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  • Acclaimed novelist and Director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Lan Samantha Chang joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the role that literary personas may–or may not–have played in recent revelations about Alice Munro, Neil Gaiman, and Cormac McCarthy. Chang discusses how writers often develop literary personas as their public profiles grow. Chang also discusses how personas can be both protective and damaging when they no longer align with the writer's true self, the impact of personas on writers' privacy and the industry's role in shaping and maintaining these personas. She reads from her novel All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.


    This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.

    Selected Readings:
    Lan Samantha Chang

    The Family Chao

    Hunger

    Inheritance


    All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost 



    Writers, Protect Your Inner Life |Lit Hub|August 7, 2017



    Others:


    A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway


    Erasure, Percival Everett


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 40: “In Memory of Cormac McCarthy: Oscar Villalon on an Iconic Writer’s Life, Work, and Legacy”

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7 Episode 19: “Jacinda Townsend and James Bernard Short on American Fiction” 

    James Alan McPherson

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7 Episode 35: “Jonny Diamond on His Mother and Alice Munro” 


    The Dark Secrets Behind the Neil Gaiman Abuse Accusations|Vulture | January 13, 2025


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  • Novelist and former Huffington Post climate reporter Sarah S. Grossman joins Fiction/Non/Fiction co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the Los Angeles wildfires. Grossman, who lives in Los Angeles and whose 2024 novel A Fire So Wild centers on a wildfire in Northern California, discusses how communities are coming together to support each other in the wake of the devastation. She reflects on the damage to the historically Black neighborhood of Altadena; the fact that people are differently affected by climate change, even as wealth cannot completely shield anyone; the factors that contributed to the wildfires; and what it is like to prepare to evacuate, or, alternatively, to offer shelter to others. Grossman reads from A Fire So Wild.
    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

    This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.

    Selected Readings:

    Sarah S. Grossman

    A Fire So Wild


    The Antidote To Climate Dread | HuffPost Impact | The Huffington Post | Aug 25, 2021


    More Americans Than Ever Understand Climate Change Is Real And Harmful | HuffPost Impact | The Huffington Post | Nov 18, 2021



    Nearly 30% Of Americans Aren't Worried 'At All' About The Deadly Climate Crisis | The Huffington Post | April 19, 2022


    Others:


    What happened on Friday, Jan. 17 Crews improved containment of the fires; some residents allowed to return | Los Angeles Times



    L.A. fires upend hard-won stability for the area’s homeless population | The Washington Post


    Mutual Aid LA Network (@mutualaidla) • Instagram

    Displaced Black Families GoFundMe Directory


    Safe Place for Youth 


    How Wildfires Came for City Streets | The New York Times



    Over 170,000 People Under Evacuation In LA County Wildfires | Inkl


    New wildfire concerns in Los Angeles: Strong winds could return next week. | USA Today
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  • Acclaimed novelist Charles Baxter joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his recent novel Blood Test: A Comedy. Baxter talks about turning to humor in dark times, the burden of expectations, and writing a protagonist, Brock Hobson, who some readers love and others detest. He discusses how seeing websites and ads that predicted his likes and dislikes led to him inventing a fictional company, Geronomics, which predicts a certain future for Brock and is invested in that scenario playing out one way or another. Baxter also analyzes the craft of writing an antagonist who is a Trumper, but who is never explicitly identified as such. He reads from Blood Test.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

    This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.

    Selected Readings:

    Charles Baxter

    Blood Test: A Comedy


    Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature


    Gryphon


    Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction


    There’s Something I Want You to Do


    The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot


    Shadow Play


    Others:

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 33: "The Politics of Craft: Charles Baxter on How His Essays on Writing Respond to a Changing World"

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 6: "Hope on the Horizon: Charles Baxter and Mike Alberti on Despair and Renewal in Fiction"

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 4: "We're All Russian, Now"


    Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellows

    Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

    Macbeth by Shakespeare


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  • Following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, novelist Ream Shukairy joins Fiction/Non/Fiction co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the country’s future. Shukairy, who grew up in California and spent summers in Syria, reflects on the long history of Syrian resistance to oppression, as well as how parts of her family emigrated. She also talks about how it feels to emerge from a culture of fear and surveillance, what it’s like to revisit what she previously wrote about Assad, and the places she wants to see when she returns to Syria for the first time in years. Shukairy reads from her young adult novel The Next New Syrian Girl.
    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

    This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.

    Selected Readings:

    Ream Shukairy

    The Next New Syrian Girl

    Six Truths and a Lie


    Others:

    Return to Homs

    For Sama


    The White Helmets (film)


    The White Helmets (organization)

    Last Men in Aleppo

    Cries from Syria

    Still Recording

    The Cave


    Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War by Leila Al-Shami and Robin Yassin-Kassab



    Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy by Yassin al-Haj Saleh



    Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family’s Lust for Power Destroyed Syria by Sam Dagher 



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  • Novelist Jacinda Townsend and writer James Bernard Short join co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about the movie American Fiction, which is based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Townsend and Short discuss how the film addresses race in the publishing industry via its central character, Black author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, who tries to make an ironic point by writing a book exploiting Black stereotypes and finds, to his dismay, that it’s received in earnest and a bestseller. Townsend and Short analyze director Cord Jefferson’s approach and the film’s themes of family dysfunction, freedom in storytelling, and the importance of portraying the complexity of Black lives. 

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Jacinda Townsend

    Mother Country

    Saint Monkey


    James Bernard Short

    “Aqua Boogie” | Blood Orange Review

    “Rootwork” | Blood Orange Review

    “Flash, Back: Langston Hughes’ The Simple Shorts” | SmokeLong Quarterly


    Others:

    American Fiction (movie) | Official Trailer

    Erasure by Percival Everett

    An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

    Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

    Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

    Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

    The Color Purple by Alice Walker

    Thelonious Monk

    Ralph Ellison

    Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

    “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” by Ralph Ellison | The American Scholar, 1978

    The Tuskegee Institute

    White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson

    “The White Negro” by Norman Mailer | Dissent, 1957

    “Dragon Slayers” by Jerald Walker | The Iowa Review, 2006

    “The Hidden Lesson of ‘American Fiction’” by John McWhorter | The New York Times

    Origin (movie) | Official Trailer

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 11, “Annihilation, Adaptation: What's It Really Like to Have Your Book Made Into a Movie”

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 11, “Brit Bennett and Emily Halpern on Screenwriting’s Tips for Fiction”

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 33, “The Stakes of the Writers’ Strike: Benjamin Percy on the WGA Walkout, Streaming, and the Survival of Screenwriting”

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 38, “Jacinda Townsend on Why Democrats Are Skeptical of President Biden—and How He Can Win Them Back”


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  • In this holiday re-broadcast, Romance novelists Elle Everhart and Ellie Palmer join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the genre’s increasing popularity. Everhart, the London-based author of the new book Hot Summer, featuring a protagonist who joins the cast of a reality show only to realize she’s interested in a fellow contestant, discusses coming to romance writing as a fourth grader fascinated by kissing, and wonders why as sales boom, the U.S.—but not the U.K.—is seeing more romance-specific bookstores. Palmer, the author of the new book Four Weekends and a Funeral, whose main character is a carrier of the BRCA1 mutation, recalls falling in love with the genre as she prepared for her own preventative double mastectomy. She reflects on how the genre’s structure promises positive endings for those who need them at challenging moments, and how the language of romance gave her a way to think about her own body and sexuality. Everhart reads from Hot Summer and Palmer reads from Four Weekends and a Funeral. 

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Elle Everhart

    Hot Summer

    Wanderlust


    Ellie Palmer
    Four Weekends and a Funeral

    Others


    "9 New Books We Recommend This Week" | May 4, 2023 | The New York Times 



    "Hot and Bothered: Four New Romance Novels" by Olivia Waite | August 7, 2020 | The New York Times


    Nora Ephron

    Nancy Meyers

    Mhairi McFarlane

    Beth O'Leary

    Talia Hibbert

    Bolu Babalola


    “A Romance Bookstore Boom” by Olivia Waite | The New York Times



    “Emily Henry is Proud to be Called a Romance Writer” by | The New York Times


    Olivia Waite

    Jodi Picoult

    Love Island

    Tropes & Trifles


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  • Nearly three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, journalists and podcasters Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko return to Fiction/Non/Fiction to tell hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell how Ukrainians view Donald Trump’s return to power in the U.S. They talk about the situation at the frontlines, the consequences of delayed aid, the urgent need for a swift and decisive response to Russian aggression, and continued Ukrainian resilience in the face of the existential threat of the war. 
    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.
    This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.
    Selected Readings:
    Tetyana Ogarkova

    Ukraine Crisis Media Center

    L’Ukraine face à la guerre - Ukraine Crisis Media Center


    Volodymyr Yermolenko


    Internews Ukraine  

    Explaining Ukraine podcast

    Ukraine World

    Trump’s Election and Its Impact on Ukraine - with Nataliya Gumenyuk 


    Others:


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 15: Scott Anderson on What Russia’s Wars in Chechnya Tell Us about the Invasion of Ukraine


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 51: Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko on How Artists Are Responding to the War in Ukraine


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 2: How Dostoevsky’s Classic Has Shaped Russia’s War in Ukraine, with Explaining Ukraine’s Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko


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  • ProPublica reporter Molly Redden joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her recent piece on impoundment, Donald Trump’s strategy to thwart Congressional spending priorities. Redden talks about how the presidential budget and Congressional appropriations work now, Trump’s claim that he has the authority to ignore what Congress wants to fund, what this could mean for those he perceives as enemies, and the possible role of the “nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency,” co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. She explains the history of impoundment, Richard Nixon’s excessive use of the power to ignore projects he didn’t want to do, and how this led to a 1974 law restricting the option. She analyzes the likelihood that Trump will succeed in challenging the law and reflects on writing and reporting on seemingly outlandish schemes that are neither likely nor impossible. She reads from her article, “How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse From Congress.”

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Molly Redden
    “How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse from Congress” | ProPublica 

    Others:

    “Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: The DOGE Plan to Reform Government” | WSJ


    The Brownback Legacy: Tax cut push led to sharp backlash | Wichita Eagle | July 26, 2017

    The Constitution of the United States

    Loving v. Virginia

    Impoundment Control Act

    Alien Enemies Act


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  • Writer and podcaster Carvell Wallace joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss finding his way to the understanding that life is lived on a continuum and is not made up of neat endings and beginnings. He talks about how his childhood experiences with poverty, housing insecurity, and a frustrated creative genius of a single mother prepared him to understand the world. Wallace also discusses his expansive, generous approach to writing about both people he knows and loves and those he’s profiling as a journalist. He reads from his new memoir Another Word for Love.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Carvell Wallace
    Another Word for Love

    Others:


    Life is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera

    Marilynne Robinson

    Easy Rider


    “Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 Years On” | All Things Considered, NPR | August 8, 2008

    James Alan McPherson


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  • Following Donald Trump’s dinner at Mar-A-Lago with Ye (formerly Kanye West) and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, novelist Michael Knight joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the best and worst dinner parties in literature. They discuss the pressures of hosting, what makes someone a great guest, signature dishes, post-party regrets, and festive successes, as well as scenes in literature featuring all of these things. Knight also reads from a classic dinner party scene in his novella The Holiday Season.
    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/
    This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.
    Selected Readings:
    Michael Knight

    The Typist

    At Briarwood School for Girls

    Divining Rod


    Dogfight 

    Goodnight, Nobody 

    Eveningland

    The Holiday Season

    
    Others:


    “The inside story of Trump’s explosive dinner with Ye and Nick Fuentes,” by Marc Caputo


    The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon


    To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

    Leo Tolstoy


    “The 8 best Festivus moments from ‘Seinfeld,’ ranked,” USA Today

    “Curb Your Enthusiasm”: Bad Middling



    Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee


    Light Years by James Salter


    Last Night by James Salter


    Beloved by Toni Morrison


    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald


    Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf


    The Dark Tower VII by Stephen King


    Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg


    The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang


    The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

    Jim Harrison


    Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


    Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson


    The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

    Redwall series by Brian Jacques


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  • Writer Ruben Reyes Jr. joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation. Reyes explains how deportation could affect families or households with different immigration statuses, including those here through Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (commonly known as DACA) and with Temporary Protected Status. The three discuss Trump’s plans to involve the military in his efforts, and the difficulties he may face, given the interconnectedness of our social and economic systems. Reyes also talks about writing about the dehumanization of immigrants through science fiction and satire, and how he thinks about agency and possibility when he is portraying characters facing systemic oppression. He reads from his short story collection There is a Rio Grande in Heaven.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Ruben Reyes Jr.
    There is a Rio Grande in Heaven

    Others:


    “Trump is promising deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. What is it?” by Rachel Treisman | NPR

    Stephen Miller


    “Who is Usha Vance? Yale law graduate and wife of vice presidential nominee JD Vance” by Olivia Diaz |AP


    Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo



    "Trump's goal of mass deportations fell short. But he has new plans for a second term" by Elliot Spagat | AP


    Donald Trump TIME Interview on 2024 Transcript | Time



    "In Trump's mass deportation plan, the private prison industry sees a lucrative opportunity" by Laura Romero and Peter Charalambous | ABC News


    "If Trump Wins the Election, This is What's at Stake" by Lauren Gambino | The Guardian



    “Trump promised the 'largest deportation' in U.S. history. Here's how he might start” by Steve Inskeep and Christopher Thomas | NPR


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  • In the wake of the election, writer Maggie Tokuda-Hall joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss what Project 2025 has in store for authors and book bans. Tokuda-Hall explains Project 2025’s misuse of terms like “critical race theory” and “pornography” and how these will be used to attack mainstream content, especially material by BIPOC and LGBTQ creators. She analyzes conservatives’ plans to make reading less accessible to the general population and talks about co-founding the new organization, Authors Against Book Bans. She also reflects on her experiences with corporate attempts to censor her books for children and young adults, the importance of libraries, and how individuals can resist by connecting with others and by understanding and focusing on their own expertise.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Maggie Tokuda-Hall

    The Worst Ronin

    The Siren, the Song, and the Spy

    The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

    Love in the Library

    Squad


    Others:

    Authors Against Book Bans

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 13: "Censoring the American Canon: Farah Jasmine Griffin on Book Bans Targeting Black Writers"



    "The Republicans’ Project 2025 is Disastrous For Books," by James Folta | LitHub



    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 12: "Intimate Contact: Garth Greenwell on Book Bans and Writing About Sex"



    Alex DiFrancesco's resignation from Jessica Kingsley Publishers | X

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 52: "Brooklyn Public Library’s Leigh Hurwitz on Helping Young People Resist Censorship"


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4, Episode 20: "Adam Serwer on Critical Race Theory and the Very American Fear of Owning Up to Our Racist Past and Present"



    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 22: “Rachel Bitecofer on Democratic Strategies to Counter Republicans in the 2024 Election”



    And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, and Henry Cole


    Idaho House Bill No. 710

    Iowa Senate File 496


    Book Bans | PEN America

    Kimberlé Crenshaw


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  • Writer Jennifer Maritza McCauley joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to analyze the fallout from Tony Hinchcliffe’s “floating island of garbage” comment at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. McCauley—whose mother is Puerto Rican—discusses the island’s history and her communities’ reactions. McCauley reads her mother’s self-assured response to Hinchcliffe’s racism and reflects on the country’s distinctive mix of African, Spanish, and Indigenous populations. She also discusses the rights Puerto Ricans have and are denied, given their unusual status as U.S. citizens of a territory rather than a state. She reads from the title story of her collection, When Trying to Return Home, which includes many depictions of Puerto Rican identity.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Jennifer Maritza McCauley

    Kinds of Grace

    When Trying to Return Home

    Scar On/Scar Off



    Others:


    "Pennsylvania: anger among Puerto Ricans in key swing state after racist remarks" by José Olivares | The Guardian


    Tony Hinchcliffe


    “Trump’s Derision of Haitians Goes Back Years” by Michael D. Shear | The New York Times


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 52: “Myriam J.A. Chancy on Haitian American Communities”



    “Donald Trump is the First White President” by Ta-Nehisi Coates | The Atlantic | October 2017

    Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

    The Jones Act

     “Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny, and Racism” by Shane Goldmacher, Maggie Haberman and Michael Gold | The New York Times


    X: “Bigot Coachella”


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  • In the lead-up to the presidential election, novelist Jess Walter returns to the show to revisit his previous comments about former president Donald Trump. Walter joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss Trump’s dangerous decisions and inflammatory rhetoric, as well as how reactions to him have changed since 2016. Walter talks about former Trump cronies who have abandoned the candidate and endorsed Kamala Harris, and reflects on the inaction that has made it possible for Trump, a felon, to run for the presidency once more. He hazards a prediction about the election results, and reads from his short story “Town and Country,” which appeared in his recent story collection Angel of Rome. 

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Jess Walter


    The Angel of Rome and Other Stories 


    The Cold Millions

    Beautiful Ruins



    Others:


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 6: "All the President's Shakespeare: Jess Walter and Kiki Petrosino" 

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 4: “Life After Trump: Jess Walter and Jerald Walker on the Aftermath of Election 2020”

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 8 Episode 2: “Jeff Sharlet on ‘Sanewashing’ and Fascism”


    Anderson Cooper interviews Kamala Harris | CNN | October 24, 2024


    The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party by Michael Tackett

    Liz Cheney

    Lindsey Graham

    Shark Tank


    Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7 Episode 50: “Thomas Frank on How the Harris-Walz Ticket Can Win Red State Voters” 

    Veep


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  • In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, novelist Stephen Markley joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his novel The Deluge, which predicts and depicts the impact of climate change over the next couple of decades. Markley talks about researching and portraying the scale of catastrophic climate events, the role of the markets and other financial considerations in pushing world leaders to take the issue seriously, and which character in his novel was previously Kamala Harris. Markely also reflects on how in revision, he repeatedly had to scale up his fictional disasters to keep them ahead of actual events, the uncanny experience of forecasting disasters like Helene, and the movement leaders—including Bill McKibben, Al Gore, and James Hansen—he felt compelled to include in his novel. Markley reads from The Deluge.
    Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/
    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf and Cheni Thein.
    Stephen Markley


    The Deluge 


    Ohio

    Only Murders in the Building


    Others:


    Matthew Salesses on the Possibilities of Climate Fiction | Literary Hub


    1984 by George Orwell

    Ali Zaidi

    Weather Underground

    Climate Defiance


    The End of Nature by Bill McKibben


    The Stand by Stephen King

    The Inflation Reduction Act

    The Green New Deal 

    “Helene, Milton losses expected to surpass ‘truly historic’ $50 billion each”  - CBS News

    “Beyond Helene: Hurricane death toll tops 300 lives, with month left in season” - USA Today

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 15: Workshop Politics: Matthew Salesses on Centering the Marginalized Writer


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  • Linguist, writer, and professor Anne Curzan joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how language is constantly changing—and how that’s okay. Curzan talks about how, in her work as an English language historian, she’s learned that people have always been critical of usage changes; Ben Franklin, for instance, didn’t care for colonize as a verb. But, Curzan explains, as much as “grammandos” bemoan the evolution of language, it can’t be stopped—singular “they,” “funnest,” and “very unique” are here to stay. Curzan reads from her book, Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Language.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Anne Curzan

    Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words


    “‘They’ has been a singular pronoun for centuries. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s wrong.” | October 21, 2021 | The Washington Post




    Others:

    Grammando

    Declaration of Independence


    Dreyer’s English: And Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer



    The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season: One Episode, 12: “C. Riley Snorton and T Fleischmann Talk Gender, Freedom, and Transitivity”


    Antonin Scalia 

    Will Shortz

    Maxine Hong Kingston

    The American Heritage Dictionary

    Urban Dictionary

    Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary


    Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman


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  • Nonfiction writer Jeff Sharlet joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how mainstream media outlets sanitize Donald Trump’s rhetoric in their reporting rather than straightforwardly describing his words and behavior, an approach recently dubbed “sanewashing” by The New Republic’s Parker Molloy. Sharlet analyzes the term’s usefulness and also its limitations; talks about the need to describe fascism using the word itself; and reflects on who is now at the center of political discourse and who is at the fringe. He also considers whether popular new media influencers like the MeidasTouch Network and YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen are really filling the need to describe Trump as he is. He reads from his book, The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Jeff Sharlet

    The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War


    This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers


    Sweet Heaven When I Die

    C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy

    The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power


    Others:


    "This genius website captures Trump’s weirdest debate quotes," by Grace Snelling | Fast Company

    Lenny Bruce


    The White Album by Joan Didion


    The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

    Rick Perlstein

    Brian Tyler Cohen

    MeidasTouch Network

    Jeffrey Ruoff

    Susan Faludi

    Lane Kirkland

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer


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  • As the housing crisis worsens and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris makes lowering housing prices a key part of her agenda, nonfiction writer Lola Milholland joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her experience with communal living. With traditional single-family homes economically out of reach for many Americans, Milholland talks about the social and financial benefits of living with others, including shared cooking and meals. She cautions that living with roommates will not solve the housing crisis and talks about the need for widespread and systemic change. She reads from her book, Group Living and Other Recipes.

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Lola Milholland

    Group Living and Other Recipes

    Umi Organic


    Living With Roommates Is Sorely Underrated |TIME


    Can a $9 Lunch Cure Loneliness? | Oprah Daily


    Others:

    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 33: “Brandy Jensen on the Mainstreaming of Polyamory”


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 29: “Jen Silverman on Generational Divides in American Politics”


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 52: “Myriam J.A. Chancy on Haitian American Communities”


    Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard 

    Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard: “Home Prices Far Outpace Incomes”



    The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World by Lewis Hyde


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  • Following Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s racist smears against Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, author Myriam J.A. Chancy joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about Haitian history and independence; imperialism in Haiti; immigration to and from Haiti; the positive and negative impacts social media has on Haitian communities; and how the current discourse obscures both Haitian past and present. Chancy reflects on the importance of translating Haitian literature into English, recommends the work of several other writers, and discusses the Expo of ’49, which brought people from around the world to Haiti. She reads a related scene from Village Weavers. 

    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Myriam J.A. Chancy


     Village Weavers 


    What Storm, What Thunder 


    Spirit of Haiti

    Harvesting Haiti


    Others:


    Cléanthe Desgraves Valcin 

    Yanick Lahens

    Marie-Célie Agnant

    Valérie Bah

    Lyonel Trouillot


    Gary Victor    


    Mackenzy Orcel 


    Kettly Mars   


    “'It just exploded': Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark false rumors about Haitians” by Alicia Victoria Lozano | NBC News


    “Opinion | Trump Knows What He’s Doing in Springfield. So Does Vance.” by Jamelle Bouie| The New York Times


    “Marianne Williamson Defends Donald Trump’s Bizarre Haitian Pet-Eating Conspiracy” by Liam Archacki| Daily Beast
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  • As Vice President Kamala Harris's historic campaign for the presidency enters its final weeks, writer Ellen Emerson White joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her prescient 1984 novel The President's Daughter, which imagines the first woman president’s campaign and early days in the White House from the point of view of her teenage daughter. White reminisces about beginning the YA book when she was still a teenager herself and notes the uncanny similarities between a fictional presidential debate that appears in the book and the recent Trump-Harris showdown. White reflects on the qualities her character Katharine Powers shares with Kamala White—notably, a “likable, elegant swagger”—as well as how Powers’s cool bearing contrasts with Harris’s reputation for warmth. She talks about hitting pause on her current writing project following Harris’s entrance into the race, and reads from The President’s Daughter.
    To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

    This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

    Ellen Emerson White

    “The President’s Daughter” series

    A Season of Daring Greatly

    Webster: Tale of an Outlaw

    “The Echo Company” series


    Others:


    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7 Episode 50: “Thomas Frank on How the Harris-Walz Ticket Can Win Red State Voters” 

    The Apprentice


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