The Catapult

Two stories of love and leaving home: Rebecca Worby reads an essay about falling in love with red rock country and the confusion of romance in a beloved place, and Justin Taylor reads a short story about leaving the city in love and continuing to leave and be left.

You may direct all correspondance, including angry letters about ungenerous assessments of beloved Joan Didion essays, to [email protected].

CatapultReads.com // @CatapultReads

From mermaids to the Midwest, we've got something for everyone today: poems from Matthea Harvey and fiction from Emily Gould. Also some musings on cat ownership and writing and how they're maybe the same thing, plus some ambient construction sounds from recording at Emily's apartment. Apologies for the buzzsaw; enjoy the rest.

Find more work by Matthea and Emily at CatapultReads.com, and follow us on twitter: @catapultreads. 

Today's episode features work from the new issue of Apogee Journal. (Today's episode also features the sound of several low-flying jets on their way to land at LaGuardia Airport.) Apogee publishes art and writing that engage with issues of identity politics, and today's readers, Morgan Parker (reading poems) and Stacy Parker Le Melle (with an essay), show just how gorgeous, compelling, funny, smart, thoughtful, and intriguing that work can be. For more info: CatapultReads.com and ApogeeJournal.org.

Poetry and fiction for you, on rare neurological diseases, following Phish, the Next Great American Novelist that never was, lost love, found accents, and indescribable mystical experiences. Plus advice for writers, literary secrets, and a new Catapult feature: long-distance Q&A. Send your questions for this week's or any past readers to [email protected]. We'll have answers for you on the next episode.

Two nonfiction readings today—Matt Gallagher reads an essay about getting back in uniform, in New York City instead of Iraq, and Leigh Stein shares an excerpt from her memoir-in-progress about grieving in the internet age, in this selection touching on rings, relics, and run-ins with the cops.

Our run of fortuitously themed episodes is OVER, unless you'll take for this episode's theme "really lovely readers." Because they are. Both writers on this episode have the kinds of voices I could just listen to forever. But the similarities mostly end there. Mira Jacob reads the opening of her novel, The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing. Filip Noterdaeme reads from his book, The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart. Info on the writers & links to more of their work at CatapultReads.com. 

This episode brings you two excerpts from two fantastic new books: Jen Doll reading the opening of her book, Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest (out now) and Catherine Lacey with an excerpt from her novel, Nobody is Ever Missing (out July 8th). On weddings and marriage with audio cameos from a helicopter, an ice cream truck, and who knows what else!

Corrections to the audio: The Last Five Years is about a bad *marriage,* not a bad wedding; Catherine's book comes out July 8th, not July 9th.

An essay, poems, and a short story. Discussed: sisters, best friends, feminist poetry, Belle & Sebastian, California, meteor showers, shacks in the woods, DSM IV 300.6, John Green, tumblr, teens, and the impossibility of knowing another person's experience of the world but the importance of always trying.

A serendipitously themed episode, with an essay from Meghan Flaherty and a short story from Matthew Rossi.

Meehan Crist and Miles Klee read this week. Meehan's short pieces blur essay and poetry; Miles' short story blurs discomfort and hilarity.