fiction/non/fiction

Latest Episodes:

10: Anti-Semitism and the Authoritarian Playbook Feb 08, 2018

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Recently, the Polish Senate passed a law that would criminalize any suggestions of complicity by the Polish state in Nazi war crimes, including the Holocaust. In episode 10, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to the novelist Steve Yarbrough about the nationalist Law and Justice party, which is behind the ban—and how their authoritarian tactics mirror those of the Trump Administration. Yarbrough's new novel, The Unmade World, is set in contemporary Poland and America. Then we talk to the novelist Eileen Pollack about Charlottesville, the history of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and how her 2012 novel, Breaking and Entering, anticipated the rise of the alt-Right. Readings: The Unmade World, by Steve Yarbrough (2018); The Party That Wants to Make Poland Great Again, by James Traub, New York Times Magazine, Nov. 2 2016; 'Orgy of Murder': The Poles who 'Hunted" Jews and Turned Them Over to the Nazis, by Ofer Aderet, Haaretz, Feb. 11, 2017; Breaking and Entering, by Eileen Pollack (2012).

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9: A Whole New Kind of Obscenity? Jan 25, 2018

Show notes

For episode 9, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk with Ron Charles, editor of The Washington Post Book World and Shanthi Sekaran, author of Lucky Boy, about obscenity, literature, and immigration. In the first half of the show, Charles leads us through the famous 1933 obscenity trial involving James Joyce's Ulysses and the 1964 trial involving Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. Then Shanthi Sekaran talks to us about Trump's infamous shithole comments, his immigration policy, and how she believes the language surrounding immigration—"ICE," "illegal alien"—is more profane than any curse word. Plus: Whitney reads the dirtiest passage he can find in Ulysses and embarrasses his mother. Readings: Ulysses by James Joyce; Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller; The Awakening by Kate Chopin; Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran. In the Stacks features Anthony Stromoski of Rough Draft Bar and Books in Kingston, NY.

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8: Literary Color Lines Jan 11, 2018

Show notes

In episode 8, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk about sensitivity reads, cross-cultural writing, and the lack of diversity in the publishing industry with author and COO of We Need Diverse Books Dhonielle Clayton and agent Ayesha Pande. In the first half of the show, Clayton talks about her own career as a sensitivity reader—or, as she prefers, a targeted beta reader—and discusses her concerns with a recent _New York Times_ article on the subject. In the show's second segment, longtime agent and former editor Pande explains how she has seen a lack of diversity in publishing affect writers of color throughout her 25-year career. Readings: "In an Era of Online Outrage, Do Sensitivity Readers Result in Better Books, or Censorship?" by Alexandra Alter in _The New York Times_; "Twentieth Century Fiction and the Black Mask of Humanity" by Ralph Ellison, from _Shadow and Act_; "How Chris Jackson is Building a Black Literary Movement" by Vinson Cunningham in _The New York Times Magazine_. In the Stacks features Abby Fennewald, Director of Marketing and Publicity for BookPeople in Austin, Texas.

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7: How Has Literary Life Changed in 20 Years? With Curtis Sittenfeld and Oscar Villalon Dec 28, 2017

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In search of some nostalgic holiday cheer, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell climb in the way back machine and time travel to 1997 with critic and editor Oscar Villalon and novelist Curtis Sittenfeld. Oscar rounds up the books that won prizes twenty years ago, the books that remain relevant, and explains why these books aren't always the same. Curtis talks to us about Monica Lewinsky, Esquire, The Prairie Wife, Sex and the City and the very literary politics of 1997\. PLUS an *exclusive* preview of her novel-in-progress about a Hillary Rodham who never becomes a Clinton. Readings (Fiction): Underworld by Don DeLillo; You Think It, I'll Say It, by Curtis Sittenfeld; The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy; American Pastoral by Phillip Roth; Paradise by Toni Morrison; Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser; The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald; The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White; Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier; Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling. Readings (Nonfiction): Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt; The Commissar Vanishes: the Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia by David King; The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang; The Women by Hilton Als; Sex and the City by Candice Bushnell. In the Stacks will be back in two weeks. Happy Holidays!

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6: All the President's Shakespeare Dec 14, 2017

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In episode 6, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk political betrayal past and present with novelist Jess Walter and poet Kiki Petrosino. Jess Walter once interviewed an ailing Mark Felt, aka "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame, and he gives us the skinny on the literary qualities of Nixon, Trump, Flynn, NY mobsters, and his 2005 novel Citizen Vince. Plus, would John Gotti have liked the president? On the eve of the release of her new book, Witch Wife, Kiki Petrosino talks to us about MacBeth's witches and how Shakespeare can help us decode our current age of political skulduggery. What Trump Administration officials would you cast in Macbeth? Readings: All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward; Citizen Vince by Jess Walter; Witch Wife by Kiki Petrosino; The Tragedy of Macbeth; The Tempest; The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark In the Stacks: J.J. Cantrell interviews Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT and Savoy Bookshop & Cafe in Westerly, Rhode Island.

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5: The New Culture Wars: Higher Ed Edition Nov 30, 2017

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The novelists V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell discuss how cuts to higher education are threatening the fabric of American life. Guests John Freeman and Sarah Smarsh talk about the higher cost of college has exacerbated income inequality. And the director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Lan Samantha Chang, weighs in on how the great Midwestern public universities are being squeezed by Republican-led state legislatures. Readings: "We Just Don't Feel Like We Belong Here Anymore" by Becca Andrews in Mother Jones. "The Decline of the Midwest's Public Universities Threatens to Wreck Its Most Vibrant Economies" by Jon Marcus in The Atlantic. "Elitists, crybabies and junky degrees" by Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan in the Washington Post. Tales of Two Americas, essays "Blood Brother" by Sarah Smarsh, "Hurray for Losers" by Dagoberto Gilb and "A Good Neighbor Is Hard To Find" by Whitney Terrell Moo by Jane Smiley Stoner by John Williams All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang Whitney's statistics on the 2008-2016 decline in Missouri's higher education funding come from an August 18, 2016 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. You can find the figures for your state here: https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-by-state-fact-sheets-higher-education-cuts-jeopardize-students-and-states-economic For more, visit us at LitHub.com

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4: We're All Russian, Now Nov 16, 2017

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V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell discuss Russian-American political machinations with Ukrainian-born novelist Sana Krasikov and novelist Charles Baxter explores America's curious fascination with Chekhov and great Russian literature. For more, head to LitHub.com.

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3: The Power of Facebook: How Big is Too Big? Nov 02, 2017

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In episode three of fiction/non/fiction, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal and novelist Alexander Chee about Facebook, Russia, dark ads, and how writers are changing their relationship to social media. For more, head to LitHub.com

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2: Jia Tolentino and Claire Vaye Watkins on Abuse, Harassment, and Harvey Weinstein Oct 19, 2017

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In episode two of Fiction/Non/Fiction, Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan talk to Jia Tolentino and Claire Vaye Watkins about Hollywood's serial abusers, harassment, and the now infamous Harvey Weinstein. For more, head to LitHub.com.

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The Art of Kneeling: Colin Kaepernick Edition Oct 05, 2017

Show notes

In the first episode of fiction/non/fiction, Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan talk to Brit Bennett and Matt Gallagher about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of institutional racism and police violence.

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