Past Forward

[gallery columns="1" link="none" size="full" ids="32551,32550,32549,32548,32547,32546"] A live recording of our educational podcast The How, The Why with Neelanjana Banerjee, Anelise Chen and Q.M. Zhang. Neelanjana Banerjee is the Managing Editor of Kaya Press; assistant editor with the Los Angeles Review of Books; instructor with artworxLA and Writing Workshops Los Angeles; journalist; co-editor of Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry (University of Arkansas Press); and writer whose works have appeared in anthologies such as Desilicious (Arsenal Press), The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (HarperCollins India), and Breaking the Bow: Speculative Stories Inspired by the Ramayana (Zubaan Books), as well as in numerous magazines and journals such as PANK Magazine, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, and Asian Pacific American Journal. Anelise Chen is the author of So Many Olympic Exertions (Kaya Press 2017), an experimental novel that blends elements of sportswriting, memoir, and self help. She hails from Temple City, California, and received a BA in English from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Fiction from NYU. Her essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, NPR, BOMB Magazine, The New Republic, VICE, Village Voice and many other publications. She has received fellowships from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the Wurlitzer Foundation, and she will be a 2019 Literature Fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. She currently teaches writing at Columbia University and writes a column on mollusks for The Paris Review. Q.M. Zhang (Kimberly Chang), author of Accomplice to Memory (Kaya Press 2017), grew up in upstate New York, lived in China and Hong Kong, and currently makes her home in Western Massachusetts.  She is a writer and teacher of creative non/fiction stories and forms, with a focus on Chinese American border crossings.  Trained in the disciplines of anthropology and psychology, she has published ethnographic studies of Asian diasporic communities on both sides of the Pacific.  Faced with the limitations of her social science tools, she has worked over the last decade to develop herself at the craft of creative non/fiction as the quintessential hybrid literary form for writing about migration and diaspora.  She is an alumni of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute and was a resident writer at the Vermont Studio Center.  Her book, Accomplice to Memory, combines memoir, fiction, and documentary photographs to explore the limits and possibilities of truth telling across generations and geographies.  An excerpt from the book was published in The Massachusetts Review.  She currently teaches at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Moderator: Julianne Berokoff Guests: Anelise Chen and Q.M. Zhang Audio: Brew Sessions Live Photo: Arthur Pham     The How, The Why is a half-hour podcast documenting the creative process and the creative purpose hosted by Jon-Barrett Ingels. This free weekly series is an educational resource provided to discuss the evolution of literary arts with industry innovators—authors, journalists, and publishers.

Today our podcast connects with Michael Heald, founder of Perfect Day Publishing, author of Goodbye to the Nervous Apprehension (Perfect Day), and writer at large for Runner's World magazine.  Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guest: Michael Heald Photo: Holly Andres     The How, The Why is a half-hour podcast documenting the creative process and the creative purpose hosted by Jon-Barrett Ingels. This free weekly series is an educational resource provided to discuss the evolution of literary arts with industry innovators—authors, journalists, and publishers. The 1888 Podcast Network is a curated collection of educational and entertaining podcasts. Each program is designed to provide a unique platform for industry innovators to share stories about art, literature, music, history, science, or technology.

Today our podcast connects with Zachary Auburn, author of books such as How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety (Three Rivers Press), A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation (Devastator Press), and Love is Not Constantly Wondering if You Are Making the Biggest Mistake of Your Life (Perfect Day Publishing), as well as various zines. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guest: Zachary Auburn

A live recording of our educational podcast The How The Why with our California Writing Residency 2017 recipients–William Deverell, Elline Lipkin, and Ruth Nolan. Gil Soltz, the founder of Yefe Nof, also joined the panel discussion.William, Elline, and Ruth also shared their thoughts on the residency:

"The experience was simply fabulous.  It is the longest period of my life where I have been alone; within 24 hours of arrival, I found my "extrovert switch" and turned it off...I sat at the little table in the kitchen for hours and hours each day and each night.  It was a perfect workspace for me.  I walked down Burnt Mill Road every day, then back up Cottage Grove.  I went out once to a pub in Blue Jay, but, otherwise, I was at the house or on my walk...I surprised myself with how much I got done; there was a purity to the work experience that was utterly satisfying...My work time was unhurried, contemplative, and I delighted in all of it...I feel so fortunate to have had this experience.” –William

"I'm so enamored of the house, quiet, and Arrowhead woods.  It's truly been a peaceful and productive retreat...The treehouse-like sense of nesting in the mountainside and the chance to concentrate on work has been tremendous.” –Elline

"I LOVED my time at the house in April. I loved the location, the vibe of the house, and I really felt supported and nurtured as a writer, something that is so hard to find. It was energizing to be on the ridge line of the mountains, hiking around and finding wildfire burn zones, digging the radical weather (wind and fog and even a bit of rain) and reconnecting in a visceral way with the areas I'm actually writing about in my book.” –Ruth

Today our podcast connects with Michael Hingston and Natalie Olsen, co-publishers of Hingston & Olsen Publishing. Michael Hingston is also the editor of Hingston & Olsen, writer, and author of The Dilettantes (Freehand Books) and the upcoming Let's Go Exploring: Calvin and Hobbes (ECW Press). Natalie Olsen is also the designer of Hingston & Olsen and Kisscut Design, and has designed over 500 titles for publishers across North America. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guests: Michael Hingston and Natalie Olsen

[gallery link="none" columns="1" size="full" ids="32099,32098,32097,32096,32095,32094"] A live recording of our educational podcast The How The Why with Taryn Tilton, the winner of The Plaza Literary Prize 2017. This event celebrates the release of her novella Cherry Cherry with a panel discussion featuring Michael Dean Clark who was on the 2017 Jury and her editors Julianne Berokoff and Hunter Moreno. Taryn Tilton is a writer and translator. She lives in Buenos Aires, where she also teaches creative writing workshops at Walrus Books. Taryn has an MFA in Fiction from Warren Wilson College, where she was the Rona Jaffe Foundation Graduate Fellow, and a BA in Chinese Language and Literature from Middlebury College. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guests: Taryn Tilton, Michael Dean Clark, Julianne Berokoff and Hunter Moreno Audio: Brew Sessions Live Photo: Arthur Pham     The How The Why is a half-hour podcast documenting the creative process and the creative purpose hosted by Jon-Barrett Ingels. This free weekly series is an educational resource provided to discuss the evolution of literary arts with industry innovators. Interviews are structured as friendly conversations and conducted via telephone. Occasionally, episodes will be recorded live at special events and highlight multiple guests. Also available on iTunes and Stitcher. The Plaza Literary Prize is a national novella competition. We believe a great story is never defined by its length and welcome all genres and themes with compelling characters and evocative moments. We’re looking for our generation’s Hemingway, Oates, or Steinbeck. The City of Orange, California was incorporated on April 6, 1888. The center of the town became known as the Plaza, which has become a symbol of the community and a catalyst for storytelling.

A former college and professional basketball player, Paul turned the stories of his travels and travails into a humor memoir called Can I Keep My Jersey? (Villard Books). He has also written for Slate, Esquire, and the Wall Street Journal. Paul lives in Los Angeles, where he is an adjunct professor at West LA College. He runs a writers' workshop called Writers Blok. His second book, Stories I Tell on Dates (Fourth Bar Books), will be published in October 2017.

Today our podcast connects with Janine Vangool, Publisher, Editor, and Designer of UPPERCASE Magazine, and author of The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine (UPPERCASE Publishing). Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guest: Janine Vangool

[gallery size="full" link="none" ids="31865,31864,31863"] A live recording of our educational podcast The How The Why with Ryan Gattis. Ryan Gattis is a writer & educator. His most recent novel, Safe, is a heist thriller about a DEA safecracker gone rogue, ripping off gang-owned drug safes in order to help citizens hurt during the market crash of 2008. It’s essentially Robin Hood Noir. The book is set in the same world of South Central Los Angeles as his previous novel, All Involved: A Novel of the 1992 L.A. Riots, which was grounded in 2.5 years of research & background spent with former Latino gang members, firefighters, nurses, & other L.A. citizens who lived through it. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guest: Ryan Gattis Audio: Brew Sessions Live Photos: Luis Martinez

Samantha Dunn is an editor at Coast Magazine. Sam’s work is widely anthologized, including the short story collection, Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles, which she co-edited. Her essays have appeared in numerous national publications such as O (Oprah) Magazine, Ms., and Salon. Her debut novel, Failing Paris, was a finalist for the PEN Center Fiction Award. Her memoir, Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life rose to bestseller lists in Los Angeles and San Francisco and her second memoir, Faith in Carlos Gomez, has been in production at Lifetime Television. She teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers Program and at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guest: Samantha Dunn Audio: Brew Sessions Live Photo: Arthur Pham