Letters Off Paper

A highly emotional conversation with Darryl Pinckney, a long time contributor to The New York Review of Books whose most recently published work Come Back in September: A Literary Education On West Sixty-Seventh Street, revisits his relationship with writer Elizabeth Hardwick. Other topics we dive into include writing in the U.S. today as compared to in less troubling eras.

Ronaldo Wilson, winner of the Publishing Triangle's 2010 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry, the 13th Annual Asian American Literary Award for Poetry, 2007 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and so many other accolades looks back at the powerful creative alliance we formed on the streets of New York in the early 90's.

Kem Joy Ukwe discusses her debut short story collection published by Brain Mill Press in 2018, the role that comics play in her work and her modest desire to just be able to write.

If you've ever had questions about the contradictions of life in the U.S., Jeffrey Sommers addresses them in a discussion in which we try and make sense of why the largest economy in the world has such a crumbling infrastructure, weak job market and rise in mass shootings that symbolize a wider American pessimism about the future.

London based writer and visual artist Geraldine Snell and I discuss her playfully self-searching book published by Dostoeveksy Wannabe in 2019 that consists of a series of messages to a performer she develops obsessive feelings towards. 

Nicole and I discuss lazy liberalism, tech titans, stopping socialism from becoming another brand and discover our mutual deep affection for "Culture and Society" by Raymond Williams.

Jeff Chon's timely novel published by Sagging Meniscus Press this month, begins with an ancient Korean tale that segues into a mass shooting that becomes the complex lens through which we look at America today. Jeff and I analyze his protagonist, Scott Bonneville, the current sociopolitical climate in the U.S. that inspired the plot. We talk about Greek mythology, the future and get lost in some of the thoughts such an insightfully pieced together narrative evokes.

Gerald Nicosia, a living archive of Beat culture, talks around his research on Jack Kerouac as well as the support role he played in Kerouac's daughter Jan's often tragic life. Nicosia reflects on his friendship with Ntozake Shange, who he's currently writing a book on. We leap from Basquiat to Alan Ginsburg to William Burroughs to Ferlinghetti etcetera. This is a conversation that can't be missed.

*The audio noise at the beginning goes away within a couple of minutes

Is "Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Fabulations" Queer scripture? Realness incarnate? Alt-Christology? Kopano Maroga and I take an interesting trip through this wholehearted and life-affirming text.  

Resoketswe Manenzhe, winner of the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, and I look closely at her book "Scatterlings," the positive light it continues to shine on her work as well as explore the burgeoning South African literary culture of Joburg and Capetown together.