Welcome to SAD ME OF THE PAST Presents: Ghosts on the Radio! This is a SPECIAL EPISODE of Sad Me of the Past, where we invite young writers from the Iowa Youth Writing Project (IYWP) to talk about a ghost story they created for the Ghosts on the Radio haunted audio anthology.

We have compiled four interviews with IYWP writers into this one episode. The writers, ranging in age from 9 to 14, were among the winner of the Ghosts on the Radio writing contest this past fall. You will hear each of their interviews first, followed by a dramatic reading of their winning story. You can hear all of the stories on the Ghosts on the Radio podcast on the Writing University Podcast Network.

Chapters

01:25 - The Circus is Coming by Imogen Olszewski

When a family of clowns moves in, the protagonist knows something is wrong. But do her parents agree? Read by Alic Eberhart.

29:54 - The Forest’s Shadow by Olivia Groff

Everyone knows that the Forest is dangerous. But Macy doesn’t believe it. To prove her point, she sets foot where even the bravest huntsmen refuse to go. Read by Skyler Tarnas.

54:09 - How the Blood Dragon was Born by Aniya Maharjan

Tillie gets lost in the woods and undergoes a mysterious transformation. Read by Olivia Morrow.

01:05:05 - Under the Gaze of Two Pink Eyes by Lucy Liao and Natalie Witt

What happens to Iris moves into a strange house and is confronted by a creature that refuses to pass on. Can she survive? Read by Anne Marie Berry. Explicit.

Welcome to SAD ME OF THE PAST, the podcast that asks: are there any new babies being named Brian? On this episode, Madeline McDonnell joins us via Zoom. It's our first remotely-recorded episode! Madeline shares all sorts of secrets with us from being admonished in Middle English, reading in trees, dramatic countdowns to playing an evil Jack-o-lantern in a 3rd grade play with Mindy Kaling, starting three books at the same time, and the importance of friends.

Madeline McDonnell is the author of three books of fiction: Lonesome Ballroom, Penny, n., and There Is Something Inside, It Wants To Get Out. She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow, and has taught creative writing, literature, and composition courses at many places, most recently the MFA program at Portland State University. She lives in Oregon with her family.

On this episode, we have bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld in the studio! We can't believe it! Lauren was very nervous! Curtis talks with us about the perils of boarding school, getting good luck from a used car, how her family really feels about her writing, and her new short story collection Show Don’t Tell. For her piece from the past, Curtis shares a short story she wrote in high school that has a surprising twist (and continues to hold a special place in the “Best of Curtis Sittenfeld” as selected by her mother).

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Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of seven novels: Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, Eligible, Rodham, and Romantic Comedy, which was picked for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. Her first story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It, was published in 2018 and also picked for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. Show Don’t Tell is her second story collection. Her books have been selected by The New York Times, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and People for their “Ten Best Books of the Year” lists, optioned for television and film, and translated into thirty languages. Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and Esquire, and in the Best American Short Stories anthology, of which she was the 2020 guest editor. Her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Slate, and on “This American Life.” A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Curtis has appeared as a guest on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” CBS’s “Early Show,” and PBS’s Newshour; five times been a Jeopardy! answer, and once been a Word Search puzzle.

On this episode, we have prose, screen, and television writer Josh Parkinson stop by the studio to share a story he wrote in high school called "The Man and the Fly." This absolute banger involves a fly, a car crash, and a response from the local authorities that you won't see coming. Is it worth an hour of your time? We think so. It did win 3rd place in 1991.

We also talk about his journey from QB1 of the Needville Texas Fighting Bluejays to his work writing scripts in the big city of Los Angeles, and how Iowa City has impacted his current and future work. We discuss the books that got Josh interested in writing, whether or not he actually likes Billy Joel, and if (as Stephen suggests) his writing is in fact Stienbeckian.

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Josh Parkinson is a writer from Texas who received an MA in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University. Over the last dozen years he has written feature originals or rewrites for Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, Paramount, and Media Rights Capital, as well as held TV staff-writing positions on the HBO comedy Eastbound and Down and the AMC horror series The Terror. He has also during that time sold both hour-long drama and half-hour comedy pilots to NBC, CBS, AMC, USA, Showtime, and most recently, Peacock. He lives in Iowa City and teaches screenwriting at the University of Iowa for the Magid Center for Writing.

On this episode, we are joined by Gina Welch, award-winning 'Castle Rock' screenwriter. We explore Gina's decision to ditch the mullet and reinvent herself in 8th grade, her obsession over Twin Peaks and impressing her English teacher Mr. Gould and the joy of entertaining people with story. She tells us about studying with Robert Stone, going undercover in Jerry Falwell’s church, solitude, misery, and traveling deep into a character’s psyche—like, perhaps, that of a wholesome personal injury lawyer, or a madame who goes into witness protection.

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Gina Welch received an AFI Award for FX’s FEUD: Bette and Joan and a WGA Award for her work on Castle Rock. She has also worked on FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, Station Eleven, The Terror, Ray Donovan and is the author of the non-fiction book In the Land of Believers. She visited the University of Iowa in the fall of 2024 to teach in the "Big Binge," a screenwriting course offered by the Magid Center for Writing.

On this episode we have Ada Zhang in the studio with us to share an early piece of work and discuss her journey in becoming a writer. We also talk about being a theater kid at Texas football schools, her flight from business major to writer, blogging at its peak, Mike and his mint green Vespa, "violescent" hues, diving into Asian American literature, and the joy of being understood. 

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Ada Zhang's short stories have appeared in A Public Space, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere. The Sorrows of Others, her first story collection, was published by A Public Space Books. She is a 2024 Whiting Award Winner in Fiction and 2023 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree.

On this episode, Emmy Award winning TV writer Lila Byock stops by the studio to talk about her time writing for the acclaimed series Watchmen and her current projects. We discuss an array of topics with Lila including growing up in Missoula, Montana, fact-checking at The New Yorker, the magical powers of Cheerios, her transition to TV writing and the collaborative nature of a writers' room. 

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Lila Byock earned an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and spent five years on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, before beginning a career in television. Her work on such shows as WATCHMEN, THE LEFTOVERS, CASTLE ROCK, and MANHATTAN has received numerous honors, including two Writers Guild of America awards and an Emmy. Lila has multiple television and feature projects in development. Along with her family, she divides her time between Los Angeles and her home state of Montana. (Photo credit: Alex Welsh)

On this episode, fiction writer Bret Anthony Johnston joins us in the studio to talk about his new book We Burn Daylight, his time as a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and what he’s working on now. For his piece from the past, Bret shares one of the many stories that he published in Chicken Soup for the Soul years ago (they paid!), while in the Workshop. We discuss his journey from Texas skateboarder to Harvard professor and back to again to Texas, and all the stops in between.

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Bret Anthony Johnston is the internationally bestselling author of the novels We Burn Daylight and Remember Me Like This, and the multi-award-winning collection Corpus Christi: Stories. He also edited Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer and wrote the documentary film Waiting for Lightning, which was released in theaters around the world by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Among his many honors are a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, the Glasgow Prize, and the Sunday Times Short Story Award, “the world’s richest and most prestigious prize for a single short story.” His work has been widely translated and appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. After selling his television to buy his first board almost 40 years ago, Bret has yet to outgrow skateboarding. After directing the creative writing program at Harvard University for over a decade, he is now the Director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.

On this episode, fiction writer Melissa Mogollon stops by the studio to talk about her debut novel Oyé, her time as a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and what she’s working on now. For her piece from the past, Mel shares a list she wrote during her time as a graduate student at the Workshop, one that she hoped would help her see ways to improve (even though we thought she was perfect!). We discuss her journey from DC insider to boarding-school (bored-in-school) teacher with pit stops in Iowa along the way.

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Melissa Mogollon holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a BA from the George Washington University. Originally from Colombia and raised in Florida, she now teaches at a boarding school in Rhode Island, where she lives with her partner and dog. Oye is her first novel.

Welcome to Sad Me of the Past, where we invite an established writer to revisit a piece they wrote in their tender years.

On this episode, we were joined by Joe Fassler, author and journalist, while he was in town for his reading at Prairie Lights! We talk about his new novel The Sky Was Ours, and the 10 year process of writing it, which began with a single short story at Iowa. Joe shares a piece of writing from his late teens, written while he was in the Iowa Young Writers' Studio. We discuss his journey from apathetic high school student to a highly recognized journalist and author, as well his tips, tricks and inspiration for aspiring writers everywhere. 

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Joe Fassler is a writer and editor based in Denver, Colorado. He is an MFA graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and his fiction has appeared in The Boston Review and Electric Literature. In 2013, Fassler started The Atlantic's “By Heart” series, in which he interviewed authors—including Stephen King, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Carmen Maria Machado, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and more—about the literature that shaped their lives and work. That led to editing Light the Dark, a book-length collection that included favorites from “By Heart” alongside new contributions. Fassler's nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian, Longreads, and The Best American Food Writing. Fassler currently teaches writing at Vermont's Sterling College. The Sky Was Ours is his first novel.