Nobel Prize-winning novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the history and lasting effects of colonialism in African nations, particularly Tanzania, where he grew up, and which was once part of German East Africa. He reads from his book Afterlives, which traces the lives of young friends with different relationships to the schutztruppe, the German colonial troops. 

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Others:

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In the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, fiction writer Phong Nguyen joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss China’s interests abroad. Nguyen speaks about his new historical novel Bronze Drum, in which he retells the story of Viêt sisters who led an army of women in battle against their Hán Chinese occupiers. He explains how their actions laid the groundwork for an independent Vietnam, and considers modern relationships between China and other countries around the world.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Phong Nguyen

Others:

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Fiction writer Anthony Marra joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how his new historical novel, Mercury Pictures Presents, echoes the right’s current embrace of authoritarianism in the U.S. and globally. By looking at censorship in 1940s Hollywood and the fascist regime of Italy during that same period, Marra teases out truths about conservatives’ current interest in controlling popular opinion. 

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Anthony Marra

Others:

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Fiction writer Jamil Jan Kochai joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell almost a year after U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan to talk about how the wars there will be remembered. He reflects on how growing up with Western stereotypes of Afghans made him want to revise false narratives, and also discusses how fiction’s flexible forms allow him to reorient his own thinking about the stories of war-affected Afghans and diaspora. He reads from his new book, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Jamil Jan Kochai

Others:

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Novelist Margot Livesey joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell from London to discuss the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the legacy of his decision to “do Brexit.” Livesey, who grew up in Scotland, explains Johnson’s career of fabrications, talks about how Brexit looks now, and shares her experience of the recent heat wave in the U.K. Finally, she and the hosts analyze characters who resemble Johnson in literature–including the antagonist in Livesey’s novel The Missing World.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Margot Livesey

Others:

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Memoirist Emi Nietfeld joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how the pandemic has caused an increase in unhoused Americans as well as common—and off-base—tropes associated with homelessness. Nietfeld, who as a teenager spent time in foster care and living out of her car, talks about the American urge to view suffering as something that makes you stronger. She reads from her new book, Acceptance; reflects on being expected to shape a story about overcoming hardship to access an Ivy League education; and explains how she ultimately chose to resist simpler narratives of grit and resilience. 

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Emi Nietfeld

Others:

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Writer and professor Charles Baxter joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his new essay collection Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature, and how his thoughts on craft are linked to the times in which we live. He defines concepts he has used, including “wonderlands,” “Captain Happen,” “request moments,” and “toxic narratives,” and offers illustrations from literature and the world around us to show how these can inform the writing of fiction. For example, he explains, Donald Trump rejects his loss in the 2020 presidential election as a toxic narrative because it would change his understanding of who he is. 

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Charles Baxter

Others:

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Poet Diane Louie and Editions Gallmeister editor Benjamin Guérif join Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss what recent losses by centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s party—combined with wins for the left and far right—mean for France’s political future. Guérif, a French citizen, and Louie, an American expat in Paris, talk about how small towns in France are faring economically and how the French view Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Louie also reads a selection of her prose poems from her 2020 collection, Fractal Shores.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Diane Louie

• Fractal Shores

Benjamin Guérif

Others:

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Writer and historian Thomas Frank joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how the U.S. can move forward in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Frank offers his perspective on what it would take for Democrats to win back control of states that have swung right in recent years. He also reads from his 2004 book What’s the Matter With Kansas?

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Thomas Frank

Others:

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Podcaster and writer Van Lathan Jr. joins Fiction/Non/Fiction host Whitney Terrell to talk about growing up a Star Wars fan and continuing to think and talk about the franchise as a co-host of The Ringer podcast. He discusses the enduring qualities of the universe, the continuing relevance of the characters, and how the story intersects with American politics and literature. He also talks about and reads from his new book, Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales from the Trenches of Transformation.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Van Lathan Jr.

●    Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales From the Trenches of Transformation

●    The Midnight Boys

●    Higher Learning

●    The Ringer

●    The Red Pill

●    Two Distant Strangers

●    Hip Hop Homicides

Others:

●    George Lucas

●    Kathleen Kennedy

●    Deborah Chow

●    Octavia Butler

●    Starwars.com

●    Superman

●    Buzz Lightyear

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