All Episodes

The Sexiest Form: A Conversation with the Series Editor of Best American Short Stories 2025 and a Featured Author

Developing the Negatives of a Life: Painter Pat Lipsky on 50 Years of Making Art in New York City

Make More Pots! Marguerite Sheffer on Perseverance and Experimentation.

To Have No Shame On Your Face -- T Clark's Journey to a Two-Book Deal.

With My Background in Publishing, I Knew Nothing Was Make-or-Break

"This is my start" — Lorraine Russell tells the story of Love and Shadows

"I'm not writing just for myself" — Danielle Teller tells the story of FORGED

“There’s Someone Out There...I just Have to Find Them." — Christine Kalafus tells the story of FLOOD

Two Things That Are Anathema in Publishing — Deesha Philyaw tells the story of The Secret Lives of Church Ladie

"Your Life Can Be Set Up Like An Artist's Residency" — Sasha Hom tells the story of Sidework

A Safe Place to Explore — Jennie Case tells the story of We Are Animals

"Are You All In?" — Rebe Huntman tells the story of My Mother in Havana

The Dignity of Small Things — Libby Maxey tells the story of Indwelling

Have The Audacity — Dori Lumpkin tells the story of Antenora

"I Learned the Hard Way" — Emma Pattee tells the story of TILT

"Charge into the Messiness" —Wayne Scott tells the story of The Maps They Gave Us

"It's really annoying to write a novel" — Mariam Rahmani tells the story of Liquid

Do what you have to do to get the work done — Cally Fiedorek tells the story of Atta Boy

Questioning Assumptions — Nicole Graev Lipson tells the story of Mothers and Other Fictional Characters

Once I found the voice and the mode of the narrative, I could just PLAY — Shubha Sunder tells the story of Optional Practical Training

"I DO belong over here on this side" — Nanda Reddy tells the story of A Girl Within A Girl Within A Girl

Don't Revise, Explode — Elyse Durham tells the story of Maya and Natasha

"Oh, you want a plot? I'll GIVE you A PLOT" — Emily J. Smith tells the story of Nothing Serious

"Take Your Time" — Olufunke Grace Bankole Tells the Story of The Edge of Water

"You Don't Suck" — Lidia Yuknavitch tells the story of Reading the Waves

"It Took 8 Years To Write" — Susan Barker Tells the Story of Old Soul

"Please Stop Me if This Is Going Terribly" — Erika Swyler tells the story of We Lived on the Horizon

"Making art is a lot like making a kid—It is just this really intense expression of being alive"

RERELEASE! A Major Problem with Publication

RERELEASE! The most hardcore writing hack ever

RERELEASE! Shannon Sanders talks about her award-winning story collection Company

RERELEASE! Letting Go of What You Can't Control

"The Blank Space Became the Book" — Amy Wilson Tells the Story of Happy To Help

RERELEASE! "I Had to Do Whatever Was Necessary to Communicate"

"Traditional Publishing Industry Bullshit" — Amanda Fields tells the story of My Caesarean

"If You're Not Getting the Dopamine Boost, Then Why Bother?" — Terese Svoboda tells the story of Roxy and Coco and The Long Swim

This Very Sacrificial Thing — Jaclyn Gilbert Tells the Story of Late Air

"What If We Free Ourselves?" — Vera Blossom Tells the Story of How To Fuck Like A Girl

"Too Many Emotions and No Tranquility" — Jessica E. Johnson Tells the Story of Mettlework

"A Dream Come True" — Polly Rosenwaike tells the story of Look How Happy I'm Making You

Writing From Post-Election Anxiety — Danny Goodman Tells the Story of Amerikaland

Wonderful and Terrible — Jazmina Barrera Tells The Story of Linea Nigra

"No One Can Read It If It Doesn't Get Published" — Kate Brody tells the story of RABBIT HOLE (Paperback out Tuesday!)

"Nobody Can Write A Book Everyone Loves" — Brittany Means Tells the Story of Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways

Moving from Doubt to Self-Belief — Kate Weinberg tells the story of There's Nothing Wrong With Her

Memoir as an Exercise in Perspective — Cheryl Klein Tells the Story of Crybaby

The Power of Lemon Cake — Marie Mutsuki Mockett tells the story of The Tree Doctor

"Writing is a place I love to come back to" — Rebecca J. Sanford tells the story of The Disappeared

I'm Choosing This — Elle Everhart tells the story of Hot Summer

People Think That When You're Not Published, You're Not Working

I Had to Do Whatever Was Necessary to Communicate — Elizabeth Hilborn tells the story of Restoring Eden

I was having so much fun, I wasn't concerned about what would happen — Ananda Lima tells the story of CRAFT

"When I was writing it, I was writing it TO her" — Barrie Miskin tells the story of Hellgate Bridge

"A Place I Had Never Thought Possible" — Shze-Hui Tjoa talks about The Story Game

Welcoming to Evolution or Change or Rupture — Lucas Mann tells the story of Attachments

The Fight to Retain the Weird and the Feral — Michelle Tea tells the story of SLUTS

"It's Never Gonna Happen For Me" — Hannah Sward tells the story of Strip

What Will and Will Not Be Translated — Crystal Hana Kim tells the story of The Stone Home

Nothing is Whole Until It's In Words — Stephanie Clare Smith tells the story of Everywhere the Undrowned

There's Nothing I Regret — Estelle Erasmus tells the story of Writing That Gets Noticed

"Write or Die" — Annell López tells the story of I'll Give You A Reason

"What is the book that can only be yours?"— Clare Beams tells the story of The Garden

What If Nobody Likes it? Nicole Haroutunian Tells the Story of Choose This Now

"If You Don't Like An Edit, Just Don't Do It" — Sarah Rose Etter tells the story of RIPE

Writing Stories 'Artist Statement'

Season 2 Trailer!

A Bold Fearlessness — Deborah Jackson Taffa Tells the Story of Whiskey Tender

"Stay in the Game...Sooner or Later Something Will Crack" — Chin-Sun Lee Tells the Story of Upcountry

Could My Story Be of Use? —Mary Beth O'Connor Tells the Story of Junkie to Judge

"I Thought It Was Very Mainstream, But..." — Cassie Premo Steele Tells the Story of Beaver Girl

Four Agents, Three Books, Two Publishers — Jacinda Townsend talks about Saint Monkey and Mother Country

Fun, Ridiculous, and Thrumming with Truth - Rachel Yoder Tells the Story of Nightbitch

Plumbers Don't Get Plumbers Block — Talking with Sue Shapiro about American Shield and Barbie

There's Life in the Messiness - Yael Golstein-Love Tells the Story of The Possibilities

It's a linear narrative... but a trail is a line — Andrea Lani tells the story of Uphill Both Ways: Hiking Toward Happiness on the Colorado Trail

The whole idea of ‘SERIOUS’ writing is a lot of toxic trash — Alyssa Songsiridej tells the story of Little Rabbit

You Have to Do This - Shannon Sanders tells the story of Company

Letting Go of What's Not Under Your Control - Christina Consolino Tells the Story of The Weight We Carry

Margo Steines Talks About Brutalities - "I Feel Aligned With The Tastes of Men In a Way That I Hope To Grow Out Of"

It's Like a Circuit Break. You're Almost a New Person — Talking with Kelly McMasters about The Leaving Season — Episode 2

You Have to Work Really Hard - Kai Harris Tells the Story of What the Fireflies Knew - Episode 1

Season 1 - Trailer