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Episode 053: Peter Balakian

Host J. Robert Lennon interviews writers visiting Cornell University as part of the Barbara and David Zalaznick Reading Series, including George Saunders, Junot Diaz, Lydia Davis, Charles Simic, Claudia Emerson, Nicholson Baker, T&eacute;a Obreht, Jonathan Franzen, Heather McHugh, and many more.

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  Brenda
Shaughnessy's most recent collection of poetry is
Our
Andromeda,
from Copper Canyon Press. She’s also the author of Human
Dark with Sugar and
Interior
with Sudden Joy.
Her poems have appeared in Harpers,
McSweeney’s, The Nation, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Slate
and
elsewhere. She is a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, and is Assistant
Professor of English in the M.F.A. Program at Rutgers-Newark. She
lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. Shaughnessy read from her work on September 26, 2013, in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall. This interview took place earlier the same day. 

Episode 068: Brenda Shaughnessy


          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
      
        
      

    
  






  Alison Lurie is the author of ten novels, including The Truth About Lorin Jones, Truth and Consequences,  and the Pulitzer-prizewinning Foreign Affairs.  She has also published two collections of essays on children's literature and edited three books of traditional folktales for children, as well as a nonfiction book on the semiotics of dress, The Language of Clothes,  and a forthcoming nonfiction book, The Language of Houses.  She was one of the first women hired by the Cornell English Department and is the Frederic J. Whiton Professor of American Literature emerita there.  Lurie read from her work on September 19, 2013, in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall. This interview took place earlier the same day. 

Episode 067: Alison Lurie


          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
      
        
      

    
  






  Dana Spiotta is the author of three novels: Lightning Field, Eat the Document (which was nominated for the National Book Award), and Stone Arabia. She teaches writing at Syracuse University.  Spiotta read from her work on February 21, 2013, in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall. This interview took place earlier the same day.

Episode 066: Dana Spiotta


          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
      
        
      

    
  






  Claudia Emerson’s books include Late Wife and Figure Studies. Born and raised in Chatham, Virginia, she studied writing at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; in addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for Late Wife, she has also earned two additional Pulitzer nominations, as well as fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also served as poet laureate of Virginia. Her new book is Secure the Shadow. Emerson read from her work on September 20, 2012, in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall. This interview took place earlier the same day.

Episode 063: Claudia Emerson


          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
      
        
      

    
  






  Poet David St. John was born in Fresno, California. He received his bachelor’s degree at California State in Fresno and went to the University of Iowa for an M.F.A. His works of poetry include Hush (1976), Terraces of Rain (1991) The Red Leaves of Night (1999), The Face: A Novella in Verse (2004), and The Auroras (2012). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Great Lakes College Association New Writers Award, the James D. Phelan Award, the Academy Award in Literature, and various grants and fellowships. St. John has taught at Oberlin College and John Hopkins University, and currently teaches at the University of Southern California. The interview was conducted by Cornell professor and poet Joanie Mackowski, author of the collections The Zoo (2002) and View From A Temporary Window (2010). St. John read from his work on April 5, 2012, in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall. This interview took place earlier the same day.

Episode 053: Peter Balakian

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