fiction/non/fiction

Latest Episodes:

S6 Ep. 8: Live from Writers for Readers in Kansas City: Alexander Chee on Editing Best American Essays 2022 Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

Writer and editor Alexander Chee joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the annual Writers for Readers gala in Kansas City to discuss editing Best American Essays 2022. Chee talks about what makes a strong essay and how he curated the volume, as well as how his training as a speed reader stood him in good stead as he made his selections. He also comments on specific pieces by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Anthony Veasna So, Ryan Bradley, Vauhini Vara, Erika J. Simpson, and others.

Writers for Readers is an ongoing partnership between the Kansas City Public Library and the University of Missouri’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Funds raised support the Maya Angelou Book Award and enable graduate students to teach writing classes at the library.

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:

Alexander Chee

Others:

Annie Dillard
Jamaica Kincaid
David Foster Wallace
Hilton Als
Susan Sontag
Cynthia Ozick
Edward Hoagland
Robert Atwan
Elizabeth Hardwick
Darryl Pinckney
Diaries of Mavis Gallant
Dmitri Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Black Folk Could Fly by Randall Kenan
James Baldwin
Joan Didion
Anne Carson
Edwidge Danticat
Brian Doyle
Franklin Burroughs
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Maya Angelou
Alex Marzano-Leznevich
Erika J. Simpson
Ryan Bradley
Kaitlyn Greenidge
Gary Shteyngart
Christopher Leonard
“Ghosts” by Vauhini Vara
“When World of Warcraft is an Escape – and a Memorial” by Tanner Akoni Laguatan
“Baby Yeah,” by Anthony Veasna So
Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 5 Episode 10: “How on Earth Do You Judge Books?” Susan Choi and Oscar Villalon on the Story Behind Literary Awards

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S6 Ep. 7: The Talented Mr. Musk: Dan Chaon on Twitter, Identity, and Imposters Nov 17, 2022

Show notes

Fiction writer Dan Chaon joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the fate of Twitter and social media in the aftermath of Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the platform. Chaon says Twitter is not a “public square,” it’s a business, and talks about how much we really own our online identities in light of that. He also reads from and discusses his Atlantic article, “The Story of My Imposters,” about a fake website purporting to be his, as well as his latest novel, Sleepwalk, which features characters trying to stay off the grid—and to discern each other’s true identities.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Dan Chaon

Sleepwalk
Ill Will
Stay Awake
Await Your Reply
Among the Missing
“The Story of My Imposters,” The Atlantic

Others:

Edan Lepucki
Charles Baxter
The Soul Thief
'A chameleon's skill' | TribLIVE.com
George Saunders
Writers Wrestle with Twitter: Do I Stay or Go (and Where?) by Jess deCourcy Hinds, Literary Hub
Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 6 Episode 6: “Nancy Pelosi’s Majority: Matthew Clark Davison’s San Francisco Take on a National Leader”

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S6 Ep. 6: Nancy Pelosi’s Majority: Matthew Clark Davison’s San Francisco Take on a National Leader Nov 10, 2022

Show notes

In the wake of the brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, and anticipating the midterms, writer and longtime Bay Area resident Matthew Clark Davison joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss Nancy Pelosi’s political trailblazing and what it’s like to live in her district. Davison talks about how he’s seen Pelosi support marginalized groups through the years and his own early impressions of her. He also reads from his novel, Doubting Thomas, which includes some of San Francisco’s political history, especially as it pertains to gay communities.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Matthew Clark Davison

Doubting Thomas

Others:

Nancy Pelosi
“Nancy Pelosi Says Attack on Husband Will Affect Her Political Future,” by Eduardo Medina, The New York Times
“The Facts about the Attack on Paul Pelosi, According to Prosecutors,” by The New York Times
“Pelosi, Vilified by Republicans for Years, Is a Top Target of Threats,” by Annie Karni, Catie Edmondson and Carl Hulse, The New York Times
Janice Mirikitani
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 19: “The Danger is Larger Because the Voice is Bigger.” Alexandra Billings on the Surge in Anti-Trans Legislation
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 5: The Author of Election on the Election: Tom Perrotta Talks Tracy Flick’s Return and the Midterms
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 8: Paul Lisicky and Terese Marie Mailhot on the Long-Term Mental Health Effects of the Pandemic
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 12: C. Riley Snorton and T Fleischmann Talk Gender, Freedom, and Transitivity
“What ‘news deserts,’ Americans must ensure what they’re consuming is legit,” hosted by Steve Chiotakis, KCRW

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S6 Ep. 5: The Author of Election on the Election: Tom Perrotta on Tracy Flick’s Return and the Midterms Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

Novelist Tom Perrotta joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the upcoming midterm elections through the lens of his new novel, Tracy Flick Can’t Win, his second about the title character. Tracy Flick serves as an avatar for elite liberalism—a way many view the Democratic Party, he argues, whether the Dems are aware of it or not. Perrotta talks about what it means for his character, and many Americans, to be Republicans at heart while finding it necessary to lean toward the Democratic Party in light of Trump-era Republicanism. He also reads from the novel and explains how #MeToo influenced his decision to return to the iconic heroine.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Tom Perrotta

Others:

"Rhyming Action," by Charles Baxter, from Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. 35, No. 4 (also in Burning Down the House)
5 scenarios that could decide the Senate in 2022, The Washington Post
On Feminism and Fictionalized Histories: Curtis Sittenfeld Tackles Centrism, Clintonism and All Things ‘Hillary Rodham’ (Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 3, Episode 18)
Charles Baxter

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S6 Ep. 4: Women Resisting Terror in Iran: Porochista Khakpour on the Historic Protests Against the Islamic Republic of Iran Oct 27, 2022

Show notes

Novelist and essayist Porochista Khakpourjoins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the current wave of protests for women’s rights in Iran, and the government’s brutal crackdown in response. Khakpour laments the deaths of young women who have lost their lives speaking out against compulsory hijab. She also reflects on and celebrates multiple generations of human rights protests in the country of her birth. Finally, she talks about what it means to be Iranian in the United States and reads from her essay “Revolution Days,” which is included in her latest book, Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Porochista Khakpour

Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity
The Last Illusion
Sons and Other Flammable Objects
Sick
Shirin Ebadi: 'Almost a fourth of the people on Earth are Muslim. Are they like each other? Of course not' | Working in development | The Guardian (April 25, 2017)
“What I Saw at the Revolution,” The Daily Beast (Feb. 11, 2009)

Others:

“Iranian President Orders Enforcement of Hijab and Chastity Law for Women” by Ardeshir Tayebi, RadioFreeEurope / RadioLiberty's Radio Farda (July 7, 2022)
“In Iran, Woman's Death After Arrest by the Morality Police Triggers Outrage,” by Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times (Sept. 16, 2022)
“Nika Shakarami: Iran protester's family forced to lie about death,” by Parham Ghobadi, BBC Persian (Oct. 6, 2022)
“Another teenage girl dead at hands of Iran's security forces, reports claim,” by Deepa Parent and Annie Kelly, The Guardian, (Oct. 7, 2022)
“Unity In Diversity: On Overcoming the Erasure of Kurdistan and Jina,” by Ala Riani and Rezan Labady, Los Angeles Review of Books, (Oct. 13, 2022)
“Protest Chants, a Riot and Gunshots: How a Prison Fire Unfolded in Iran,” by Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times (Oct. 21, 2022)
Jasmin Darznik and Dina Nayeri on the 40th Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution (Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 23)

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S6 Ep. 3: Pakistan Under Water: Aamina Ahmad on Disaster and Despair After the Historic Floods Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

Novelist Aamina Ahmad joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the situation in Pakistan as the country tries to contend with the aftermath of historic floods that have displaced 35 million people. Ahmad, whose debut novel The Return of Faraz Ali is set in Pakistan, talks about her own connection to the country; the scale of what has occurred and its connection to climate change; and how a long history of political instability, militarization, and economic hardship have affected the country’s most vulnerable. She also reflects on writing about corruption, and reads from her acclaimed debut.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Aamina Ahmad

The Return of Faraz Ali

Others:

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S6 Ep. 2: Crime Without Punishment: How Dostoevsky’s Classic Has Shaped Russia’s War in Ukraine, with Explaining Ukraine’s Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

Tetyana Ogarkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko, hosts of the podcast Explaining Ukraine,join Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine through the lens of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. They talk about how Russian literature and Russian culture have separated crime from punishment, creating a society that distrusts laws and regulation and values power and impunity.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Explaining Ukraine podcast

Ukraine World

Tetyana Ogarkova

Ukraine Crisis Media Center

Volodymyr Yermolenko

Internews Ukraine

Others:

Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 14: “They Didn’t Know Which Way to Go.” Katya Soldak Sheds Light on the Plight of the Ukrainian People

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 5 Episode 17: “We’re There to Bear Witness.” Putsata Reang on Reporting in War Zones

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Inside the Ukrainian Counterstrike That Turned the Tide of the War,” by Simon Shuster and Vera Bergengruen

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The Human Comedy of Balzac

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S6 Ep. 1: Between Fiction and Autofiction: Elizabeth McCracken on Discussing Private Grief in Public Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

Acclaimed fiction writer Elizabeth McCracken joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell for the show’s fifth anniversary. She reads from her new novel, The Hero of This Book, which she wrote during the pandemic, shortly after her mother’s death. She also discusses what’s involved with tricking herself into writing a novel, particularly one that deals with difficult, almost autobiographical, subject matter.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Elizabeth McCracken

Others:

Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 12: WTF, Texas? Lacy M. Johnson and Natalia Sylvester on Surviving the Recent Storm and Unraveling the Whitewashed Myth of Texas

Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 1: MFA vs. Everything: Four Writers Weigh in
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 42: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 25: Tolstoy Forever: Brigid Hughes and Yiyun Li on Retweeting a Russian Classic
Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
“Against Aboutness” by Yiyun Li, Harper’s Magazine
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

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S5 Ep. 43: Forging Immigrant Identity in Florida: Jonathan Escoffery Talks About How Belonging Shifts Across Generations Sep 29, 2022

Show notes

Award-winning author Jonathan Escoffery joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the complexity of immigrant communities in Florida. Escoffery talks about children of immigrants who fall into a middle space, unable to identify fully with their parents’ country or the one in which they grew up. He also speaks about generational and emotional gaps between his Jamaican American characters, explains why some Florida immigrants’ history and interests might make them lean conservative, and analyzes how fiction can succeed where politicians often fail: in understanding subtlety, nuance, and difference. Finally, he reflects on the political ramifications of categorizing or othering recent immigrants and their families, and reads from his National Book Award-nominated linked story collection, If I Survive You.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Jonathan Escoffery

If I Survive You
“Under the Ackee Tree” (Paris Review)

Others:

The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 23, The Brothers Chao: Lan Samantha Chang on Food, Family, and New Ways of Imagining Asian American Narratives
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 36, Remembering Afghan’s Wars: Jamil Jan Kochai on Shifting Storytellers and Forms
The Emerging Democratic Majority by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira
“Lost Hope of Lasting Democratic Majority” by Nate Cohn
“PolitiFact: What we know about DeSantis flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard. Is it legal?” by Maria Ramirez Uribe and Yacob Reyes
“Florida's governor signs controversial law opponents dubbed 'Don't Say Gay'” by Jaclyn Diaz
“DeSantis Bans CRT From K-12 Classrooms Despite Absence From Curriculum” by Fatma Khaled
“Trump cultivated the Latino vote in Florida, and it paid off” by Carmen Sesin

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S5 Ep. 42: Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

Frenemies of the State: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined

Novelist and memoirist Yiyun Li joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss frenemies in writing circles, in literature, and in politics (with a tip of the hat to Joe Manchin). Li explains how intention helps her to distinguish between friendship and frenemyship, talks about finding frenemies in literature more interesting than those in politics, and offers examples ranging from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Sweet Days of Discipline. She also reads from her own new novel, The Book of Goose, and reflects on discovering the intense connection between her two central characters, Agnès and Fabienne, young girls growing up together in France.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Yiyun Li

Others: