fiction/non/fiction

By fiction/non/fictionNews Arts

fiction/non/fiction episodes

September 22, 2022S5 Ep. 42: Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined
Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined
Novelist and memoirist Yiyun Li joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss frenemies in writing circles, in literature, and in politics (with a tip of the hat to Joe Manchin). Li explains how intention helps her to distinguish between friendship and frenemyship, talks about finding frenemies in literature more interesting than those in politics, and offers examples ranging from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Sweet Days of Discipline. She also reads from her own new novel, The Book of Goose, and reflects on discovering the intense connection between her two central characters, Agnès and Fabienne, young girls growing up together in France.
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:
Yiyun Li
The Book of Goose
Must I Go
Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life
Where Reasons End
Others:
The Best Frenemies in Fiction ‹ CrimeReads
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
“Harry Styles Has Entered the SpitGate Chat” by Adrienne Westenfeld (Esquire)
Milan Kundera
Chelsea Clinton Talks Candidly About Crumbling of Friendship with Ivanka Trump: 'She Went to the Dark Side'
"'Checked Out': Trump rebukes Ivanka over Jan. 6 testimony" by Kelly Hooper (Politico)
Column: Bill Barr is telling the truth about Trump. Too bad it’s too little, too late by Jackie Calmes (Los Angeles Times)
F/N/F Season 4 Episode 25: Tolstoy Forever: Brigid Hughes and Yiyun Li on Retweeting a Russian Classic

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39 min
September 15, 2022S5 Ep. 41: On Time and Meaning: Andrea Barrett on What the Past Tells Us about Today
Critically acclaimed fiction writer Andrea Barrett joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new collection of short stories, Natural History. Barrett explains her approach to writing about women studying science in the 19th century, reflects on the layers of intimacy in letters, and considers if online exchanges will make archives of correspondence obsolete. She also reads from Natural History and explains some of its connections to her previous work.
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:

Andrea Barrett
Natural History
Ship Fever
Archangel
Servants of the Map
Voyage of the Narwal
The Air We Breathe
Others:
William Faulkner (via the Nobel Prize)
Meet Rosalind Franklin, a sidelined figure in the history of DNA science | PBS NewsHour
Daddy Long-Legs
Harriet the Spy

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39 min
September 08, 2022S5 Ep. 40: Book the Vote: Rachel DeWoskin on Registering Voters (Right Now!) and the Connection Between Writing and Democracy
Novelist, poet, and memoirist Rachel DeWoskin joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her work on the Writers for Democratic Action’s National Steering Committee. She explains how the group is partnering with libraries and bookstores across the nation to register voters and connect them with crucial information in the run-up to midterm elections, an effort called Book the Vote. She also reads from her novel, Banshee.
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:
Rachel DeWoskin
Banshee
Someday We Will Fly
Writers for Democratic Action
Book The Vote (special events September 20)
DEMOCRACY BOOK CLUB: Unthinkable: An Afternoon with Jamie Raskin and Paul Auster
Others:
Biden's Approval Rating Surges After Hitting Low Mark In July, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Half Of Americans Say Trump Should Be Prosecuted On Criminal Charges Over His Handling Of Classified Documents
Democrats and Republicans Agree That Democracy Is in Danger - The New York Times
Voting Laws Roundup: May 2022 | Brennan Center for Justice
Florida Republicans targeted Black voters, justice department says in filing | US voting rights | The Guardian
2020 Presidential Election Voting & Registration Tables Now Available
Americans Think Our Democracy Is on the Brink. So Does Biden. - The New York Times
Robert Pinsky
Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Paul Auster
Representative Jamie Raskin
Ada Limón
David Modigliani
Peter Ho Davies
Charles Baxter
Jacinda Townsend
Kiley Reid
James Baldwin
William Carlos Williams
Walt Whitman
Ralph Ellison
Schoolhouse Rock

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40 min
September 01, 2022S5 Ep. 39: The Long Shadow of Colonialism: Nobel Prize Winner Abdulrazak Gurnah on German Conquest in East Africa and His Latest Novel, AFTERLIVES
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
Afterlives
Gravel Heart
The Last Gift
Others:
Abdulrazak Gurnah – Facts – 2021 - NobelPrize.org
Abdulrazak Gurnah Refuses to Be Boxed In: ‘I Represent Me’ - The New York Times
Nobel Prize in Literature: Read About Abdulrazak Gurnah's Books - The New York Times
Stories of Familial Unrest and Displacement - The New York Times
In Tanzania, Gurnah’s Nobel Prize win sparks both joy and debate | Arts and Culture News | Al Jazeera
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

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27 min
August 25, 2022S5 Ep. 38: Chinese Conquest and Two Sisters Who Rebelled: Phong Nguyen on Vietnam Then, Taiwan Today, and China’s Interests Abroad
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
Bronze Drum
Pages From The Textbook Of Alternate History
Roundabout: An Improvisational Fiction
Others:
Pelosi’s ‘reckless’ Taiwan visit deepens US-China rupture – why did she go?
U.S. Insists It Will Operate Around Taiwan, Despite China’s Pressure - The New York Times
The Princess Bride
Thelma and Louise

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43 min
August 18, 2022S5 Ep. 37: Fascism Past and Present: Anthony Marra on What the Censorship of 1940s Hollywood and Italy Can Teach Us
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
Mercury Pictures Presents
The Tsar of Love and Techno
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Others:
Frankenstein
Psycho
Lightyear
S5 Episode 13: Farah Jasmine Griffin: Censoring the American Canon
S5 Episode 12: Intimate Contact: Garth Greenwell on Book Bans and Writing About Sex
Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
Billy Wilder
Three Days of the Condor
Jason Bourne franchise
Ban on 52 Books in Largest Utah School District is a Worrisome Escalation of Censorship - PEN America

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41 min
August 11, 2022S5 Ep. 36: Remembering Afghanistan’s Wars: Jamil Jan Kochai on Shifting Storytellers and Forms
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
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories
99 Nights in Logar
Jamil Jan Kochai Reads “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak” | The New Yorker
“Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” by Jamil Jan Kochai | The New Yorker
Jamil Jan Kochai Reads “Occupational Hazards” | The New Yorker
Jamil Jan Kochai on Résumés as Stories | The New Yorker
Others:
U.S. is rejecting over 90% of Afghans seeking to enter the country on humanitarian grounds - CBS News
S4 Ep. 26: Bullshit Saviors: Helen Benedict and Nadia Hashimi on Depictions of the American Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
“Love and honour and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice…” - by Nam Le Prospect Magazine
“The Indian Uprising” by Donald Barthelme | The New Yorker

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43 min
August 04, 2022S5 Ep. 35: The Fall of Boris Johnson: Margot Livesey on British Politics, the Brexit Blunder, and the Prime Minister’s Lies
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
The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing
The Boy in the Field
Mercury
The Missing World
The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Others:
Protesters in UK decry climate change after record heat wave - ABC News
Quentin Blake
Roald Dahl
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
The Guardian
Martin Amis
S5 Episode 6: Nadifa Mohamed on Writing the Convoluted Terrains of Immigration
Howards End by E.M. Forster
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Barbara Kingsolver
Venetia Welby
J.G. Ballard
Have I Got News for You

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43 min
July 28, 2022S5 Ep. 34: The New Homeless: Emi Nietfeld on the Growing Number of Unhoused Americans
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
Acceptance
Others:
In the Midst of Plenty by Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri
The Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott
Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun
United States: Pandemic Impact on People in Poverty | Human Rights Watch
Minneapolis: City Response to Homelessness
HUD Releases 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1
Homelessness in America
State of Homelessness: 2021 Edition
Inflation and rent increases are making homelessness worse - The Washington Post
America’s Homelessness Crisis Is Getting Worse - The New York Times
Rep. Omar Reintroduces Homes for All, Manufactured Housing Legislation
A New Bill Would Declare Housing as a Human Right - Progressive.org
Housing is a Human Right Act of 2021
H.R.4496 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Ending Homelessness Act of 2021
H.R.7191 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Homes for All Act of 2021
Guidance on Complying With the Maximum Number of Units Eligible for Operating Subsidy Pursuant to Section 9(g)(3)(A) of the Housing Act of 1937 (aka the Faircloth Limit)
Representatives Davis, Gomez, Peters, and Panetta Introduce the “Rent Relief Act of 2022” to Establish a Renters’ Tax Credit | National Low Income Housing Coalition
We Need to Keep Building Houses, Even if No One Wants to Buy
Congress is 35 years overdue on its promise to end homelessness | The Hill
Kansas City to Temporarily House Homeless People in Hotels
1780 Foster Kids Went Missing in Missouri

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41 min
July 21, 2022S5 Ep. 33: The Politics of Craft: Charles Baxter on How His Essays on Writing Respond to a Changing World
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
Wonderlands
Gryphon
Burning Down the House
There’s Something I Want You to Do
The Art of Subtext
Behind Murakami's Mirror | The New York Review of Books
Others:
Is the World Really Falling Apart, or Does It Just Feel That Way? by Max Fisher - The New York Times
S4 Episode 6: Hope on the Horizon: Charles Baxter and Mike Alberti on Despair and Renewal in Fiction
S1 Episode 4: We're All Russian, Now
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Haruki Murakami
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Either/Or by Elif Batuman
The Lighthouse
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Wicker Man
Bennett Sims
Lacy Johnson
Get Out
Mike Alberti
Jamaica Kincaid
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Stacey D’Erasmo
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Dog Day Afternoon

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38 min

About fiction/non/fiction

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Hosted by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan, fiction/non/fiction interprets current events through the lens of literature, and features conversations with writers of all stripes, from…