Keep the Channel Open

Lisa M. Robinson is a fine art photographer based in Tucson, AZ. Lisa's conceptual landscape photography has been hugely influential to me as an artist, so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to talk with her for the show. In our conversation we talked about her artistic process, the conceptual underpinnings of her new Chronos and Terrestra series, and why her work has meant so much to me. Then in the second section, we talked about the place of contemplative art in today's chaotic political environment.

(Conversation recorded December 14, 2017.)

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• Lisa M. Robinson
• Klompching Gallery - Terrestra
• Lisa M. Robinson - Snowbound
• Lisa M. Robinson - Snowbound (book): Kehrer Verlag | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
• Lisa M. Robinson - Oceana
• Mary Virginia Swanson
• at Length - Interview with Lisa M. Robinson
• PhotoNOLA
• Celeste Ng
• Wendy Cope - The Orange
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Chris Engman is a fine art photographer based in Los Angeles. I first encountered Chris's work when he gave an artist lecture at the Medium Festival of Photography a few years ago, and his work just blew my mind. Chris's work focuses on the nature of photography and human perception, and he uses his meticulously constructed photographs to explore themes of time, impermanence, and memory. We had a great conversation about his work and process, and about the meditative nature of driving.

(Conversation recorded November 30, 2017.)

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• Chris Engman
• Chris Engman - Dissipation
• Chris Engman - The Claim
• Mark Klett
• Chris Engman - Ode
• Chris Engman - Dust to Dust
• Chris Engman - Skew
• Chris Engman - Double Skew
• Chris Engman - Object Shadow
• Reyner Banham
• Reyner Banham - Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies
• Joan Didion
• Joan Didion - Play It As It Lays
• Jay Appleton
• Jay Appleton - The Experience of Landscape
• Pasadena Museum of California Art
• FotoFocus Biennial

Daniel Gonçalves is a portrait, editorial, and commercial photographer based in Los Angeles. I met Daniel at this year's Medium Festival of Photography, where he was participating in the portfolio reviews and showing work from his "Second Amendment Cowboy" series. We had a great conversation for this episode about his work exploring American gun culture and his fascination with Americana. For the second segment, we talked about the idea of home.

(Conversation recorded November 21, 2017.)

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• Daniel Gonçalves
• Newsweek - American and Guns: To Understand That Deadly Obsession, Come to Texas
• Photolucia Critical Mass 2017 Top 50
• Focus PhotoLA
• jdc Fine Art
• 2015 Chattanooga shootings
• Movember
• Texas BBQ Posse
• Brandon Thibodeaux
• Brandon Thibodeaux - In That Land of Perfect Day
• Alec Soth
• Alec Soth - Sleeping by the Mississippi
• Daniel Gonçalves (Twitter)
• Daniel Gonçalves (Instagram)

Courtney Balestier is a writer and the host of WMFA, a podcast where writers talk writing. I've been a fan of WMFA for several months now so I was very excited to collaborate with Courtney on this episode, which will be released jointly on both shows. In our conversation we took a behind-the-scenes look at both of our shows, diving into our interviewing processes and why each of us started our podcasts. We also talked about the creative projects we've been working on recently, and our shared fascination with place and identity.

(Conversation recorded November 29, 2017.)

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• Courtney Balestier
• WMFA Podcast
• WMFA - Episode 7: Esmé Weijun Wang
• Edacious Podcast
• Susan Cain - Quiet
• Eleonora Ronconi
• Elaine McMillion Sheldon
• Heroin(e)
• Roger May
• Aaron Blum
• WMFA - Episode 19: Celeste Ng
• Celeste Ng - Everything I Never Told You
• Medium Festival of Photography
• scott b davis
• Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
• WMFA - Episode 12: Hanif Abdurraqib
• Claire-Louise Bennett - Pond
• Amal El-Mohtar

Eleonora Ronconi is a photographer originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, now a resident of the Bay Area. I first saw Eleonora's work via the Six Shooters project have followed her work ever since. Most recently I was pleased to see her work again at this year's Medium Festival of Photography, where she was showing her series "Serás Mis Ojos," a beautiful body of work about memory and family. In this episode we talked about that series as well as her other work, how photography allowed her to find her voice, and where she finds inspiration.

(Conversation recorded November 17, 2017.)

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• Eleonora Ronconi
• Eleonora Ronconi - Serás Mis Ojos
• Eleonora Ronconi - Once Upon a Time
• Eleonora Ronconi - Of Lights and Shadows
• Paris Photo
• Fotofever
• Medium Festival of Photography
• Six Shooters
• Aline Smithson
• Andi Schreiber
• Jennifer McClure
• Ashly Stohl
• Heidi Lender
• Bootsy Holler
• Ed Kashi
• Gregory Crewdson
• Tim Burton
• Wabi-sabi
• Musée d'Orsay

Sarah Gailey's two recent novellas, River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, were a huge amount of fun for me as a fan of both Westerns and speculative fiction. Our conversation covered both of those books, her serialized novelette The Fisher of Bones, as well as her Hugo-nominated column at Tor.com about the women of Harry Potter. In the second segment, Sarah talked to me about Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg.

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• Sarah Gailey
• @gaileyfrey
• Sarah Gailey - River of Teeth
• Sarah Gailey - Taste of Marrow
• Sarah Gailey - The Fisher of Bones
• Alien: Ripley's Well-Earned Nap
• The Green Stuff thread
• Sarah Gailey at Tor.com
• Sarah Gailey at B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
• Sarah Gailey - Women of Harry Potter
• Sarah Gailey - Storytelling Through Costume
• Sarah Gailey - Bargain
• Sarah Gailey - Rescue
• Elizabeth Bear - Karen Memory
• Sarah Gailey - Facing Facts: American Itentity is Based on Alternate History
• Sarah Hollowell
• Lucius Beebe
• Charles Clegg
• King James and George Villiers (Twitter)
• Evalyn Walsh McLean
• Fonda Lee - Jade City

Mari Ness is a speculative fiction writer and poet based in central Florida. I was recently turned on to Mari's work by a mutual acquaintance of ours, and I really enjoyed digging through her short stories and poetry. In our conversation we talked about her new book Through Immortal Shadows Singing, her experience working in the speculative poetry genre, and what she loves about revising fairy tales. For the second segment, Mari chose Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery as her topic.

(Conversation recorded September 12, 2017.)

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• Mari Ness
• Medium Festival of Photography
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 44: scott b davis
• Mari Ness - The Witch in the Tower
• Mari Ness - The Middle Child's Practical Guide to Surviving a Fairy Tale
• Mari Ness - Souls
• Mari Ness - Deathlight
• Mari Ness - Through Immortal Shadows Singing: GoodReads, IndieBound, B&N, Kobo
• Mari Ness - Disney Read-Watch
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 23: José Iriarte
• Joe Haldeman
• Ursula K. Le Guin
• Jane Yolen
• Margaret Atwood - The Penelopiad
• Lisa M. Bradley
• Rose Lemberg
• Sofia Samatar
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 38: Brandon Taylor
• Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Lucy Maud Montgomery - Magic for Marigold
• Georgette Heyer
• Agatha Christie
• Lucy Maud Montgomery - Emily of New Moon
• Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
• Nicole Kornher-Stace - Archivist Wasp
• Mysterious Galaxy
• Lucy Maud Montgomery - Pat of Silver Bush
• Lucy Maud Montgomery - Rilla of Ingleside
• Robert C. O'Brien - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Lara Donnelly
• Lara Donnelly - Amberlough
• Theodora Goss
• Theodora Goss - The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

Alexander Chee is the author of two novels, Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night. I read the latter of the two last year and it was one of my favorite books of the year. I was pleased to get a chance to talk with Alexander about that book, as well as his essay "How to Write an Autobiographical Novel," which will be included in his forthcoming collection of the same name. In our wide-ranging conversation we also talked about the work of Joan Didion, as well as a surprising influence on the structure of The Queen of the Night. For the second segment, Alexander chose our current political moment as his topic, as well as Ta-Nehisi Coates' recent essay "The First White President."

(Conversation recorded September 9, 2017.)

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• Alexander Chee
• Alexander Chee - Edinburgh
• Alexander Chee - The Queen of the Night
• NYT - Kazuo Ishiguro Is Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Kenny Coble on Kazuo Ishiguro
• Alexander Chee - How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
• Caitlin Flanagan - The Autumn of Joan Didion
• Janet Malcolm - Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice
• I-Novel
• Lone Wolf and Cub
• Path of the Assassin
• Battle Angel Alita
• Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!
• Ta-Nehisi Coates - The First White President
• Denis Johnson - Seek: Reports from the Edges of America and Beyond

Maggie Smith is a poet living and working in Bexley, Ohio. In 2016 Maggie's poem "Good Bones" became a viral hit—it's since been translated into nearly a dozen languages and was named by PRI as "the official poem of 2016." That poem is now the title poem of her latest collection, a book that I found deeply moving. I was pleased to talk with Maggie about her new book and her writing process. Then for the second segment we talked about the idea of place, and raising our kids in a different century from the one we grew up in.

(Conversation recorded August 2, 2017.)

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• Maggie Smith
• Maggie Smith - Good Bones
• Maggie Smith - Upcoming Events and Tour Dates
• Katherine Fahey - "Francis Whitmore's Wife" Official Video
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 39: Becky Senf
• Sally Mann - Hold Still
• 2017 Manchester Arena bombing
• 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting
• Downton Abbey
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 27: Lindsay Hatton
• Poetry Foundation - Stanley Plumly
• Kaveh Akbar - Calling a Wolf a Wolf
• Kaveh Akbar - "Soot"
• Review Good Bones on Amazon
• Review Good Bones on Goodreads

Celeste Ng is a writer based in Cambridge, MA. Celeste's first novel, 2014's Everything I Never Told You, is, without exaggeration, one of the most important books of my life. When I read it in 2016, it gave me my first real glimpse at what representation in fiction could mean, and it was revelatory. Celeste's newest novel, which was just released this week, is called Little Fires Everywhere, and I was thrilled to get the chance to talk with her about it. In our conversation we talked about both books, about the importance of representation in media and culture, our shared obsession with Hamilton, and about Celeste's fascination with family roles. For the second segment, Celeste talked about how she got over her phobia of octopuses.

(Conversation recorded July 27, 2017.)

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• Celeste Ng
• Celeste Ng - Everything I Never Told You
• Celeste Ng - Little Fires Everywhere
• Purchase Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere
• Little Fires Everywhere Tour Dates
• Brandon Taylor - Exegesis
• Keep the Channel Open - Episode 38: Brandon Taylor
• Fresh Off the Boat
• All-American Girl
• Hamilton
• George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo
• Sesame Street - Me and My Llama
• Sesame Street - And Now… The Octopus! [Phobia warning: octopuses]
• Octopus leaps out of water, grabs crab [Phobia warning: octopuses]
• Sy Montgomery - The Soul of an Octopus
• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Lindsay Hatton
• New England Aquarium
• Peter Watts - Blindsight
• New Scientist - Mirror test shows magpies aren't so bird-brained
• Wendy Cope
• Wendy Cope - The Orange (read by Emma Watson)