The Maris Review

Elif Batuman's first novel, The Idiot, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in the UK. She is also the author of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010 and holds a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University. Her second novel is called Either/Or.

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Annie Hartnett is the author of Rabbit Cake, which was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews‘s Best Books of 2017 and a finalist for the New England Book Award. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. She studied philosophy at Hamilton College, has an MA from Middlebury College, and an MFA from the University of Alabama. When she began writing Unlikely Animals, she was living in the groundskeeper’s house in a cemetery. She now lives in a small town in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and darling border collie, Mr. Willie Nelson.

Recommended Reading:

Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter by E. B. Bartels · How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu · Notes On an Execution by Danya Kukafka

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Michelle Hart's fiction has appeared in Joyland and Electric Literature, and she has written nonfiction for Catapult, NYLON, The Rumpus, and The New Yorker online. Previously, she was the Assistant Books Editor at O, the Oprah Magazine and Oprah Daily. She received her MFA from Rutgers-Newark and lives in New Jersey. Her debut novel is called We Do What We Do In the Dark.

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Vauhini Vara has worked as a Wall Street Journal technology reporter and as the business editor for The New Yorker. Her fiction has been honored by the O. Henry Prize and the Rona Jaffe Foundation. From a Dalit background, she lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her debut novel is called The Immortal King Rao.

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Now celebrating its fifth season, Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. Hosted by 2021 KCRW Radio Race winner Jude Brewer, Storybound presents the voices of today’s best writers reading accomplished works of fiction and non-fiction. You’ll also hear original music specially composed for the respective text. Needless to say, it’s an immersive storytelling experience.

The episode we’re sharing today features Lauren Groff reading “Flower Hunters” from her collection Florida.  Lauren doesn’t need an introduction, but just in case: She’s the universally acclaimed and bestselling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies. Lauren is also, of course, a past guest of The Maris Review. 

If you enjoy what you hear, make sure to follow Storybound (for free) wherever you get your podcasts.

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Chantal V. Johnson is a tenant lawyer and writer. A graduate of Stanford Law School and a 2018 Center for Fiction Emerging Writers Fellow, she lives in New York. Her debut novel is called Post-Traumatic.

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Maeve Higgins is a contributing writer for The New York Times and a former comedian who performed all over the world. She starred in the multi-award winning movie Extra Ordinary and hosts a climate justice podcast with Mary Robinson entitled Mothers of Invention. Her latest essay collection is called Tell Everyone On This Train I Love Them.

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EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL’s five previous novels include The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, has been translated into 35 languages, and is the basis for the HBO Max series by the same name. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

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Chloé Cooper Jones is a philosophy professor and freelance journalist who was a finalist for a 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. Her work has appeared in publications including GQ, The Verge, and The Believer, and has been selected for both The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Sports Writing. She lives in Brooklyn. Her debut memoir is called Easy Beauty.

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Maud Newton has written for The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, The New York Times Book Review, and Oxford American. She grew up in Miami and graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in English and law. Her debut memoir is called Ancestor Trouble.

Recommended Reading:

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Patrice Somé

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