fiction/non/fiction

Latest Episodes:

S8 Ep. 42: Ed Park on An Oral History of Atlantis Jul 17, 2025

Show notes

Pulitzer Prize finalist Ed Park joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his debut short story collection, An Oral History of Atlantis. Park talks about writing the stories in the book over a period of about 25 years, during which he was frequently asked to read in New York and crafted work for specific venues, audiences, and events. He explains how this led to a wide-ranging and ultimately linked set of pieces in a variety of first-person voices. He considers why the short story form invites him to a greater degree of experimentation, to lean more heavily on humor, and to draft more quickly even as he took longer to assemble the whole volume. Park reads from “The Gift,” one of the stories in the collection.

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.

Ed Park

Others:

Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 17: Ed Park on Korea’s Past, Real and Imagined
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

Seven Men by Max Beerbohm

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S8 Ep. 41: Raina Lipsitz on Mamdani, DSA, and the Rise of a New Left Jul 10, 2025

Show notes

Writer Raina Lipsitz joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss Zohran Mamdani’s surprise win in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Lipsitz explains how Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim politician supported by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), appealed to a wide swath of voters to upset three-term governor Andrew Cuomo. She talks about volunteering for Mamdani’s campaign, the racist and Islamophobic attacks he faces, his advocacy for Palestine and for immigrants, and the powerful response he got from 18- to 29-year-old voters, as well as many people who voted for President Trump. Lipsitz considers the DSA’s rapid growth on college campuses as progressives seek to build community, and reads from her book The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics.

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed.

Selected Readings:

Raina Lipsitz

Others

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S8 Ep. 40: Dina Nayeri on Iranian Life Under Attack Jul 03, 2025

Show notes

Prize-winning Iranian American author Dina Nayeri joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss the complicated reality of survival on the ground during Israel’s recent bombing of Iran. Nayeri talks about the destruction leveled on Ardestoon, where her father’s family lives; her memories of running for bomb shelters during the Iran-Iraq war; and the current situation for her family in Iran. Nayeri explains how desperately Iranians on the ground want the Islamic State overthrown and the complexities involved in who would take charge should the regime topple. Nayeri considers the gap between the mainstream media narrative of Iran as a devout Muslim nation and recent surveys indicating rising secularism in the country. She reflects on forty-plus years of the Islamic State in power—a small slice of Iran’s history, but a phase that has irreparably disrupted both the lives of those who left and those who stayed behind.

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed.

Selected Readings:

Dina Nayeri

Others

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S8 Ep. 39: Ernesto Londoño on the Personal Cost of Minnesota’s Political Killings Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

New York Times reporter Ernesto Londoño joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the recent murder of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman, which has made headlines as local politicians in the U.S. are rarely targeted for assassination. Londoño describes how a gunman posing as law enforcement went to the homes of several state politicians, killing Hortman and her husband Mark and gravely injuring Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. Londoño recounts how the No Kings Rally at the Minnesota capitol later that day honored the crime’s victims in addition to protesting President Trump. Londoño details the alleged attacker’s background and debunks conspiracy theories about possible motives. Comparing the current circumstances to his own childhood in Colombia, where political attacks on the local level were common, Londoño discusses how Trump “redrew the rules of acceptable political discourse,” and how increasing violence against lawmakers may impact who is willing to serve.

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed.

Selected Readings:

Ernesto Londoño

Others

The Death of a Senator: Tommy Burks and Byron (Low Tax) Looper | nashvillescene.com (2018)

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S8 Ep. 38: Geoff Dyer on His New Memoir, Homework Jun 20, 2025

Show notes

Writer Geoff Dyer joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new memoir Homework, which covers Dyer’s working-class youth in England during the 1960s and ’70s. He recollects his early passion for reading and film and reflects on writing about his parents, as well as the intensity of childhood play and collecting in the wake of the Second World War. He also explains what it meant for him to pass the 11-plus exam, a test given to British 11-year-olds to determine if they could go to grammar school—and the peculiar role that grammar schools played in the British educational system. Dyer talks about how this opportunity made his eventual admission at Oxford possible. He reads from Homework.

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Hunter Murray, and Janet Reed.

Selected Readings:

Geoff Dyer

Others

Lord of the Fliesby William Golding
An American Childhoodby Annie Dillard

My Sky Blue Tradesby Sven Birkerts

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S8 Ep. 37: Jess Walter on the American Family Unplugged Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

Fiction writer Jess Walter joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel So Far Gone, in which a former environmental reporter living off the grid is jolted back onto it by the surprise arrival of his two grandchildren and news of his missing daughter. Walter talks about developing the character of his protagonist’s son-in-law, whose right-wing politics are one of the causes of the family’s fissure. He also reflects on what it means that conspiracy theorists, who were formerly at the fringes of American politics, are now at its center, and why it is important for writers to depict the interior lives of those with different political beliefs. Walter reads from So Far Gone.

Selected Readings:

Jess Walter

Others

"America's 'Spot News' Novelist Takes on the Trump Era from Spokane" Washington Post

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S8 Ep. 36: Susan Choi on Flashlight Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

Acclaimed fiction writer Susan Choi joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss her new novel, Flashlight. Choi talks about the opening incident, in which a girl goes for a walk on the beach in Japan with her father only for him to disappear, presumably drowned. Choi explains the novel’s relationship to a short story she published in The New Yorker in 2020 and how the father’s past emerged as she worked on the book. She reflects on his childhood as an ethnic Korean raised in Japan in the 1940s, the difficult choices Koreans in Japan faced as Japanese occupation ended and Korea split into North and South after World War II, and the state of affairs today, as South Korea transitions to new leadership. She reads from Flashlight.

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, and Hunter Murray.

Selected Readings:

Susan Choi

Others

Susan Choi Is Still Outlandishly Talented | Vulture

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S8 Ep. 35: Paul Elie on Art, Faith, and Sex in 1980s America–and the New Pope May 29, 2025

Show notes

Nonfiction writer Paul Elie joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new book The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s and Pope Leo XIV. Elie compares the new pope to John Paul II, whose conservative views shaped the 1980s. He explains how and why ’80s artists like Andy Warhol, U2, and Bob Dylan produced art he considers “crypto-religious,” a term coined by poet Czesław Miłosz. He analyzes limbo and purgatory in the work of writers of the period, including Louise Erdrich and Toni Morrison, and recalls the culture wars, including iconic incidents like Sinéad O’Connor tearing up the pope’s picture on Saturday Night Live, as well as the controversy over Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ. He reads from The Last Supper.

Selected Readings:

Paul Elie

Others

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S8 Ep. 34: Julia Elliott on Small-Town Voters and Trump’s Tariff Trap May 22, 2025

Show notes

Fiction writer Julia Elliott joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V Ganeshananthan to talk about why President Trump’s tariff policy appeals to voters in small towns in the Midwest and South, which have been economically devastated for the past couple of decades following the North American Free Trade Agreement. Elliott considers Democrats’ failure to articulate their own successes using tariffs to bring jobs back to the U.S. Elliott, who is from South Carolina, talks about conservatives who are hesitant to criticize Trump. She also reads from and discusses her new story collection, Hellions.

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, and Hunter Murray.

Selected Readings:

Julia Elliott

● Hellions

● The Wilds

● The New and Improved Romie Futch

Others

● Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 2: Julia Elliott and DaMaris B. Hill on Writing Rural Americ

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S8 Ep. 33: Mirza Waheed on India, Pakistan, and the Literature of Partition May 15, 2025

Show notes

Novelist and journalist Mirza Waheed joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V Ganeshananthan to talk about brewing tensions between two nuclear powers: India and Pakistan. Waheed, who was born in Kashmir and previously worked as a journalist, explains how the recent massacre of Indian tourists there at the hands of militants connects to a broader context that includes Partition, the 1947 event that separated the two countries. He reflects on growing up in Kashmir, a place to which both Pakistan and India would like to lay claim. Waheed reads from his debut novel, The Collaborator.

Selected Readings:

Mirza Waheed

Others