The TOA Podcast

Viviane Houle joins Avni Vyas and Nik De Dominic to talk about Houle’s chapbook, “Unsung Songs.”  Our conversation spans the drive to write with or without words, “window days,” and the power of collaboration. “Unsung Songs,” the first collaborative chapbook of its kind, invites readers to redefine how lyric expression communicates. Plus: Houle discusses the power of love poems set to music.

The poet Mariam Ahmed joins Avni Vyas and Andrew Wessels for a chat about the idiosyncrasies of transliteration, the appeal of the acrostic form, and the decontextualization of language. Plus: Ahmed reads from her transportive, sensory abecedarian TOA chapbook, “MAP: Moments of Astral Projection.”

Katie Jean Shinkle joins Avni Vyas and Nik De Dominic to talk about Shinkle’s new TOA chapbook, “Will You Kiss Me Goodnight?” Strap in for a conversation that ranges from River Phoenix and the nineties to the identities we try on as teenagers. Plus: Shinkle talks about writing two new books in the span of a year.

Avni Vyas joins Nik De Dominic and Whitney Holmes to talk about erasure as language finding its friends on the page; about bling, neon, and glitter; and about the synergistic influence of being surrounded by good company with an addiction to making. Plus, Vyas reads excerpts from her new TOA chapbook, “Far from Glorious Feeling.”

The Hungarian poet Márton Simon and the translator Timea Sipos join Avni Vyas and Ryan Winet to talk about the Magyar language, the everyday practice of freedom, and the uncatchable early-morning hours of nothingness. (And cats.) Plus: Simon and Sipos read excerpts from their new TOA chapbook, “Songs for 3:45 AM,” in English and Hungarian.

The author Christine Gosnay joins Avni Vyas and Nik De Dominic to talk about the sensuality of particle physics, private mythologies, Robert Lowell, and learning you've been pronouncing a word wrong for years. Plus: Gosnay reads excerpts from her shimmering new TOA chapbook, “The Double Slit Experiment.”

In this TOA Editors Roundtable, Whit poses the question of why and how we make TOA, which is entirely volunteer-run, and how it fits alongside our day jobs. We also learn why Avni’s not a lawyer, how bad at basketball Ryan is, and why poets make good copy editors.

The writer Jessica Q. Stark joins Nik De Dominic and Avni Vyas to talk about the Internet—as randomized chaos, as AOL CD-ROMs, as meme culture, as racism and misogyny, as addiction, as archive, as problematic yet loving relationship. Plus: Stark reads excerpts from her new long-scrolling, hyperlinked TOA chapbook, “INNANET: Love Poem for the Internet.”

The poet Vi Khi Nao joins Avni Vyas and Andrew Wessels for a talk about simile as emotional-cargo transport, poems that arrive within five minutes, sandy mussels, and the dangers of reading sapphic writings in front of small children. Plus: Nao reads excerpts from her new TOA chapbook, “Every Dress Is a Simile.”