The Maris Review

Shelly Oria is the author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014), which earned nominations for a Lambda Literary Award and the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, among other honors. She coauthored a digital novella, CLEAN, commissioned by WeTransfer and McSweeney’s, which received two Lovie Awards from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Oria's fiction has appeared in The Paris Review and elsewhere; has been translated to other languages; and has won a number of awards, including the Indiana Review Fiction Prize, a Sozopol Fiction Seminars Fellowship in Bulgaria, and the LMCC Workspace Grant.

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Josh Gondelman is a comedian and writer who has earned two Peabody Awards, three Emmys, and two WGA Awards for his work on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He is currently a writer/producer for Desus & Mero. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, and the New Yorker. Nice Try is his debut essay collection. He lives in New York City with his wife and pug.

Recommended Reading:Red at the Bone by Jacqueline WoodsonMostly Dead Things by Kristen ArnettMedallion Status by John Hodgman

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Sarah Weinman is the author of The Real Lolita. She’s the editor of Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s (Library of America) and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives (Penguin). She has written for the New York Times, the New Republic, the Guardian, and Buzzfeed, among other outlets.

Recommended Books in This Episode:

White Flights by Jess Row

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

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Kristen Arnett is a queer fiction and essay writer. She won the 2017 Coil Book Award for her debut short fiction collection, Felt in the Jaw, and was awarded Ninth Letter's 2015 Literary Award in Fiction. She is a columnist for Literary Hub, and her work has either appeared or is upcoming in numerous literary publications. Mostly Dead Things is her first novel.

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R. O. Kwon is a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow. The Incendiaries is her first novel, and it was named a best book of the year by over 40 publications. Kwon's writing is published in the New York Times, The Guardian, The Paris Review, Buzzfeed, New York Magazine, NPR, and elsewhere. Born in South Korea, she has lived most of her life in the United States.

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Oyinkan Braithwaite is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. She is the author of My Sister, the Serial Killer, which won the 2019 LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller, the 2019 Morning News Tournament of Books and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019, and, most recently, was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Recommended Reading:

Milkman by Anna Burns

The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Link to Oyinkan’s drawings: https://oyinkanbraithwaite.com/sketches/

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Lyz Lenz’s writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Pacific Standard, and others. Her book God Land was published Indiana University Press. Her second book Belabored, is due out from Bold Type Books in Spring of 2020.. She lives in Iowa with her two kids and two cats and is a contributing writer to the Columbia Journalism Review.

Recommended Reading:

Savage Appetites by Rachel MonroeFurious Hours by Casey CepHeavy by Kiese LaymonIn the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

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Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. She has also written for GQ, ESPN the Magazine, and many other publications. Fleishman Is in Trouble is her first novel.

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Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for National Public Radio and the host of the podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour. Evvie Drake Starts Over is her first novel.

Linda's Recommendations:Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali DevNice Try by Josh GondelmanBig Little Lies

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Laura Lippman is a New York Times bestselling novelist who has won more than twenty awards for her fiction, including the Edgar Award. Since her debut in 1997, she has published twenty-one novels, a novella, a children’s book, and a collection of short stories. Lit Hub named her one of the “essential” female crime writers of the last hundred years. 

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