Host Gabe Hudson gets personal and talks about what Kurt Vonnegut's writing has meant to him.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom is the author of Thick and Other Essays, a columnist for the New York Times, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a 2020 McArthur Fellow. Tressie talks to Gabe about the kind of freedom she wants for all Black women. And how her mother was a member of the Black Panther Party in Winston Salem, NC. We learn about Tressie's 18 stages of essay writing. And why are white audiences more comfortable thinking about Black people in a historical context?

Visit Tressie McMillan Cottom's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Read Tressie's column in New York Times

Buy Tressie's nonfiction book Thick and Other Essays

Watch Tressie on The Daily Show

More episode resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

Diksha Basu (author of Destination Wedding)

Qian Julie Wang (NYT's bestselling author of Beautiful Country)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Qian Julie Wang is the New York Times Bestselling author of Beautiful Country and a Yale-educated litigator. Qian Julie has one of the most incredible life stories you have ever heard. But Qian Julie's personal philosophy and inspired worldview may well be the most extraordinary thing about her. Qian Julie tells Gabe what it was like for her and her family to give up everything in China and move to Brooklyn when she was seven years old.

Visit Qian Julie Wang's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Buy Julie's memoir Beautiful Country

Read Qian Julie in New York Times

Watch Qian Julie on YouTube

More episode resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Stephanie Land (NYT's bestselling author of Maid)

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Rebecca Makkai is the author of 3 novels and her newest novel, I Have Some Questions for You, will be published in February. Rebecca's last novel The Great Believers, a novel set in Chicago at the height of the American AIDS epidemic, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Rebecca and Gabe talk about having ADHD, and the challenges of having a brain that's like Times Square. But also the ways in which ADHD can be a creative superpower. Rebecca talks about her impossibly glamorous grandmother who wrote 30 novels in Hungary.

Visit Rebecca Makkai's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Buy Rebecca's novel I Have Some Questions for You

Watch Rebecca on PBS Books

Read about Rebecca in New York Times

More episode resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (NYT's bestselling author of Friday Black)

Joe Hagan (author of Sticky Fingers: the Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone)

Diksha Basu (author of Destination Wedding)

Qian Julie Wang (NYT's bestselling author of Beautiful Country)

Tod Goldberg (NYT's bestselling author of Gangster Nation)

Gabe Hudson is the award-winning author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He taught at Princeton University, and currently teaches at Columbia University.  

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Stephanie Land didn’t take the traditional path to writing a New York Times Bestselling memoir (MAID: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive). And she didn’t take the traditional path to having her memoir be adapted into a Netflix Emmy-nominated series (MAID). Stephanie and Gabe talk about her struggles as a single mother living in public housing with two children and her determination to become a writer.

Produced by Lit Hub

Visit Stephanie Land's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Buy Stephanie's nonfiction book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

Read about Stephanie in New York Times

Watch Stephanie on YouTube

More episode resources and links

Subscribe to Twitter Verse

Rate/Review Twitter Verse

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (NYT's bestselling author of Friday Black)

Joe Hagan (author of Sticky Fingers: the Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Charles Yu is an author who has won the National Book Award. He's also a screenwriter who has written for Westworld. Charles gets real about the surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans in recent years and the psychic toll these attacks have had. Charles explains why it feels like something in our society is either broken or it was always there and has just been recently revealed. And how is the adaptation of Charles' novel Interior Chinatown (for Hulu) coming along?

Visit Charles Yu's website and follow him on Twitter

Buy Charle's novel Interior Chinatown

Read about Charles in New York Times

Watch Charles on The Daily Show

More episode resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (NYT's bestselling author of Friday Black)

Stephanie Land (NYT's bestselling author of Maid)

Qian Julie Wang (NYT's bestselling author of Beautiful Country)

Rebecca Makkai (author of The Great Believers)

About the Host Gabe Hudson:

Gabe Hudson is the award-winning author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Bethanne Patrick is a renowned book critic, host of the podcast Missing Pages, and author of the forthcoming memoir Life B: Overcoming Double Depression. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NPR Books, and she sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Bethanne talks about overcoming her lifelong struggle with "double depression" and her dog Molly Bloom's "resting schnauzer face." Bethanne also tells Gabe what she loves about the writing community on Twitter.

Visit Bethanne Patrick's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Buy Bethanne's memoir Plan B: Overcoming Double Depression

Listen to Bethanne on Missing Pages

Read Bethanne in Washington Post

Watch Bethanne on YouTube

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

Rebecca Makkai (author of The Great Believers)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Rafia Zakaria is the Pakistani-American author of Against White Feminism, a columnist for The Baffler, and a human rights lawyer. She's also a former Director of Amnesty International. Rafia explains what happened when she wrote a column in The Baffler about how the New York Time's podcast Caliphate was filled with lies. Rafia and Gabe also talk about Angelina Jolie's activist posts on Instagram.

Visit Rafia Zakaria's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Buy Rafia's nonfiction book Against White Feminism

Read Rafia at The Baffler

Read about Rafia in New York Times

Watch Rafia on Democracy Now

More episode resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Elizabeth McCracken (author of The Hero of This Book)

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Elizabeth McCracken is the James A. Michener chaired professor in creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin and the award-winning author of 8 books. Her most recent novel The Hero of This Book was just named one of the 10 Best Books of 2022 by Time Magazine and People Magazine. Elizabeth tells the story of how the dedication page for her most recent novel just showed up in the mail one day. She talks about the time she flew from Provincetown to Austin with a salami in her pocket and the role that Twitter plays in her life.

Visit Elizabeth McCracken's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram 

But Elizabeth's novel The Hero of This Book

Watch Elizabeth on PBS NewsHour

Read about Elizabeth in New York Times

More episodes resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

Stephanie Land (NYT's bestselling author of Maid)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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Keri Blakinger is the author of Corrections in Ink and an award-winning journalist at The Marshall Project. As a student at Cornell University in 2010, Keri was arrested in Ithaca for possession of heroin. She was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, after which she became an award-winning journalist who covers death row in the Texas prison system. Keri describes what it felt like to see her book on the shelf at The Harvard Coop Bookstore, where as an unhoused person she used to steal books in order to fund her heroin addiction.

Visit Keri Blakinger's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram

But Keri's memoir Corrections in Ink

Watch Keri on YouTube

Read Keri in New York Times

Read Keri in Los Angeles Times

More episode resources and links

Email Gabe Hudson: [email protected]

Follow Gabe on Twitter and Instagram

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)

Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)

Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)

Stephanie Land (NYT's bestselling author of Maid)

About the Host:

Gabe Hudson is the author of 2 books published from Knopf. His honors include being named one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction from Brown University, a fellowship from Humanities War & Peace Initiative at Columbia University, and Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His writing has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He was Editor-at-Large for McSweeney’s for 10+ years. He served in the Marine Corps. He teaches at Columbia University.  

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