fiction/non/fiction

Latest Episodes:

S5 Ep. 41: On Time and Meaning: Andrea Barrett on What the Past Tells Us about Today Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

Critically acclaimed fiction writer Andrea Barrett joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new collection of short stories, Natural History. Barrett explains her approach to writing about women studying science in the 19th century, reflects on the layers of intimacy in letters, and considers if online exchanges will make archives of correspondence obsolete. She also reads from Natural History and explains some of its connections to her previous work.

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:

Andrea Barrett

Others:

William Faulkner(via the Nobel Prize)
Meet Rosalind Franklin, a sidelined figure in the history of DNA science | PBS NewsHour
Daddy Long-Legs
Harriet the Spy

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S5 Ep. 40: Book the Vote: Rachel DeWoskin on Registering Voters (Right Now!) and the Connection Between Writing and Democracy Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

Novelist, poet, and memoirist Rachel DeWoskin joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her work on the Writers for Democratic Action’s National Steering Committee. She explains how the group is partnering with libraries and bookstores across the nation to register voters and connect them with crucial information in the run-up to midterm elections, an effort called Book the Vote. She also reads from her novel, Banshee.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Rachel DeWoskin

Writers for Democratic Action

Book The Vote (special events September 20)
DEMOCRACY BOOK CLUB: Unthinkable: An Afternoon with Jamie Raskin and Paul Auster

Others:

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S5 Ep. 39: The Long Shadow of Colonialism: Nobel Prize Winner Abdulrazak Gurnah on German Conquest in East Africa and His Latest Novel, AFTERLIVES Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the history and lasting effects of colonialism in African nations, particularly Tanzania, where he grew up, and which was once part of German East Africa. He reads from his book Afterlives, which traces the lives of young friends with different relationships to the schutztruppe, the German colonial troops.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Others:

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S5 Ep. 38: Chinese Conquest and Two Sisters Who Rebelled: Phong Nguyen on Vietnam Then, Taiwan Today, and China’s Interests Abroad Aug 25, 2022

Show notes

In the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, fiction writer Phong Nguyen joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss China’s interests abroad. Nguyen speaks about his new historical novel Bronze Drum, in which he retells the story of Viêt sisters who led an army of women in battle against their Hán Chinese occupiers. He explains how their actions laid the groundwork for an independent Vietnam, and considers modern relationships between China and other countries around the world.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Phong Nguyen

Others:

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S5 Ep. 37: Fascism Past and Present: Anthony Marra on What the Censorship of 1940s Hollywood and Italy Can Teach Us Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

Fiction writer Anthony Marra joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how his new historical novel, Mercury Pictures Presents, echoes the right’s current embrace of authoritarianism in the U.S. and globally. By looking at censorship in 1940s Hollywood and the fascist regime of Italy during that same period, Marra teases out truths about conservatives’ current interest in controlling popular opinion.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Anthony Marra

Others:

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S5 Ep. 36: Remembering Afghanistan’s Wars: Jamil Jan Kochai on Shifting Storytellers and Forms Aug 11, 2022

Show notes

Fiction writer Jamil Jan Kochai joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell almost a year after U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan to talk about how the wars there will be remembered. He reflects on how growing up with Western stereotypes of Afghans made him want to revise false narratives, and also discusses how fiction’s flexible forms allow him to reorient his own thinking about the stories of war-affected Afghans and diaspora. He reads from his new book, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Jamil Jan Kochai

Others:

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S5 Ep. 35: The Fall of Boris Johnson: Margot Livesey on British Politics, the Brexit Blunder, and the Prime Minister’s Lies Aug 04, 2022

Show notes

Novelist Margot Livesey joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell from London to discuss the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the legacy of his decision to “do Brexit.” Livesey, who grew up in Scotland, explains Johnson’s career of fabrications, talks about how Brexit looks now, and shares her experience of the recent heat wave in the U.K. Finally, she and the hosts analyze characters who resemble Johnson in literature–including the antagonist in Livesey’s novel The Missing World.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Margot Livesey

Others:

Protesters in UK decry climate change after record heat wave - ABC News
Quentin Blake
Roald Dahl
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
The Guardian
Martin Amis
S5 Episode 6: Nadifa Mohamed on Writing the Convoluted Terrains of Immigration
Howards End by E.M. Forster
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Barbara Kingsolver
Venetia Welby
J.G. Ballard
Have I Got News for You

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S5 Ep. 34: The New Homeless: Emi Nietfeld on the Growing Number of Unhoused Americans Jul 28, 2022

Show notes

Memoirist Emi Nietfeld joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how the pandemic has caused an increase in unhoused Americans as well as common—and off-base—tropes associated with homelessness. Nietfeld, who as a teenager spent time in foster care and living out of her car, talks about the American urge to view suffering as something that makes you stronger. She reads from her new book, Acceptance; reflects on being expected to shape a story about overcoming hardship to access an Ivy League education; and explains how she ultimately chose to resist simpler narratives of grit and resilience.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Emi Nietfeld

Acceptance

Others:

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S5 Ep. 33: The Politics of Craft: Charles Baxter on How His Essays on Writing Respond to a Changing World Jul 21, 2022

Show notes

Writer and professor Charles Baxter joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his new essay collection Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature, andhow his thoughts on craft are linked to the times in which we live. He defines concepts he has used, including “wonderlands,” “Captain Happen,” “request moments,” and “toxic narratives,” and offers illustrations from literature and the world around us to show how these can inform the writing of fiction. For example, he explains, Donald Trump rejects his loss in the 2020 presidential election as a toxic narrative because it would change his understanding of who he is.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Charles Baxter

Others:

Is the World Really Falling Apart, or Does It Just Feel That Way? by Max Fisher - The New York Times
S4 Episode 6: Hope on the Horizon: Charles Baxter and Mike Alberti on Despair and Renewal in Fiction
S1 Episode 4: We're All Russian, Now
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Haruki Murakami
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Either/Or by Elif Batuman
The Lighthouse
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Wicker Man
Bennett Sims
Lacy Johnson
Get Out
Mike Alberti
Jamaica Kincaid
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Stacey D’Erasmo
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Dog Day Afternoon

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S5 Ep. 32: Happy Bastille Day: Will the Center Hold in France? Should It? Jul 14, 2022

Show notes

Poet Diane Louie and Editions Gallmeister editor Benjamin Guérif join Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss what recent losses by centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s party—combined with wins for the left and far right—mean for France’s political future. Guérif, a French citizen, and Louie, an American expat in Paris, talk about how small towns in France are faring economically and how the French view Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Louie also reads a selection of her prose poems from her 2020 collection, Fractal Shores.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Diane Louie