Other People with Brad Listi
By Brad Listi
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Podcast Description
Brad Listi is the author of a novel called ATTENTION. DEFICIT. DISORDER. and the founder of The Nervous Breakdown, an online culture magazine and literary community. He also runs TNB Books, an independent press specializing in literary fiction and nonfiction. Here, he offers up in-depth, inappropriate interviews with today's leading authors.
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ExplicitEpisode 46 — Cheryl Strayed | Cheryl Strayed is the guest. She's the author of the new memoir WILD, due out from Knopf on March 20, 2012. And she's also Sugar, the popular advice columnist over at The Rumpus. WILD, which details Strayed's 1,100-mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995, is generating a ton of good buzz. Kirkus, in a starred review, calls it "a candid, inspiring narrative of the author’s brutal physical and psychological journey through a wilderness of despair to a renewed sense of self." So much fun talking with Cheryl. We had plenty to discuss. Topics of conversation include: Sugar, love, advice, self-help, narcissism, anonymity, personal vs. universal, internal vs. external, Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, heroin, sex, grief, California, wilderness, blisters, Oregon, self-destruction, grunge, purification, journaling, book tour, William Faulkner, Adrienne Rich, The Rumpus, The Dream of a Common Language, family, suffering, pain tolerance, book burning, beauty, As I Lay Dying, and llamas. Monologue topics: Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, perspective, boredom, fear, Shenandoah National Park, Merlin, hippies, boxed wine, parties, Patrick, grounding, and inventing things to do. | 2/22/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 45 — Adam Wilson | Adam Wilson is the guest. He's the author of the debut novel FLATSCREEN, now available from Harper Perennial. Raves Sam Lipsyte: "Adam Wilson is a gutsy, funny, and often beautiful writer, and 'Flatscreen' is one of the most hilarious and commanding debuts I’ve read in a long time." And Booklist, in a starred review, calls it "an auspicious debut that promises, in Wilson, a standout addition to a new generation of writers." Plenty to discuss. Topics of conversation include: Austin, bad jobs, whiskey, depression, screenwriting, Richard Linklater, bad decisions, heat, Columbia, Brooklyn, Bookcourt, Don DeLillo, Bret Easton Ellis, The Hold Steady, Boston, Tufts, Jonathan Wilson, social media, shyness, stoners, comedy, O.J. Simpson, The Paris Review, and work habits. Monologue topics: Israel, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, not reading novels, the Santa Fe Institute, honesty, history, and work ethic. | 2/19/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 44 — Eleanor Henderson | Eleanor Henderson is the guest. She's the author of the debut novel TEN THOUSAND SAINTS, now available in trade paperback from Ecco. It was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2011 by the New York Times Book Review. In a glowing review for the Times, Stacey D'Erasmo writes: "The ambition of TEN THOUSAND SAINTS, Eleanor Henderson’s debut novel about a group of unambitious lost souls, is beautiful. In nearly 400 pages, Henderson does not hold back once: she writes the hell out of every moment, every scene, every perspective, every fleeting impression, every impulse and desire and bit of emotional detritus. She is never ironic or underwhelmed; her preferred mode is fierce, devoted and elegiac." A great deal to talk about here. Topics of conversation include: Ithaca, Greece, bumper stickers, teaching, luck, children's books, agents, revisions, rejections, editorial notes, Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic, the sales process, Lee Boudreaux, bedside manner, editorial tricks, pregnancy, anxiety, straight edge, Split Lip, fundamentalism, punk rock, nerds, dating, architecture, West Palm Beach, Virginia, Soul Asylum, freon, drugs, death, environmentalism, aging, hippies, convictions, savants, Georgia, and extreme moderation. Monologue topics: love, divorce, cute old couples, hunchbacked old couples, weddings, psycho-sexual mind games, Filmmaker magazine, and my burgeoning literary media empire. | 2/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 43 — Ben Marcus | Ben Marcus is today's guest. He's the author of four books of fiction, the most recent of which is the critically acclaimed novel THE FLAME ALPHABET, now available from Knopf. "Think again," writes Fiona Maazel at Book Forum. "[The Flame Alphabet] can operate on multiple registers: as metaphor, sociology, conventional thriller, and, at bottom, discourse on parenthood and family that is freakishly sad and incredibly good.” And George Saunders raves: "“I don’t use the word lightly, in fact, I don’t use it at all, but Ben Marcus is a genius, one of the most daring, funny, morally engaged and brilliant writers, someone whose work truly makes a difference in the world. His prose is, for me, awareness objectified—he makes the word new and thus the world.” Thrilled to have Ben on the program. Plenty to discuss. Topics of conversation include: David Markson, literary collage, Brown, Robert Coover, Ralph Waldo Emerson, literary backstabbing, history, suicide, Nicholson Baker, WWII, writing strategies, reviews, teaching, kids, reading, attention spans, dismissiveness, self-imposed rules, primal circumstances, publishing, Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, Austin, Chicago, sports, water skiing, and how a book begins. Monologue topics: in-laws, artifacts of youth, stuff, hoarding, Smurfs, figurines, creepy dolls, retainers, smells, food, putrefaction, waste, and the dream of having nothing. | 2/12/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 42 — Ben Tanzer | Ben Tanzer is the guest. He's the author of several books, including 99 PROBLEMS, YOU CAN MAKE HIM LIKE YOU, and MY FATHER'S HOUSE. He is also the proprietor of vast faux media empire. Michael Fitzgerald, author of Radiant Days, calls My Father's House "a sincere and important book full of grace, beauty, and...I'm happy to report...a delicious humor." A very good conversation with a writer whose work has won him many fans in the indie lit scene and beyond. Topics of conversation include: Chicago, sports fandom, Little League, running, endorphins, Obama, OCD, booze, drugs, regimens, maturity, The Grateful Dead, raves, lethargy, genetics, screenwriting, popularity, narrative formulas, painting, defining your audience, Stephen Gaghan, Traffic, luck, ambition, readings, theft, and The Nervous Breakdown. Monologue topics: friends, Crested Butte, storytelling, wayward youth, chemically enhanced situations, The Price is Right, Dickey Betts, homicide, mushrooms, amputees, and Vietnam. | 2/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 41 — Claire Bidwell Smith | Claire Bidwell Smith is the guest. She's the author of the memoir THE RULES OF INHERITANCE, available now from Hudson Street Press. Darin Strauss, the author of Half a Life, calls it "a perfectly crafted story — not about grief, but how to walk out of grief with your soul intact; it's not a lamentation, but a lesson. 'The Rules of Inheritance' should be required reading for anybody who's trying to get their arms around a big sadness." A tremendous amount to talk about here. Topics of conversation include: pregnancy, nausea, boys vs. girls, hospice, focus, parenthood, WWII, language, grief, traveling, alcohol, guilt, Dave Eggers, Spain, Greyhound buses, San Francisco, Atlanta, beauty, love, funerals, apathy, religion, circles, sex, the afterlife, heaven, hell, catharsis, and self-medication. Monologue topics: death, grief, Ben Kenobe, John Lennon, Davo, Crested Butte, watery balls, absurdity, $5 foot-long, horse sex, and ridiculous species. | 2/5/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 40 — Susan Sherman | Susan Sherman is the guest. She's the author of the acclaimed debut novel THE LITTLE RUSSIAN, now available from Counterpoint Press. And she's also the co-creator of one of the most successful television shows in the history of Disney. Library Journal, in a starred review, has this to say about The Little Russian: "Sherman’s extraordinary debut novel plunges her readers into the bitter cold, deprivation, and upheaval of early 20th-century wartime Russia...a fascinating mix of petty vanity, devoted parenting, and breathtaking courage, fleshed out with cinematic detail that’s both irresistible and spectacularly illuminating. All fiction readers will enjoy." So much to talk about here. Topics of conversation include: Russia, Green Bay, fur, negotiating, luck, Hollywood, Disney, agents, girl teams, timing, sexism, money, freedom, France, death, collaboration, history, research, immaturity, cave people, narrative sculpture, and religion. Monologue topics: complaining, Navy SEALS, perspective, art problems, human agony, man's search for meaning, and war. | 2/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 39 — Caroline Leavitt | Caroline Leavitt is the guest. She's the author of nine novels, the most recent of which is called PICTURES OF YOU, a New York Times bestseller, now available from Algonquin Books. Kirkus Reviews calls it "heartfelt, deft, and highly readable fiction." A great publishing success story. A breakout book on the ninth try, by an author who never stopped working, even when the chips were down. Topics of conversation include: Algonquin, elves, false summits, neuroticism, criticism, Amazon rankings, life-changers, Waltham, disorientation, fear, bullies, bad luck, Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Brandeis, Norman Mailer, bad teachers, Hoboken, Manhattan, and depression. Monologue topics: famous recluses, homeless speed freaks, making out with strange dogs. | 1/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 38 — Vanessa Veselka | Vanessa Veselka is the guest. She's the author of the novel ZAZEN, now available from Red Lemonade. Says Publishers Weekly: "Veselka's prose is chiseled and laced with arsenic observations...[Zazen] makes a case for hope and meaning amid sheer madness." Endless things to talk about here. Topics of conversation include: mindless jobs, minimum wage, stripping, company loyalty, stock loyalty, the Atlantic, deadlines, query letters, Amazon, New Orleans, privilege, bartending, hitchhiking, Texas, Communism, Linda Ellerbee, Murphy Brown, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Greenwich Village, boarding school, Myers-Briggs, couch surfing, homelessness, hands, Thanksgiving, Europe, punk rock, Alaska, Seattle, flannel, Candlebox, songwriting, memoir, MFAs, and visceral life experience. | 1/25/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 37 — Alan Heathcock | Alan Heathcock is the guest. He's the author of the critically acclaimed story collection VOLT, now available from Graywolf Press. Volt was named a Best Book of 2011 by a variety of publications, including Publishers Weekly, GQ, the Chicago Tribune, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Salon, Shelf Awareness, and BookPage. Joy Williams calls it "booming, cracking good." Topics of conversation include: Chicago, life balance, teaching, publicity, Boise, book tour, introversion, Donald Ray Pollock, readers, book clubs, the invasive nature of violence, Roy Rogers, The Shining, Stanley Kubrick, All the President's Men, Netflix, greatness, the zoo, and ghost hunting. | 1/22/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 36 — D.R. Haney | D.R. Haney is the guest. He's the author of the novel BANNED FOR LIFE (And/Or Press) and the nonfiction collection SUBVERSIA, now available from TNB Books. PANK magazine calls it "...heartfelt and personal...a joyful read..." Topics of conversation include: city buses, alienation, poor people, fistfights, male vanity, cocaine, acting, cinema, horror, Marlon Brando, Roger Corman, Jason Voorhees, OCD, Charles Manson, Virginia, The Nervous Breakdown, Williamsburg, Serbia, agents, Montgomery Clift, day jobs, night owls, bipolar disorder, editing, therapy, and the Lower East Side. | 1/18/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 35 — Tayari Jones | Tayari Jones is the guest. She is the author of the novel SILVER SPARROW, now available from Algonquin Books. Library Journal, in a starred review, calls it a "a graceful and shining work about finding the truth." Topics of conversation include: writing, bad romance, Judy Blume, Atlanta, child characters, Ron Carlson, Spelman College, puberty, Chris Rock, The Giving Tree, help, Oprah, Nigeria, Fulbrights, Harvard, letter-writing, pen pals, business, book tours, typewriters, cynicism, dressing up, cleanliness, and new book ideas. | 1/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 34 — Roxane Gay | Roxane Gay is the guest. Her debut, AYITI, is a collection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and it is now available from Artistically Declined Press. She is an English professor at Eastern Illinois University, co-editor of PANK magazine, fiction editor at Bluestem, and a regular contributor at HTML Giant. An interesting conversation with one of indie lit's most industrious and prolific writers. Topics include: Haiti, Ayiti, the pronunciation of "Ayiti," Omaha, immigration, Phillips Exeter Academy, television, tiger moms, soap operas, sugar cereals, Victor Newman, 90210, architecture, Yale, dropping out, cracking up, road trips, chat rooms, love affairs, older men, Montpelier, Michigan Tech, technical writing, Eastern Illinois, Indianapolis, respect, advanced degrees, titles, online literature, Sean Penn, sugar daddies, insomnia, and philanthropy. | 1/11/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 33 — Rex Pickett | Rex Pickett is the guest. He's the author of the novel SIDEWAYS, which was adapted for the screen by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. The movie went on to win the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, among many other awards, and the novel itself has since gone on to sell more than 150,000 copies. Most recently, Rex has self-published a novel called VERTICAL, which is the sequel to SIDEWAYS. Topics of conversation include: wine, Knopf, credit card debt, golf, Santa Ynez, introversion, drinking, desperation, Alexander Payne, Michael London, luck, timing, agents, Election, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, casting, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Thomas Haden Church, the Oscars, Los Olivos, Max Perkins, groupies, failure, success, and merchandising. | 1/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 32 — Cecil Castellucci | The guest is Cecil Castellucci. She's the author of several novels for young adults, the most recent of which is FIRST DAY ON EARTH, now available from Scholastic Press. Kirkus calls it "a simple, tender work that speaks to the alien in all of us." In addition, she is the author of the graphic novel THE PLAIN JANES (DC Comics/Minx) and in 2007 won the Shuster Award for Best Canadian Comic Book Writer. Her first picture book, GRANDMA'S GLOVES (Candlewick), won the California Book Award gold medal for juvenile literature. Topics of conversation include: YA, money, Nerdy Girl, Montreal, music, art, Star Wars, precocity, New York, the Fame School, the soft Bronx, Jennifer Aniston, Chaz Bono, Luis Buñuel, Stan Brakhage, Window Water Baby Moving, digital comic books, performance art, The Shirt, Paris, au pairing, Christian Slater, Martha Plimpton, and dropping out of NYU. | 1/4/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 31 — Dana Spiotta | Dana Spiotta is the guest. She's the author of three novels: Lightning Field, Eat the Document (a finalist for the National Book Award), and, most recently, Stone Arabia, now available from Scribner. Publishers Weekly calls it "extraordinary...one of the most moving and original portraits of a sibling relationship in recent fiction.” Topics of conversation include: Los Angeles, adolescence, the olden days, Ally Sheedy, Crossroads School, drama, freaks, freaking out, happiness, Syracuse, Don DeLillo, money, Jim Hosney, Bertolucci, creative autonomy, Gordon Lish, Michael Bay, Columbia, Jack Kerouac, dropping out, philosophy, Seattle, The Quarterly, James Joyce, activism, serial killers, Gary Lutz, parenthood, identity, shooting birds, musicians, obscurity, social media, hope, and skepticism. | 1/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 30 — Jamal Joseph | Jamal Joseph is the guest. He is the author of the memoir PANTHER BABY, which details his coming of age within the Black Panther movement during the 1960s and '70s—a journey that took him to Riker's Island and Leavenworth prisons before ultimately leading him to his true calling in education, cinema, and the theater arts. Today, Joseph is the chair of Columbia University’s School of the Arts film division—the very school he exhorted students to burn down during one of his most famous speeches as a Panther. It's a truly incredible story. The book is due out from Algonquin on February 7, 2012. Topics of conversation include: Cuba, revolution, the Black Panthers, the IMPACT Repertory Theater, Huey Newton, police brutality, Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, father figures, Riker's, stress, insomnia, drugs, Dr. King, anger, betrayal, social change, Leavenworth, Afeni Shakur, Tupac Shakur, Sundance, James Schamus, Columbia, the Oscars, and love. | 12/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 29 — Ben Loory | Ben Loory is the guest. He's the author of the debut collection STORIES FOR NIGHTTIME AND SOME FOR THE DAY, now available from Penguin. Long a favorite of small zine readers in print and online, as well as a longtime contributor to The Nervous Breakdown, Ben's career took off in 2010 when The New Yorker published his story "The TV." A very unique and gifted writer with a big future ahead of him. Topics of conversation include: warts, needles, sunshine, The New Yorker, alligators, Harvard, Dennis Etchison, calculus, SAT scores, television, AFI, story structure, diagrams, moose, Santa Claus, screenwriting, mental hospitals, Darren Arnofsky, God, Echo Park, the grueling nature of writing, premeditation, and the subconscious. | 12/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 28 — Edan Lepucki | Edan Lepucki is the guest. She's the author of the novella IF YOU'RE NOT YET LIKE ME, originally published by Flatmancrooked and now available from Nouvella Books. She's a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a staff writer over at The Millions, where she publishes essays on books and writing that garner a wide online readership. Topics of conversation include: self-imposed social media hiatuses, vacation photos, the narcissistic aspects of curating one's own existence, rejection, persistence, Book Soup, the Iowa Writers Workshop, Dan Chaon, C. Max McGee, Teen Dance, Oberlin College, teaching, wanting to be a teacher, chain wallets, faux fur coats, skateboarding, nude-colored unitards, discipline, parenthood, time management, camel-toe, and The Millions. | 12/21/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 27 — Barry Eisler | The guest is Barry Eisler. He's the author of several bestselling thrillers, the most recent of which is THE DETACHMENT, which caused a stir in publishing earlier this year when Eisler turned down a six-figure deal from St. Martin's and decided instead to strike out on his own and self-publish—before eventually winding up with an exclusive deal at Amazon. Topics of conversation include: media filters, government, the Kodokan, Jon Stewart, drone strikes, manipulation of language, Anwar al-Alaki, Jose Padilla, due process, legacy publishers, Glenn Greenwald, the CIA, intelligence, Scott Horton, publishing, J.A. Konrath, brand consciousness, retarding the growth of digital, and Amazon. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Audible. Get a free audiobook download by going to audibletrial.com/otherpeople. | 12/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 26 — David Shields | David Shields is the guest. He's the author of twelve books, including REALITY HUNGER: A MANIFESTO (Knopf, 2010), which was named one of the best books of the year by more than thirty publications. An interesting conversation with a provocative and intelligent commentator on the state of modern literature. Topics include: J.D. Salinger, Fakes, Matthew Vollmer, the pleasure of concision, Reality Hunger, the symbiotic relationship between teaching and writing, attribution, collage, hip-hop, narrative, Ben Lerner, entertainment, Speedboat, Maggie Nelson, contemporary culture, Jonathan Franzen, northern California, activism, Brown, Black Planet, art, sugar pills, sports, injury, reading, Shakespeare, ambition, and the Rockefeller library. | 12/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 25 — John Warner | John Warner is the guest. He's the author of four books, most recently a debut novel called THE FUNNY MAN, available now from SoHo Press. And he's also the longtime editor of McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Topics of conversation include: Lake Charles, McSweeney's, tent revivals, McNeese State, bicycle cops, Robert Olen Butler, John Hughes, Chicago, Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, South Carolina, church, the phrase "bless your heart," The Real World, Barry Bonds, living with your parents, the Woody Creek Tavern, Comic Sans, humor writing, and trying to fit your fist in your mouth. | 12/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 24 — Charles Shields | Charles Shields is the guest. He's the author of AND SO IT GOES — KURT VONNEGUT: A LIFE, now available from Henry Holt. Shields is also the author of MOCKINGBIRD: A PORTRAIT OF HARPER LEE, also available from Holt. This is the first authoritative biography of Vonnegut ever written, with Vonnegut himself authorizing the project prior to his death in 2007. Topics of conversation include: Kurt, Indianapolis, Dresden, Cornell, PTSD, suicide, science fiction, family, journalism, WWII, The Battle of the Bulge, Billy Pilgrim, SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, Joe Crone, creative burnout, Jill Krementz, Cape Cod, New York City, Sardi's, divorce, tragedy, self-loathing, and the psychology of meeting famous people. | 12/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 23 — Dennis Cooper | Dennis Cooper is the guest. He's the author of several books, including THE SLUTS, GOD JR., the five novels of the George Miles cycle, and, most recently, THE MARBLED SWARM, now available from Harper Perennial. "Disquieting, humbling, and sadly beautiful in the way only Dennis Cooper can be," raves Patrick deWitt. "THE MARBLED SWARM is a mystifying and courageous novel that represents [Cooper's] finest work to date." And Booklist says: "Readers unfamiliar with transgressive fiction would do well to brace themselves for what will either be the shock of the unrelentingly different or, perhaps, the shock of recognizing writing that speaks to their souls." Topics of conversation include: Los Angeles, Paris, F Troop, growth spurts, Rimbaud, Sade, vegetarianism, self-publishing, punk, anarchy, school, Ginsberg, Burroughs, England, Little Caesar, blogging, New York, Blake Butler, Art Forum, SPIN, the Pompidou, sex, violence, David Lynch, and porn writing as a creative exercise. | 12/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 22 — Darin Strauss | Darin Strauss is today's guest. He is the author of three novels—CHANG & ENG, THE REAL MCCOY, and MORE THAN IT HURTS YOU. And his most recent book is a memoir called HALF A LIFE (McSweeney's) which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Times Book Review calls it "...elegant, painful, [and] stunningly honest." And Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE, says "[HALF A LIFE] is a searingly self-disciplined work of literature, and of self-examination...the impact is staggering and unforgettable." Plenty to talk about here. Topics of conversation include: short books, Courier New, guilt, PTSD, the performative aspects of grief, auto-responders, subconscious motives, Dave Eggers, writing slowly, conjoined twins, Philip Roth, emoticons, David Lipsky, gestation periods, and the difference between history and memoir. | 11/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 21 — Janet Reitman | Janet Reitman is the guest. She is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and the author of the bestselling INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S MOST SECRETIVE RELIGION, recently named by the New York Times as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2011. Inside Scientology originated as a story in Rolling Stone, and it was nominated for a National Magazine Award. Topics of conversation include: Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction, military service, hucksterism, religion, David Miscavige, Gold Base, yachts, hot pants, blowing, Rolling Stone, investigative reporting, Iraq, Tom Cruise, Jann S. Wenner, and collective shrugs. | 11/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 20 — Adam Novy | The guest is Adam Novy, author of the debut novel THE AVIAN GOSPELS, available now from Short Flight / Long Drive Books, an independent press run by the good people over at Hobart. Topics of conversation include: birds, birding, reviews, science fiction, false summits, agents, independent presses, Brooklyn, religion, Chicago, the Bible, 9/11, dislocation, South Pasadena, bad teachers, weddings, Jewishness, Medusa, privilege, war, semantics, Hamlet, gods, the process of un-f*****g a manuscript, and the fear of getting squashed by the universe. | 11/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 19 — Elissa Schappell | The guest is Elissa Schappell, author of the story collections USE ME (William Morrow), which was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the brand new BLUEPRINTS FOR BUILDING BETTER GIRLS, available now from Simon & Schuster. A former senior editor at The Paris Review, Elissa is a contributing editor and the Hot Type book columnist at Vanity Fair. She is also the co-founder and editor-at-large of Tin House magazine. Topics of conversation include: feathers, taxidermy, pigeons, Mike Tyson, Tin House, face tattoos, Delaware, Joe Biden, social identity, elegant segues, the Lower East Side, talking in circles, chameleons, empathy, manners, social graces, George Plimpton, The Paris Review, New York City, temporal lobe epilepsy, Berlin, Portugal, Spy magazine, Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter, and the abundance of good writers in the world. | 11/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 18 — Katie Arnoldi | Today's guest: Katie Arnoldi, the bestselling author of three novels: CHEMICAL PINK, THE WENTWORTHS, and POINT DUME. Topics of conversation include: marijuana, Mexican drug cartels, surfing, surf Nazis, art, discipline, lighting one's hair on fire while making a quesadilla, southeast Utah, road trips, books on tape, experiential learning, Blackhawk helicopters, wanderlust, field research, sharks, kids, Tasers, camping, the Venice Biennale, the artist Paul McCarthy, and getting out of one's own way creatively. | 11/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 17 — Joshua Mohr | Joshua Mohr is the guest. He's the author of three novels: SOME THINGS THAT MEANT THE WORLD TO ME, TERMITE PARADE, and, most recently, DAMASCUS. All are available from Two Dollar Radio, one of America's finest independent presses. Topics of conversation include: teaching, San Francisco, the benefits of insomnia, Hubert Selby Jr., coffee, punk rock, gentrification, creatively permissive cities, Arizona, Kurt Vonnegut, kids, monkishness, priorities, readerships, addiction, The Big Lebowski, fairy tales, reality television, and poets who live in their cars. | 11/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 16 — Gina Frangello | Gina Frangello is the guest. She is the critically acclaimed author of the novel MY SISTER'S CONTINENT (Chiasmus Press), the story collection S**T LULLABIES (Emergency Press), and the forthcoming novel A LIFE IN MEN (Algonquin). She is also the esteemed fiction editor over at The Nervous Breakdown. Topics of conversation include: Chicago, Other Voices Books, growing up Italian-American, how her parents met, jazz, alcohol, poverty, Madison, drug abuse, California, the dirt-poor writer who lived in her parents' garage, high school, dance clubs, neighborhood violence, parenthood, jogging yuppies, Avignon, keg parties, editing, London, whirlwind romance, psychology, Italy, New Hampshire, Arles, prison, battered women, the MFA, and the institution of marriage. | 11/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 15 — Jillian Lauren | The guest is Jillian Lauren, bestselling author of the new novel PRETTY, now available from Plume Books, as well the memoir SOME GIRLS: MY LIFE IN A HAREM. Topics of conversation include: youth, addiction, fearlessness, the difference between dull experience and dull writing, sex work, billionaire psychology, New Jersey, Vietnam, the Prince of Brunei, rehab, therapy, parenthood, beauty college, the Big Apple, LA, transcendental meditation, Weezer, discipline, sobriety, compulsive documentation, Instagram, the vibration of a publicity cycle, bowling, versatility, and acting. | 11/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 14 — Shann Ray | The guest is Shann Ray, author of the critically acclaimed story collection AMERICAN MASCULINE, now available from Graywolf Press. A very impressive guy. A college basketball star. A doctorate in psychology. A professor of leadership studies (with an emphasis on forgiveness). And now, the author of a story collection that won the 2010 Bakeless Prize for Fiction. Topics of conversation include: Spokane, the medical-industrial complex, Montana, hunting, hunting knives, field-dressing an antelope, taxidermy, the Finca Vigía, mountain lions, crossbows, dogs, basketball, Jack Kerouac, John Edgar Wideman, Pepperdine, Hank Gathers, leadership, Rwanda, forgiveness, John Wooden, Bobby Knight, discipline, vertical leap, cowboys, horses, spirituality, addiction and recovery, family, and what it was like to go to high school on an Indian reservation. | 11/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 13 — Megan Boyle | Megan Boyle is the guest. She is the author of SELECTED UNPUBLISHED BLOG POSTS OF A MEXICAN PANDA EXPRESS EMPLOYEE, an unorthodox debut poetry collection from Muumuu House. At the time of this interview, she had been up for 36 hours and was staying at her dad's place in Baltimore. Topics of conversation include: Baltimore, Applebee's, Tao Lin, Las Vegas, Beanie Babies, Brooklyn, Chicago, green juice, juicing, meditative activities, seclusion, Orion's belt, aliens, acting, awkwardness, relationships, shyness, Internet literature, MDMA, MDMA films, LSD, Bebe Zeva, Jordan Castro, Noah Cicero, Twitter, blogging, iMovie, Brandon Gorrell, Carles, AOL chat rooms, documentary film, birds, social anxiety, adderall, sleeplessness, and accidental books. | 10/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 12 — Diana Spechler | A great conversation with Diana Spechler, author of the novels WHO BY FIRE and SKINNY, both from Harper Perennial. Topics of conversation include: tequila, book tour, cocktail waitressing, pizza delivery, horrible bosses, getting fired, the fact that your friendly waitress is not hitting on you, nudity, dancing, weight loss, Boulder, weight loss camps, body image, Wyoming, the obesity epidemic, frisbee, smoking, water aerobics, journaling, typewriters, car accidents, public transportation, moth infestations, Texas, and Missoula. | 10/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 11 — Adam Levin | Adam Levin is the guest. He is the author of THE INSTRUCTIONS, a 1,030-page novel published by McSweeneys in late 2010 to great critical acclaim. Topics of conversation include: page counts, cigarettes, discipline, work schedules, exotic fowl, McSweeney's, readings, paranoia over readings, Facebook, Dave Eggers, Flannery O'Connor, the sound of writing, whispering birds, psychotic muttering, sentient beings, day jobs, teaching, Chicago, metalheads, punk rockers, George Saunders, bad posture, back pain, Hemingway, Nabokov, caffeine, hemorrhoids, Mary Gaitskill, fear of doctors, p*******es, thyroglossal duct cysts, and more. | 10/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 10 — Alexander Maksik | Alexander Maksik is the guest. One of the original writers at The Nervous Breakdown, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow. He's now the author of YOU DESERVE NOTHING, one of the most buzzed-about novels of the fall season. It's available from Tonga Books, an imprint of Europa Editions. Topics of conversation include: book tour, wayward youth, Australia, lost cause love affairs, Andy Warhol, Lycra biking shorts, method acting, teaching, Brooklyn, pizza delivery, body waxing, Bill Paxton, Planet Hollywood, Paris, Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, exhaustion resulting from the complete dismantling of a fantasy, Craig's List, Alice Sebold, Spain, luck, persistence, Iowa, Top Gun, Ketchum, the future, and more. | 10/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 9 — Steve Almond | Steve Almond is the guest. He's the bestselling author of books like CANDYFREAK, MY LIFE IN HEAVY METAL, and ROCK AND ROLL WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE. And now he has a new story collection out from Lookout Books called GOD BLESS AMERICA, which Lorrie Moore calls "funny and beguiling and completely original." Topics of conversation include: communes, Jennifer Egan, too much television, nauseating self-doubt, anxiousness over books one hasn't read, the absurdity of continuing to write even though writing is often miserable, high class problems, the scarcity of attention, Charles Dickens, hamsters eating carrots, the god-awful guilt one feels when one realizes that one is complaining about the difficulty of writing in a world where most people don't have access to potable water, the phrase "God Bless America," Kurt Vonnegut, Don DeLillo, and more. | 10/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 8 — Victoria Patterson | Victoria Patterson is the guest. She's the author of the story collection DRIFT, a finalist for the Story Prize, as well as the novel THIS VACANT PARADISE, which was greeted with major critical acclaim. Both books are published by Counterpoint, and both are set in the privileged confines of Newport Beach, California. Tory herself spent part of her youth in Newport, and she writes about the Orange County experience with uncommon depth and lyricism. The conversation here covers a lot of territory, including the difficulties Patterson faced as an adolescent in The OC, her struggles with substance abuse and eventual transcendence, her books, her writing life, and more. | 10/12/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 7 — Blake Butler | Blake Butler is the guest. He's the author of NOTHING: A PORTRAIT OF INSOMNIA, from Harper Perennial. Other books include the novels SCORCH ATLAS (Featherproof) and THERE IS NO YEAR (also from Harper Perennial). Butler is the founder of the popular literary blog HTML GIANT, and the editor of two literary journals, LAMINATION COLONY and NO COLONY. The show covers a lotta ground. Topics of conversation include sleep, lack of sleep, dreams, nightmares, fear, obesity, serotonin, David Foster Wallace, television, jogging, Don DeLillo, Tao Lin, the Internet, abstract Tweeting, Twitter anxiety, Twitter obsession, perspiration, dementia, writing rituals, and more. Probably something to which you should listen. | 10/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 6 — Jessica Anya Blau | This is a good one, ladies and gentlemen. Jessica Anya Blau is the guest. She is the author of two novels, THE SUMMER OF NAKED SWIM PARTIES and, most recently, DRINKING CLOSER TO HOME, both from Harper Perennial. The conversation involves a variety of topics, including Santa Barbara, Berkeley, the loss of one's virginity, the male sexual organ, writing rituals, graduate school, drugs, Katy Perry, and, most importantly, Blau's wonderfully eccentric family, which served as the inspiration for her second book. Give it a listen. Seriously. | 10/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 5 — Greg Olear | In today's show, Listi talks with Greg Olear, author of the novels TOTALLY KILLER (2009) and FATHERMUCKER (October 4, 2011), both published by Harper Paperbacks. Olear is the senior editor at The Nervous Breakdown, and the discussion here centers on nervousness over reviews, childhood in New Jersey, Bradley Cooper, Georgetown, Manhattan, modern politics, and other things. Give it a listen. It's a good one. | 10/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 4 — Ron Currie, Jr. | Ron Currie, Jr. is the critically acclaimed author of the story collection GOD IS DEAD (Viking Adult) and the novel EVERYTHING MATTERS! (Penguin), and he is now at work on a new novel, forthcoming soon. Currie is the recipient of the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award and the Metcalf award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Here, he talks to Listi about his life, his work, and the challenges he has faced in writing his latest book. | 9/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 3 — Emma Straub | A conversation with the delightful and multi-talented Emma Straub, author of the novella FLYOVER STATE (Flatmancrooked) and the story collection OTHER PEOPLE WE MARRIED (FiveChapters). She's also got a novel in the works, forthcoming from Riverhead Press. It's called LAURA LAMONT'S LIFE IN PICTURES. An entertaining show. Topics covered include: Lorrie Moore's considerable appeal to young male writers, what it means to be both a bookseller and an author, and what it was like to grow up in the permissive culture of New York City. Give it a listen. | 9/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 2 — Melissa Febos | In this episode, Listi talks with Melissa Febos, author of the memoir WHIP SMART, now available in paperback from Thomas Dunne Books. WHIP SMART details the years Febos spent working as a dominatrix in New York City. (Also, she was a heroin addict at the time. And a straight-A college student.) It's quite a story. And in this conversation, everything is discussed. It's all on the table. Candid. Funny. Compelling. You should hear this. | 9/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 1 — Jonathan Evison | The podcast launches with a Johnny Evison interview. Listi talks with the bestselling author of ALL ABOUT LULU and WEST OF HERE. The conversation covers a lot of ground. Topics include vertigo, sleep deprivation, camping, prostates, inner ear infections, and more. Note: at the outset of the interview, Evison is not wearing pants. | 9/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 46 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
A Better Book Podcast
I used to listen to a lot of book podcasts. The NY Times had one. There's that BookWorm guy. The Bat Segundo thing. I used to listen to a lot of them. They were usually all talking about the same things. They were sort of an echo chamber. And they were pretentious. I stopped listening to all of them. Then I found this one somehow. It's a real pleasure. Brad Listi finds interesting guests who aren't the usual suspects, though if you follow publishing you will have heard of many of them. Incredibly, they manage not to spend every hour talking about Jonathan Franzen. They talk about books and writing and what they do with their lives. There's inevitably a self-seriousness that creeps into any discussion of writers and writing which can be a little hard to listen to at times. Earnest discussions about how tweets are composed creep me out. Other than that, I enjoy this show, and I appreciate that Mr. Listi turns them out with such frequency. Doing so many shows so quickly certainly makes it impossible to do much in the way of preparation, but I think that actually makes the show stronger in a way, so that listeners often discover the author at the same time as the interviewer. While in written interviews, I'd want to see just the opposite, in this format, it works very nicely. If you care anything about writing or publishing, this is a terrific podcast.
A fantastic podcast
The best book podcast I've ever listened to. Each episode's interview is a self contained nugget of insight on specific subjects the author is knowledgable about - and they all tend to say things about writing and book consumption, the industry and how it all fits together. I don't say insight flippantly either; every episode has given me something to consider. It's mind broadening stuff. This podcast is getting better by the episode, and the backlog is definitely a sight to behold. Or a listen to behold, perhaps.
Highly recommended.
a complete and total delight
I heard about this show on a literary blog I read and thought it sounded interesting. I downloaded the Dennis Cooper episode and gave it a listen. Confronted with Mr. Listi's opening monologue I was a bit surprised, "Who is this guy? What is he talking about?" But after a minute or two of Brad's rambling thoughts I realized that I liked him, like when you meet a friend of a friend at a party and maybe yr guarded at first but after a bit of conversation you find yrself thinking, "yeah I could hang out with this guy." Which is sort of important to one's enjoyment of any hour-long podcast.
Once the interview started I was completely hooked. This is EXACTLY the type of thing I want to be hearing all the time. Long conversations with creative people that are not part of a press-junket where the person being interviewed has already answered the same questions thirty times that day. Just sincere, interesting dialogue with no quirkiness or pretense. Brad talks like a normal guy, he's not a silly character trying to get his jokes in or impress anybody and I appreciate that so much.
I've only been listening to it for a few weeks now but it is already a favorite podcast of mine. If you are interested in books or writers or writing I could not recommend it more.
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