Chicago Writers Podcast

It's a mid-year check in with the Chicago Review of Books! 

Rachel: Shayla Lawson’s How To Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir Lindsay Hunter’s Hot Springs Drive Nora Decter’s What’s Not Mine Ananda Lima’s Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! Gianni Washington’s Flowers From the Void   Greg: Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar Hello, Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano Perris, California, by Rachel Stark Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, by Ananda Lima There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, by Hanif Abdurraqib The Rich People Have Gone Away, by Regina Porter The City and Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami The Forty-Year Kiss, by Nickolas Butler   Mike: You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue Termush by Sven Holm Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward Blood and Lightning: Becoming a Tattooer by Dustin Kiskaddon Street Fight: The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s by Anne Morrissy Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird The Material by Camille Bordas Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer

 

In this episode, author Claire Lombardo discusses throughlines, visualizing a story, outlining after drafting, pacing, working on multiple projects, and how the second book is the hardest you'll write.   https://www.clairelombardo.com/   https://www.storystudiochicago.org/

In this episode, Ian Endsley talks writing for video games, player choice, dialogue, constraints, examples of great writing in games, and the feeling of space.   Turnfollow's Games  https://www.turnfollow.site/   Stories Matter Foundation https://www.storystudiochicago.org/

In this episode Ananda Lima joins us to discuss poetry, framing short stories, what is horror, great editors, the texture of magical elements, finding a project that fits, and having fun.   https://www.anandalima.com/   https://www.storystudiochicago.org/

In this episode, author Cyn Vargas discusses emotion, the novella, discovering the length of a story, trusting the process, family dynamics in fiction, young perspective, providing for the reader, residencies, finishing your story, and finding what is not being said between characters.   https://www.cynvargas.com/   https://www.storystudiochicago.org/

In this episode, Rowan Beaird discusses having two agents at once, the debut novel, revision, reducing character count, copyedits, timelines, a scene's purpose, elements of great short stories, and the importance of community.   https://www.rowanbeaird.com/   https://www.storystudiochicago.org/

In this episode, YA and middle grade author Kat Falls discusses worldbuilding, reading aloud, what first person POV can do for your story, how screenplay writing connects to middle grade, loving your genre, and the power of awe.   https://www.katfalls.net/

In this episode, Dionna Griffin-Irons discusses improv, curiosity, how we're all characters, being comfortable with the unknown, and finding truth.   Dionna Griffin-Irons http://dionnagriffinirons.com/   Stories Matter Foundation https://www.storystudiochicago.org/

Rachel I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times by Taylor Byas (and here's the interview I mentioned: https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/08/24/navigating-form-and-structure-in-i-done-clicked-my-heels-three-times/) Brother & Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella (and here's the essay I mentioned: https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/29/writing-my-novel-wasnt-therapy/) Solito by Javier Zamora A Country You Can Leave by Asale Angel-Ajani The In-Betweens by Davon Loeb Company by Shannon Sanders I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (and here's the interview I mentioned: https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/02/getting-into-the-gray-area-in-i-have-some-questions-for-you/)   Michael Who is the City For? By Blair Kamin I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times by Taylor Byas Open Throat by Henry Hoke The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty Enough to Lose by R.S. Deeren The Quail Who Wears the Shirt by Jeremy T. Wilson Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai And then a few I didn't get to talk about but want to throw out there: Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward Dr. No By Percival Everett The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump   Greg Wellness, by Nathan Hill I Could Live Here Forever, by Hannah Halperin Bliss Montage, by Ling Ma Sun House, by David James Duncan From Dust To Stardust, by Kathleen Rooney Here are two more Chicago novels I loved this year: Good Night, Irene, by Luis Alberto Urrea Hot Springs Drive, by Lindsay Hunter

Signups are open for the Novelist's Toolkit online class with Rebecca Makkai! Check it out at https://www.storystudiochicago.org/classes/classes/the-novelists-toolkit-six-lessons-on-craft-structure-and-tenacity-with-rebecca-makkai/   Rebecca Makkai https://rebeccamakkai.com/   Stories Matter Foundation https://www.storystudiochicago.org/