Episode 264 with Maggie Sheffer, Author of the Award-Winning Collection, The Man in the Banana Trees, and Master of the Weird, The Offbeat, The Clever, The Poignant, and The Resonant

Notes and Links to Maggie Sheffer’s Work Marguerite (Maggie) Sheffer is a writer who lives in New Orleans. She is a Professor of Practice at Tulane University, where she teaches courses in design thinking and speculative fiction as tools for social change. Formerly, she taught English at the East Oakland School of the Arts, Castlemont High School, Life Academy, and GW Carver High School. Her debut short story collection, The Man in the Banana Trees, was selected by judge Jamil Jan Kochai for the Iowa Short Fiction Award, was published in Fall 2024. Maggie is a founding member of Third Lantern Lit, a local writing collective, and the Nautilus and Wildcat Writing Groups. She received her MFA from Randolph College. She was a 2023 Veasna So Scholar in Fiction at The Adroit Journal, and was selected as a top-twenty-five finalist for Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers. Her story “Tiger on My Roof” was a finalist for the 2024 Chautauqua Janus Prize, which awards emerging writers’ short fiction with “daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations.” Her position on semicolons (for) is noted in an Australian grammar textbook (pg. 16). Buy The Man in the Banana Trees Maggie's Website From LitHub: "Marguerite Sheffer on Crafting a Collection of Century-Spanning Speculative Fiction" "Marguerite Sheffer: These Stories Are an Intimate Map of What Scares Me" from Writer’s Digest At about 2:05, Maggie shares a fun story about being published with George Bernard Shaw At about 3:35, Maggie talks about her early reading life At about 4:40, The two reflect on the evolving reputation of Star Wars and Star Wars fans At about 6:05, Maggie shares how wine bottles led to writing an early and pivotal short story At about 7:10, Maggie describes a gap in “actively writing” while teaching and interacting differently with writing At about 8:10, Maggie lists texts and writers that helped her “reorder [her] brain” At about 10:15, Pete and Maggie stan Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here ironing” At about 12:05, Pete recounts a story about how he happened upon the great story by Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” At about 12:50, Maggie responds to Pete asking about what drew and draws her to science and speculative fiction At about 13:50, Maggie highlights past guest Jamil Jan Kochai, Ken Liu, E. Lily Yu, Sofia Samatar, Clare Beams, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, the book The Safekeep, and others as contemporary writers who thrill and inspire At about 15:05, Pete asks Maggie how teaching has inspired her writing At about 16:45, Maggie cites Octavia Butler’s and Sandra Cisneros’ work and The Things They Carried and other texts that were favorites of her students At about 18:10, The two discuss the epigraph and seeds for the short story collection At about 19:50, The two discuss the collection’s first story and connection to Tillie Olsen’s idea of being “imprisoned in his own difference” and students being “othered” At about 24:00, Maggie reflects on an important truth of fiction At about 24:40, Maggie discusses famous unicorn tapestries that inspire a story of hers At about 26:00, Pete compliments Maggie’s “delightfully weird” stories and “soft endings” and she responds to his questions about allegory/plot and “cool stories” At about 27:40, Maggie talks about realizing the throughlines in her collections At about 29:10, Maggie responds to Pete’s questions about writing in Covid times At about 29:40, Pete cites examples of misogyny in the collection and asks about Joycleyn Bell and Maggie expands upon the story “The Observer’s Cage”-its genesis and connections to Jocelyn Bell Burnell At about 32:20, Pete notes the use of animals as stand-ins for humanity and Maggie expands on deas of resistance as seen in the collection At about 33:20, The two discuss ideas of redress and reclaiming the past through stories in the collection, especially “The Observer’s Cage” At about 36:00, the two discuss a story with ghosts and ideas of “unfinished business” and capturing past natural greatness At about 38:00, Maggie talks about sadly learning that an idea that she thought was original was not, as the two discuss a few stories about commercialism, dystopia, and climate change At about 41:40, the two discuss middens, and themes of reclaiming what has been lost At about 43:50, Pete notes an interesting story that deals with memory and AI, and Maggie talks about writing from a interesting-placed narrator At about 45:40, Pete draws connections between a title character, Miriam Ackerman, and Truman Capote’s wonderful “A Christmas Memory”, while Maggie discusses the relationship between the title character and the narrator At about 48:30, The two discuss violence and parental lack of control, especially in “Tiger on the Roof” and its memorable ending and creative plot At about 51:45, Pete highlights the poignant and resonant closing line for the above story and connects the ending to Alice Elliott Dark’s classic, “In the Gloaming” At about 53:20, The two discuss the collection’s title story and Maggie discuses inspiration from Carmen Maria Machado At about 54:20, The two discuss the way the above story is “gutting” in its portrayal of the “banality of loss” At about 57:30, Maggie reminds that the book is not just a “downer!” At about 58:10, Maggie reads from “En Plein Aire” At about 1:01:50, Maggie gives information on places to buy her book and social media and contact information At about 1:02:40, Maggie shares information on some exciting new projects You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you’re checking out this episode. I am very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month’s Patreon bonus episode features segments from conversations with Jeff Pearlman, Matt Bell, F. Douglas Brown, Jorge Lacera, Jean Guererro, Rachel Yoder, and more, as they reflect on chill-inducing writers who have inspired their own work. I have added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 265 with Carvell Wallace. He is a writer and podcaster who has contributed to GQ, New York Times Magazine, Pitchfork, MTV News, and Al Jazeera, among others. His debut memoir, Another Word For Love, is a 2024 Kirkus Finalist in Nonfiction, and one of Pete’s all-time favorite memoirs. The episode airs on December 10. Lastly, please go to ceasefiretoday.com, which features 10+ actions to help bring about Ceasefire in Gaza.