Fall for the Book Podcast

Two poets gather to discuss their work in the final episode of the season. Iain Haley Pollock’s All The Possible Bodies examines the myths we tell about ourselves, our families and nation, as well as asks the questions: How do we make peace with our hypocrisy and complicity in a social order that harms us all? Can and should we? Matthew Nienow’s If Nothing is a reckoning of alcoholism, fatherhood, longing and loss, and the need for forgiveness.

Kim Magowan and Michelle Ross talk about their co-authored collection Don’t Take This the Wrong Way. The twenty-five stories delight in characters who love to burn bridges, study language – both spoken and physical, and get lost in the moments in life full of affection, pettiness, humor, and self-discovery. Reading list from the discussion: Tenth of December, George Saunders; Reasons to Live, Amy Hemple; Alice Munroe; Lorrie Moore; Bliss Montage, Ling Ma; and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Sebastian Matthews and Tom McAllister discuss their experimental memoir structures in this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast. In The Patient Body: A Personal Narrative in Pieces, Sebastian questions what it means to lead a balanced life as a husband, father, friend, and more through a mosaic of ‘flash’ pieces. McAllister’s It All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays delivers on the ambitious promise of the title. The essays, which all are 1,500 words or less, explores the profound and mundane moments that build a life.

Love gets a second chance after fifteen long years in Jenn Bouchard’s Considering Us, set in Boston and along the New Hampshire coast. When private chef Devon Paige is embroiled in a scandal partly of her own making, she gets a job at an elite boarding school where she’s shocked to see an old flame. In this episode of the Fall for the Book podcast, Bouchard talks beloved romance tropes and Rom Coms, delicious food and bookish drinks, and the power of place. Get her recipes from her YouTube appearance, Serving Up Some Love here: https://youtu.be/dKdM7s7vikA?si=nqHJ-Ln7SMe3Qlj6

Ashlee Cowles and Danielle Stinson, known collectively as A.D. Rhine, break down their epic duology about of the Trojan War: Horses of Fire, and the newest book, Daughters of Bronze. From the women working behind the scenes of the famous war depicted in The Illiad, to the modern research and retellings, Cowles and Stinson demonstrate their passion and knowledge for the subject, as well as the secrets behind their co-authorship success.

Poet Majda Gama reads from and discusses her new collection In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls. The collection spans growing up in the Saudi Arabia, her life-changing time in the DC Punk scene, and the power and influence of music in Gama's work.

Caine Prize-winning author Olufemi Terry talks about his debut novel, Wilderness of Mirrors set in Stadmutter, a multiracial city at the southern tip of Africa modeled after Cape Town. Terry talks about the changing political landscape of Cape Town and his novel, his journalism, and the inspirations for the book. Author Lola Shoneyin calls it: “An unsentimental portrait of young adulthood in a city both beguiling and perilous, and which reflects Africans as they are too rarely depicted: hybrid, modern, and shaped by their own profound contradictions. Terry’s pared but illuminating prose captures the weight of its protagonists’ search for their place in the world.”

What happens when even your memories aren't safe from Big Tech and Big Government? Yiming Ma discusses these questions, and his debut speculative novel These Memories Do Not Belong To Us.

Natalia Theodoridou discusses his fever dream of a Bluebeard retelling - about the choice and non-choice of those stuck in cycles of abuse, the power of fairytales, and the toxicity of the patriarchy. He also examines choice and character arcs in interactive fiction, and how his landscape has informed his writing.

In the final episode of the season, Bernardine (Dine) Watson sits down to discuss her journey with kidney disease and her two transplants. A nonfiction writer and poet, Watson talks about healthcare disparities, finding community, and accepting her diagnosis of FSGS in this conversation about Transplant: A Memoir, which won the inaugural Washington Writers' Publishing House Creative Nonfiction Award.

Comedian Sally Chaffin Brooks talks about her through hike on the Appalachian Trail. From the funky trail names, to the memorable characters along the way, to the lessons the AT served up for her career in comedy, Chaffin Brooks shares the funny, difficult, and thoughtful stories from her life-changing hike.

Jen Soriano, author of Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing talks about chronic pain, ancestral trauma, and finding joy and support through community. Soriano is a Filipinx-American writer, independent scholar, and performer who has long worked at the intersection of grassroots organizing, narrative strategy, and art-driven social change.

Jennifer Brice talks about Another North, her essay collection about growing up in Fairbanks, Alaska and moving through the world, understanding herself as a woman, mother, daughter and granddaughter. In the essays, she looks for answers in family lore, personal experience, and conversations with friends, and beloved books in this wide-ranging and poignant collection.

Greg Wrenn discusses his book Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis, a story of personal and global healing. He touches on the importance of coral reefs to the journey to heal from complex PTSD through the administration of a psychedelic tea called ayahuasca, and so much more in this book that blends memoir with cutting-edge science.

Edwin B. Henderson II discusses his book, The Grandfather of Black Basketball, about his grandfather and namesake, Dr. E. B. Henderson. A local Civil Rights leader, athletics game changer, and prolific writer, E. B.'s legacy is both a local and national story.

Praveen Herat joins Fall for the Book to talk about his debut novel, Between This World and the Next, a gripping exploration of power, identity, and how far one must go to uncover the truth. Herat was born in London to Sri Lankan parents and educated at Oxford and the University of East Anglia. He lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for several years, a period that marked him profoundly and prompted his research for what would become Between This World and the Next.

Shirley M. Marshall talks about the suffragist movement and the 19th Amendment in this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast. Her book, A Radical Suffragist in Washington, D.C.: An Inside Story of the National Woman’s Party is local, national, and international look at the strategy and politics of the suffragist movement.

Mythology, identity, motherhood, and more discussed in this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast with poet K. Avvirin Berlin, author of the collection Leda's Daughters. the collection is full of salt-of-the-earth poems that traverse and transgress the temporal, re-envisioning African American and Native American women’s history as a history of poetics.

Eliza Knight talks fantastic flappers, star studded dancers, and incredible female stars in this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast. From the underappreciated legacy of Adele Astaire, sister to Fred Astaire, to Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe's unlikely friendship. She is the author of Starring Adele Astaire, Why Can't We Be Friends, and many other titles.

Edward Cahill discusses his novel Disorderly Men, which follows three gay men in pre-Stonewall NYC, who find their fates thrown together during the police raid of a Village bar. Cahill talks identity, shame, 'disorderly conduct, and James Baldwin, in this episode of the Fall for the Book podcast.

Vandana Khanna sits down to talk about her poetry collection Burning Like Her Own Planet, the ancient Hindu text The Ramayana, women's rage and power, and of course, Beyonce.

Nicole Glover discusses her genre bending Murder and Magic series - The Conductors, and The Undertakers. Set in post-Civil War society, they feature Hetty and Benji - two former Conductors on the Underground Railroad, as they solve murders using celestial magic.

Annie Rains stops by in this bonus holiday episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast to talk about her novel "Through The Snowglobe," a mashup of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Groundhog's Day." Romance, Christmas, and second (and third and fourth) chances shape this heartwarming novel.

M.P. Woodward talks about his own experience in the Intelligence community, and how it helped him write his new espionage thriller, Dead Drop, where international nuclear negotiations turn allies into enemies.

Caty Borum talks satire, humor, and the power of uplifting voices through comedy in this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast. Borum is Executive Director of the Center for Media & Social Impact, and the author of The Revolution Will be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power.

Mojgan Ghazirad discusses her autobiographic novel, The House on Sun Street, about a young girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution. She talks about the power of storytelling, changing identities, and the dangers of book banning.

Vanessa Riley talks about her novel Queen of Exiles, about the first black queen of Haiti after the Haitian Revolution. Marie-Louise Christophe then lived in exile where she became the first 'media-stalked' royal in an impressive tale.

Kathryn Savage, author of the debut lyric essay Groundglass, breaks down Superfund sites, the “body burden” of pollution, and the importance of hearing those whose voices often are silenced.

Salar Abdoh discusses martyrdom, (in)humanity in war, and dichotomies of art, peace, and violence in the Middle East, in his powerful novel Out of Mesopotamia.Abdoh was born in Iran and splits his time between Tehran and New York City. He is the author of the novels Tehran at Twilight, The Poet Game, and Opium; and he is the editor of Tehran Noir. His latest novel is Out of Mesopotamia.

Dr. Debra Lane, a 30 year veteran of the education systems in the US and abroad, sits down to talk about resilience in school for students and instructors, the changing role of women in education, and what needs to change to help make students more successful in school.

Bruce Holsinger, author of The Displacements, and Matt Bondurant, author of Oleander City, sit down with Kara Oakleaf and Suzy Rigdon for the first episode of 2023. They talk superstorms, climate change, disaster response in their tales of a near future Category 6 hurricane and the true devastation in Galveston, TX in the early 1900s.

On the final episode of the year, Sisters Frances & Ginger Park talk about family history and memory, collaborating on a long list of children's books and a memoir, and the best chocolate pairings for their newest books, That Lonely Spell, and The Hundred Choices Department Store.

Combat veteran and former paratrooper Bill Glose discusses his story collection, All the Ruined Men, as well as the toll of war on soldiers, and the power of poetry and writing, on this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast.

A Calm and Normal Heart author Chelsea T. Hicks talks about revitalizing the Wazhazhe ie language, creating art, fashion, and poetry, and her story collection in this episode of The Fall for the Book Podcast. Hicks is an enrolled citizen of the Osage Nation and she belongs to the Pawhuska District.

In the first episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast's season, Alma Katsu curls horror and the supernatural through her historical fiction - from the Donner Party to the Titanic, to Japanese internment campus during WWII in her newest book The Fervor. She talks research, Japanese folklore, and more. She even talks about how she helped predict the future of Intelligence in social media during her time in the CIA.

On this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast, Pamela N. Harris, author of the debut YA novel When You Look Like Us sits down to talk about defying stereotypes, writing your own experiences, the power of representation in books, and of course, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Janice Northerns discusses her childhood in arid West Texas, changing life and land, and coming back to writing later in life. This episode of the Fall for the Book podcast features her work in the debut collection Some Electric Hum.

Brandie June, author of the YA fantasy novel Gold Spun, chats about her fairy tale retelling of “Rumpelstiltskin,” which gives the princess more agency, playwriting, doing aerial arts, and more, all on this episode of the Fall for the Book Podcast. Purchase her book here: https://bookshop.org/lists/fall-for-the-book-podcast

Claudia Kalb, author of Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers talks about the role of memory and luck, and the "rage to master" their skills that make each of the 13 profiled geniuses -- including Pablo Picasso, Yo-Yo Ma, and Julia Child-- so incredible.

Jim Peterson takes readers on a surreal journey in his short story collection The Sadness of Whirlwinds. In this first episode of the 2022 season of The Fall for the Book Podcast, he discusses how each tale dabbles or drips with magical realism and why it's important for the reader to ask questions.

Ethel Rohan discusses the importance of "uncomfortable" stories, how memories can shape a character's future, and the power of small moments, all on this episode of The Fall for the Book Podcast. Rohan is the author of In Case of Contact, which won the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize.

Two writers discuss power, position, and moving forward: M.M. Bailey in her flash piece “Smaller,” and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub in his poem “The Light at the Beginning of the Tunnel.” Bailey and Taub are two of the hundred writers from DC, Maryland, and Virginia featured in This is What America Looks Like – the first anthology from The Washington Writers’ Publishing House in 25 years. The book showcases work that represents this landmark historical moment of a social justice movement in the midst of a global pandemic. Editor Caroline Bock drops by to discuss the importance of these works.

Richard Washer, resident playwright at The Rose Theatre Company discusses his new play, Dubliners in Exile after actors perform a scene. In the play, James Joyce wakes up disoriented from a deep sleep to a timeless world at once strange and yet familiar where he knows something important needs to get done quickly, but he can’t remember what it is. As he searches for clues, an ever-changing procession of circumstances and characters distract and confuse him. Will he remember in time?

Jesse DeLong and Beth Gilstrap infuse every word of their poetry and prose with atmospheric tension, using nature to explore what it means to be human. DeLong’s poetry collection The Amateur Scientists Notebook uses scientific tables, field guides and more to draw the natural world together with philosophy, memory, and family. Gilstrap’s Deadheading and Other Stories intertwines her Southern Gothic narratives with nature — whether the characters are eating it or healing through it.

Heather Young discusses her novel, The Distant Dead, set in the high desert hills. Called “electrifying, ambitious, and crushingly beautiful,” by Kirkus Reviews, Young’s novel is a taught literary thriller which tackles the opioid epidemic, poverty, and deeply buried secrets.

Two writers examine pressing issues of identity, legacy, and historical memory in their work. Poet Sandra Beasley writes through the lens of Washington D.C. and Virginia’s history to examine race, politics, disability advocacy and more in her collection Made to Explode: Poems. Chris Stuck’s debut short story collection Give My Love to the Savages tackles the taboo with grit, humor, and gripping language that propels readers through his work.

Celebrate Children's Book Week with Megan Wagner Lloyd, author of Allergic, and Paper Mice, and Nadine Poper, author of Porcupette and Moppet talk the art and craft of writing kids' books, and the little known facts of the children's book publishing world!

Arthur Sze sat down with Kara Oakleaf and Suzy Rigdon to discuss revisiting fifty years' worth of poetry in his latest collection, The Glass Constellation, finding freedom within structure, and the importance of poetry in daily life.

Ayşe Papatya Bucak sat down with Kara Oakleaf and Suzy Rigdon to discuss mythology, re-imagining the past, and re-imagining the form of her short stories in her newest collection, The Trojan War Museum.

Poet and memoirist Reginald Dwayne Betts spoke from the road with Kara Oakleaf and Suzy Rigdon about his poetry collection Felons, "gateway literature," and his ambitious Million Book Project, which will put 500 books in prisons around the country.