The Maris Review

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is the author of the novels Ms. Hempel Chronicles, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and Madeleine Is Sleeping, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her fiction has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including the New Yorker, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Best American Short Stories, and the O. Henry Prize Stories. She lives in Los Angeles. Her recent story collection is called Likes.

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Emily Temple earned a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia. Her short fiction has appeared in Colorado Review, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, Indiana Review, Fairy Tale Review, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is a senior editor at Literary Hub. A Lightness is her first novel.

Recommended Reading:

Luster by Raven Leilani

The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

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Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Kiese Laymon, Ottilie Schillig Professor in English and Creative Writing and the University of Mississippi, is the author of the novel Long Division, the memoir Heavy, and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America.

Recommended Reading:

The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

Breathe by Imani Perry

The Yellow House by Sarah Broom

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

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Diane Cook is the author of the novel, THE NEW WILDERNESS, which was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, and the story collection, MAN V. NATURE, which was a finalist for the Guardian First Book Award, the Believer Book Award, The Pen/Hemingway Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction. 

Recommended Reading:

Fire Season by Philip Connors

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang

Temporary by Hilary Leichter

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David Sedaris is the author of Calypso, Theft by Finding, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked, and Barrel Fever. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. He lives in England and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

This Episode's Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and the new short story collection Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kaling. Download today at amazon.com/mindystories.

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David Goodwillie is the author of the novel American Subversive, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the memoir Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. He has been drafted to play professional baseball, worked as a private investigator, and was an expert at Sotheby’s auction house. He lives in Brooklyn. His latest novel is Kings County.

This Episode's Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and the new short story collection Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kaling. Download today at amazon.com/mindystories.

Recommended Reading:

Stray by Stephanie Danler

Lot Six by David Adjmi

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Rumaan Alam is the author of Leave the World Behind, Rich and Pretty, and That Kind of Mother. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, The Rumpus, Buzzfeed, and elsewhere. He studied at Oberlin College, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Recommended Reading:

Memorial by Bryan Washington

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

This Episode's Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and the new short story collection Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kaling. Download today at amazon.com/mindystories.

This podcast is brought to you by Catapult, publishers of White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad.

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Jason Diamond is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. His first book was Searching for John Hughes. And his latest is called The Sprawl.

Recommended Reading:

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

White Girls by Hilton Als

Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam

This Episode's Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and the new short story collection Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kaling. Download today at amazon.com/mindystories.

This podcast is brought to you by Catapult, publishers of White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad.

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Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of the novels Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Certain Dark Things, Untamed Shore, and a bunch of other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows.

Recommended Books:

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

This Episode's Sponsor:

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and the new short story collection Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kaling. Download today at amazon.com/mindystories.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ayad Akhtar is a playwright, novelist, and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of American Dervish, named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012. As a playwright, he has written numerous award-winning works.

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