Podcasts about Soft Skull Press

Andy Hunter is one of the most interesting players in the discovery and commerce of books. Andy's career took him from mainstream cultural behemoth Disney to beloved counterculture publisher Soft Skull Press, before founding online literary communities Electric Literature and LitHub. From there, he launched the indie e-commerce platform Bookshop.org in 2020 and stewarded its exceptional growth. Andy discusses the critical value of independent publishing and independent bookstores to culture, the wiring together of community and business model, and the power in a changing technology landscape.

Andy Hunter is the founder CEO of bookshop.Org In todday's episode, he talks about his innovative solution to save indie bookstore.Quoting the New York Times, “The rapid rise of Bookshop.or during the shutdown has been hailed as a boon for independent stores.” B-Labs announced the company as one of the “best for the world,” and in the top 5% of all B-Corps.The business model is brilliant on so many levels, and I can't wait for you to hear what he has to share.Andy is also the co-creator of the websites: Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Crime Reads, and BookMarks - combined annual readership of about 30 million people. And, worked as an independent publisher at Catapult, Counterpoint and Soft Skull Press.Subscribe on Apple Podcast , Spotify or YouTube.Let's connect!Subscribe to my newsletter: Time To Live: Thriving in Business and BeyondWebsite: https://www.annemcginty.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemcgintyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/annemcgintyhost

In this premium episode, writer, editor, and friend of the pod Leigh Stein returns to talk about the state of book publishing, including the importance of promotion via digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Leigh may be the Jane Goodall of BookTok. She has spent countless hours in the wild, studying the platform's users and creators for insights into its addictive magic. As a book coach who helps authors sell their manuscripts to publishers and then (hopefully) sell lots of copies, she understands the changing landscape of publishing and sees endless potential and opportunity. Where many authors and editors feel only fear and dread, Leigh feels joy. Recently, she helped literary agent turned novelist Betsy Lerner become an unlikely TikTok star. Want in on more of Leigh's secrets? On November 14, The Unspeakeasy is offering a one-time webinar with Leigh called How To Get A Book Deal The Easy Way. It's open to everyone (not just ladies) and may change your life. And it's only $150! Visit the course page in The Unspeakeasy for more details and to sign up. GUEST BIO Leigh Stein is a writer exploring the impact of the internet on our identities, relationships, and politics. She has written five books, including the satirical novel Self Care (Penguin, 2020) and the poetry collection What to Miss When (Soft Skull Press, 2021). Her non-fiction work has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Allure, ELLE, Poets & Writers, BuzzFeed, The Cut, Salon, and Slate. Leigh founded Out of the Binders/BinderCon, a feminist literary nonprofit organization that supported women and gender variant writers. BinderCon events in NYC and LA welcomed nearly 2,000 writers to hear speakers such as Lisa Kudrow, Anna Quindlen, Claudia Rankine, Jill Abramson, Elif Batuman, Effie Brown, Leslie Jamison, Suki Kim, and Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. Leigh also moderated a Facebook community of 40,000 writers. She is no longer on Facebook. Leigh's website. Leigh's newsletter. Want to hear the whole conversation? Upgrade your subscription here. HOUSEKEEPING

Juliet Escoria is the author of the story collection You Are the Snake, available from Soft Skull Press. Escoria is the author of the novel Juliet the Maniac (Melville House, May 2019), which was named a "best of" book by Nylon, Elle, Buzzfeed, and others, and was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize. She also wrote the poetry collection Witch Hunt (Lazy Fascist Press, 2016) and the story collection Black Cloud (CCM/Emily Books, 2014), which were both listed in various best of the year roundups. Her writing can be found in places like Prelude, VICE, The Fader, BOMB, and the New York Times, and has been translated into many languages. She was born in Australia, raised in San Diego, and currently lives in West Virginia, where she teaches English at a community college. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Twitter Instagram  TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 574, my conversation with Richard Chiem. It first aired on April 3, 2019. Chiem is the author of You Private Person (Sorry House Classics) and the novel King of Joy (Soft Skull Press, 2019). His work has appeared in City Arts Magazine, NY Tyrant, and Gramma Poetry, among other places. His book, You Private Person, was named one of Publisher Weekly's 10 Essential Books of the American West. He lives in Seattle, WA.  *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  TikTok Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

José Vadi is the author of a memoir-in-essays called Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder's Lens, available from Soft Skull Press. Vadi is also the author of an essay collection called Inter State. An award-winning essayist, poet, playwright and film producer, his work has been featured by the Paris Review, The Atlantic, the PBS NewsHour, Free Skate Magazine, Alta Journal of California, and the Yale Review. He lives and writes in Sacramento, California. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Twitter Instagram  TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spinning Out (another music podcast) We talk to artists about their favorite albums and go on wild tangents. This week on the pod I'm joined by Mariah Stovall. We're talking about Marietta's 2013 album, "Summer Death." We also chat about fourth wave emo, orgcore, monoculture and growing in and out of (and then back in) love with live music. Mariah Stovall is a writer and you can find her work in the anthology book Black Punk Now. You can also pick up her debut novel, I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both. It's out right now on Soft Skull Press. https://softskull.com/books/i-love-you-so-much-its-killing-us-both/ And just like when we talk about supporting musicians directly, supporting artists directly helps a whole hell of a lot more than buying their books from big retailers. So ask your local bookstore to pick up copies or just click on that link and get a copy from Soft Skull Press. Subscribe to our Patreon here: www.patreon.com/spinningoutpod Follow us on social media -- twitter and instagram (@Spinningoutpod)

This episode is filled with three segments that are on the shorter side!  OnlyFans, Nannies, and Found Family with Lana Fergusontime stamp: 00:00:22 Join Jordy in a conversation with Lana Ferguson about her latest novel, The Nanny. Get ready to jump into a captivating story that explores the dynamics of found family, the allure of steamy and successful single dads who happen to be chefs, and the empowering presence of intelligent women who could easily become your cool great-aunt you never had.   Get a copy of The Nanny by Lana Ferguson here   All Power to the People: A Bookish Double Date time stamp: 00:11:32 So much has been written by and about the Black Panther Party, it's hard to know where to start. Sally proposes a Double Date with two great books that offer context and insight into the Black Panther Party, their work, and their legacy.   Books Mentioned by Sally Revolution in Our Time by Kekla Magoon The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson   Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison Book Reviewtime stamp: 00:15:01 Mariquita delves into the pages of "Blue Hour" by Tiffany Clarke Harrison, a captivating novel published by Soft Skull Press. Join her as she shares her insights on this thought-provoking tale of grief, loss, and perseverance. Discover the beautifully woven narrative and immerse yourself in the evocative world created by Harrison. Tune in for an engaging discussion that will leave you eager to explore the depths of Blue Hour and its exploration of the human spirit.   Get a copy of Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison Here!  Support our hosts & guests: Follow Lana Ferguson: Instagram // Author Website  Follow Jordy: Instagram Follow Sally: Instagram // The StoryGraph Follow Mariquita: Instagram    Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday   Check out our online community here!    This episode was edited by Niba and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.   Original music by @iam.onyxrose   Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.  

Today Courtney speaks with two talented memoirists, Amy Long and Emma Bolden.Amy Long is the author of the debut memoir, Codependence, winner of the 2018 Essay Collection Competition with the Cleveland State University Poetry Center. Amy holds an MFA from Virginia Tech and an MA from the University of Florida. She's also the creative genius behind Taylor Swift as Books, the very popular Instagram account.Emma Bolden is the author of several chapbooks and collections of poetry. She is the recipient of fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Her debut memoir, Tiger in a Cage: A Memoir of a Body in Crisis, was published by Soft Skull Press in 2022.We discuss advocacy and agency in women's health, social media in service to the literary community, narrative structure and voice in memoir, and the joy found in artistic anticipation.PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

Tiffany Clarke Harrison is the author of the debut novel Blue Hour, available from Soft Skull Press. Harrison graduated from Salisbury University with a BA in English, Creative Writing concentration, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Queens University of Charlotte. Writing is a whole-body experience, and her intuitive writing process has helped shape the raw honesty of her stories, and the stories of other authors she's coached. Tiffany lives with her husband and two children in North Carolina. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube TikTok Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Jensen is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and collaborates with the New Perennials Project at Middlebury College.  Jensen is the coauthor with Wes Jackson of An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity(University of Notre Dame Press, 2022) and author of The Restless and Relentless Mind of Wes Jackson: Searching for Sustainability (University Press of Kansas, 2021). He is the editor of From the Ground Up: Conversations with Wes Jackson, published by New Perennials Publishing, based on the interviews from “Podcast from the Prairie, with Wes Jackson.” Jensen's other books include The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men (Spinifex Press, 2017); Plain Radical: Living, Loving, and Learning to Leave the Planet Gracefully (Counterpoint/Soft Skull, 2015); Arguing for Our Lives: A User's Guide to Constructive Dialogue (City Lights, 2013); All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice, (Soft Skull Press, 2009); Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007); The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002). Jensen is also co-producer of the documentary film “Abe Osheroff: One Foot in the Grave, the Other Still Dancing” (Media Education Foundation, 2009), which chronicles the life and philosophy of the longtime radical activist. Jensen can be reached at rjensen@austin.utexas.edu and his articles can be found online at http://robertwjensen.org/. To join an email list to receive articles by Jensen, go to http://www.thirdcoastactivist.org/jensenupdates-info.html. Twitter: @jensenrobertwMastodon: @RobertJensen@newsie.socialAn American Conversation Podcast™ has captivating shows, compelling Guests & Controversial Issues! If you have an idea for a show, want to be on our show, or write a piece for our blog, email us at info@AnAmericanConversationPodcast.com, it just might happen.  We support all voices/opinions from all over the world speaking out on every issue affecting women, children & men of all persuasions.  All voices matter whether we agree with them or not.  Listen to us on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, the official website, and more! Just type “An American Conversation Podcast” and you will find us.| Blog:  | anamericanconversationpodcast.com/blog| YouTube: | youtube.com/c/AnAmericanConversationPodcast| Apple: | An American Conversation Podcast| Donations: | anamericanconversationpodcast.com/DonationsDon't forget to Like Share Subscribe & Donate, to Support Women's Voices in America & around the World. Freedom of Speech is Paramount for EVERYONE! If you believe in “this basic human right” please donate to support our podcast. Thank you & Gracias! #WomensVoicesUnite #AnAmericanConversationPodcast #WomenSupportingWomen #MenSupportingWomen Rose Medina, MSSW, Radical FeministLeland Heflin, ComedianSandra Currie, Progressive FeministHalona Shaw, Life CoachDeborah Corday, Animal Activistwww.AnAmericanConversationPodcast.com

Watch the video version of this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T40VatyO6xk Want more writing videos? Check out our collection on Youtube here: https://bit.ly/2JZJXTi Tony DuShane is the author and award-winning screenwriter of Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk. The book was published by Soft Skull Press and the feature film, directed by Eric Stoltz, was released in 2018 and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. His journalism and essays has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, Penthouse, The Rumpus, The Believer, and other media outlets. He teaches writing at UCLA Extension and his journalism has appeared in Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. He hosts the literary podcast Drinks with Tony every Wednesday. MORE VIDEOS WITH TONY DUSHANE https://bit.ly/3mFoq28 CONNECT WITH TONY DUSHANE http://www.tonydushane.com https://drinkswithtony.podbean.com https://twitter.com/tonydushane VIEWERS ALSO WATCHED Method Writing: The First Four Concepts - https://youtu.be/ba9jAVzADY0 Beginners Guide To Screenwriting - https://youtu.be/pwcTge9iF0E My Story Can Beat Up Your Story - https://youtu.be/4fwi63xAQvE Becoming A Screenwriter: 12 Key Tools For Success - https://youtu.be/wirGMNj2gCI The Screenplay Outline Workbook: Prepare To Write Your Best Script - https://youtu.be/acy5KxytQBA (Affiliates) ►WE USE THIS CAMERA (B&H) – https://buff.ly/3rWqrra ►WE USE THIS EDITING PROGRAM (ADOBE) – https://goo.gl/56LnpM ►WE USE THIS SOUND RECORDER (AMAZON) – http://amzn.to/2tbFlM9 SUPPORT FILM COURAGE BY BECOMING A MEMBER https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8o1mdWAfefJkdBg632_tg/join CONNECT WITH FILM COURAGE http://www.FilmCourage.com http://twitter.com/#!/FilmCourage https://www.facebook.com/filmcourage https://www.instagram.com/filmcourage http://filmcourage.tumblr.com http://pinterest.com/filmcourage SUBSCRIBE TO THE FILM COURAGE YOUTUBE CHANNEL http://bit.ly/18DPN37 LISTEN TO THE FILM COURAGE PODCAST https://soundcloud.com/filmcourage-com Stuff we use: LENS - Most people ask us what camera we use, no one ever asks about the lens which filmmakers always tell us is more important. This lens was a big investment for us and one we wish we could have made sooner. Started using this lens at the end of 2013 - http://amzn.to/2tbtmOq AUDIO Rode VideoMic Pro - The Rode mic helps us capture our backup audio. It also helps us sync up our audio in post http://amzn.to/2t1n2hx Audio Recorder - If we had to do it all over again, this is probably the first item we would have bought - http://amzn.to/2tbFlM9 LIGHTS - Although we like to use as much natural light as we can, we often enhance the lighting with this small portable light. We have two of them and they have saved us a number of times - http://amzn.to/2u5UnHv COMPUTER - Our favorite computer, we each have one and have used various models since 2010 - http://amzn.to/2t1M67Z EDITING - We upgraded our editing suite this year and we're glad we did! This has improved our workflow and the quality of our work. Having new software also helps when we have a problem, it's easy to search and find a solution - https://goo.gl/56LnpM *These are affiliate links, by using them you can help support this channel. Please subscribe to our Youtube channel. You can show additional support via our Youtube sponsor tab by going here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8o1mdWAfefJkdBg632_tg/join or through Patreon here - http://www.patreon.com/filmcourage. Thank you for listening! We hope you've enjoyed this content.

The podcast team is on spring break, so we're rereleasing one of our favorite episodes to celebrate Dr. Taylor Byas's successful defense of her dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Byas! On the season 2 finale, Taylor Byas talks to Jared about how her fiction background helps her develop sharp images and accessible lines in her poetry while her poetic knowledge taught her to take more risks in her fiction. She also describes the value of a social media writing community (and how to build one), whether publishing success eliminates imposter syndrome (spoiler: it does not), and how her scholarly studies in her PhD program inform and enrich her creative work (and how to survive the comprehensive exam). MFA Writers will be back in your airwaves in August. Wishing you all a great summer, dear friends, and thank you for listening. Taylor Byas is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is now a PhD candidate and Yates scholar at the University of Cincinnati, and an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She is the 1st place winner of the 2020 Poetry Super Highway, the 2020 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets Contests, the 2021 Adrienne Rich Poetry Prize, and a finalist for the 2020 Frontier OPEN Prize. She is the author of the chapbook Bloodwarm from Variant Lit, a second chapbook, Shutter, from Madhouse Press, and her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in Spring of 2023. She is represented by Rena Rossner of the Deborah Harris Agency. Find her at her website www.taylorbyas.com and on Twitter @TaylorByas3. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com. BE PART OF THE SHOW — Support the show. — Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or Podcast Addict. — Submit an episode request. If there's a program you'd like to learn more about, contact us and we'll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience. — Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application. STAY CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Kashana is the author of the novel The Survivalists, which was published in January 2023 by Soft Skull Press. She's also a TV writer who has written for The Great North and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and a former contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She has also written for The Atlantic, Esquire, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. Recommended Books: Chris Terry, Black Card Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon  Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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

Kashana is the author of the novel The Survivalists, which was published in January 2023 by Soft Skull Press. She's also a TV writer who has written for The Great North and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and a former contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She has also written for The Atlantic, Esquire, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. Recommended Books: Chris Terry, Black Card Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon  Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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

Kashana is the author of the novel The Survivalists, which was published in January 2023 by Soft Skull Press. She's also a TV writer who has written for The Great North and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and a former contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She has also written for The Atlantic, Esquire, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. Recommended Books: Chris Terry, Black Card Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon  Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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

[This interview was conducted online so there may be some audio variation.] Jenn speaks with TV writer and journalist Kashana Cauley author of the debut novel The Survivalists out now from Soft Skull Press. Kashana talks about the many drafts before this novel came to fruition, how juggling several career paths helped her stay on the path to writing, and how this novel's themes apply to what she's seen and observed about New York City (and people) at large.  [Transcript of this episode can be found on the Episodes page of the podcast Tumblr. You can sign up for the MiP monthly newsletter with job listings, guest news, and new eps here.]

Kashana Cauley is the author of the debut novel The Survivalists, available from Soft Skull Press. Cauley is a former Midtown antitrust lawyer and Brooklyn resident. She is a writer for the Fox comedy The Great North, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and a GQ contributor. She's written for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Pod Save America on HBO as well as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone, and has published fiction in Esquire, Slate, Tin House, and The Chronicles of Now. Kashana now lives in Los Angeles. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode we have poet Elisa Gabbert. Elisa is the author of six collections of poetry and essays. Her two latest books are the essay collection The Unreality of Memory published by FSG Originals and the poetry collection, Normal Distance, published by Soft Skull Press. The Unreality of Memory is a collection that reckons with disasters large and small. It's written in a voice that obsessively chronicles the precarity of the world we live in, while also interrogating the way we experience and react to this world. It tells stories about disasters, while simultaneously questioning the way we tell stories about disasters. If that sounds too vague, perhaps the NYT review of the book, that I also mention during the conversation, does a better job, saying Elisa takes a scalpel to the notion of reality itself. Her poetry in Normal Distance tackles similar ideas in a very different form as she addresses feelings such as boredom and suffering with a sardonic wit that somehow never comes off as cynical or blasé. One of her greatest strengths as a writer is the ability to maintain profound depth and levity at the same time. We talk about both books, and her approach to writing about these subject matters; as well as ideas about memory, human behavior, and audience response to her writing. Elisa's also been a foundational presence in literary twitter for about a decade—so pretty much before literary twitter existed—and you can even find some of her old tweets in her poems. So towards the end of our conversation, and at a time when Twitter's chaotic corporate struggles seem to be taking over the news cycle, she manages to paint a much needed portrait of the website. www.elisagabbert.com Normal Distance The Unreality of Memory Recommendations The Girls of Slender Means - Muriel Spark My Struggle - Karl Ove Knausgaard

Today I talked to Chelsea Martin's new book Tell Me I'm An Artist (Soft Skull Press, 2022).  Martin's first novel, tell me i'm an artist, is published with Soft Skull Press. Her previous books include caca dolce (Soft Skull, 2017), even though i don't miss you (short flight/long drive, 2013), and others. She currently lives in spokane, wa with her husband and child. Recommended Books: Emma Bolden, The Tiger and the Cage Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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

Today I talked to Chelsea Martin's new book Tell Me I'm An Artist (Soft Skull Press, 2022).  Martin's first novel, tell me i'm an artist, is published with Soft Skull Press. Her previous books include caca dolce (Soft Skull, 2017), even though i don't miss you (short flight/long drive, 2013), and others. She currently lives in spokane, wa with her husband and child. Recommended Books: Emma Bolden, The Tiger and the Cage Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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

Today I talked to Chelsea Martin's new book Tell Me I'm An Artist (Soft Skull Press, 2022).  Martin's first novel, tell me i'm an artist, is published with Soft Skull Press. Her previous books include caca dolce (Soft Skull, 2017), even though i don't miss you (short flight/long drive, 2013), and others. She currently lives in spokane, wa with her husband and child. Recommended Books: Emma Bolden, The Tiger and the Cage Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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/literary-studies

Today I talked to Chelsea Martin's new book Tell Me I'm An Artist (Soft Skull Press, 2022).  Martin's first novel, tell me i'm an artist, is published with Soft Skull Press. Her previous books include caca dolce (Soft Skull, 2017), even though i don't miss you (short flight/long drive, 2013), and others. She currently lives in spokane, wa with her husband and child. Recommended Books: Emma Bolden, The Tiger and the Cage Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract 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

New York writer Elvia Wilk joins to discuss her recent collection of essays on ecologies, “Death By Landscape” (Soft Skull Press, 2022). Using an accessible approach she calls “fan-nonfiction,” Wilk's latest book catalouges and considers a diverse group of writers, while ruminating on plant-becoming, slow apocalypses, mysticism, LARPing, trauma, the New Weird, consent, and black holes. The outro music is “Planta” by Soda Stereo. Purchase “Death By Landscape,” as well as Wilk's 2019 debut novel “Oval,” through Soft Skull Press: https://softskull.com/authors/elvia-wilk/

Chelsea Martin is the author of the novel Tell Me I'm an Artist, available from Soft Skull Press. Martin is the author of the essay collection Caca Dolce and the novella Mickey, among other books. She lives in Spokane, WA with her husband and child. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brief summary of episode:James Spooner is a graphic novelist, tattoo artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. He directed the seminal documentary AFRO-PUNK which premiered at national and international film festivals, including Toronto International and The American Black Film Festival. James also co-founded the Afropunk Festival, which currently boasts audiences in the hundreds of thousands around the world. His debut graphic novel, The High Desert is available now. ​Spooner's work has been recounted in various publications, including NPR, Vice Magazine, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, Vibe, Fader Magazine, MTV, NBC News and Variety, and he was a recipient of the ReNew Media Rockefeller Grant. He is an ongoing guest curator for the Broad Museum in Los Angeles and previously programmed for the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Spooner is also a contributor to RazorCake  Magazine, and he continues to screen AFRO-PUNK at colleges around the country, giving talks on punk and Black identity. He is currently co-editing an anthology from Soft Skull Press entitled, Black Punk Now.The Truth In This ArtThe Truth In This Art is a podcast interview series supporting vibrancy and development of Baltimore & beyond's arts and culture. Mentioned in this episode:James Spooner (photo credit Lisa Nola) To find more amazing stories from the artist and entrepreneurial scenes in & around Baltimore, check out my episode directory. Stay in TouchNewsletter sign-upSupport my podcast ★ Support this podcast ★

Michael talks with Elisa Gabbert about writing time, her poetry column for NYT, reading and writing about classics, an ongoing interest in language and thinking, life before her first book, tricking yourself into finding a voice or style or mode, her previous books, her new poetry collection NORMAL DISTANCE, mixing the abstract and the concrete, creating poems from previous notes and tweets, writing essay vs. writing poetry, lineating a poem (or not), making containers and forms, and more.Elisa Gabbert is the author of six books of poetry, essays, and criticism, including The Self Unstable, The Unreality of Memory, and most recently, the poetry collection Normal Distance, which is out today from Soft Skull Press. She writes the On Poetry column for the New York Times, and her work has appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, The Believer, and many other venues.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

On the season 2 finale, Taylor Byas talks to Jared about how her fiction background helps her develop sharp images and accessible lines in her poetry while her poetic knowledge taught her to take more risks in her fiction. She also describes the value of a social media writing community (and how to build one), whether publishing success eliminates imposter syndrome (spoiler: it does not), and how her scholarly studies in her PhD program inform and enrich her creative work (and how to survive the comprehensive exam). MFA Writers will be back in your airwaves in August. Wishing you all a great summer, dear friends, and thank you for listening. Taylor Byas is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is now a PhD candidate and Yates scholar at the University of Cincinnati, and an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She is the 1st place winner of the 2020 Poetry Super Highway, the 2020 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets Contests, the 2021 Adrienne Rich Poetry Prize, and a finalist for the 2020 Frontier OPEN Prize. She is the author of the chapbook Bloodwarm from Variant Lit, a second chapbook, Shutter, from Madhouse Press, and her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in Spring of 2023. She is represented by Rena Rossner of the Deborah Harris Agency. Find her at her website www.taylorbyas.com and on Twitter @TaylorByas3. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com. BE PART OF THE SHOW — Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or Podcast Addict. — Submit an episode request. If there's a program you'd like to learn more about, contact us and we'll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience. — Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application. STAY CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

This week, we had the great pleasure of being joined by Elvia Wilk, writer and editor, author of Oval (2019) and Death by Landscape, a collection of essays forthcoming this July from Soft Skull Press. We talked about her new book, the pandemic, plants, the weird, LARP, the Web 3.0 and post-nuclear religious fiction!!! Errata corrige: 29:30 Yes, plants do release more oxygen than carbon dioxide

José Vadi grew up in California's Inland Empire, but his roots go back to Puerto Rico and Mexico. His abuelo, or grandfather, was an Okie who hopped freight trains west to Nebraska and then on to California, the promised land. Like many immigrants, he worked for a time as a migrant worker in the salad bowl of California's agriculturally rich central valley, before settling down in the San Bernardino Valley to raise a family. Vadi's second book, Inter State: Essays from California (Soft Skull Press), is an innovative collection of interconnected essays. Each piece appeared elsewhere previously, in slightly different form, but together, they create a prismatic picture of California's sprawling nooks and crannies—from the agricultural lands to the gentrifying urban culture of the bay area. Vadi's routines, including commuting to his old job in San Francisco, are a common thread that weave these essays together. Although they were all written between 2015 and early 2020, as Vadi notes in the afterword, “connecting California, then the COVID-19 pandemic, police violence, and 2020's record-breaking fire season grabbed and pulled at the seams as hard, quickly and destructively as possible.” Inter State is a valuable book in understanding the California of today, a state rife with stubborn issues: neo-liberal fantasy-land economics, a housing crisis, an ill-prepared bureaucracy for managing climate change and natural disasters, and largely tone-deaf leaders who may say the right things but who are just as compromised as some of the swamp creatures in Washington, DC. And yet… Vadi's book is hopeful. He left the Bay Area for Sacramento and now has more time to write poems, essays, plays, take photos, and skateboard (another undercurrent in the book). He seems to have successfully removed late capitalism as a hinderance to his life, at least for now. His new surroundings in Sacramento have renewed his creativity and purpose. We caught up recently to discuss Inter State and what he's up to next.The Reading: Jose Vadi reads from his title essay, "Inter State."Music by Pharaohs

Tuck speaks with Edgar Gomez (he/she/they), author of the memoir High-Risk Homosexual. Topics include: TFW Facebook suggests that you friend-request the Pulse shooter  The pros & cons of Latinidad (the concept) and Latinx (the word) Writing about your family's homophobia without making them into telenovela villains The intersections of class/poverty and queerness  Plus: Sporty Spice, trans villain representation, and post-credits Drag Race goss. This Week in Gender: Rebecca Kling critiques the recent Washington Post op-ed “What I wish I'd known when I was 19 and had sex reassignment surgery.” References: Cristina Silva's article about the word Latinx in USA Today.  Find Edgar at edgargomez.net, and find High-Risk Homosexual through Soft Skull Press or wherever books are. Join our Patreon (patreon.com/gender) to get access to a brand-new bonus podcast, plus our weekly newsletter and other fun perks. Browse our nonprofit merch shop at bit.ly/gendermerch. Our spring grant is now open for applications at bit.ly/tpoc22. Learn more about our past grant winners at genderpodcast.com/grant. Submit a piece of Theymail: a small message or ad that we'll read on the show. Today's messages was from Cambridge Solidarity Fund / bit.ly/solidaritystickers. Find episode transcripts and starter packs for new listeners at genderpodcast.com. We're also on Twitter and Instagram @gendereveal. Associate Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: “Mosic” and “Greyleaf Willow” by Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: Urbody (promo code: TUCK15) 

Does anyone know which publisher publishes which book? Sam is doubtful, but Hannah provides a good bit of insight from her days in publishing about why the houses — especially the indies — matter. For instance, how else would we get "The Red Zone," a great book about menstruation, without Soft Skull Press? Also: Sam reads "The Tender Bar" and does not believe it, Hannah listens to "Run Rose Run" and falls in love all over again with Dolly Parton, and there is a long discussion on whether 1996 is actually the best year of all time, spurred on by Emma Straub's brand-new "This Time Tomorrow." Plus, a whole lot more!

Mike DeCapite is the author of Jacket Weather, out now on Soft Skull Press. We talk writing, falling in love later in life, and memoir vs. novel. Drinks with Tony […]

Sarah High is a former bookseller and manager at Book Culture in NYC, an intern at Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull Press, before becoming Senior Partnerships Manager at Bookshop.org. Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores, and was founded by Andy Hunter, CEO at Bookshop.org.The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency; Tove Ditlevsen Breath, James NestorCLEAN(ish), Gin StephensLean Fall Stand, Jon McGregorA Ghost in the Throat, Doireann Ní GhríofaOther People's Children, R.J. HoffmanSketch by Sketch, Sheila DarceySupport the show (https://paypal.me/TheBookshopPodcast?locale.x=en_US)

Chris sits down for a one-on-one conversation with Taylor Byas, author of Bloodwarm (Variant Lit), for a conversation about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry! Taylor Byas is a Black poet and essayist. Originally from Chicago, she moved to Alabama for six years, where she received both her Bachelor's degree in English and her Master's degree in English (Creative Writing concentration) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Taylor currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio where she is a third year PhD student and Albert C. Yates Scholar at the University of Cincinnati studying poetry. She is also an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She has received five Pushcart and six Best of the Net nominations, and has won a Best Microfiction Award. She is also the 1st Place Winner of the 2020 Poetry Super Highway Contest, the 2020 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets, the 2021 Adrienne Rich Poetry Award, a finalist for the 2020 Frontier OPEN Prize, and an Honorable Mention for the 2021 Ninth Letter Literary Award in Poetry. Her chapbook, BLOODWARM, is out now from Variant Lit (2021). Her debut full-length poetry collection, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, is forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in the Spring of 2023. She is represented by Rena Rossner of The Deborah Harris Agency. The Poetry Question Website The Poetry Question Merchandise --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Mike DeCapite is the author of the novel Jacket Weather, available from Soft Skull Press. DeCapite's other books include the novel Through the Windshield, the chapbook Creamsicle Blue, and the short-prose collection Radiant Fog, published under the banner of Sparkle Street Books. Cuz Editions published his story “Sitting Pretty,” later anthologized in The Italian American Reader. DeCapite grew up in Cleveland and has lived in London and San Francisco, but has spent most of his time in New York City, where he now resides. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Support the show on Patreon Merch www.otherppl.com @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here in this phone recorded episode David discusses Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzbreg with guest author James Reich who wrote the introduction to a 2015 edition of the novel published by Anti-Oedipus Press in 2015. But they don't stop there; the discussion also includes everything from 2001 to William S. Burroughs. Enjoy. James Reich is the author of the novels Soft Invasions (December 2017), Mistah Kurtz! A Prelude to Heart of Darkness (March 2016), Bombshell (July 2013) and I, Judas (October 2011) published by Anti-Oedipus Press and Soft Skull Press. His account of the New Wave of British science fiction appears in Bloomsbury Publishing's Decades series: The 1960s. James is a regular contributor to Deep Ends: The J.G. Ballard Anthology and his work has been published by numerous international magazines. He is the founder and publishing editor of Stalking Horse Press, and a professor of philosophy and literature. James was born in England in 1971, and has been a resident of the US since 2009. Note: This episode marks the beginning of our new series on all things science fiction that fall outside the PKD universe, including discussions on PKD's contemporaries, award winners of the era, and anything else we, or you, might find interesting. Beyond Apollo (Introduction by James Reich ►► https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Apollo-Barry-N-Malzberg/dp/0990573303 Songs My Enemies Sing by James Reich ►► https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/099915351X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1 Langhorne's Patreon ►► www.patreon.com/LanghorneJTweed Music on this episode is from - Valis: An Opera by Tod Machover Check it out here: www.amazon.com/Valis-ANNE-BOGDEN…EMA/dp/B000003GI2 FIND US: Twitter ►► https://twitter.com/Dickheadspod Facebook ►► https://www.facebook.com/Dickheadspodcast/ Soundcloud ►► https://soundcloud.com/dickheadspodcast Instagram ►► https://www.instagram.com/dickheadspodcast/ YouTube ►► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5…UlAAoWtLiCg --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pkdheadsbonus/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pkdheadsbonus/support

Noah & Ross sit down with poet Taylor Byas to talk about her chapbook BLOODWARM. Links of interest: Taylor Byas website BLOODWARM  Variant Literature  Taylor Byas is a Black poet and essayist. Originally from Chicago, she moved to Alabama for six years, where she received both her Bachelor's degree in English and her Master's degree in English (Creative Writing concentration) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Taylor currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio where she is a third year PhD student and Albert C. Yates Scholar at the University of Cincinnati studying poetry. She is also an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She has received five Pushcart and six Best of the Net nominations, and has won a Best Microfiction Award. She is also the 1st Place Winner of the 2020 Poetry Super Highway Contest, the 2020 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets, the 2021 Adrienne Rich Poetry Award, a finalist for the 2020 Frontier OPEN Prize, and an Honorable Mention for the 2021 Ninth Letter Literary Award in Poetry. Her chapbook, BLOODWARM, is out now from Variant Lit (2021). Her debut full-length poetry collection, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, is forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in the Spring of 2023.She is represented by Rena Rossner of The Deborah Harris Agency. Thank you for listening to The Chapbook!Noah Stetzer is on Twitter @dcNoahRoss White is on Twitter @rosswhite You can find all our episodes and contact us with your chapbook questions and suggestions here. Follow Bull City Press on Twitter https://twitter.com/bullcitypress Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bullcitypress/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bullcitypress 

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Mike DeCapite, author of Jacket Weather, which is published by our friends at Soft Skull Press.  Topics of conversation include Lou Reed, Spotify Playlists, the Manhattan Bridge, Ray Barretto, acid, Lez Zeppelin, "Don't Stop Believin'" and The Sopranos, solitude, Hot Tuna, The Rolling Stones, and more.  Copies of Jacket Weather can be ordered here with FREE SHIPPING.

On this episode of the Salt Lake Dirt Podcast we have author Mike DeCapite. His latest novel Jacket Weather (Soft Skull Press) is definitely one of my top picks for 2021. A big thanks to Tony DuShane for introducing me to Mike's work. Thanks for listening. SYNOPSIS: "Nick Hornby meets Patti Smith, Mean Streets meets A Visit From the Goon Squad in this quintessential New York City story about two people who knew each other in the downtown music scene in the 1980s, meet again in the present day, and fall in love." Mike knew June in New York's downtown music scene in the eighties. Back then, he thought she was “the living night—all the glamour and potential of a New York night when you're 25.” Now he's twice divorced and happy to be alone—so happy he's writing a book about it. Then he meets June again. “And here she was with a raincoat over the back of the chair talking about getting a divorce and saying she's done with relationships. Her ice-calm eyes are the same, the same her glory of curls.” Jacket Weather is about awakening to love—dizzying, all-consuming, worldview-shaking love—when it's least expected. It's also about remaining alert to today's pleasures—exploring the city, observing the seasons, listening to the guys at the gym—while time is slipping away. Told in fragments of narrative, reveries, recipes, bits of conversation and snatches of weather, the book collapses a decade in Mike and June's life and shifts a reader to a glowing nostalgia for the present. (Soft Skull Press)

Lucie Elven is the author of the debut novel The Weak Spot, available from Soft Skull Press. Elven has written for publications including The London Review of Books, Granta, and NOON. She is the former deputy editor of The Believer magazine, and The Weak Spot is her first book. She lives in London. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Life. Death. Etc. Support the show on Patreon Merch www.otherppl.com @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael talks with Taylor Byas about the release of BLOODWARM, Twitter feeds becoming too much, saving yourself, writing about race and patriarchy through the personal, revising while drafting, finding the form for the content, erasure, Mama Byas, her forthcoming full-length with Soft Skull Press, lineated vs. prose poetry, and more.Taylor Byas is a Black poet and essayist. She is a PhD student and Yates scholar at the University of Cincinnati, and an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. Her chapbook, BLOODWARM, is out now from Variant Lit (2021), and her debut full-length poetry collection, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, is forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in the Spring of 2023.Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.

Today's guest is Andy Hunter, Founder and CEO of Bookshop.org. Often referred to as the indie alternative to Amazon.com, Bookshop.org proposes a socially conscious way to buy books online. On the day our interview was recorded, it had since its launch in January 2020 raised close to $14 million for local bookstores in the US. Amazon has seen an alarming growth in the ecosystem of book sales in the US. Andy explains why it was important to act immediately when he came up with the idea. He also gives us an insight into the logistics and the business model of Bookshop.org, which recently branched out to a few other countries as well. Show Notes Andy's book recommendation Randa Jarrar, Love Is an Ex-Country About Andy Andy Hunter is the Founder & CEO of Bookshop.org. He is also the co-founder and publisher of Catapult press, the publisher of Counterpoint and Soft Skull Press, the co-creator and publisher of the websites Literary Hub, Crime Reads and BookMarks, and co-founder and chairman of Electric Literature. His focus is helping books remain a vital part of our culture in the digital age.

In Episode #2 of Translators Note, we take a closer look at three translated books published this past year, and the processes, trends, and intercultural dynamics at play as a translation project enters the world.Jack Jung, translator of Yi Sang: Selected Works (ed. Don Mee Choi, Wave Books 2020) and Lizzie Buehler, translator of The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun (Counterpoint Press 2020) join producer Abby Ryder-Huth to talk about their books and the particulars of working from Korean. Later, Kendall Storey, associate editor at Catapult, gives producer Julia Conrad a behind-the-scenes look at the publishing side, and talks about editing 2020 National Book Award finalist High as the Waters Rise, by Anja Kampmann and translated by Anne Posten. **If you have a translation project you think would be a good fit for Kendall, she is acquiring literary fiction (especially innovative works attentive to language) for Catapult Books, as well as for Soft Skull Press, which is known for its edgier and often humorous house aesthetic. You can reach her at kendall.storey@catapult.co.**Translators Note would like to thank everyone who makes our show possible! Nate Repasz made our fantastic theme music, and in this episode we also hear music by Daniel Birch, and "Ariel" by Bio Unit.PS: we're on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! Listen to us and subscribe there!

Richard Nash is a coach, strategist, and serial entrepreneur. He led partnerships and content at the culture discovery start-up Small Demons and the new media app Byliner. Previously he ran independent publishers Soft Skull Press and Red Lemonade where he published Maggie Nelson, Lynne Tillman, Vanessa Veselka's Zazen, Alain Mabanckou, and many others. He was awarded the Association of American Publishers' Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing in 2005. We met via Zoom (as I'm sure you'll be able to tell) to talk more about his article 'What is the Business of Literature?', about where publishing has been, technology and "the shock of the old," repurposing technology, essential reading, the influence of capitalism on publishing, copyright, great books not seeing the light of day, dance floors, reading, and the richness of book history.  

In this episode Jared speaks with Elvia Wilk, a writer whose practice deals with art, technology and culture under capitalism, expressed through an entanglement of critical essays, autobiography, and speculative fiction. Based in New York after years spent in Berlin, Elvia’s writing has appeared in the likes of frieze, Artforum, Mousse and the Los Angeles Review of Books to name a few. Her debut novel 'Oval' was published in 2019 by Soft Skull Press, and she is a contributing editor at e-flux Journal.

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Lucie Elven, author of The Weak Spot, which is published by our friends at Soft Skull Press.  Topics of discussion include character driven novels, the gravitational presence of a strong personality in a small town, whether pharmacies inspire soul-bearing honesty from their patrons, job interviews where women are asked about their plans for motherhood (or lack thereof), politics as a primary interest, and much more.  Copies of The Weak Spot can be ordered here with FREE SHIPPING.

See here for full episode: patreon.com/aqnbIn this episode Jared speaks with Elvia Wilk, a writer whose practice deals with art, technology and culture under capitalism, expressed through an entanglement of critical essays, autobiography, and speculative fiction. Based in New York after years spent in Berlin, Elvia’s writing has appeared in the likes of frieze, Artforum, Mousse and the Los Angeles Review of Books to name a few. Her debut novel 'Oval' was published in 2019 by Soft Skull Press, and she is a contributing editor at e-flux Journal.

Robyn and Anna invite Tim Wise to today's episode and break down racism in today's context. If race is the background noise to everything, we have to understand our role in the work. Are we educator or student? Tim Wise suggests we must be both.Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. He is also the host of the new podcast, Speak Out with Tim Wise.Wise is the author of eight books, including his forthcoming, Dispatches from the Race War (December 2020 from City Lights Books). Other books include Under the Affluence, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority and Colorblind (all from City Lights Books); his highly acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, (recently updated and re-released by Soft Skull Press); Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White; Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male; and Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama.You can follow Tim Wise on Twitter at @timjacobwise and on Medium at https://medium.com/@timjwise

Robyn and Anna invite Tim Wise to today's episode and break down racism in today's context. If race is the background noise to everything, we have to understand our role in the work. Are we educator or student? Tim Wise suggests we must be both.Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. He is also the host of the new podcast, Speak Out with Tim Wise.Wise is the author of eight books, including his forthcoming, Dispatches from the Race War (December 2020 from City Lights Books). Other books include Under the Affluence, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority and Colorblind (all from City Lights Books); his highly acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, (recently updated and re-released by Soft Skull Press); Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White; Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male; and Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama.You can follow Tim Wise on Twitter at @timjacobwise and on Medium at https://medium.com/@timjwise

Bruce Bartlett Starts at 10:18. Bruce has spent many years in government, including service on the staffs of Representatives Ron Paul and Jack Kemp and Senator Roger Jepsen. He has been executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House, and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush administration. Here are his books His New Republic Column. Bruce on Twitter  Tim Wise starts at 48 mins in. Tim is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. He is also the host of the new podcast, Speak Out with Tim Wise. He has also trained corporate, government, entertainment, media, law enforcement, military, and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions. Wise has provided anti-racism training to educators and administrators nationwide and internationally, in Canada and Bermuda. Wise is the author of eight books, including his forthcoming, Dispatches from the Race War (December 2020 from City Lights Books). Other books include Under the Affluence, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority and Colorblind (all from City Lights Books); his highly acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, (recently updated and re-released by Soft Skull Press); Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White; Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male; and Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama. Tim Wise on Twitter  Joe Sanberg starts at 1:33. Joe has been the leading advocate for the state’s new Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low-income families. He is Co-Founder of Aspiration.com, an online financial company built for everyone. Aspiration serves people at the heart of their financial lives – their banking account – in a trust-based model that empowers people to choose whatever fee they think is fair (even zero) and enables them to bank, invest, and spend in accordance with their values. Aspiration’s approach has made it the fastest-growing and most beloved consumer financial company in America. Joe also serves on the board of the Sierra Club Foundation, the Economic Innovation Group, and the Jefferson Awards Foundation, which engages over 1 million young people each year in volunteerism and public service Please consider a paid subscription to Stand Up

In this episode Sam Pink reads a story from his book Ice Cream Man and Other Stories, which is available now from Soft Skull Press. Music by Michael Kilcullen. 

Nicolette Polek is the guest. Her new story collection, Imaginary Museums, is available from Soft Skull Press. Polek is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio and is a recipient of the 2019 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fiona Alison Duncan is the guest. Her debut novel, Exquisite Mariposa, is available from Soft Skull Press. Duncan is a Canadian-American artist, writer and organizer. She is the founding host of Hard to Read, a lit series, and Pillow Talk, community organising on sex, love and communication. She lives in New York City and Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is a conversation with author Richard Chiem, whose book King of Joy is available now from Soft Skull Press. We talk about why writers run, we geek out about our favorite movies and directors, and we talk about staying sane as a writer. Music in this episode is by Michael Kilcullen. 

In 1996 Emory University's Michael A. Bellesiles, published an article in the Journal of American History: “The Origins of Gun Culture in the United States, 1760-1865.” His provocative argument was that there were nowhere near as many guns in early America as people had previously assumed and that American gun culture was born in the lead up to the Civil War. To prove his thesis, Bellesiles pointed to low counts of guns in probate records, gun censuses, militia muster records, and homicide accounts. While his article caused some debate, it received wide praise and eventfully served as the basis for Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture (2000) publish with Knopf.Upon publication Arming America received rave reviews from some of the academy's most respected figures and the only early negative reviews were from conservative or libertarian voices. Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture would go on to win the Bancroft Prize, the highest honor for historians of American history. But criticism continued to mount, and more and more scholars began to investigate the claims being made by Bellesiles and the numbers he offered. As criticism increased and charges of scholarly misconduct were made, Emory University conducted an internal inquiry into Bellesiles's integrity, appointing an independent investigative committee composed of three leading academic historians from outside Emory. The investigation agreed with his critics that Arming America had serious problems within its thesis, and called into question both its quality and veracity.In 2002, the trustees of Columbia University rescinded Arming America‘s Bancroft Prize. Alfred A. Knopf did not renew Bellesiles' contract, and the National Endowment for the Humanities withdrew its name from a fellowship that the Newberry Library had granted Bellesiles. Bellesiles issued a statement on October 25, 2002, announcing the resignation of his professorship at Emory by year's end because of the university's hostile environment. In 2003, Bellesiles released a second edition of Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture with Soft Skull Press and a response booklet to his critics, Weighed in an Even Balance. To this day, while regretting having written the book, Bellesiles stands by Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture.-Michael A. Bellesiles is a historian and has taught at Emory University, Central Connecticut State University, and Trinity College. Bellesiles received his BA from the University of California–Santa Cruz in 1975 and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Irvine in 1986. He is the author of numerous books, including Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier, Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, 1877: America's Year of Living Violently, and A People's History of the U.S. Military: Ordinary Soldiers Reflect on Their Experience of War, from the American Revolution to Afghanistan.---Support for the Age of Jackson Podcast was provided by Isabelle Laskari, Jared Riddick, John Muller, Julianne Johnson, Laura Lochner, Mark Etherton, Marshall Steinbaum, Martha S. Jones, Michael Gorodiloff, Mitchell Oxford, Richard D. Brown, Rod, Rosa, Stephen Campbell, and Victoria Johnson, Alice Burton, as well as Andrew Jackson's Hermitage​ in Nashville, TN.

In 1996 Emory University's Michael A. Bellesiles, published an article in the Journal of American History: "The Origins of Gun Culture in the United States, 1760-1865." His provocative argument was that there were nowhere near as many guns in early America as people had previously assumed and that American gun culture was born in the lead up to the Civil War. To prove his thesis, Bellesiles pointed to low counts of guns in probate records, gun censuses, militia muster records, and homicide accounts. While his article caused some debate, it received wide praise and eventfully served as the basis for Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture (2000) publish with Knopf.Upon publication Arming America received rave reviews from some of the academy's most respected figures and the only early negative reviews were from conservative or libertarian voices. Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture would go on to win the Bancroft Prize, the highest honor for historians of American history. But criticism continued to mount, and more and more scholars began to investigate the claims being made by Bellesiles and the numbers he offered. As criticism increased and charges of scholarly misconduct were made, Emory University conducted an internal inquiry into Bellesiles's integrity, appointing an independent investigative committee composed of three leading academic historians from outside Emory. The investigation agreed with his critics that Arming America had serious problems within its thesis, and called into question both its quality and veracity.In 2002, the trustees of Columbia University rescinded Arming America's Bancroft Prize. Alfred A. Knopf did not renew Bellesiles' contract, and the National Endowment for the Humanities withdrew its name from a fellowship that the Newberry Library had granted Bellesiles. Bellesiles issued a statement on October 25, 2002, announcing the resignation of his professorship at Emory by year's end. In 2003, Bellesiles released the second edition of Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture with Soft Skull Press and a response booklet to his critics, Weighed in an Even Balance. James Lindgren recounted much of the Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture saga and the criticisms against it in his article "Fall From Grace."-Joyce Lee Malcolm is the Patrick Henry Professor of Constitutional Law and the Second Amendment Joyce Lee Malcolm is a historian and constitutional scholar active in the area of constitutional history, focusing on the development of individual rights in Great Britain and America. She is the author of eight books, most recently The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life. Professor Malcolm has written many books and articles on gun control, the Second Amendment, and individual rights. Her work, To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right, was cited several times in the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. She was also one of the first critics of Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture.

Joining today: author Lilibet Snellings, author of BOX GIRL: My Part-Time Job as an Art Installation (from Soft Skull Press) and the funniest person you know with MSThe first thing I remember from my initial call to Lilibet was her talent for setting the dramatic to a well-lit narrative; one where all the places and players are carefully examined, illustrated, and given vibrancy by their all-too-human quips (we also share an addiction to bulleted lists and numbered collections, handwritten notes and a continued affection for the late cinema sage, Syd Field). The second, was her immediate—and sincere—reply when I asked:“What was it like to spend part of your life on exhibit?”- JShow NotesYou can learn more about Lilibet’s work on her website or talk with her directly on Twitter as well.This piece and episode first appeared in an interview for The Huffington Post, which you can read here.For more information, and a proper view of The Standard Hotel’s Box installation, you can also read Paper Magazine’s article from last year.Like what you hear and want to show your support? Leave a review on your app of choice or subscribe to our Patreon site. The Magician, written & performed by Immersive MusicKudos to @BrothersHerman for the final edits. Here Be Tygers is a proud member of The ESO Network.Support the show (http://www.patreon.com/herebetygers)

Elvia Wilkis the guest. Her debut novel, Oval, is available from Soft Skull Press. Wilk is a writer and editor living in New York and Berlin. She contributes to publications like Frieze, Mousse, Metropolis, Artforum, and Zeit Online. From 2012 to 2016 she was a founding editor at uncube magazine and from 2016 to 2018 she was the publications editor for transmediale. She is currently a contributing editor at e-flux journal and is finishing a masters at the New School for Social Research. She has taught at the University of the Arts Berlin, Eugene Lang College, and City College of New York.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Chiem is the guest. His new novel, King of Joy, is available from Soft Skull Press. This is Richard's second time on the podcast. He first appeared in Episode 142on January 23, 2013. Chiem is also the author of You Private Person (Sorry House Classics). It was named one of Publishers Weekly's 10 Essential Books of the American West. His work has appeared in City Arts Magazine, NY Tyrant, and Gramma Poetry, among other places.  He lives in Seattle, WA.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Nash is a coach, strategist, and serial entrepreneur in new and traditional media. He led partnerships and content at the culture discovery start-up Small Demons and the new media app Byliner, and ran the publisher Soft Skull Press, for which work he was awarded the Association of American Publishers' Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing in 2005. Utne Reader named him one of Fifty Visionaries Changing Your World and in 2013 the Frankfurt Book Fair picked him as one of the Five Most Inspiring People in Digital Publishing. Last year he founded Cursor, a shared US publishing office for five of the world’s leading independent publishers and this year he will launch a book-and-wine subscription box called Rapt. As a coach, he works with artists, writers, and entrepreneurs, helping them navigate personal and professional transitions. In this podcast, he talks about his change-filled journey from soft-drink-company heir to publisher and entrepreneur, via avant-garde theatre. Along the way, he's learned a lot about learning, and been driven by a desire to do new things - or, sometimes, to do an old thing in a new and sensible way. And he's also found that there are times in life when things bounce and splash around, and others when the way broadens and becomes calmer.

Brad Listi talks with Lynne Tillman, author of the novel MEN AND APPARITIONS, available from Soft Skull Press. Her novels include Haunted Houses; Motion Sickness; Cast in Doubt; No Lease on Life, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and American Genius, A Comedy. Her nonfiction books include The Velvet Years: Warhol’s Factory 1965–1967; and What Would Lynne Tillman Do?, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. She lives in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we sat down with writer Tony DuShane. Tony is the author of Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk, published by Soft Skull Press and now a feature film directed by Eric Stoltz.His writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, The Rumpus, and The Believer. He was a music columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle and wrote hundreds of articles covering books, film, and music. He also teaches novel writing at UCLA Extension.Tony wanted to discuss the 2014 experimental music documentary 20,000 Days On Earth (directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard) which depicts a 24-hour period in the life of musician, author, composer and actor Nick Cave. It won for Documentary directing and editing at Sundance and was nominated for a Best Documentary BAFTA.Bonus discussion with Tony for Patreon patrons.Follow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.

Brad Listi talks with Chelsea Martin, author of the essay collection CACA DOLCE: ESSAYS FROM A LOWBROW LIFE, available now from Soft Skull Press. Martin's other books include 'Even Though I Don’t Miss You', which was named one of the Best Indie Books of 2013 by Dazed magazine, and the novel 'Mickey.' Her work has appeared in Buzzfeed, Hobart, Lenny Letter, and Vice, and chosen as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2016. She is a comic artist and illustrator and currently lives in Washington State. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, Brea and Mallory discuss translated fiction, interview publisher and translator Didi Chanoch, and Brea thinks you should eat some pancakes. Use the hashtag #TranslatedBookLove on Instagram and Twitter to participate in online discussion! Links - Language of Laughter Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/lolforacause/ Didi Chanoch - https://twitter.com/didic http://www.novapress.co.il/ http://hugonoms2018.wikia.com/wiki/Hugo_Nominees_2018_Wiki http://www.sfintranslation.com/ http://bibliobio.blogspot.com/ https://womenintranslation.tumblr.com/   Shana Dubois - https://twitter.com/booksabound Translated Genre Books - http://booksabound.net/2017/09/19/translation-station-reading-glasses-podcast/ PEN Translated Book Prize - https://pen.org/literary-award/pen-translation-prize-3000/ Best Translated Book Award - http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=18842 Gray Wolf Press - https://www.graywolfpress.org/ FSG - https://us.macmillan.com/fsg/ Soft Skull Press - https://softskull.com/ Melville House - https://www.mhpbooks.com/ https://twitter.com/melvillehouse Books- Who Fears Death? By Nnedi Okorafor https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780756406691 Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780142420911 Drawing Blood by Molly Crabapple https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062323644 Chronicle of the Murdered House by Lucio Cardoso, translated by Benjamin Moser, Margaret Jull Costa https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781940953502 Extracting the Stone of Madness by Alejandra Pizarnik, translated by Yvette Siegert https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780811223966 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307887443 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062459367 Dune by Frank Herbert https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780441172719 The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780756413316 Uprooted by Naomi Novik https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780804179034 Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780765385505

BigCity (Stalking Horse Press) Scot Sothern’s profane western satire, BigCity, is a novel with an unforgettable cast, including the wild and lethal Bitch Bantam, pulp writer Slab Pettibone, and his sidekick FuzzyWuzzy the bear, in a tale as moving as it is scandalous. In postbellum America, BigCity nutures the birth of feminism, robber barons, media stardom, and motion pictures. Tall-Tale characters are realized with humor and pathos, sex and violence and nail-biting action. Teeming masses have come this dark megalopolis for a new life and a throw of the dice. Bitch Bantam is a giant of a woman and a living legend. As a tot, she was pitted in back-alley gaming joints, against fighting rats, curs, cocks and hogs. She was victorious in bloody battle yet illiterate and chained to servitude by white slavers. Now, freed of the bonds of slavery, she harbors a quixotic obsession of becoming a refined, civilized, woman like those she sees twirling parasols through the glittering boulevards of BigCity. When Bitch falls in love with the famous hammer-of- justice wielding feminist, Helen Beck, she fears her violent primal instincts will drive her love away. Pulp writer, performer, and rootin-tootin cowboy, Slab Pettibone, has no legs. He travels about, hither and yon, saddled to the back-side of his trusty, four-hundred seventy-six-pound, pet bear FuzzyWuzzy. When great love and loss come together Slab is forced to accept his legendary status as all too human. He strives to be the action-packed hero he created on the written page, while FuzzyWuzzy just wants to eat and shit in the woods. Dooley Paradise, a well-meaning lad with a political bent, orchestrates the daily existence of a self-sufficient orphanage, TumbleHouse. The tatterdemalion tikes are tutored in reading, writing, thievery and solicitation. When TumbleHouse is besieged by a gaggle of crusading dowagers led by famous feminist, Helen Beck, young Dooley becomes a pawn in a no-win scheme of city-wide corruption. Daddy Smithy is a showbiz whiz. He has put together a vaudeville extravaganza with Slab Pettibone, FuzzyWuzzy, and Bitch Bantam topping the bill. Now Daddy needs financing to tackle the new medium of moving-pictures. When he barters his six-year- old daughter to twisted tobacco tycoon Warner Quackenbush, he sets in motion a chain of violence and revenge. BigCity is a fantastical adventure and love story examining the dynamics of change and the politics of natural selection. Praise for Scot Sothern: “Deliciously strange and compelling, delightfully lurid and fun, Scot Sothern’s debut novel reads like a feral mashup of Cormac McCarthy and William Gibson amped on cornjuice and spiderbite.” – Mark Haskell Smith “Sothern is not a mere voyeur, he wades deeply into zones most never will and renders his subjects with dignity and compassion. Lowlife is a moving and compelling piece of work.”--Henry Rollins “This is raw life without filter, unsentimental, unsparing, brutally beautiful.” - Tara Ison, author of BALL Writer/photographer Scot Sothern, best known for his up-close stories and photographs of street prostitutes in Los Angeles, spent forty years making photographs and drifting from job to job. His first exhibit,Lowlife, opened at the notorious Drkrm Gallery in Los Angeles in 2010 and his first book, Lowlife, was published in the U.K. by Stanley Barker in 2011. Scot’s work has since appeared in numerous online and glossy magazines along with gallery shows in LA, NYC, Miami, and London.  The British Journal of Photography called Lowlife, “The year’s most controversial photobook.”  In 2013 Scot took a two-year gig writing a biweekly column, Nocturnal Submissions, at VICE Magazine. In 2013, Curb Service: A Memoir, was published by Soft Skull Press. In 2016, Streetwalkers, stories and photographs, was published by powerHouse Books. BigCity is his first novel.

Dr. Bob Jensen sits down to talk American imperialism, economics, and electoral politics. We unpack these topics through the lenses of the Iraq War, 2008 Financial Collapse, and 2016 election. Dr. Jensen is a professor in the School or Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Plain Radical: Living, Loving, and Learning to Leave the Planet Gracefully (Counterpoint/Soft Skull, 2015). Jensen’s other books include Arguing for Our Lives: A User’s Guide to Constructive Dialogue (City Lights, 2013); All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice, (Soft Skull Press, 2009); Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007); The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002).

Writer / photographer, Scot Sothern, bounced around for forty years. In 2010, at 60, his first solo exhibit, LOWLIFE, photos and stories of life with street prostitutes, was held at the notorious Drkrm Gallery in Los Angeles. His first book of the same title was published in the U.K. by Stanley Barker in 2011. The British Journal of Photography called LOWLIFE, “The years’ most controversial photobook.” Scot’s work has since been exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London, and Paris. In 2013 he began a biweekly column, Nocturnal Submissions, for VICE Magazine, and Curb Service: A Memoir, was published by Soft Skull Press. STREETWALKERS, stories and photographs was published by powerHouse Books in February 2016. Writer, Jerry Stahl, called it “An absolutely amazing and essential book." BIG CITY, published in 2017 by Stalking Horse Press, is Sothern’s first novel. Guest Interviewer: Nolwen Cifuentes www.artistdecoded.com

Michael Muhammed Knight writes this book from a first-person perspective, as a piece of creative non-fiction. The book includes a liberal amount of swearing and sexual references, and Knight’s writing style is raw, sometimes jarring, but smart and sophisticated. Indeed by pushing boundaries, it offers the reader an experience and angle that many authors prefer to avoid. Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, 2013) includes personal, autobiographical reflections as well as detailed cultural and political histories of the many interactions between drugs and religion, specifically Islam. From the beginning of the book the reader expects the story to culminate in the author’s experiential encounter with a visionary plant brew called ayahuasca, indigenous to South America and now popular throughout the globe, as a portal into the spiritual world. The twists and turns leading up to this encounter give the book some amount of narrative suspense, but it’s a page-turner in any case. The reader, during her journey through Knight’s narrative, will learn about how coffee was initially banned by Muslims and how socio-economics allowed wine–although explicitly forbidden by authoritative religious texts–a status over marijuana, which was not explicitly forbidden but still seen as a drug for the lower classes. The reader also learns about philosophical debates over authority to interpret Islamic metaphysical doctrines and how the world of academia functions. That the book’s subtitle includes writing makes itself clear throughout the text as well, and readers who enjoy reflecting on the recreational as well as existential dramas of written language will find themselves gripped by Knight’s process. He wrote the book, moreover, during his transition into a PhD program in religious studies, after already making a name for himself as a successful author of several books. Because of the liminal space from which he writes Tripping with Allah, as well as its artistic precision, the book should appeal to broad audiences and Islamic studies specialists alike. Elliott Bazzano is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College. His research and teaching interests include theory and methodology in the study of religion, Islamic studies, Quranic studies, mysticism, religion and media, and religion and drugs. His academic publications are available here. He can be reached at (bazzanea@lemoyne.edu). Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Muhammed Knight writes this book from a first-person perspective, as a piece of creative non-fiction. The book includes a liberal amount of swearing and sexual references, and Knight’s writing style is raw, sometimes jarring, but smart and sophisticated. Indeed by pushing boundaries, it offers the reader an experience and angle that many authors prefer to avoid. Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, 2013) includes personal, autobiographical reflections as well as detailed cultural and political histories of the many interactions between drugs and religion, specifically Islam. From the beginning of the book the reader expects the story to culminate in the author’s experiential encounter with a visionary plant brew called ayahuasca, indigenous to South America and now popular throughout the globe, as a portal into the spiritual world. The twists and turns leading up to this encounter give the book some amount of narrative suspense, but it’s a page-turner in any case. The reader, during her journey through Knight’s narrative, will learn about how coffee was initially banned by Muslims and how socio-economics allowed wine–although explicitly forbidden by authoritative religious texts–a status over marijuana, which was not explicitly forbidden but still seen as a drug for the lower classes. The reader also learns about philosophical debates over authority to interpret Islamic metaphysical doctrines and how the world of academia functions. That the book’s subtitle includes writing makes itself clear throughout the text as well, and readers who enjoy reflecting on the recreational as well as existential dramas of written language will find themselves gripped by Knight’s process. He wrote the book, moreover, during his transition into a PhD program in religious studies, after already making a name for himself as a successful author of several books. Because of the liminal space from which he writes Tripping with Allah, as well as its artistic precision, the book should appeal to broad audiences and Islamic studies specialists alike. Elliott Bazzano is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College. His research and teaching interests include theory and methodology in the study of religion, Islamic studies, Quranic studies, mysticism, religion and media, and religion and drugs. His academic publications are available here. He can be reached at (bazzanea@lemoyne.edu). Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Muhammed Knight writes this book from a first-person perspective, as a piece of creative non-fiction. The book includes a liberal amount of swearing and sexual references, and Knight’s writing style is raw, sometimes jarring, but smart and sophisticated. Indeed by pushing boundaries, it offers the reader an experience and angle that many authors prefer to avoid. Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, 2013) includes personal, autobiographical reflections as well as detailed cultural and political histories of the many interactions between drugs and religion, specifically Islam. From the beginning of the book the reader expects the story to culminate in the author’s experiential encounter with a visionary plant brew called ayahuasca, indigenous to South America and now popular throughout the globe, as a portal into the spiritual world. The twists and turns leading up to this encounter give the book some amount of narrative suspense, but it’s a page-turner in any case. The reader, during her journey through Knight’s narrative, will learn about how coffee was initially banned by Muslims and how socio-economics allowed wine–although explicitly forbidden by authoritative religious texts–a status over marijuana, which was not explicitly forbidden but still seen as a drug for the lower classes. The reader also learns about philosophical debates over authority to interpret Islamic metaphysical doctrines and how the world of academia functions. That the book’s subtitle includes writing makes itself clear throughout the text as well, and readers who enjoy reflecting on the recreational as well as existential dramas of written language will find themselves gripped by Knight’s process. He wrote the book, moreover, during his transition into a PhD program in religious studies, after already making a name for himself as a successful author of several books. Because of the liminal space from which he writes Tripping with Allah, as well as its artistic precision, the book should appeal to broad audiences and Islamic studies specialists alike. Elliott Bazzano is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College. His research and teaching interests include theory and methodology in the study of religion, Islamic studies, Quranic studies, mysticism, religion and media, and religion and drugs. His academic publications are available here. He can be reached at (bazzanea@lemoyne.edu). Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Muhammed Knight writes this book from a first-person perspective, as a piece of creative non-fiction. The book includes a liberal amount of swearing and sexual references, and Knight's writing style is raw, sometimes jarring, but smart and sophisticated. Indeed by pushing boundaries, it offers the reader an experience and angle that many authors prefer to avoid. Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, 2013) includes personal, autobiographical reflections as well as detailed cultural and political histories of the many interactions between drugs and religion, specifically Islam. From the beginning of the book the reader expects the story to culminate in the author's experiential encounter with a visionary plant brew called ayahuasca, indigenous to South America and now popular throughout the globe, as a portal into the spiritual world. The twists and turns leading up to this encounter give the book some amount of narrative suspense, but it's a page-turner in any case. The reader, during her journey through Knight's narrative, will learn about how coffee was initially banned by Muslims and how socio-economics allowed wine–although explicitly forbidden by authoritative religious texts–a status over marijuana, which was not explicitly forbidden but still seen as a drug for the lower classes. The reader also learns about philosophical debates over authority to interpret Islamic metaphysical doctrines and how the world of academia functions. That the book's subtitle includes writing makes itself clear throughout the text as well, and readers who enjoy reflecting on the recreational as well as existential dramas of written language will find themselves gripped by Knight's process. He wrote the book, moreover, during his transition into a PhD program in religious studies, after already making a name for himself as a successful author of several books. Because of the liminal space from which he writes Tripping with Allah, as well as its artistic precision, the book should appeal to broad audiences and Islamic studies specialists alike. Elliott Bazzano is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College. His research and teaching interests include theory and methodology in the study of religion, Islamic studies, Quranic studies, mysticism, religion and media, and religion and drugs. His academic publications are available here. He can be reached at (bazzanea@lemoyne.edu). Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/drugs-addiction-and-recovery

Michael Muhammed Knight writes this book from a first-person perspective, as a piece of creative non-fiction. The book includes a liberal amount of swearing and sexual references, and Knight’s writing style is raw, sometimes jarring, but smart and sophisticated. Indeed by pushing boundaries, it offers the reader an experience and angle that many authors prefer to avoid. Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, 2013) includes personal, autobiographical reflections as well as detailed cultural and political histories of the many interactions between drugs and religion, specifically Islam. From the beginning of the book the reader expects the story to culminate in the author’s experiential encounter with a visionary plant brew called ayahuasca, indigenous to South America and now popular throughout the globe, as a portal into the spiritual world. The twists and turns leading up to this encounter give the book some amount of narrative suspense, but it’s a page-turner in any case. The reader, during her journey through Knight’s narrative, will learn about how coffee was initially banned by Muslims and how socio-economics allowed wine–although explicitly forbidden by authoritative religious texts–a status over marijuana, which was not explicitly forbidden but still seen as a drug for the lower classes. The reader also learns about philosophical debates over authority to interpret Islamic metaphysical doctrines and how the world of academia functions. That the book’s subtitle includes writing makes itself clear throughout the text as well, and readers who enjoy reflecting on the recreational as well as existential dramas of written language will find themselves gripped by Knight’s process. He wrote the book, moreover, during his transition into a PhD program in religious studies, after already making a name for himself as a successful author of several books. Because of the liminal space from which he writes Tripping with Allah, as well as its artistic precision, the book should appeal to broad audiences and Islamic studies specialists alike. Elliott Bazzano is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College. His research and teaching interests include theory and methodology in the study of religion, Islamic studies, Quranic studies, mysticism, religion and media, and religion and drugs. His academic publications are available here. He can be reached at (bazzanea@lemoyne.edu). Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Muhammed Knight writes this book from a first-person perspective, as a piece of creative non-fiction. The book includes a liberal amount of swearing and sexual references, and Knight’s writing style is raw, sometimes jarring, but smart and sophisticated. Indeed by pushing boundaries, it offers the reader an experience and angle that many authors prefer to avoid. Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, 2013) includes personal, autobiographical reflections as well as detailed cultural and political histories of the many interactions between drugs and religion, specifically Islam. From the beginning of the book the reader expects the story to culminate in the author’s experiential encounter with a visionary plant brew called ayahuasca, indigenous to South America and now popular throughout the globe, as a portal into the spiritual world. The twists and turns leading up to this encounter give the book some amount of narrative suspense, but it’s a page-turner in any case. The reader, during her journey through Knight’s narrative, will learn about how coffee was initially banned by Muslims and how socio-economics allowed wine–although explicitly forbidden by authoritative religious texts–a status over marijuana, which was not explicitly forbidden but still seen as a drug for the lower classes. The reader also learns about philosophical debates over authority to interpret Islamic metaphysical doctrines and how the world of academia functions. That the book’s subtitle includes writing makes itself clear throughout the text as well, and readers who enjoy reflecting on the recreational as well as existential dramas of written language will find themselves gripped by Knight’s process. He wrote the book, moreover, during his transition into a PhD program in religious studies, after already making a name for himself as a successful author of several books. Because of the liminal space from which he writes Tripping with Allah, as well as its artistic precision, the book should appeal to broad audiences and Islamic studies specialists alike. Elliott Bazzano is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College. His research and teaching interests include theory and methodology in the study of religion, Islamic studies, Quranic studies, mysticism, religion and media, and religion and drugs. His academic publications are available here. He can be reached at (bazzanea@lemoyne.edu). Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Jodzio, oft and rightly compared to George Saunders, is lauded by Chuck Klosterman as “the best best kind of modern fiction writer: a thematic traditionalist who feels totally new.” It’s no wonder this hilarious and profound Minneapolis writer has cultivated a cult following who flock to his reading events. His most recent collection Knock Out: Stories (Soft Skull Press, 2016) features a cast of complex, compelling, and strange characters (an alcoholic bed and breakfast owner, a recovering meth addict and a kidnapped tiger, an agoraphobic mother raising her baby completely indoors, a former soap opera star paralyzed in a human cannon ball stunt gone bad, and a son trying to keep the opium den family business afloat– just to name a few) who ultimately reveal their own raw humanity, as well as our shared emotional experience without the baggage of sentimentality. Jodzio walks a tightrope between comedic gold and hitting the sweet spot of crack-your-ribcage-open-and-shatter-your-heart-like-a-geode. These artfully crafted stories are difficult to put down, and Jodzio’s plotting and pacing are so spot on that it’s a deceptively quick read. It’s only on rereading that we see how hard each sentence is working to reveal the world anew to us as readers. Barbara Harroun is an Assistant Professor at Western Illinois University. Her work can be found at Fiction Southeast, Watershed Review, Rappahannock Review and Iron Horse Literary Review, among others. She can be found at barbaraharroun.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Jodzio, oft and rightly compared to George Saunders, is lauded by Chuck Klosterman as “the best best kind of modern fiction writer: a thematic traditionalist who feels totally new.” It’s no wonder this hilarious and profound Minneapolis writer has cultivated a cult following who flock to his reading events. His most recent collection Knock Out: Stories (Soft Skull Press, 2016) features a cast of complex, compelling, and strange characters (an alcoholic bed and breakfast owner, a recovering meth addict and a kidnapped tiger, an agoraphobic mother raising her baby completely indoors, a former soap opera star paralyzed in a human cannon ball stunt gone bad, and a son trying to keep the opium den family business afloat– just to name a few) who ultimately reveal their own raw humanity, as well as our shared emotional experience without the baggage of sentimentality. Jodzio walks a tightrope between comedic gold and hitting the sweet spot of crack-your-ribcage-open-and-shatter-your-heart-like-a-geode. These artfully crafted stories are difficult to put down, and Jodzio’s plotting and pacing are so spot on that it’s a deceptively quick read. It’s only on rereading that we see how hard each sentence is working to reveal the world anew to us as readers. Barbara Harroun is an Assistant Professor at Western Illinois University. Her work can be found at Fiction Southeast, Watershed Review, Rappahannock Review and Iron Horse Literary Review, among others. She can be found at barbaraharroun.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Jodzio, oft and rightly compared to George Saunders, is lauded by Chuck Klosterman as “the best best kind of modern fiction writer: a thematic traditionalist who feels totally new.” It’s no wonder this hilarious and profound Minneapolis writer has cultivated a cult following who flock to his reading events. His most recent collection Knock Out: Stories (Soft Skull Press, 2016) features a cast of complex, compelling, and strange characters (an alcoholic bed and breakfast owner, a recovering meth addict and a kidnapped tiger, an agoraphobic mother raising her baby completely indoors, a former soap opera star paralyzed in a human cannon ball stunt gone bad, and a son trying to keep the opium den family business afloat– just to name a few) who ultimately reveal their own raw humanity, as well as our shared emotional experience without the baggage of sentimentality. Jodzio walks a tightrope between comedic gold and hitting the sweet spot of crack-your-ribcage-open-and-shatter-your-heart-like-a-geode. These artfully crafted stories are difficult to put down, and Jodzio’s plotting and pacing are so spot on that it’s a deceptively quick read. It’s only on rereading that we see how hard each sentence is working to reveal the world anew to us as readers. Barbara Harroun is an Assistant Professor at Western Illinois University. Her work can be found at Fiction Southeast, Watershed Review, Rappahannock Review and Iron Horse Literary Review, among others. She can be found at barbaraharroun.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calf (Soft Skull Press)                  Mighty, Mighty (Soft Skull Press)Join us tonight for a fantastic evening from one of our favorite publishers Soft Skull Press! The year was 1981. The US was entering a deep recession, Russia was our enemy, and John Hinckley, Jr.'s assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan shocked the nation. It was also the year author Andrea Kleine learned her close childhood friend had been violently murdered by her socialite mother, Leslie DeVeau. Both events took place in Washington, DC. Hinckley and Deveau were both sent to St. Elizabeth's hospital, guilty by reason of insanity. It was there that they met, and later became lovers. These two real-life, and ultimately converging events inspired Klein's jaw-dropping, spine-tingling novel, CALF. Made up of dual narratives and told over the course of one year, Kleine's account follows a fictionalized John Hinkley in the lead-up to the assassination attempt, and Tammy, older sister to Steffi, the best friend of DeVeau's daughter, Kirin. Part Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and part Taxi Driver, this creepy, unsettling, and absolutely addictive novel shines a light on two terrible events, providing an unflinching depiction of violence, both intimate and sensational.Praise for Calf"In 1981, John Hinckley, Jr.'s attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan rocked the nation. And Andrea Kleine's gripping novel,Calf will rock readers. This is a wonderfully unsettling book about love, loss, and unlikely connections." -- Elliott Holt, author of You Are One of ThemWally Rudolph's Mighty, Mighty is a modern day fable set in a crumbling metropolis riddled with urban poverty and violence.Dirty apartments, tattoo parlors, food kitchens - these are the markers of home for the struggling young adults around Chicago. Stefy is an artist at Ghost Town, the local tattoo shop, trying to provide for her younger sister Amanda and their ailing grandfather. Amanda is hoping for something better, seeking to escape a past riddled with addiction and an abusive relationship with Georgie. When he confronts her one drunken night at a dive bar, the situation turns violent: Amanda barely escapes with her life but Georgie lies dead on the bathroom floor. This one mistake puts the two sisters in the crosshairs of Georgie's father, a twisted, corrupt ex-cop now out for revenge over the murder of his son. His quest for vengeance will make the neighborhoods of Chicago tremble, leaving no one untouched. Mighty, Mighty is a harsh and realistic look at the struggle of two families desperately trying to get out from under the heavy boot of violence and poverty. Like the works of Richard Price and Dennis Lehane, the novel is a startling and accurate portrait of contemporary urban life.Andrea Kleine is a writer and performance artist whose work has spanned dance, theater, film, literature, and interdisciplinary projects. She has received five MacDowell Colony fellowships and the New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship award. Her writing has been published in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Everyday Genius, NYFA Current, and on her blog, The Dancers Will Win. Calf is her first novel.Wally Rudolph is the author of the novels Mighty, Mighty (2015) and Four Corners (2014). His fiction has been published in Milk Money, Lines+Stars, The Brooklyner, and others. A graduate of The Second City Conservatory in Chicago, he now resides with his family in Los Angeles. As an actor, he has appeared in numerous films and TV shows including Sons of Anarchy, Hawaii 5-0, Street Kings, and Bang Bang.

Tender Points (Timeless/Infinite Light)                                                The Argonauts (Graywolf Press)Tender Points is a narrative fractured by trauma. Named after the diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia, the book-length lyric essay explores sexual violence, gendered illness, chronic pain, and patriarchy through the lenses of lived experience and pop culture (Twin Peaks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, noise music, etc.).Praise for Tender Points""Tender Points does precisely what people are always saying can't be done—it combines a moving, distilled, literary journey with advocacy and even pedagogy, here about trauma, chronic pain, patriarchy, and more. Call it "écriture féminine en homme," if you want (as Berkowitz does, with acid wit)—but whatever you call it, this is firm, high-stakes speech speaking truth to power, radiating beauty and fierceness from its inspiring insistence and persistence."—Maggie Nelson"'Trauma is nonlinear,' writes Berkowitz. I am impressed by the sensing form she makes. That has the day in it, as well as the night. The body, that is, in variable settings, frames and weathers. The stairs that 'climb up my arms and neck.' The 'I am bitterly jealous of people who can always go back to being a barista for a while.' This book is a kind of clutching and being there for real, and that is what I like. A book. That takes up. A visceral form."—Bhanu Kapil"Tender Points is one of those books that feels necessary. It takes on rape culture and cops and doctors, the whole long history of who gets to speak and how, who gets heard and who doesn't and why not. I wish this book wasn't as necessary as it is, but I'm so grateful to Amy for writing it."—Stephanie YoungAmy Berkowitz is the author of Tender Points (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2015). Her work has also appeared in Dusie, Textsound, Where Eagles Dare, and VIDA's Reports from the Field series. In 2014, she was a Writer in Residence at Alley Cat Bookstore & Gallery. She lives in a rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco, where she is the founding editor of Mondo Bummer Books and the host of the Amy's Kitchen Organics reading series. , . . Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. At its center is a romance: the story of the author's relationship with the artist Harry Dodge. This story, which includes Nelson's account of falling in love with Dodge, who is fluidly gendered, as well as her journey to and through a pregnancy, offers a firsthand account of the complexities and joys of (queer) family-making. Writing in the spirit of public intellectuals such as Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes, Nelson binds her personal experience to a rigorous exploration of what iconic theorists have said about sexuality, gender, and the vexed institutions of marriage and child-rearing. Nelson's insistence on radical individual freedom and the value of caretaking becomes the rallying cry of this thoughtful, unabashed, uncompromising book.Praise for The Argonauts"What a dazzlingly generous, gloriously unpredictable book! Maggie Nelson shows us what it means to be real, offering a way of thinking that is as challenging as it is liberating. She invites us to 'pay homage to the transitive' and enjoy 'a becoming in which one never becomes.' Reading The Argonauts made me happier and freer." --Eula Biss"Maggie Nelson cuts through our culture's prefabricated structures of thought and feeling with an intelligence whose ferocity is ultimately in the service of love. No piety is safe, no orthodoxy, no easy irony. The scare quotes burn off like fog." --Ben Lerner "There isn't another critic alive like Maggie Nelson--who writes with such passion, clarity, explicitness, fluidity, playfulness, and generosity that she redefines what thinking can do today. Indeed, I come away from The Argonauts with a heady, excited sensation of having seen unveiled a new era of embodied, soulful rumination. Her impeccable sentences destroy doxa and gleefully remake the body politic; her prose seems air-borne, like an Argus-eyed levitator in touch with the divine. Buoyant, Nelson soars through art and philosophy and her own experiences with reckless mastery and insurrectionary ease--a virtuosity born of deep reflection and fearless trust in what literature, at its best, can do." --Wayne Koestenbaum"In The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson turns 'making the personal public' into a romantic, intellectual wet dream. A gorgeous book, inventive, fearless, and full of heart." --Kim Gordon"The Argonauts takes us on delicious journey into the real life intimacies and intricacies of queer love, sex, literature, and motherhood. Maggie Nelson's honesty, intelligence, humor and great writing transform what society might deem a radical, non-traditional lifestyle into the new desirable. A fucking gem of a book that touched and tickled all my sweet spots."--Annie Sprinkle"Once again, Maggie Nelson has created awe-inspiring work, one that smartly calls bullshit on the places culture--radical subcultures included--stigmatize and misunderstand both maternity and queer family-making. With a fiercely vulnerable intelligence, Nelson leaves no area un-investigated, including her own heart. I know of no other book like this, and I know how crucially the culture needs it." --Michelle Tea Maggie Nelson is the author of nine books of poetry and prose, many of which have become cult classics defying categorization. Her nonfiction titles include the New York Times bestseller The Argonauts (Graywolf Press, May 2015), The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning (Norton, 2011; named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Bluets (Wave Books, 2009; named by Bookforum as one of the top 10 best books of the past 20 years), The Red Parts: A Memoir (Free Press, 2007), and Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions (U of Iowa Press, 2007); her poetry titles includeSomething Bright, Then Holes (Soft Skull Press, 2007) and Jane: A Murder (Soft Skull, 2005; finalist for the PEN/ Martha Albrand Art of the Memoir). She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction, an NEA in Poetry, a Literature Fellowship from Creative Capital, and an Arts Writers Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and has taught literature and writing at the New School, Pratt Institute, and Wesleyan University. Since 2005 she has been on the faculty of the School of Critical Studies at CalArts. She lives in Los Angeles.

Joshua Mohr is the guest. His new novel, All This Life, is available now from Soft Skull Press. This is, I think, the third time I've talked to Josh on the program. The first time we did a full hour and the second time we did a few minutes at the top of a show and now we've done another hour. Always great talking with him. Some writers are good writers and bad talkers and some writers are bad writers and good talkers and other writers are good writers and good talkers. Joshua Mohr is a good writer and a good talker. Actually, I think a lot of writers are good talkers. I think communication is communication, and if a person has a facility for the written word they're often good to talk with as well. But not always. Which is fine. I'm just saying. Anyway. Great talking with Joshua Mohr and great to see his new novel get the kind of glowing reviews that it's been getting. Well-deserved and then some. Mr. Mohr fights the good fight. In the monologue, I read some more mail. One letter comes from an angry listener stepping up to defend me, and another comes from a listener who just saw the new movie The End of the Tour about the late-great David Foster Wallace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anatomy of A Misfit (Harper Teen) From bestselling adult novelist Andrea Portes comes her Young Adult debut: Anatomy of a Misfit (Harper Teen), an emotionally resonant story that Publishers Weekly raves is “instantly endearing” with a “highly memorable heroine” and voice.   Anika is the third most popular girl in her high school--despite feeling she doesn't fit in with the popular crowd in her small Nebraskan town. To maintain her social status, Anika does whatever Becky Vilhauser (first most popular girl in school) tells her to do. But when loner Logan McDonough returns from summer vacation hotter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika has a hard time staying away--even when Becky forbids her to date him. So Anika must choose--ignore her feelings and keep her social status? Or follow her heart and risk becoming a pariah. Which will she pick? And what will she think of her choice when an unimaginable tragedy strikes, changing her forever? An absolutely original new voice in YA in a story that will start important conversations--and tear at your heart. Praise for Anatomy of A Misfit "Anika Dragomir is the funniest, snarkiest, most insightful misfit a reader could ever hope to meet. I laughed my way through Anatomy of a Misfit right up until the very end, when the book broke my heart into a million pieces. This is a beautiful, brave and powerful novel."--Melissa Kantor, author of Maybe One Day and The Breakup Bible “A self-deprecating and highly memorable heroine . . . . instantly endearing.”-Publishers Weekly STARRED Review  “Anika's droll voice shines, and her emotions are palpable.”-School Library Journal   Andrea Portes is the bestselling novelist of the critically lauded adult novel, Hick. The book was her debut and has since been made into a feature film starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Blake Lively, Eddie Redmayne, and Juliette Lewis. Bury This, her second novel, was published in January 2014 by Soft Skull Press. Anatomy of a Misfit is her third novel, and her first for young adult readers.

Joyce Johnson is the guest. She is the author of several books, the most recent of which is called The Voice is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac, available now from Viking.  Kirkus calls it “An exemplary biography of the Beat icon and his development as a writer…Johnson [turns] a laser-sharp focus on Kerouac’s evolving ideas about language, fiction vs. truth and the role of the writer in his time…there’s plenty of life in these pages to fascinate casual readers, and Johnson is a sensitive but admirably objective biographer.  A triumph of scholarship.” And Russell Banks says "This is quite simply the best book about Kerouac and one of the best accounts of any writer's apprenticeship that I have read. And it should generate a serious reconsideration of Kerouac as a classical, because hyphenated, American writer, one struggling to synthesize a doubled language, culture, and class. It's also a terrific read, a windstorm of a story."  Also in this episode:  Joshua Mohr, author of the novel Fight Song, now available from Soft Skull Press.  Fight Song is the February selection of The TNB Book Club.  Publishers Weekly calls it "an interesting mix of Charles Bukowski and Tom Robbins, with a cinematic heaping of the Coen brothers for good measure." Monologue topics:  doubt, doubting doubt, mental downward spirals, confusion.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sick of the election yet? WE ARE. We'll be chatting with author Mike Edison about his new political satire, Bye Bye Miss American Pie.  Mike Edison is the former publisher of magazine High Times, and was the editor-in-chief of the irresponsibly outrageous Screw. Edison has worked as a correspondent for Penthouse and Hustler, and is an internationally known musician and professional wrestler of no small repute. He is the author of 28 sexy novels and the cult classic memoir I Have Fun Everywhere I Go (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). His new book, Dirty! Dirty! Dirty! will be published this Fall by Soft Skull Press.  

Part three of our ongoing series of conversations about the future of books and reading, this time with publishing consultant Richard Eoin Nash. Nash ran the widely-acclaimed Soft Skull Press between 2001 and March of this year.

Sorry, Tree (Wave Books) and Something Bright, Then Holes (Soft Skull Press) and Women, The New York School, and Other True Abstractions (University of Iowa Press) Critic David Lehman has called the New York School of Poetry "the Last Avant Garde." Poet and critic Maggie Nelson suggests it might better be considered "one of the first gay avant gardes," since its original members included Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery and James Schuyler. We examine the role of women in the New York School: Barbara Guest, Alice Notley, Bernadette Mayer and Eileen Myles. How did these women pave the way for today's women poets, who, like Maggie Nelson, are conscious of gender and its effects on poetry?