to our newsletter: https://moon-studio.co/pages/newsletter Find Sarah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gottesss/

Jacque Gorelick joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up missing a mother, surviving a fractured family and worrying you're broken in unfixable ways, how her husband's medical crisis upended her life as a new mother, letting our inner selves be cared for, protecting a space where a mother should be, owning our story, gathering all the pieces for structure, weaving in backstory to strengthen the stakes, including letters and managing time in memoir, telling the truth as we know it,  taking risks, how we're never finished, and her new memoir Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home. Also in this episode: -coping strategies -letting our guard down -being once mothered, motherless, and unmothered Books mentioned in this episode:  Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr Fast Draft Your Memoir by Rachael Herron  Jacque's essays about family, motherhood, estrangement, education, and health have appeared or are forthcoming in The New York Times, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Kenyon Review, Pithead Chapel, X-R-A-Y, Healthy Women, The Washington Post, HuffPost and more.  After spending her fractured childhood in search of home and belonging, Jacque spent her adult life working with children and families. She has a degree in psychology and a graduate degree in education with an emphasis in early childhood development. She has always been fascinated with how family shapes and defines us, and how we ultimately choose to define it for ourselves.  A California native, Jacque has lived all over the West Coast from Santa Barbara to Alaska. Now firmly rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area, she lives beside a creek under redwood trees with her husband, two boys, and a mélange of rescues. To find out more about Jacque and her work visit her website at jacquegorelick.com.   Connect with Jacque: Website: https://www.jacquegorelick.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacque.gorelick/ IG @jacgorelick: https://www.instagram.com/jacgorelick/ Threads @jacgorelick: https://www.threads.com/@jacgorelick Substack: Heartmatters https://jacquegorelickheartmatters.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips Purchase book via Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/map-of-a-heart-a-memoir-of-love-loss-and-finding-the-way-home-jacque-gorelick/9daeff1a91645131?ean=9783988322265&next=t – 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

Jill Christman joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about contextualizing a memoir in a post-Roe world, what it means to make a choice as mothers, ending a pregnancy, knowing you will write about an experience while it is happening, writing about childhood sexual abuse, returning to a manuscript with your skirt on fire, writing to a point of discovery, putting down our self-defense and  having to be fully, fully vulnerable, getting clear on why we're showing up to tell this story now, and her new memoir The Heart Folds Early.   Ronit's in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story     https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -writing in present tense -not casting judgment on others -how an imaginary choice is not a choice   Books mentioned in this episode: Love Works Like This by Lauren Slater The Book of Knowledge and Wonder By Steven Harvey Crossed Over: A Murder, a Memoir by Beverly Lowry In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Maha A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken   Jill Christman's recent articles on writing: 1. “Writing the Tooth—Or, How to Find Big Ideas in Tiny Things.” Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies. https://www.assayjournal.com/jill-christman-writing-the-toothmdashor-how-to-find-big-ideas-in-tiny-things-assay-122.html 2. “Three Takes on a Jump.” https://riverteethjournal.com/river_revisted/river-teeth-classics-three-takes-on-a-jump/ 3. “Tacking: A Sailor's Guide to Writing Against the Wind.” Writer's Digest,https://www.writersdigest.com/tacking-a-sailors-guide-to-writing-against-the-wind   Jill Christman is the author of The Heart Folds Early: A Memoir (released March 2026 from the University of Nebraska Press). Christman's other books include If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays (2023 Foreword INDIES Silver Winner), Darkroom: A Family Exposure (winner of AWP Prize for CNF), and Borrowed Babies: Apprenticing for Motherhood. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies and in magazines such as Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Iron Horse Literary Review, Longreads, and O, The Oprah Magazine. A 2020 NEA Literature Fellow, she teaches at Ball State University and serves as editor of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative and Beautiful Things (a weekly online magazine of micro nonfiction). Visit her at jillchristman.com.   Connect with Jill: https://www.instagram.com/jillchristmanwriter @jillchristman.bsky.social jillchristman.com Order for yourself and all your memoir-loving friends—directly from the University of Nebraska Press or your local independent or by using any of the handy links on my website. Use code 6AS26 for 40% off on any UNP book!   – 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

Miller's Crossing is a lesser loved Coen Brothers but we find a lot to think on as we get deep in on mob movies and the greatness that is Jon Polito. We talk about: Wild At Heart, Gentleman Prefer Blondes, Of The Devil, Netrunner Divorce, Cash Cleaner Simulator, Clerks, Coens Run, The Strap, Air Bud Villains, The Rumpus, Bernie The Little Birthday Boy, Comedy Fat Son, Lio Is So Good At Shooting, Tom Destroys So Many Friendships, Chasing Hats, The Dane Is Cool, John Turturro Is Confusing, Finding A Body, Sam Raimi Suit, Buscemi Is Doomed To Die, What Heart, Hard Men With Sad Eyes, High Hats, Big Hats, Evil Villain Finance,

Mimi Nichter joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about being hijacked on a plane when she was twenty years old in the first incident of international terrorism, how we can be socialized into silence about our stories, processing old trauma on the page, building immediacy in our narratives through contained time frames and present tense, what happens when we “other” people, wanting to get the story right, using humor to mitigate difficult material, overcoming fear of excavating long-buried trauma, arriving on structure, believing we will be able to find space for our books in the world, and her new memoir Hostage: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience. Also in this episode: -putting the reader in our shoes -being able to talk about our books -taking as much time as we need to finish our manuscripts Books mentioned in this episode: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl The Choice by Edith Eager  Seven Drafts by Allison K. Williams Big Magic by Elizabeth GIlbert Mimi Nichter is a cultural and medical anthropologist, public speaker, and a professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is the author or coauthor of four anthropology-related books and the recipient of the Margaret Mead Award and the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award. Her essays have appeared in HuffPost, Newsweek, and Brevity.   Connect with Mimi: Website: https://www.miminichter.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miminichter/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimi-nichter-30673313/ X (Twitter): https://x.com/MimiNichter    – 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

Rachel Tzvia Back joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about living with depression, losing a sister, when a mother is emotionally and psychologically absent, how myths can be cloaks, listening to our language and what it offers, thinking in image, when stories don't match, giving our children the space to tell their version of stories about us, incorporating four recurring elements in a hybrid memoir, the architecture of our books, representing children in our work but not speaking for them, creating a womb for our writing process, leaning into poetry, approaching material methodically, how trauma is handed down generation by generation, the vast divides between us, and her new memoir The Dark-Robed Mother.   Also in this episode: -writing residencies -the Persephone and Demeter myth -not torturing yourself in the writing process   Books mentioned in this episode: -The Dead Mother: The Work of Andre Green edited by Gregoria Kohon -Darkness Visible by William Styron -The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon  -Metamorphoses Narrative poem by Ovid -Letter collections/poetry collections by Emily Dickinson    Rachel Tzvia Back is a poet, translator, professor of literature, and the author of twelve books. Her poetry and translations have received numerous honors, including winner of the TLS–Risa Domb/ Porjes Prize, shortlisted for the National Translation Award in Poetry (ALTA), and finalist for the PEN Translation Award and National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. Her memoir, The Dark-Robed Mother, is being published by Wesleyan University Press.    Purchase book: racheltzviaback.com https://www.weslpress.org/author/rachel-tzvia-back/ – 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

Julie Scolnick joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about falling madly in love with a married Frenchman when she was 20 years old and living in Paris studying music, working our way back from aching first love, searching for answers, cutting everything that doesn't serve the story, finding a universal truth in your memoir, restructuring a manuscript to include letters at the start of each chapter, the decades-long process of getting a book published, maintaining artistic control, writing about music in memoir, deep romance and intense heartbreak, and her memoir Paris Blue: A Memoir of First Love.   Ronit's in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story     https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -searching for an agent -hybrid publishing -believing in your story   Books mentioned in this episode: The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell   Julie Scolnik is a concert flutist and founding artistic director of Mistral Music, a chamber music series that since 1997 has brought her accolades for the high caliber of her artists, her imaginative programming, and the personal rapport she establishes with her audiences. She lives in Boston with her husband, physicist Michael Brower, and their two cats, Daphne and Chloë. They have two adult children, Sophie and Sasha Scolnik-Brower, also musicians. Paris Blue is a story that lingered in her psyche for over forty years, so she is thrilled to finally share it with the world.   Connect with Julie: Website: www.JulieScolnik.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/julie_scolnik Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jscolnik Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julie_scolnik/   Mistral Music:  https://www.facebook.com/MistralChamberMusic https://www.youtube.com/c/MistralChamberMusic/videos Purchase Book via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Blue-Memoir-First-Love/dp/1646634713   – 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

Notes and Links to Daniel Tam-Claiborne's Work     Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial essayist and author of the short story collection What Never Leaves. His writing has appeared in Literary Hub, the Rumpus, SupChina, the Huffington Post, the Shanghai Literary Review, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships and awards from the U.S. Fulbright Program, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, Kundiman, the Jack Straw Writers Program, and the Yiddish Book Center. Tam-Claiborne serves as program director of partnerships and events at Hugo House in Seattle. He holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and is the author of Transplants, a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and longlisted for the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Buy Transplants   Daniel Tam Claiborne's Website   Review and Informative Article for Transplants in the Seattle Times     At about 2:30, Daniel provides background on his reading and language life, including formative works and formative teachers  At about 6:40, Daniel talks about inspiring contemporary writers At about 10:50, Daniel responds to Pete asking about seeds for Transplants; Daniel expands on how he “processes the world through [his] work” and explores ideas of identity and perception At about 16:35, Pete cites the book's epigraphs and ideas of transference and ideas of changing places At about 17:20, the book's exposition is discussed, and Daniel reflects on ideas of the collective vs. individual, especially with regard to Lin At about 20:30, Daniel talks about Liz's frustrations in connecting with others and mindset in moving to her ancestral home of China for teaching At about 24:50, Daniel talks about Lin and how she deals with her burgeoning relationship with Travis and later ideas of shame and agency At about 28:00, Liz and her “existential crisis” are discussed and her altruistic and otherwise actions are examined by Daniel  At about 31:20, The two discuss the real-life parallels involving a scene in the book that shows the back-and-forth between North Korea and China At about 37:00, Pete talks about cultural misunderstandings in the book, and Daniel talks about the dissonance in the Chinese diaspora regarding new waves of Chinese immigrants and assimilation-he emphasizes Liz's brother, Phil, and his views At about 39:45, The two reflect on Liz's budding relationship and growing pains in the beginning days of Covid in Shanghai At about 41:20, Daniel replies to Pete asking about what Lin finds in Gua, her partner in the westward road trip At about 45:10, The two reflect on ideas of “foreigners” and a caring nurse and her significance in the book At about 49:00, Pete talks about feminism and Lin being “in control of her narrative” and ideas of moral clarity At about 49:50, Daniel expands on Stephen, Liz's boyfriend, and earlier iterations  At about 51:40, Daniel responds to Pete wondering about the real-life background for the housing complex and organization for which Lin delivered groceries to elderly and isolated people, many of them former internees from the Japanese/Japanese-American internment camps At about 55:20, The two muse about Liz and her motivations-subconscious or not-in traveling to China At about 56:40, Daniel talks about the book's ending and portions of the book as “surprising” to him At about 59:00, Pete and Daniel reflect on Daniel's writing the book only a few years after the beginning of the Covid pandemic and the balance between urgency and perspective        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 Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to 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. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review.     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 Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode deals with short, powerful poems and prose that pack a punch-take that, alliteration! The episode features meaningful and resonant work from Robert Hershon, Mosab Abu Toha, Ernest Hemingway, Sara Abou Rashed, Khaled Juma, Andrea Cohen, and Marwan Makhoul.    Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.    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 338 with Adam H. Johnson, a media analyst and co-host of the Citations Needed podcast. His book is an incredibly important accounting of the malfeasance, whitewashing, and misdirection of so much of the media that has enabled the tragedies of Gaza.    The episode airs on April 21, Pub Day for How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza.    Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.    You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.

Stephanie Weaver MPH joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about family estrangement, gaslighting, her recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse, chronic illness, not wanting a book to be about revenge, reframing a memoir around a larger cultural moment to resonate with more people, stepping away from our memoir projects to take care of ourselves, avoiding traumatizing the reader, knowing when a structure has clicked in place, discovering the complex heart of your story, the querying process, when you don't have a big platform but have lots of connections, and her new memoir Bitter, Sweet: How to Heal Yourself When Your Family is Broken.   Stephanie Weaver on The Body Myth: Loving Our Bodies When They've Been a Source of Pain https://ronitplank.com/2022/06/14/the-body-myth-loving-our-bodies-when-theyve-been-a-source-of-pain-ft-stephanie-weaver/   Ronit's Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story     https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -Beta readers -removing tags in dialogue -how our brains record memories   Books mentioned in this episode: -Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls -Educated by Tara Westover -The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis -When Longing Becomes Your Lover by Amanda J. McCracken -The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk -Wild by Cheryl Strayed -This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff -Homebaked by Alia Volz -Madman in the Woods by Jamie Gehring   Stephanie Weaver MPH is an experienced curator and storytelling strategist. With a rich career spanning museum storytelling, public health, and speaker coaching, she has worked at a range of iconic institutions – from The San Diego Zoo to The White House. A world traveler who embarked on a solo journey through Southeast Asia at 28, Weaver has curated TEDxSanDiego, coached hundreds of speakers, and authored five books that illuminate the power of personal narrative. A survivor and advocate, she's transformed personal battles with childhood sexual abuse and chronic illness into a mission of helping others heal.    After living in Cleveland, Connecticut, and Chicago, Stephanie has been a happy Southern Californian for thirty years, where she and her husband wait hand and foot on their golden retriever.   Sign up for her free newsletter Fun to Be Around at stephanieweaver.com   Connect with Stephanie Weaver, MPH on: Website: https://stephanieweaver.com Substack https://sweavermph.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sweavermph/ TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@sweavermph Threads https://www.threads.com/@sweavermph   Purchase book:  Bitter, Sweet: How to Heal Yourself When Your Family Is Broken (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Sweet-Yourself-Family-Broken/dp/1960456377/ Bitter, Sweet (Bookshop) https://bookshop.org/p/books/bitter-sweet-how-to-heal-yourself-when-your-family-is-broken-stephanie-weaver/ff5eb4fcdc02b083 Bitter, Sweet (Barnes and Noble) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bitter-sweet-stephanie-weaver/1148895292?ean=9781960456373 Professional beta reads & TED-talk speaker coaching https://experienceology.com/writing-coach/   – 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

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode!In this week's episode author Emily Meg Weinstein joins us to discuss her memoir Turn to Stone. Emily does so much more than just chronicle a significant time in her life or regale the reader with tales of her rock climbing adventures, she examines her own fears and desires, leading to realizations that are simultaneously personal and universal. This is a conversation of and for the heart. We hope you enjoy it.More about Emily Meg Weinstein:Emily Meg Weinstein is the author of Turn to Stone, her début memoir. An essayist, educator, and activist, Weinstein is a founding member of Climbers for Palestine California, the sole proprietor of her own tutoring company, and holds a Bachelorette of Arts with honors from Brown University in the self-created major "Human Freedom and Education." Her work has been featured in Orion, LitHub, Electric Lit, Salon, McSweeney's, The Rumpus, Longreads, Climbing, Rock and Ice, and other publications, and her essay, “Mating Habits of the Asterisk,” received a notable mention in Best American Essays 2015. Born in New York and raised in Queens and Long Island, Emily lives, writes, and teaches on a houseboat in the San Francisco Bay, roams in her minivan, and roots for the New York Mets.Where to find Emily Meg Weinstein:Website: emilymegweinstein.com Instagram: @emilymweinsteinFacebook: @emilyweinsteinHer book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Turn-to-Stone/Emily-Meg-Weinstein/9781668047859 Support the showBe part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at madnesscafepodcast@gmail.com.Share the episode with a friend and have your own conversation. And don't forget to rate and review the show wherever you listen!Thanks!

Notes and Links to Rachel Khong's Work     Rachel Khong is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her debut novel, Goodbye, Vitamin, won the 2017 California Book Award for First Fiction, and was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for First Fiction. From 2011 to 2016, she was the managing editor then executive editor of Lucky Peach magazine. With Lucky Peach, she also edited a cookbook about eggs, called All About Eggs. In 2018, she founded The Ruby, a work and event space for women and nonbinary writers and artists in San Francisco's Mission district; she retired at the end of 2021. Her second novel, Real Americans, was published by Knopf in April 2024, and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Her story collection, My Dear You, is out now from Knopf. She writes the monthly newsletter, Short Story Short. Along with her friends Meng Jin, Susanna Kwan, and Shruti Swamy, she teaches writing workshops and retreats. Find them at The Dream Side.com Buy My Dear You   Rachel Khong's Website   Rachel Khong's Wikipedia Page     At about 2:10, Rachel talks about her writing experience and philosophy involving eggs At about 4:30, Rachel responds to Pete's questions about her early language and literature background  At about 7:25, Pete and Rachel geek out about The Best American Short Stories anthologies At about 10:30, Rachel highlights wonderful writing mentors and passionate readers  At about 12:00, Rachel describes her college “independent study” that exposed her to so much great writing, and Pete and Rachel cite Aimee Bender's greatness At about 15:45, Pete recounts his experience reading The Real Americans At about 16:40, Pete lays out the story collection's first resonant line and asks Rachel about the inspiration for the first story At about 20:00, Rachel responds to Pete asking about the balance between the general and the specific, especially with regard to pathos At about 22:50, Rachel reflects on a real-life parallel to a story in the collection, and an abstract/concrete connection to others in the world At about 24:05, Cats and taking care of (literally!) their owners  At about 25:20, Pete and Rachel discuss racial dynamics and diversity with regard to the story “The Freshening” At about 27:25, Rachel reflects on the ways that Asians and Asian-Americans have reacted to racism in the past  At about 30:10, Rachel discusses ideas of a “color-blind” society  At about 31:20, Pete cites resonant and outsized lines in the collection At about 32:05, Rachel reacts to Pete's musing about her as the writer sitting in judgment or not of her characters, especially Greg from “The Family O” At about 38:45, the two discuss lost loves, missed connections, and senses of comfortability and routines At about 41:00, Rachel talks about how the beginning of the pandemic connects to looking for meanings of suffering and pain and led to some of her story collections At about 43:00, The two discuss themes of connection and alienation and loneliness in various stories At about 46:20, Pete reflects on the traumas carried in the collection, and Rachel's deft touch with her writing about miscarriage and other heavy topics  At about 48:10, Pete and Rachel discuss a story dealing with cultural change in Malaysia and shout out connections to the “beautiful book”-Rachel Heng's The Great Reclamation At about 51:20, Aihwa Ong's article on possession by ghosts and worker protests are cited as seeds for Rachel's work At about 52:20,  At about 53:20, The two discuss the “beautiful absurdity” of Rachel's work and Pete cites the profundity of friendship At about 54:30, Rachel gives out tour info and book purchasing info      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 Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to 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. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review.       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 Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!        This month's Patreon bonus episode deals with short, powerful poems and prose that pack a punch-take that, alliteration! The episode features meaningful and resonant work from Robert Hershon, Mosab Abu Toha, Ernest Hemingway, Sara Abou Rashed, Khaled Juma, Andrea Cohen, and Marwan Makhoul.        Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. You can also buy single episodes for $3.         This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's 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 337 with Daniel Tam-Claiborne, a multiracial writer, multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. His debut novel, Transplants (Simon & Schuster, 2025), was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and longlisted for the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.       He is the author of the short story collection What Never Leaves, and his writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, HuffPost, Catapult, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Daniel is an award-winning producer for two public media initiatives at WNET, America's flagship PBS station, including the digital documentary series be/longing: Asian Americans Now, Between Black & White: Asian Americans Speak Out, Voices Rising: What's Next for Asian Americans in the Arts, and Climate Artists.         Daniel is an outspoken advocate for Asian American issues and increased global understanding through education, cultural exchange, storytelling, and effective philanthropy. He serves as Deputy Director at The Serica Initiative, a nonprofit organization that amplifies the impact of the Asian diaspora in America.       The episode airs on April 14.       Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.       You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.

Nikkya Hargrove joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the effects of incarceration on the family system, growing up lost and unsure who her family was, accepting the responsibility of becoming her brother's mother, the spark that got her writing her memoir, gaining the lens to understand our story is worthy of being told, acknowledging the divisions within ourselves, incorporating backstory without slowing the narrative down, holding space for others in our work, allowing ourselves to use the words we couldn't use growing up, normalizing sharing feelings, the gift of found family, the complicated truths within us, and her memoir MAMA: A Queer Black Woman's Story of Family Lost and Found. Ronit's in-person memoir workshop this fall at the Larry McMurtry Literary Center https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story Also in this episode: -starting with the basics -getting to the truth -finding freedom in our story   Books mentioned in this episode: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls Just Mercy by Brian Stevenson Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford  The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele   Nikkya Hargrove is a graduate of Bard College and currently serves as a member of the school's Alumni/ae Board of Governors. A LAMBDA Literary Nonfiction Fellow, she has written about adoption, marriage, motherhood, and the prison system for The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New York Times, Scary Mommy, Psychology Today, Rumpus, and more. Until recently, she has spent her professional career working for social impact organizations. She is now the proud owner of her very own, independent bookstore called Obodo Serendipity Books. She lives in Connecticut with her wife and three children.   Connect with Nikkya: Website: https://www.nikkyamhargrove.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkyahargrove/ Book purchase via Hachettebookgroup: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/nikkya-hargrove/mama/9781643751580/   – 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

Amanda McCracken joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about what happens when you're hopelessly, stubbornly in love with longing, fear of intimacy, the idea of falling in love vs. being in love, person addiction, choices around sex, longing for avoidant men, recognizing the illusion of control, applying to speak at Tedx talks, going to social media to find publishers, becoming an expert on a topic, learning how to trust yourself, self-compassion, becoming more real, and her new book When Longing Becomes Your Lover: Breaking from Infatuation, Rejection, and Perfectionism to Find Authentic Love: A True Story of Overcoming Limerence. Also in this episode: -wanting to be seen -being a guest on a national talk show -publishing articles on virginity and celibacy   Books mentioned in this episode: Drinking: A Love Story by Carolyn Knapp Appetites by Carolyn Knapp Unrequited by Lisa A. Phillips Love and Limerence by Dorothy Tennov The Velveteen Rabbit by MArgery Williams   Amanda McCracken is a journalist passionate about experiences that highlight the intersection of wellness, travel, and relationships. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Vogue, National Geographic, Elle, NPR, Outside, ESPN, SELF, Runner's World, and many others. She published her first article about longing in 2013, which led to additional articles featuring personal anecdotes and deep research and interviews with the BBC and Katie Couric. She is now considered a “limerence expert” and intimacy advocate. Her 2023 TED Talk, “How Longing Keeps Us From Healthy Relationships,” highlights how longing can become selfsabotaging and shares how to change our patterns of longing. McCracken is also a part-time university instructor, massage therapist, triathlon coach, and competitive athlete. Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, McCracken put down roots with her husband and daughter in Boulder, Colorado, after a trip around the world aboard the Peace Boat.    Connect with Amanda: Website: www.amandajmccracken.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandajmccracken Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaJanaeMcCracken/ Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@thelonginglab Get the book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/amanda-mccracken/when-longing-becomes-your-lover/9781546008538/   – 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

Hello and welcome to The Relatable Voice Podcast! Today, we're driving to Ft. Myers, Florida, to speak with Amy Hawk.  Amy is a nurse practitioner working full-time in the emergency room, a wellness provider, and the author of The Tales of Rumpus—a magical and empowering children's series inspired by imagination, family, and meaningful life lessons. Find out more at: amy-hawk.com

Wendy C. Ortiz joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the English teacher who preyed on her when she was thirteen, writing about the person we are now when writing about our past, placing the reader in the physical and psychological experience of character-you, how important the opening pages are in setting the stakes, feeling fear and shame, taking care of yourself when writing about traumatic events, reminding ourselves who we were before abuse, growing up feeling comfortable keeping secrets, art as means to recovery, when your press goes out of business, when a predator asks you not to write about them but you do, and her new memoir Excavation.   Also in this episode: -interstitial chapters -university presses vs. small presses -taking care of ourselves when writing about trauma   Books mentioned in this episode: -Firebird by Mark Doty -Truth Serum by Bernard Cooper -The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch   Wendy C. Ortiz is the author of Excavation: A Memoir, Hollywood Notebook: Essays, and Bruja: A Dreamoir, all of which were reissued in Spring 2025 by Northwestern University Press. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Rumpus, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her writing has appeared in BOMB Magazine online, The New York Times' “Modern Love,” Joyland, FENCE, DIAGRAM, and Pleiades, among others. She was awarded a Tin House residency to continue working on her next book. Her current project is Mommy's El Camino, a weekly online newsletter. Wendy is a psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles.    Connect with Wendy: Website: https://www.wendyortiz.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wendyortiz.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendy.c.ortiz Book purchase via Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/excavation-a-memoir-wendy-c-ortiz/21982167?ean=9780810148604&next=t   – 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

My guest this week is Kate Broad, author of “Greenwich,” a coming of age story set against a backdrop of wealth and privilege that explores how mistakes can have life-altering consequences and asks who is the first to be blamed and who gets to be believed and forgiven.“Greenwich” was named a People Magazine best new book, an Amazon editor's pick and a Publishers Weekly Buzz Book for summer 2025. It would be a great choice for your book club, both because it's gripping and suspenseful and it explores a lot of gray areas around complicity and responsibility that will make for a juicy conversation.Kate is a Bronx Council of the Arts award winner for fiction and her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, No Tokens, The Brooklyn Review and elsewhere.We covered:- How she tried, but ultimately decided to stop putting energy into building a career that was writing-adjacent- How telling herself she doesn't have to pursue writing helps motivate her to keep going- Cobbling together a liveable income from various writing pursuits- Using her advances to buy more time away from freelancing- The life choices she's made to create more space for writing- Woo! Really insightful talk about money's impact on creative integrity- Understanding yourself well enough to create the conditions that support your creative work- Taking care of your body and your mind as a creative- The steps she takes at the end of the day to make it easier for her to start writing the next dayConnect with Kate at katebroad.substack.com and sign up for her Ask an Author newsletter.For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.Thank you for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have returned and we've got a humdinger of a program! Featured on this episode, Ryan picks a rich dude to fight, Ryan is going on an Alabama golf trip, Erik provides an important update on Izzy's Pizza, and giant toilet paper rolls have been discovered. And for our science, Ryan ranks lil' crimes, and we watch one of the most infamous wrestling segments of all time as we take a look over the Katie Vick storyline.Hard Mark Merch: https://hard-mark-podcast.creator-spring.com/Official Ryan Murphy Match Ranking: https://hardmarkpodcast.wordpress.com/Hard Mark Linktree: https://linktr.ee/hardmarkpodcast

Mallary Tenore Tarpley joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the middle place between acute sickness and full recovery, living with the imprints of a disorder, resisting thinking in black and white, the memoir plus genre, making memoir reportage and research seamless, showing our imperfections on the page, exploring hard truths along with hope, leaning into the most authentic version of our story, calibrating how much to reveal and how much to conceal, not ever arriving at a place of full recovery, holding onto hope for our book project, upholding values of curiosity and authenticity and truthtelling, when the middle place is the story, restorative narratives, and her new memoir SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery.   Also in this episode:  -writing a book of service -leaving room for readers -applying for a book-writing grant   Books mentioned in this episode: The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O'Rourke Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad Illness As Metaphor by Susan Sontag  Lost and Found by Katherine Schultz   Mallary Tenore Tarpley is an assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches journalism classes in the Moody College of Communication and writing classes at the McCombs School of Business.   Her debut nonfiction book, SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery, which was published by Simon & Schuster's Simon Element explores the under-discussed complexities of eating disorders and recovery from them. The book is equal parts memoir and journalism, and it weaves together Mallary's own narrative with perspectives from clinicians, researchers, and others with lived experience. In 2023, Mallary received a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support the science-related reporting in the book, specifically around the neurobiological and genetic aspects of eating disorders. SLIP received the Association of American Publishers' 2026 Excellence Award for Biological & Life Sciences. It also won first place in the Clinical Medicine category and was a finalist in the Outstanding Work by a Trade Publisher category.   Mallary's articles and personal essays about eating disorders have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, TIME Magazine, and Teen Vogue, among other publications. She maintains a weekly newsletter, Write at the Edge, featuring writing tips and best practices.   Connect with Mallary: Website: mallarytenoretarpley.com Weekly newsletter: mallary.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mallarytenoretarpley/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallary-tenore-tarpley-6719484/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/mallary.tenore Get the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Slip/Mallary-Tenore-Tarpley/9781668035016   – 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

Karen Palmer joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about changing her identity to escape a dangerous ex-husband, being stalked, the consequences of deciding to disappear, coming to grips with the experience of domestic abuse, mistaking grief for maturity, telling a story as truthfully as possible, relinquishing a child, the long-term effect of PTSD, not ever completely knowing ourselves or others, deep truth vs. inconsequential truth, writing about ourself like we are a character, projecting a persona that isn't real, understanding the end of the story late in the writing, moving around in time without losing the reader, believing in a story and the ability to tell it, and her new memoir She's Under Here: a Love Story, a Horror Story, a Reckoning.   Also in this episode: -keeping the faith -trying a story out as fiction first -coming of age with many obstacles   Books mentioned in this episode: -In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado -Bluets by Maggie Nelson  -Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel    Karen Palmer's memoir She's Under Here grew out of her award-winning essay The Reader Is the Protagonist, first published in VQR and selected by Leslie Jamison for inclusion in Best American Essays 2017. She has received a Pushcart Prize and grants from the NEA and the Colorado Council on the Arts, and is the author of the novels All Saints and Border Dogs. Other work has appeared in the Kenyon Review, Arts & Letters, The Rumpus, and Kalliope. She teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, CO, and lives with her husband in California.    Connect with Karen: Website: www.karenpalmer.com Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/karenpalmer.bsky.social Instagram: instagram.com/karenpalmer1989/ Facebook: facebook.com/palmer.karen She's Under Here can be purchased at:   AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Shes-Under-Here-Karen-Palmer/dp/1643757547?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.V14dH3NYK1_JGqY01snjfw.dGdXTKkQ0h0_uH68hQXjNRQ82iK7rF80ygG6EAeafQ8&qid=1759333809&sr=8-1' BOOKSHOP.ORG: https://bookshop.org/p/books/she-s-under-here-a-memoir-karen-palmer/d5c065268851768c?ean=9781643757544&next=t For a signed copy from Diesel Bookstore: https://dieselbookstore.com/book/9781643757544s Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shes-under-here-karen-palmer/1147279207?ean=9781643757544   – 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

Dorothy Roberts joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about her father's interviews beginning in the 1930s with over 500 back-white couples who crossed the color line in Chicago,  moving to memoir to explore more personal experiences and feelings, growing up in a mixed race family, shifting the lens onto herself, thinking about identity, finding answers via the writing process, staying motivated and organized while working with heaps of material, the mystery in memoir, bringing the reader into the discovery process, the adventure of not knowing, looking for evidence people can love across racial boundaries, and her new book The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race and Family.   Info/Registration for Ronit's 10-Week Memoir Class Memoir Writing:Finding Your Story https://www.pce.uw.edu/courses/memoir-writing-finding-your-story   Also in this episode: -taking breaks -working with source material -the possibility of racial harmony in America   Books mentioned in this episode: -The Color of Water by James McBride -South to America by Imani Perry -The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson -The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom   Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society. The author of five books, including Killing the Black Body, a MacArthur Fellow, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   Connect with Dorothy: Website: https://www.dorothyeroberts.com/ Get the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mixed-Marriage-Project/Dorothy-Roberts/9781668068380   – 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

Rebecca N. Thompson, MD joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about life-threatening pregnancy losses and  weaving her own story of navigating a challenging path to parenting with the stories of others, her decade-long collaboration with a remarkable group of women, how healing others helps us heal, imperfect love, not feeling heard, advocating for our own care, humanism in medicine, the cumulative impact of small actions, accepting help to get better, transcribing and processing interviews and forming a narrative, processing as we craft, making stories accessible to a wide audience, the moments that change everything when we least expect it, and her new memoir HELD TOGETHER: A SHARED MEMOIR OF MOTHERHOOD, MEDICINE, AND IMPERFECT LOVE.   Info/Registration for Ronit's 10-Week Memoir Class Memoir Writing: Finding Your Story https://www.pce.uw.edu/courses/memoir-writing-finding-your-story   Also in this episode: -accepting help to get better -portraying others in a positive light -Getting consent from book contributors   Books mentioned in this episode: How to Tell a Story from The Moth  Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano   Rebecca N. Thompson, MD, is a family medicine and public health physician from Portland, Oregon, who specializes in women's and children's health—and the author of HELD TOGETHER: A SHARED MEMOIR OF MOTHERHOOD, MEDICINE, AND IMPERFECT LOVE, published with HarperCollins in Spring 2025. In this innovative book, Dr. Thompson intertwines her personal story of life-threatening pregnancy complications with the stories of twenty-one of her patients, friends, and medical colleagues.   Through profoundly honest first-person narratives created primarily from spoken interviews, Held Together offers a space for connection, bringing comfort and solidarity to anyone touched by challenges in building or sustaining families. At its heart, this collaborative project celebrates the extraordinary moments in the lives of ordinary women, as they navigate the complexities of motherhood, family dynamics, and health and healing across generations.   Connect with Rebecca: www.rebeccanthompson.com – 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

This week's episode touches upon so many interesting topics for memoirists—from catalyst moments that create the foundational stories of our memoirs; to the ways we can prism experience through “before” and “after”; to the journey of titling and subtitling; to the wild and unpredictable individual journeys that lead to published books. Author Karen Palmer is an insightful guest whose memoir and journey to publication will inspire and propel you along, and remind you to stay the course. Your story matters! Karen Palmer's memoir She's Under Here grew out of her award-winning essay The Reader Is the Protagonist, first published in VQR and selected by Leslie Jamison for inclusion in Best American Essays 2017. She has received a Pushcart Prize and grants from the NEA and the Colorado Council on the Arts, and is the author of the novels All Saints and Border Dogs. Other work has appeared in the Kenyon Review, Arts & Letters, The Rumpus, and Kalliope. She teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, and lives with her husband in California. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.