Podcasts about Rumpus

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. DJ Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-la - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, DJ Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

Alden Jones explores tips for writing memoirs and discusses her work in fiction.  She is the author of The Wanting Was a Wilderness, Unaccompanied Minors, and The Blind Masseuse. Her books have won awards including the New American Fiction Prize and the Lascaux Book Prize and been finalists for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and two Lambda Literary Awards. Short works of fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Best American Travel Writing, The Cut, the Boston Globe, Agni, Prairie Schooner, the Iowa Review, Post Road, and The Rumpus. Alden holds degrees in literature and creative writing from Brown University, New York University, and Bennington College. She is Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College. Her latest work is Edge of the World: An Anthology of Queer Travel WritingLearn more at alden-jones.com Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table:On Twitter/X: @writingtablepcEverywhere else: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: writingtablepodcast@gmail.com.

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. DJ Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-la - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, DJ Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

Dr. Stacey Hettes joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about therapeutic writing and how she crafted a memoir about childhood sexual abuse without revictimizing herself, metabolizing childhood trauma, inviting readers into our physiological response, the role of our limbic systems, deciding whether to share specifics about abuse in our manuscripts, italicizing difficult material for readers so they can decide, approaching a story of child sexual abuse in a protective way, putting therapy into our memoirs, demonstrating our character's progress in our narrative, remembering we can write beautifully about hard things, and her new memoir Dispatches from the Couch.   Also in this episode: -sharing a memoir with family -the amygdala and child trauma victims -deciding whether to share specifics about abuse   Books mentioned in this episode: -Bodywork by Melissa Febos -Wintering by Catherine May -Writing a Woman's Life by Caroline G. Heilbrun -Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor   Professor Stacey Hettes teaches biology and neuroscience to undergraduates eager to enter the worlds of science and medicine at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside, and is the youngest winner to date of the Milliken Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Science. Her classes are difficult because life is difficult. They are also full of wonder, joy, and triumph because, like her students, she is a hard-working seeker. She relishes in shared struggle and shared discovery, even when the topic is long-buried child sexual abuse. Reemerging from the shadows of her past was only possible once she resolved to carry the story found in her Debut memoir, Dispatches from the Couch, into the light. Connect with Stacey: Website: https://www.staceyhettes.com/ Facebook: Stacey Hettes, https://www.facebook.com/stacey.hettes Instagram: @staceyhetteswrites, https://www.instagram.com/staceyhetteswrites/ If you'd like to know more about Wofford College: https://www.wofford.edu/ Books may be purchased from all major outlets   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Kurt Baumeister's writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild. Twilight of the Gods is his second novel.

Deb Miller joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about how her memoir began as a family project, being surprised to have become an author, discovering and latching onto a framework, using an “e” structure, what we recognize during the process of writing, focusing on our behavior and patterns, leaning into generational shifts, the women's movement and breaking society's norms, connecting with readers on a personal level, innovative ways to market and launch a book, promoting a message not ourselves, becoming the hero of our own story, and her new memoir Forget the Fairy Tale & Find Your Happiness.   Also in this episode:  -finding a marketing hook -creating new relationships and working them -living your own fairy tale   Books mentioned in this episode: -Wild by Cheryl Strayed -High Hopes: A  Memoir by Anne Abel   Deb Miller is the author of Forget the Fairy Tale & Find Your Happiness, a memoir that explores her personal journey toward self-reliance and strength, using the evolution of Disney princesses as a metaphor for her own transformation. A passionate advocate for personal empowerment, Deb's writing encourages readers to question societal expectations and discover their own path to happiness.Having visited nearly 50 countries as a corporate executive, she is now on a mission to visit all of our national parks. A part-time marketing professor, Dr. Miller lives in Redmond, Washington, and can be found outside landscaping, walking her energetic Auggie, or hanging out with her three kids and grandchildren. Degrees: BS Purdue University, MBA University of Dayton, DBA City University of Seattle. Also a CPA. She is former VP of marketing and communication for several Fortune 500 companies.    Connect with Deb: Website: https://forgetthefairytale.net/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-deb-miller-acc/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forget_the_fairy_tale/ Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Forget-Fairytale-Find-Your-Happiness/dp/1647429226/ Simon and Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Forget-the-Fairy-Tale-and-Find-Your-Happiness/Deb-Miller/9781647429225   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. DJ Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-la - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, DJ Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. DJ Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-la - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, DJ Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. Dj Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-La - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-Ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, Dj Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

Kate Gies joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the lasting effects of trauma on the body and mind, taking care of ourselves while writing by remembering our purpose, allowing early drafts to be angry and raw and finding meaning later, body shame and body acceptance, coming of age later in life, weaving together a medical narrative, protecting ourselves from reinjury by focusing on the larger message, writing where the energy is, finding boundaries, practicing self-compassion, and her memoir It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished: A Memoir of My Body.   Also in this episode: -writing where the energy is -giving yourself time - writing in vignettes   Books mentioned in this episode: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealey The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso Bluets by Maggie Nelson In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado The Sucide Index by Joan Wickersham   Kate Gies is a writer and educator living in Toronto. She teaches creative nonfiction and expressive arts at George Brown College. Her fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have been published in The Malahat Review, The Humber Literary Review, Hobart, the Best Canadian Essays 2024 Anthology, and other places.She is the author of It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished: A Memoir of My Body, which details her childhood medical experiences related to a missing ear. It was published by Simon & Schuster in February of 2025.   Connect with Kate: Website: kategies.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katygies Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kategies.bsky.social Get the Book: US: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/It-Must-Be-Beautiful-to-Be-Finished/Kate-Gies/9781668051054 Get the Book: Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Must-Be-Beautiful-Finished-Memoir/dp/1668051052 – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. Dj Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-La - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-Ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, Dj Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

01. Shakedown, Anyma, Layton Giordani - At Night 02. Dj Zinc, Ms Dynamite - Wile Out 24 03. Dober - Believe 04. Skytech - Sinner 05. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 06. Chapter & Verse - 4 Minutes 07. Low Steppa - Sin Pero 08. Cassimm, Pietro, Mc Panda - Vem Pra Rave 09. Chester Young, Setou, Senyo, Lydia Lyon - Hold Me Back 10. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 11. Mr. Sid, Van Snyder - In Love 12. Arkins, Castle J, Rain - Feelin The Vibe 13. Cosmic Gate, Ginchy - Battalion 14. Matroda - About To Lose It 15. Nicole Moudaber, Castion - Get Back 16. Curbi, Eleganto, Janet Livv - Like That 17. Mike Posner, Steve Aoki - I Took a Pill in Ibiza 18. Basotdel - Lose My Mind 19. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 20. Roland Clark, Mark Knight, James Hurr - Get Deep 21. Arty, Nu-La - Flames 22. Ownboss, Emad - Deep Cut 23. Hreez - Why We Dance 24. Leo Oliver, Dan-Ros - What You Can Do 25. Wh0 - Escalator 26. Kream - Manta 27. Alok - Don't Mess With The Fire 28. Zootah, Rave Radio - Take Over 29. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 30. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 31. Kvsh, Dvbbs - No No No 32. Innellea, Script - Trust 33. Ounah - Right Now 34. Prospa, Josh Baker, Rahh - You Don't Own Me 35. Tiesto, Rafael Cerato - Cool 'N Calm 36. Fedde Le Grand, Dj Tora - Here Comes The Bass 37. Edx - Desire 38. Don Diablo - Beast Mode (Knock You Out)

Kurt Baumeister's writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild. Twilight of the Gods is his second novel.

Episode 560 - Barret Baumgart - Yuck - turning your Joshua Tree vacation into a terrifying revelationBarret Baumgart is an essayist, screenwriter, and the author of the nonfiction books China Lake and YUCK. His essays have appeared in The Paris Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, The Rumpus, Vice, LitHub, The Seneca Review, and The Literary Review, among others. He lives in Los Angeles.Book: Yuck: The Birth & Death of the Weird & Wondrous Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifoliaAre you headed to Joshua Tree this summer? Get ready to hate your life. It's not the heat that will wilt your spirit, nor the choke of traffic waiting to trample the park, but the enduring grotesquerie of its cherished namesake, the Joshua Tree."One can scarcely find a term of ugliness that is not apt for this plant... A landscape filled with Joshua Trees has a nightmare effect even in broad daylight: at the witching hour it can be almost infernal." -Joseph Smeaton Chase, 1919Similarly, few terms exist that do not fit Barret Baumgart's appalling YUCK. Part prose poem, pamphlet, collage, history, essay, memoir, and fiction, YUCK is a grotesque malformation beset with uncanny connections, jarring juxtaposition, and a buried true history that will have you asking yourself the big questions, particularly... Why am I here?Who knows, but here you are... in the weird and wondrous world of YUCK, a brief and searing ode to the world's hottest desert, the Mojave, its divine and dying mascot, Yucca brevifolia, and the magical land that killed it all, Los Angeles.From the publisher:YUCK presents an unsettling new history of one of the most loathed and beloved objects on the planet, the Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia. It primarily focuses on the discovery, naming, and attempted eradication of the Joshua Tree beginning in the late 1870s in Southern California. The Joshua Tree was universally reviled as the most grotesque object on earth following its discovery by white Europeans in the 1840s. Numerous schemes arose to extirpate it from the planet, the most promising among them an attempt to turn the tree into paper, "California Cactus Paper" [YUCK is, of course, printed on faux CA Cactus Paper]. The book excavates this unknown, buried history against the ironic backdrop of the Joshua Tree today becoming the ultra-hip signifier of some kind of cultural authenticity, and its national park the most photographed and fastest growing in the nation #JoshuaTree. This current popularity boom, in a further irony, is occurring just as scientists warn that the tree will likely vanish due to climate change by the end of the century.https://www.barretbaumgart.com/Support the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca

Jennifer Pastiloff joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about getting out of our own way, practicing curiosity, feeling like we have a right to tell our stories and be creative, finding a way into our work, the yes and, tapping into other art forms, not throwing people under the bus, harnessing the mental space to write, accepting change as a necessary part of living, when “fine” is not fine, putting ourselves out there, sharing deeply, refusing to hide in shame, leaving her marriage, and her new book Proof of Life. Also in this episode:  -genre schmenre -getting past the inner a*shole -when change feels like it will equal death Books mentioned in this episode: The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch Reading the Waves by  Lidia Yuknavitch From Under the Truck: A Memoir by Josh Brolin Everyone at This Party Has Two Names by Brad Aaron Modlin Stolen focus by Johann Hari Fired Up by Anna Durand The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin   Jennifer Pastiloff trots the globe as a public speaker and to host her retreats to Italy, as well as her one-of-a-kind workshops, which she has taught to thousands of people all over the world. The author of the popular Substack, also called Proof of Life, she teaches writing and creativity classes called Allow, and workshops called Shame Loss, when she isn't painting and selling her art. She has been featured on Good Morning America, and Katie Couric, and in New York magazine, People, Shape, Health magazine, and other media outlets for her authenticity and unique voice. She is deaf, reads lips, and mishears almost everything, but what she hears is usually funnier (at least she thinks so). The author of the national bestseller On Being Human, Pastiloff lives in Southern California with her son, Charlie Mel. Connect with Jen: Website: JenniferPastiloff.com Substack: https://proofoflifewithjen.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenpastiloff – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Niko Stratis joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about entertaining the queerest part of her soul, working on a book almost by accident, building a manuscript backwards from a title, arriving at a structure early into the process, making peace with the past, being in a safe place to write, processing adolescence, the performance of masculinity, giving humanity to even the difficult people, making a writing habit to hit deadlines, working with a small academic press, her time as a music and culture columnist for Catapult, and her new memoir​​ The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman.   Also in this episode:  -writing slowly -talking to parents about our memoir -working with a small academic press   Books mentioned in this episode: -Night Moves by Jessica Hopper -Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote -Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib -Nevada by Imogen Binnie -Tacky: Love Letters ot the Worst Culture We Have to Offer by Rax by King   Niko Stratis is an award-winning writer from Toronto by way of the Yukon, where she spent years working as a journeyman glazier before coming out as trans in her thirties and being forced to abandon her previous line of work. Her writing has appeared in publications like Catapult, Spin, Paste and more. She's a Cancer, and a former smoker.   Connect with Niko: Website: https://www.nikostratis.com/ Anxiety Shark Newsletter: https://www.anxietyshark.ca/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikostratis.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikostratis/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/nikostratis Link to book: https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477331484/   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Host Jason Blitman sits down with author Joe Westmoreland to discuss the newly republished edition of his 2001 novel, Tramps Like Us. They explore the book's evolution from memoir to fiction, delve into the “Pink Bubble” technique, and revisit untold stories from Joe's hitchhiking days that didn't make it into the final draft. They also reflect on how everything seems to be constantly changing—yet somehow coming full circle. Later, Jason is joined by Guest Gay Reader Rob Franklin, who shares what he's been reading and shares about his new book, Great Black Hope.Joe Westmoreland is the author of the novel Tramps Like Us, originally published in 2001. His writing has appeared in several anthologies, zines, and catalogues for art exhibitions. He lives with his partner, the artist Charles Atlas, in New York City.Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer Award, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Great Black Hope is his first novel. BOOK CLUB!Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE for only $1July Book: Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan SUBSTACK!https://gaysreading.substack.com/ MERCH!http://gaysreading.printful.me PARTNERSHIP!Use code READING to get 15% off your madeleine order! https://cornbread26.com/ WATCH!https://youtube.com/@gaysreading FOLLOW!Instagram: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanBluesky: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanCONTACT!hello@gaysreading.com

On the latest (and greatest?) episode of Rumpus Time, we discuss Ryan's most recent injury, we have a new listener to the program, Erik took the RAADS-R test, and Ryan ranks the greatest board games of all time!For this week's "Ask the Talent", Ryan watches as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin attempts a home invasion on Brian Pillman, but Pillman's got a gun! 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

As Amy Poeppel publishes her fifth novel, she reflects on lessons learned and discusses the challenges she faced while writing a novel simultaneously set in Berlin and Dallas. Amy Poeppel grew up in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from Wellesley College and worked as an actress in the Boston area, appearing in a corporate industrial for Polaroid, a commercial for Brooks Pharmacy, and a truly terrible episode of America's Most Wanted, along with other TV spots and several plays. While in Boston, she also got her M.A. in Teaching from Simmons College. She is married to David Poeppel, a neuroscientist at NYU and a Max Planck director in Frankfurt. For the past thirty years, they have lived in many cities, including San Francisco, Berlin, and New York, and had three sons along the way. Amy taught high school English in the Washington, DC suburbs, and after moving to New York, she worked as an assistant director of admissions at an independent school where she had the fulfilling experience of meeting and getting to know hundreds of applicant families. She attended sessions at the Actors Studio and wrote the theatrical version of Small Admissions, which was performed there as a staged reading in 2011. Amy's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Rumpus, LitHub, Working Mother, Points In Case, and The Belladonna. Learn more at AmyPoeppel.comSpecial thanks to Net Galley for preview copies. Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table:On Twitter/X: @writingtablepcEverywhere else: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: writingtablepodcast@gmail.com.

Erica Stern joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about self-interrogation and taking risks to tell the story we need to, exploring the liminality of a lived experience through the speculative, hybrid memoir and leaning into history and research to illuminate and deepen understanding, the unexpected complications she experienced in childbirth, the historical misogyny in U.S. medical system, the male takeover of birth, how trauma can stunt empathy, trusting the work will go where it needs to go, giving our projects time and space to grow, when publishers and editors are not quite sure what to make of your book, exercising control over the uncontrollable, the long road to publishing, capturing the timelessness of an experience, and her new book Frontier: A Memoir and a Ghost Story.    Also in this episode:  -discovering material through writing -meditations on the history of childbirth -when an editor encourages you to make your book even more like itself   Books mentioned in this episode:   -The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham -An Encyclopedia of Bending Time by Kristen Keane -My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shaplans -A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk   Erica Stern's work has been published in The Iowa Review, Mississippi Review, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, the Martha's Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Erica received her undergraduate degree in English from Yale and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A native of New Orleans, she now lives with her family in Evanston, Illinois.   Connect with Erica: Website: erica-stern.com Instagram: @ericasternwriter Substack: @ericastern Bluesky: @ericarstern.bsky.social Get the book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/frontier-a-memoir-and-a-ghost-story/876292ffe52fe93f?ean=9798985008937&next=t&next=t https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/frontier-erica-stern/1146916883?ean=9798985008937 https://www.barrelhousemag.com/books/frontier-erica-stern   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

S5EP9, The Courage to Change Our Food System with Stephanie Anderson From the Ground Up, by award-winning author Stephanie Anderson, offers a journey into the root causes of our unsustainable food chain, revealing its detrimental reliance on extractive agriculture, which depletes soil and water, produces nutritionally deficient food, and devastates communities and farmers. Anderson then delivers an uplifting, deeply reported narrative of women-led farms and ranches nationwide, supported by women-led investment firms, farmer training programs, restaurants, supply chain partners, and advocacy groups, all working together to create a more inclusive and sustainable world. Show Benefits: -Simple & Engaging: Discover what regenerative agriculture is and why it matters—explained clearly. -Big-Picture Impact: Can it solve climate change and food insecurity? Learn its potential and limits. -Surprising Stories: Hear the most unexpected insights from "From the Ground Up"—real farming revelations. -Your Role Matters: Find out how you can support a regenerative, fair food system and make a difference. Stephanie Anderson is the author of From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet, and more. Winner of the 2020 Margolis Award for social justice journalism, Stephanie is also a co-editor of the University of Nebraska Press series Our Regenerative Future. Her debut nonfiction book, One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, earned a 2020 Nautilus Award and a 2019 Midwest Book Award. She holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction Find out more about Stephanie Anderson: Website: stephanieandersonwriting.com Facebook: facebook.com/stephanieandersonwriting Instagram: instagram.com/stephanieandersonwriting LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stephanie-anderson-writing #VoicesOfCourage #KenDFoster #StephanieAnderson #TheCourageNetwork #VOCPodcast #VOCSeason5 #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableFarming #ClimateAction #FoodSecurity #WomenInAgriculture #FarmToTable #EcoFriendlyLiving #SoilHealth #FutureOfFood #SustainableLiving #PodcastInterview #GreenEconomy #EthicalEating #Agroecology #FarmRevolution #ConsciousConsumer

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Marty Ross-Dolen joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation discovering the story while writing, inviting the speculative and magical elements into a narrative, rediscovering lost relatives, advocating for our vision and for our books, scaffolding fragmented forms, being raised by a mother in protracted mourning, incorporating letters, photographs, and erasure poetry, when people tell you what your book is supposed to be, living with an inherited sense of grief, unspoken family pacts, when structure is a surprise, and her new memoir Always There, Always Gone: A Daughter's Search for Truth.   Also in this episode:  --being raised in silence around a tragedy -telling 3 stories at once -memoir as erasure   Books mentioned in this episode: -Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas -Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn -Ghostbread by Sonja Livingston -Disconto for My Father by Harrison Kandelaria Fletcher -Fearless Confessions by Sue William SIlverman   Marty Ross-Dolen is a graduate of Wellesley College and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is a retired child and adolescent psychiatrist. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Prior to her time at VCFA, she participated in graduate-level workshops at The Ohio State University. Her essays have appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Redivider, Lilith, Willow Review, and the Brevity Blog, among others. Her essay entitled “Diphtheria” was named a notable essay in The Best American Essays series. She teaches writing and lives in Columbus, Ohio. Connect with Marty: Website: www.martyrossdolen.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martyrossdolen Get the book: https://a.co/d/5HtWU4s https://www.thurberhouse.org/adult-writers-studio – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Alyson Shelton and Lynn Shattuck join Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about writing about sibling loss, creating an essay anthology as means to advocate for grief, taking care of ourselves while crafting work about loss, helping people tell their stories, laughter and making space for the rest of our lives, coping with rejection, creating a mosaic with essays, feeling empowered, self-acceptance building community, independently publishing as an act of defiance, and their new anthology The Loss of a Lifetime: Advice from Grieving Siblings.   Also in this episode:  -owning out stories -rejecting shame -how no can send us in new directions   Books mentioned in this episode: -Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Viktor Hansen and Amy Newmark -Encyclopedia of an Ordinary LIfe by Amy Krause Rosenthal -The Heart and Other Monsters by Rose Anderon Always a Sibling by Annie Sklaver Orenstein ALYSON SHELTON is an award winning screenwriter and essayist. Her writing is widely published at outlets including The New York Times, Ms. and The Rumpus. She's anthologized in Comics Lit Vol. 1 (Accomplishing Innovation Press), No Contact: 28 Writers on Family Estrangement (Catapult 2026), Root Cause: Stories of Health, Harm and Reclaiming Our Humanity (Editor: Jeannine Ouellette) and The Loss of a Lifetime: Advice from Grieving Siblings (Contributor and Co-Editor). She's best known for her Instagram Live series inspired by George Ella Lyon's poem, Where I'm From where she's hosted close to 200 writers. The poem also provides the spine for her memoir in progress.@byalysonshelton on Instagram, Threads, Youtube. www.alysonshelton.com   Lynn has been publishing essays on the topic of sibling loss for more than a decade. She was a paid columnist at Elephant Journal for ten years; several of her essays on the topic of grief and sibling loss have gone viral. Lynn co-founded the website lossofalifetime.com, a hub of resources for those who've experienced sibling loss. She also co-edited the essay collection, The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss and Hope; the book is expected to be available in June, 2025 https://www.instagram.com/lynn_shattuck/   Connect with Alyson: Alyson Shelton on The Body Myth podcast: https://ronitplank.com/2022/03/22/the-body-myth-from-childhood-gymnastics-to-puberty-to-motherhood-a-body-judgment-story-ft-alyson-shelton/ Website: www.alysonshelton.com   Connect with Lynn: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lynn_shattuck/   Get the book: https://www.lossofalifetime.com/book www.lossofalifetime.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   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

FLOYD WEST22 brings the 12th chapter of LIP BITER SOUNDS — your sonic passport to the world of cutting-edge electronic music. This mix begins in a dreamlike state with RÜFÜS DU SOL's Innerbloom — reimagined by RUMPUS into a hypnotic, bass-driven opener — and wastes no time diving into darker, grittier territory. Michael Bibi's Lil Freaky and MK's Dior bring undeniable heat, while Mau P's People Talk People Sing delivers cerebral vibes with a dancefloor twist. Along the way, ARTBAT and MORTEN inject epic melodic tension, and Glass Petals, Lesgo, and ESSEL elevate the groove with club-ready thump. Midway through, a surprise remix of AC/DC's Thunderstruck flips the script with a thunderous blend of rock and rave energy, setting the tone for the second half — where things get dirtier, weirder, and harder. Expect curveballs, underground bombs, and unforgettable flips that blur the lines between genres. This is not just a podcast. It's a statement — an expertly curated ride through house, tech, and festival-grade edits, designed for the dancefloor but made to be felt anywhere. ⚡️Like the Show? Click the [Repost] ↻ button so more people can hear it!

Maureen Stanton joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about her writing beginnings in fiction and using the scenic and immersive to move readers, falling in love with creative nonfiction, revisiting and recreating a love story, discovering the question behind her book, facing the blank page, bad first drafts, writing an illness narrative, placing an essay in Modern Love, authenticity on the page, the long winding path to publishing, not thinking your book will ever get published, working on multiple projects while querying, how love evolves, and her new memoir The Murmur of Everything Moving.   Also in this episode: -the fog of grief -killing our darlings -submitting to writing contests   Books mentioned in this episode: -Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott -Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt -The Liar's Club by Mary Karr -This Boys Life by Tobias Wolff  -Argonauts by Maggie Nelson -Barbarian Days by William Finnegan   Maureen Stanton is the author of The Murmur of Everything Moving: A Memoir, winner of the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence; Body Leaping Backward: Memoir of a Delinquent Girlhood, winner of the Maine Literary Award for memoir and a People Magazine "Best Books Pick"; and Killer Stuff and Tons of Money: An Insider's Look at the World of Flea Markets, Antiques, and Collecting, winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in nonfiction and a Parade Magazine "12 Great Summer Books" selection. Her nonfiction has been widely published, including in The New York Times, Fourth Genre, Creative Nonfiction, Longreads, New England Review, Florida Review, River Teeth, The Sun and many others. Her essays have received the Iowa Review prize, The Sewanee Review prize, Pushcart Prizes, the American Literary Review award, and the Thomas J. Hruska award from Passages North. She's been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maine Arts Commission, the MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She teaches creative writing at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and lives in Maine.    Connect with Maureen: Website: https://www.maureenstantonwriter.com LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/maureenstanton41 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maureenstanton41 Threads: https://www.threads.com/@maureenstanton41 LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maureen-stanton-6693ab11  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maureen.p.stanton Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/maureenstanton.bsky.social   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Rob Franklin, Great Black Hope (Summit Books, 2025) Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction, criticism, and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer prize, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU's Creative Writing program. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Book Recommendations: Katie Kitamura, Audition Josh Duboff, Early Thirties Alexis Okeowo, Blessings and Disasters 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

Rob Franklin, Great Black Hope (Summit Books, 2025) Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction, criticism, and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer prize, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU's Creative Writing program. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Book Recommendations: Katie Kitamura, Audition Josh Duboff, Early Thirties Alexis Okeowo, Blessings and Disasters 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/african-american-studies

Rob Franklin, Great Black Hope (Summit Books, 2025) Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction, criticism, and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer prize, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU's Creative Writing program. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Book Recommendations: Katie Kitamura, Audition Josh Duboff, Early Thirties Alexis Okeowo, Blessings and Disasters 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

Rob Franklin, Great Black Hope (Summit Books, 2025) Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction, criticism, and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer prize, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU's Creative Writing program. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Book Recommendations: Katie Kitamura, Audition Josh Duboff, Early Thirties Alexis Okeowo, Blessings and Disasters 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

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Toronto author Teri Vlassopoulos, author of Living Expenses—a timely tale of reproductive health in an age of both technological and geographical distance. The novel has roots in Teri's own struggle with infertility. More about Living Expenses:As the children of a single mother who immigrated from the Philippines, Laura and Claire have always been exceptionally close. That is, until Claire moves to San Francisco for a startup job in Silicon Valley while Laura and her husband remain in Toronto and decide to start a family. Enter the slow, hopeful, devastating process of fertility treatments. While Laura prepares for IVF, Claire has her own encounter with the fertility industry. Living Expenses interrogates the strain that can accompany even the strongest of relationships, and captures the inevitable creep of technology into all facets of its characters' lives, from communication to reproduction. “Vlassopoulos captures the seemingly endless heartbreak, bone-deep frustration, and often invisible emotional strain of infertility with both a realistic and empathetic eye. Living Expenses takes us on Laura's complex journey and illuminates a rarely discussed yet all too common grief, doing so with humanity and heart. A thoughtful, compelling read about the challenges and benefits of holding onto hope.”—Stacey May Fowles, author of Baseball Life Advice About Vlassopoulos: TERI VLASSOPOULOS has published two books, a collection of short stories, Bats or Swallows (Invisible Publishing), which was nominated for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and a novel, Escape Plans (Invisible Publishing). Her fiction and non-fiction has been published in Room Magazine, Catapult, The Millions, The Rumpus, The Quarantine Review, Open Book, and more. She also publishes a regular Substack newsletter, Bibliographic. She lives in Toronto. 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 NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Toronto author Teri Vlassopoulos, author of Living Expenses—a timely tale of reproductive health in an age of both technological and geographical distance. The novel has roots in Teri's own struggle with infertility. More about Living Expenses:As the children of a single mother who immigrated from the Philippines, Laura and Claire have always been exceptionally close. That is, until Claire moves to San Francisco for a startup job in Silicon Valley while Laura and her husband remain in Toronto and decide to start a family. Enter the slow, hopeful, devastating process of fertility treatments. While Laura prepares for IVF, Claire has her own encounter with the fertility industry. Living Expenses interrogates the strain that can accompany even the strongest of relationships, and captures the inevitable creep of technology into all facets of its characters' lives, from communication to reproduction. “Vlassopoulos captures the seemingly endless heartbreak, bone-deep frustration, and often invisible emotional strain of infertility with both a realistic and empathetic eye. Living Expenses takes us on Laura's complex journey and illuminates a rarely discussed yet all too common grief, doing so with humanity and heart. A thoughtful, compelling read about the challenges and benefits of holding onto hope.”—Stacey May Fowles, author of Baseball Life Advice About Vlassopoulos: TERI VLASSOPOULOS has published two books, a collection of short stories, Bats or Swallows (Invisible Publishing), which was nominated for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and a novel, Escape Plans (Invisible Publishing). Her fiction and non-fiction has been published in Room Magazine, Catapult, The Millions, The Rumpus, The Quarantine Review, Open Book, and more. She also publishes a regular Substack newsletter, Bibliographic. She lives in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

On the finer practice of friendship, tending to ourselves in order to be present, and learning what it means to be a good friend.  (0:00) - Introduction and Author Background (2:48) - Discussion on the Book's Title and Theme (5:02) - Reflections on Meredith's Role in the Book (7:56) - Navigating Joy and Sorrow in Friendships (12:45) - Exploring Spirituality and Recovery (16:13) - Healing and Overcoming Envy (21:05) - Supporting a Friend Through Illness (26:39) - Maintaining Friendships After Loss Christie Tate is a Chicago-based writer and essayist. She has been published in The New York Times (Modern Love), The Rumpus, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Eastern Iowa Review and elsewhere. Kiese Laymon selected her essay, Promised Lands, as the winner of the New Ohio Review's nonfiction contest, which was published Fall 2019. In this episode, we discuss B.F.F., her latest book, which strikes a deep chord of love and understanding.

Kurt Baumeister - Twighlight of the Gods: A Novel. This is episode 763 of Teaching Learning Leading K12, an audio podcast.  Kurt Baumeister's writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild. Twilight of the Gods is his second novel. Our focus today is Kurt's new novel - Twilight of the Gods. Great conversation! Thanks for listening! Thanks for sharing! Before you go... You could help support this podcast by Buying Me A Coffee. Not really buying me something to drink but clicking on the link on my home page at https://stevenmiletto.com for Buy Me a Coffee or by going to this link Buy Me a Coffee. This would allow you to donate to help the show address the costs associated with producing the podcast from upgrading gear to the fees associated with producing the show. That would be cool. Thanks for thinking about it.  Hey, I've got another favor...could you share the podcast with one of your friends, colleagues, and family members? Hmmm? What do you think? Thank you! You are AWESOME! Connect & Learn More: kurtbaumeister@gmail.com https://kurtbaumeister.com https://www.instagram.com/kurt.baumeister/ https://www.facebook.com/kurt.baumeister https://bsky.app/profile/kurtbaumeister.bsky.social https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kurt-Baumeister/author/B01MR6A1JP?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1739384666&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Baumeister Length - 50:42

Leah Paulos of Press Shop PR joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about 2 things writers can do right now to help launch their book successfully, how to find your targeted readers and effectively reach them through media, the dedicated focus required to promote a book,tapping into your storytelling chops to help you with marketing, tools for positioning your book with media and journalists, the lead time we need to promote our books and when to pitch, selling journalists on covering your book, finding the story and the audience for your book, the cost of publicity, your job as your own publicist, being proactive, and the classes she offers at Book Publicity School.   Also in this episode: -using spreadsheets -building a media contact list -working with in-house publicity teams   Books mentioned in this episode: -The Sounds of Life by Karen Bakker -The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korellitz -Writing to Persuade by Trish Hall   Leah Paulos is the Founder and Director of Publicity at Press Shop PR and Book Publicity School, and has worked at the intersection of books and media for over 25 years. Twice named a top PR firm by the Observer, Press Shop PR has worked on many notable books and #1 bestsellers including MARCH by Rep. John Lewis and ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder, as well as books by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Neil deGrasse Tyson, James Kirchick, and Pulitzer-finalists Samuel Freedman and Louise Aronson. Leah has spoken on book publicity at Columbia School of Journalism, CUNY Graduate Center, and as part of her regular workshop series, Book Publicity for Literary Agents.  Book publicity 101 Leah began her career as a magazine editor at a NYC-focused glossy magazine in 1998. She later worked as an editor at Conde Nast and as a freelance writer for dozens of national magazines. She made the shift to book publicity in 2006 and launched Press Shop in 2012. She graduated from Cornell University and now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.   bookpublicityschool.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahpaulos/ https://www.facebook.com/PressShopPR/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090936998502 https://x.com/PressShopPR   www.PressShopPR.com www.BookPublicitySchool.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   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

It is quite interesting to see women lead the charge in revolutionizing regenerative agriculture, which is a male-dominated space. They are bringing a brand-new approach to raising awareness about social justice, gaining mostly the attention and interest of youth. Corinna Bellizzi chats with Stephanie Anderson, an award-winning journalist, who utilizes storytelling to bring regenerative farming practices to the mainstream. She explains why diversity is needed to minimize soil disturbance, make nutritious food easily accessible to the public, and empower local farmers and businesses. Stephanie also discusses how to go through the challenges of transitioning to regenerative agriculture, creating a better perception of profit, and voting for pro-environment politicians.About Guest:Stephanie Anderson is the author of From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet and others. Stephanie is the 2020 winner of the Margolis Award for social justice journalism and a co-editor for the University of Nebraska Press “Our Regenerative Future” book series. Her debut nonfiction book, titled One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, won a 2020 Nautilus Award and 2019 Midwest Book Award. Stephanie holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where she serves as Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction.Guest Website: https://StephanieAndersonWriting.comGuest Social: https://instagram.com/stephanieandersonwritinghttps://facebook.com/stephanieandersonwritingShow Notes: Raw audio00:03:27 - A Farm Girl's Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture00:06:34 - Achieving Diversity In Regeneration00:11:46 - How Women Embody Regeneration Beyond Soil00:19:00 - How To Finance Regenerative Agriculture Efforts00:22:28 - Using Storytelling To Convey The Message Better00:26:47 - Common Threads Among Women Regenerative Leaders00:30:50 - What Capital Is Left For Regenerative Farming00:35:02 - Greater Women Participation In Agriculture00:39:18 - Changing Perspectives On Profit And Supporting Local Businesses00:49:46 - Breaking Down A Big Problem Into Smaller Parts00:51:59 - Getting Into The Justice Ecology00:53:33 - Voting For Pro-Environment Individuals00:57:04 - Stephanie's Next Projects00:59:11 - Episode Wrap-up And Closing WordsJOIN OUR CIRCLE. BUILD A GREENER FUTURE:

Jill Damatac joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up undocumented in the US and how she ultimately self-deported, weaving Filipino food, mythology, history, and culture in her narrative, opting for a hybridized memoir to mitigate the fear of talking about her experience, American exceptionalism, internalized doubt and unworthiness, contextualizing the self within a broader set of stories, when fear is a defining container for our lives, being willing to announce our lived experience via memoir, wanting to shrug off the yoke of shame, offering the reader a kaleidoscopic view, and her new memoir Dirty Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family.   Also in this episode:  -sifting through hybridized aspects of a memoir -knowing where to cut and where to expand  -shame around trauma writing   Books mentioned in this episode: Another Country by James Baldwin Bodywork by Melissa Febos How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr   Jill Damatac is a writer and filmmaker born in the Philippines, raised in the US, and now a UK citizen, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her film and photography work has been featured on the BBC and in Time, and at film festivals worldwide; her short documentary film Blood and Ink (Dugo at Tinta), about the Indigenous Filipino tattooist Apo Whang Od, was an official selection at the Academy Award–qualifying DOC NYC and won Best Documentary at Ireland's Kerry Film Festival. Jill holds an MSt in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Documentary Film from the University of the Arts London.    Connect with Jill: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jilldamatac/ Website: https://www.jilldamatac.com/ Get the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Dirty-Kitchen/Jill-Damatac/9781668084632   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Christopher Honey reads his poem "The Pause," and Sue Proffitt reads her poems "The moor" and "Eating with the dead." Christopher Honey's work has appeared in numerous publications including U.S. Catholic, America, Poetry South, and The Rumpus. He earned his MFA from the University of Saint Thomas, Houston, and lives and works in Washington D.C. with his wife and daughter.Sue Proffitt lives by the coast in South Devon, on the edge of a cliff in a coastguard cottage. She has an MA in Creative Writing, is a Hawthornden Fellow, and has been published in a number of magazines, anthologies, and competitions. Apart from writing poetry, swimming in the sea and walking the coast path are her two great loves. She has two poetry collections published:  Open After Dark (Oversteps, 2017) and The Lock-Picker (Palewell Press, 2021). She is looking for a home for her third collection.

Poet and editor Dr. Taylor Byas is here to discuss her award-winning debut poetry collection, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times. Along the way, she shares insights into writing about place, how The Wiz serves as structural inspiration for the collection, her literary inspirations and heroes, the value of Ph.D. programs in creative writing, her editorial work at The Rumpus, the art of chapbooks, managing expectations as an author, and a lot more. She also offers listeners a special preview of Resting Bitch Face, her second full-length collection forthcoming in August 2025.   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

01. Obscure Shape, Urban Cc, Traumer Stop - Mana 02. Mark Knight, Lukas Setto, Melle Brown - Get With You Tonight 03. Paolo Rocco, Nic Fanciulli - People Say 04. Me & My Toothbrush - The Ride 05. Francesco Bianco - Everynight 06. Unknown7 - Shake That Ass 07. Gwen Dickey, Michael Gray - If I'm Gonna Be With You 08. Agent Stereo - Funky Beat Freak 09. D35 - Let Me Tell Ya 10. Blume (Mex) - Japan 11. Tony Romera - Time To Move 12. Andre Sheridan - Improve da Groove 13. Rick Marshall - Get Enuff 14. Bobby L'Avenir - Make This Happen 15. Josh Baker, Omar, - Back It Up 16. Maana - Hit Parade 17. Markus Graf, Renoa - Apathie 18. Mischief, Max Chapman - Get Known 19. Astrohertz - Love Thing 20. Somersault - Sky 21. Greymatter - Pressure To Talk 22. Monner - Pup It Pup 23. Yolanda Be Cool, Kim English, Mph - Tremble 24. T-Bor - Mira Que 25. Twenty Six, Bandolero - Paris Latino 26. Richard Grey - Unholy 27. Houseium, Nightsub - Azure 28. First, Kokiri, Peace Maker! - Isolation 29. Rihanna, Whisper Machine - Dont Stop The Music 30. Fdf - Cocktail 31. Dominic Bullock - Boombastik 32. Volkoder - Des 33. Dtailr - Gotta Bang 34. Bedran. - Tonight 35. Cabu, Akaciafabich, Ferdinand Weber - Gold 36. Maxsrine - What We All About 37. Murphy'S Law, Guy Mac - Passion 38. Rumpus, Control Room, Rhiannon Roze - OMW 39. Marsolo - What You Say 40. Legit Trip - Budapest Night 41. Sammy Porter - Driving Back 42. Jules Liesl, Mousse T. - Cherry 43. Pietro Cau, Millirad - Tussy Way 44. Zav, Sebb Junior - Just A Man 45. Olexil Hopper - Route 77 46. Manu Chao, Red Effects, Souler - Bongo Bong (Chao Chao) 47. Manuel Grandi - Around The World 48. Azari & Iii, Lost.Act - Reckless 49. Mallin, Sam Dexter - Just A Dream 50. Lost Capital - You Are 51. Timmy P - Ring Elden Will Ya 52. Steve Bug, Huxley - Come On 53. Sam Gellaitry - New Wave 54. Dj Pp, Gabriel Rocha - Feel It 55. Astrohertz - Move Your Body 56. Sister Nancy, Tom & Jame - Bam Bam 57. Hector Couto, Alejandro Paz - El House 58. Peter Jolyon - Music Never Stops 59. Gemi, Tuff Trax - Ego 60. Chris Damon - The System 61. Luca Garaboni, Fabiola Osorio, Marco Lys - Nino 62. Dj Oliver - Mint 63. Col Lawton - Hearts Burning 64. Thomas Newson, Guz (Nl) - Get Raw 65. Sisto - Money Can't Buy 66. David Hasert, Moses Mehdi, Lalena - Unexpected Strings 67. Eurythmics, Tony Metric - Sweet Dreams 68. Capri (Uk) - The Rhythm 69. Lxury - J.A.W.S. 70. Del-30 - Turn It Out 71. Qubiko - U Must Try 72. Marcus Harger - I Got That

01. Obscure Shape, Urban Cc, Traumer Stop - Mana 02. Mark Knight, Lukas Setto, Melle Brown - Get With You Tonight 03. Paolo Rocco, Nic Fanciulli - People Say 04. Me & My Toothbrush - The Ride 05. Francesco Bianco - Everynight 06. Unknown7 - Shake That Ass 07. Gwen Dickey, Michael Gray - If I'm Gonna Be With You 08. Agent Stereo - Funky Beat Freak 09. D35 - Let Me Tell Ya 10. Blume (Mex) - Japan 11. Tony Romera - Time To Move 12. Andre Sheridan - Improve da Groove 13. Rick Marshall - Get Enuff 14. Bobby L'Avenir - Make This Happen 15. Josh Baker, Omar, - Back It Up 16. Maana - Hit Parade 17. Markus Graf, Renoa - Apathie 18. Mischief, Max Chapman - Get Known 19. Astrohertz - Love Thing 20. Somersault - Sky 21. Greymatter - Pressure To Talk 22. Monner - Pup It Pup 23. Yolanda Be Cool, Kim English, Mph - Tremble 24. T-Bor - Mira Que 25. Twenty Six, Bandolero - Paris Latino 26. Richard Grey - Unholy 27. Houseium, Nightsub - Azure 28. First, Kokiri, Peace Maker! - Isolation 29. Rihanna, Whisper Machine - Dont Stop The Music 30. Fdf - Cocktail 31. Dominic Bullock - Boombastik 32. Volkoder - Des 33. Dtailr - Gotta Bang 34. Bedran. - Tonight 35. Cabu, Akaciafabich, Ferdinand Weber - Gold 36. Maxsrine - What We All About 37. Murphy'S Law, Guy Mac - Passion 38. Rumpus, Control Room, Rhiannon Roze - OMW 39. Marsolo - What You Say 40. Legit Trip - Budapest Night 41. Sammy Porter - Driving Back 42. Jules Liesl, Mousse T. - Cherry 43. Pietro Cau, Millirad - Tussy Way 44. Zav, Sebb Junior - Just A Man 45. Olexil Hopper - Route 77 46. Manu Chao, Red Effects, Souler - Bongo Bong (Chao Chao) 47. Manuel Grandi - Around The World 48. Azari & Iii, Lost.Act - Reckless 49. Mallin, Sam Dexter - Just A Dream 50. Lost Capital - You Are 51. Timmy P - Ring Elden Will Ya 52. Steve Bug, Huxley - Come On 53. Sam Gellaitry - New Wave 54. Dj Pp, Gabriel Rocha - Feel It 55. Astrohertz - Move Your Body 56. Sister Nancy, Tom & Jame - Bam Bam 57. Hector Couto, Alejandro Paz - El House 58. Peter Jolyon - Music Never Stops 59. Gemi, Tuff Trax - Ego 60. Chris Damon - The System 61. Luca Garaboni, Fabiola Osorio, Marco Lys - Nino 62. Dj Oliver - Mint 63. Col Lawton - Hearts Burning 64. Thomas Newson, Guz (Nl) - Get Raw 65. Sisto - Money Can't Buy 66. David Hasert, Moses Mehdi, Lalena - Unexpected Strings 67. Eurythmics, Tony Metric - Sweet Dreams 68. Capri (Uk) - The Rhythm 69. Lxury - J.A.W.S. 70. Del-30 - Turn It Out 71. Qubiko - U Must Try 72. Marcus Harger - I Got That

Ruthie Ackerman joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about maternal ambivalence and coming from a long line of women who abandoned their children, taking motherhood on from different angles, feeling ashamed of shame, illuminating what we need to about ourselves, listening to our inner voice, breaking cycles, focusing our work on the memoirist's journey and search for understanding, when family members read our memoir, a close look at the trajectory of her book deal, finding another angle to a story, honing in on the universal question our memoir is asking, when the book needs to be something very different from what you imagined, The Ignite Writers Collective, and her memoir The Mother Code.   Also in this episode:  -rejecting binaries -writing about others' illnesses and differences -when publishing is not an easy path   Books mentioned in this episode: Bodywork by Melissa Febos Avalanche: a love story by Julia Leigh Belabored: A Vindication of the Rights of Pregnant Women by Lyz Lenz The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness by Catherine Cho   An award-winning journalist, Ruthie's writing has been published in Vogue, Glamour, O Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Salon, Slate, Newsweek, and more. Her Modern Love essay for the New York Times became the launching point for her forthcoming memoir, The Mother Code. Ruthie started The Ignite Writers Collective in 2019 and since then has become an in-demand book coach and developmental editor. Her client wins include a USA Today bestseller, book deals with Big 5 publishers, representation by buzzy book agents, and essays in prestigious outlets. She has a Master's in Journalism from New York University and lives in Brooklyn with her family.   Connect with Ruthie: Website: https://www.ruthieackerman.com/ Instagram: @ruackerman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthieackerman/ Workshops: https://www.ruthieackerman.com/new-workshop-page Ruthie's Bookshop shelf: https://bookshop.org/shop/ruthieackerman   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

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, Lillie Volpe (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

Daria Burke joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about sharing her journey out of Detroit where she was raised in poverty and the question that inspired her memoir, writing well and being well while writing, running away from the past, writing deeply and with courage, refusing to believe in inevitability, doing the unfinished business of raising ourselves, surviving the retelling of our story, holding space for each of the versions of ourselves, how she delivered the investigative reporting aspects of her memoir, rewriting the stories we tell ourselves, posttraumatic growth, embracing full frontal honesty, and her new memoir Of My Own Making.   Also in this episode:  -neuroplasticity -becoming fully available to our life -incorporating books and research   Books mentioned in this episode: -I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou  -The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr -Black Women Writers at Work by Claudia Tate The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate MD The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk Emotional Inheritance by Galit Atlas   DARIA BURKE is an American writer, speaker, and wellbeing advocate. A marketer by trade and a seeker at heart, Daria is a storyteller and sense-maker, weaving together personal experience and the science of healing and transformation to explore new ways of understanding how we choose who we become. Her debut memoir, OF MY OWN MAKING (Spring 2025), is a soulful and scientific exploration of overcoming adversity, healing from childhood trauma, and rewriting one's own story. As a Chief Marketing Officer, Daria was named a 2020 AdAge Woman to Watch whose work has been recognized by Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, Vogue, Town & Country and the Cut. She has written for Fast Company, The Huffington Post, and Black Enterprise, and has appeared on The Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC. A distinguished alumna of NYU Stern School of Business (MBA) and the University of Michigan (BA), Daria was born in Detroit and now calls Los Angeles and East Hampton home. Connect with Daria: Website: dariaburke.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dariaburke/ Get her book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/daria-burke/of-my-own-making/9781538766804/ LinkedIn Newsletter: The Power of Possibility    – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

01. Capozzi - MARE 02. Wh0 - Escalator 03. Kream - Manta 04. Voost - Quiero 05. Promise Land, Y&M - Bass Like This 06. Jerro - Kick It 07. Tim Hox, Monogem - Vale La Pena 08. Neon Steve, Black Caviar, Tima Dee - Drug Test 09. Roger Sanchez, Oliver Heldens - Another Chance 10. Rumpus, Cazztek - Need Your Love 11. Rue Jay - I Want Your Love 12. Tom & Jame - Feeling That I Used To Know 13. Goodboys - Chain Reaction 14. Marxxam - In The Club 15. Edx - Desire 16. Low Steppa - Holte 17. Twin Diplomacy, Jack August - Falling Into Motion 18. Diplo, Vavo, Priscilla Block - Bullet 19. Bob Sinclar, A-Trak, Mele - Deep Inside Of Me 20. James Hype, Kim Petras, Tiesto - Drums 21. Armin Van Buuren, Louis Iii - Part Of Me 22. Fedde Le Grand - Who Got The Funk 23. Freejak - My House 24. Tony Romera - Time To Move 25. Ownboss, Byor - Don't Kill My Vibe 26. Laura Van Dam, P.O.U, Jamie Lee Harrison - Rule The World 27. Steve Aoki, Danna Paola - Paranoia 28. Avicii, Sebastien Drums, Don Diablo - My Feelings For You 29. Valy Mo, Fab Massimo - Live Wire 30. Chris Lake X Amber Mark - In My Head 31. Kvsh, Future Skies - DNA 32. Cid - Pass Out 33. Innellea, Then, Carlo Whale - Inside Your Mind 34. Deadmau5 - Familiars 35. Yuhei, Sensei - Party Starts 36. Macker - Check One 37. Camelphat, Vomee - Needed You 38. Ounah - Right Now

Tom McAllister joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about finding the right container for our work trusting our writing to speak for itself, giving ourselves homework, writing constraints as guiding principles, his approach to teaching nonfiction, the challenge of self-promotion, strategies for creating companion pieces, stating things boldly and with confidence, the podcast Book Fight he co-hosts, and how he wrote a short essay for every year of his life and turned it into his new book It All Felt Impossible.:42 Years in 42 Essays. Also in this episode: -trusting the reader -when the well feels dry -handling rejection   Books mentioned in this episode: The Largess of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson My Documents by Alejandro Zambra A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Cruz The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen   Tom McAllister is the author of the novel How to Be Safe, which was named one of the best books of 2018 by Kirkus and The Washington Post. His other books are the novel The Young Widower's Handbook and the memoir Bury Me in My Jersey. His short stories and essays have been published in The Sun, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Black Warrior Review, and many other places. He is the nonfiction editor at Barrelhouse and co-hosts the Book Fight! podcast with Mike Ingram. He lives in New Jersey and teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers-Camden.   Tom's article in The Writer's Chronicle: https://writerschronicle.awpwriter.org/TWC/2025-february/preview/04_From-Anecdote-to-Essay-preview.aspx Connect with Tom: tom.mcallister.ws https://www.instagram.com/realpizzatom/ https://bsky.app/profile/tmcallister.bsky.social https://www.facebook.com/tom.mcallister.12   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Bonny Reichert joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about not knowing if she'd find a way to tell the story that weighed on her, growing up in the shadow of traumatic family history, selling on proposal and working out the boundaries of a book, her background as a food journalist, hammering out the details of the narrative arc, eliminating the squishy middle, reverse outlining for emotional resonance, creating composite characters, telling a story through food, crafting the self as a character, shortening chapters for flexibility, drawing the complexity and sense of beauty and wonder around her father's story of surviving the Holocaust, and her memoir How to Share an Egg.   Also in this episode:  -food as glue -writing a culinary memoir wrapped around a family story -the toll of intergenerational trauma   Books mentioned in this episode: -Also a Poet:Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me by Ada Calhoun -H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald -Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl   Bonny Reichert is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist. She has been an editor at Today's Parent and Chatelaine magazines, and a columnist and regular contributor to The Globe and Mail newspaper. When she turned forty, a now-or-never feeling made her quit her job to enroll in culinary school, and she's been exploring her relationship with food on the page ever since. Bonny was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and lives in Toronto with her husband and little dog, Bruno. HOW TO SHARE AN EGG won the 2022 Dave Greber Book Award for social justice writing.   Connect with Bonny: Website: https://bonnyreichert.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/bonnyreichert – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Vicky Nguyen joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up Vietnamese in America and what this country has meant for someone like her, writing memoir as a public figure, pivoting as a writer, not being too quick to self-edit, managing backstory to keep a memoir propulsive, having conversations with loved ones about shared family history, connecting through vulnerability, book promotion as a whole other job, exhausting every marketing channel, writing about people who don't necessarily want to be in our memoirs, how we “rememoir” things, digging deep, and her new memoir Boat Baby. Also in this episode: -when family remembers things differently  -writing in our voice -anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S.   Books mentioned in this episode: -Born a Crime by Trevor Noah -Owner of a Lonely Heart by Beth Nguyen -The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu -Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran -The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls -The Writer by James Patterson   Vicky is an NBC News senior consumer investigative correspondent and anchor of NBC News Daily. She reports for the Today show, Nightly News with Lester Holt and NBC News Now. She graduated as valedictorian from the University of San Francisco. Vicky lives in New York with her husband and three daughters. Her parents are always nearby. Connect with Vicky: Website: https://www.vickynguyen.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vickynguyentv Get Boat Baby: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Boat-Baby/Vicky-Nguyen/9781668025567 – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

KB Brookins joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about transness, masculinity, and race, how how being a writer has crystalized their experience and made it legible to an audience and to themselves, turning to prose to say the hard things, the tenacity of memoir, resisting erasure and pushing back on toxic systems, coming at creative nonfiction from a poetic impulse, having patience with ourselves, what we might need to let go of as writers, looking at our work with kinder eyes, the way we treat people because of gender, and their multi-themed memoir Pretty. Also in this episode: -stages of grief -permission to have anger -when lines for genre aren't as helpful   Books mentioned in this episode: -Asatta: An Autobiography by Asatta Shakur -Black Boy by Richard Wright -Heavy by Kiese Laymon KB Brookins is a Black queer and trans writer, cultural worker, and visual artist from Texas. KB's chapbook How To Identify Yourself with a Wound won the Saguaro Poetry Prize, a Writer's League of Texas Discovery Prize, and a Stonewall Honor Book Award. Their debut poetry collection Freedom House won the American Library Association Barbara Gittings Literature Award and the Texas Institute of Letters Award for the Best First Book of Poetry. KB's debut memoir Pretty, released in May 2024 with Alfred A. Knopf, won the Great Lakes Colleges Association Award in Creative Non-Fiction.   Connect with KB: Website: https://earthtokb.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthtokb TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@earthtokb Substack: https://substack.com/@earthtokb Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/earthtokb.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthtokb Get the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724994/pretty-by-kb-brookins/ – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

This week I'm talking with Amy Shearn, the award-winning author of the critically-acclaimed novels “Dear Edna Sloane,” “Unseen City,” “The Mermaid of Brooklyn,” and “How Far Is the Ocean from Here.” Amy's newest novel is “Animal Instinct,” which follows a 40-something newly divorced woman re-entering the dating scene and reconnecting with her desires during the social isolation of COVID lockdowns. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "delightful and hilarious,” which I can co-sign–despite its pandemic backdrop, which might sound like it could be stressful, this is a book I look forward to reading each night because I know it will take my mind off my worry du jour and give me a lot to think about while also being a ton of fun.Amy has nearly twenty years experience as an editor for digital publications, has published hundreds of essays for places including New York Times' "Modern Love" column and The Rumpus, and she currently works one-on-one with writers as an editor and writing coach. We covered:- Her really insightful take on how loving reading as a kid can lead to wanting to be a writer (I hadn't thought of it in this way before)- The mix of calling and coercion that got her to think beyond writing novels to also penning personal essays- Making the shift to freelancing as an editor, teacher, and book coach (and away from working for a publication for her primary income source)- Matching your writing goals to the time you have available (as someone who needs to work full-time, whether as a freelancer or an employee)- How to keep yourself accountable to your writing goals when you don't have a deadline- Using a 50-50 parenting agreement post-divorce as an "every other weekend writing retreat" Connect with Amy on Instagram @amyshearnwriters, Substack @amyshearn, or at amyshearnwriters.com. For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. Thank you for listening! And thanks to this week's sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices