fiction/non/fiction

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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Novelist and journalist Héctor Tobar joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the articles he wrote on the L.A. riots both as they took place in 1992 and this year on the 30th anniversary. Tobar also reads from his 2020 novel The Last Great Road Bum, and discusses how his fiction writing and journalism have informed each other.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

 Selected Readings:

 Héctor Tobar

●    The Last Great Road Bum

●    Deep Down Dark

●    The Tattooed Soldier

●    Translation Nation

●    The Barbarian Nurseries

●    “The L.A. Riots Were 30 Years Ago. I’m Still Trying to Understand Them,” by Héctor Tobar

●    “COLUMN ONE : South L.A. Burns and Grieves : Life has been hard in the neglected area for years. But now, as self-inflicted wounds mount, residents fear for the future,” by Hector Tobar and Jonathan Peterson

●    “Tape of L.A. Police Beating Suspect Stirs Public Furor,” by Hector Tobar and Leslie Berger

Others:

●    James Alan McPherson

●    Ralph Ellison

●    David Foster Wallace

●    Roger Ebert

●    Don Quixote, Cervantes

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Novelist and Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-host V.V. Ganeshananthan talks to co-host Whitney Terrell about what happens to a book between writing and publication. Ganeshananthan’s second novel, Brotherless Night, about a young woman in the early years of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, will be released by Random House in January of 2023. Ganeshananthan describes the editorial process, selecting and approaching other writers about writing blurbs, selecting jacket art, and writing cover copy. 

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:

V.V. Ganeshananthan

Others:

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Writer and educator Amye Archer joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her 2019 anthology, If I Don't Make It, I Love You: Survivors in the Aftermath of School Shootings, co-edited with Loren Kleinman. Archer explains how hearing the heartbreaking details of loss can prevent us from glossing over the staggering trauma of these events. Archer also reads from the anthology’s section on the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and questions why, as a nation, we haven’t changed the Second Amendment in response to modern weapons. 

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:

Amye Archer

Others:

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Editor and writer Shelly Oria and novelist Kristen Arnett join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the reproductive rights crisis through the lens of art, specifically through the stories, plays, essays and poems that comprise McSweeney’s new anthology, I Know What’s Best for You, edited by Oria. In the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the conversation teases out how, through art, charged political issues like abortion take on a specificity that they don’t in basic reporting or debate. The writers speak about misinformation and crisis pregnancy centers, as well as what a post-Roe future might hold. Arnett reads from her story, “The Babies,” and Oria reads from hers, “We Bled All Winter.”

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:

Shelly Oria

Kristen Arnett

Others:

Select contributors:

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Editor, dramaturg, and author Sunila Galappatti joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss why protesters across Sri Lanka are calling for the resignation of their once-popular president, Gotabaya “Gota” Rajapaksa. Galappatti reads from her recent article in The Hindu about what the protests look like firsthand, and also talks about how brutal economic conditions are driving people of different class and ethnic backgrounds—including Gota’s primarily Sinhalese base—to unite in unexpected ways; the growing space for critical political speech; and what the international media is missing about the protests.

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:

Sunila Galappatti

Others:

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Journalist and biographer Steve Paul and writer and Washington University professor Henry Schvey join host Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri, to discuss their books on novelist Evan S. Connell and Tennessee Williams, respectively. Each of the old masters was from Missouri—Connell from Kansas City and Williams from St. Louis. Paul and Schvey talk about how, though neither man was happy about his city of origin, those locations factored importantly into their work. Finally, they take questions from the live audience at Unbound. 

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:

Steve Paul

Henry Schvey

• Blue Song

Others

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Novelist and Iowa Writers’ Workshop director Lan Samantha Chang joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, The Family Chao, an homage to The Brothers Karamazov centered on the title family’s Midwestern Chinese restaurant. Chang talks about how the three brothers of her story and their varied relationships to identity reflect their parents’ changing circumstances. She also discusses how Asian American and immigrant narratives are evolving to reflect new generations; Asian American life in the Midwest; using humor to subvert cliches; and how directing the Workshop has altered her approach to writing.

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:

Lan Samantha Chang

Others

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.