EPISODE 22 — DARIN STRAUSS

Darin Strauss is today’s guest. He is the author of three novels—Chang & Eng, The Real McCoy, and More Than It Hurts You. And his most recent book is a memoir called Half a Life (McSweeney’s) which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The New York Times Book Review calls it “…elegant, painful, [and] stunningly honest.”

And Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, says, “[Half a Life] is a searingly self-disciplined work of literature, and of self-examination…the impact is staggering and unforgettable.”

Plenty to talk about here.

Topics of conversation include: short books, Courier New, guilt, PTSD, the performative aspects of grief, auto-responders, subconscious motives, Dave Eggers, writing slowly, conjoined twins, Philip Roth, emoticons, David Lipsky, gestation periods, and the difference between history and memoir.

Please be sure to subscribe to the show over at iTunes, if you haven’t already done so. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

Many thanks, and enjoy the show…

-BL

EPISODE 21 — JANET REITMAN

Janet Reitman is the guest. She is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and the author of the bestselling Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion, recently named by the New York Times as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2011.

Inside Scientology originated as a story in Rolling Stone and was nominated for a National Magazine Award.

Reitman’s work has also appeared in GQ, Men’s Journal, The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, and Salon, among other publications. She has also appeared on National Public Radio, Anderson Cooper 360, and Countdown with Keith Olberman. We get into it. A lot to talk about. Topics of conversation include: Scientology (duh), L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction, military service, hucksterism, religion, David Miscavige, Gold Base, yachts, hot pants, blowing, Rolling Stone, investigative reporting, Iraq, Tom Cruise, Jann S. Wenner, and collective shrugs.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show over at iTunes, if you haven’t done so already. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

 Thanks, everybody.

-BL

EPISODE 20 — ADAM NOVY

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

The guest is Adam Novy, author of the debut novel The Avian Gospels, available now from Short Flight / Long Drive Books, an independent press run by the good people over at Hobart.

“The Avian Gospels has the potential to become a cult classic,” says Publishers Weekly.

Adam and I, we talk about stuff.

Topics of conversation include: birds, birding, reviews, science fiction, false summits, agents, independent presses, Brooklyn, religion, Chicago, the Bible, 9/11, dislocation, South Pasadena, bad teachers, weddings, Jewishness, Medusa, privilege, war, semantics, Hamlet, gods, the process of un-fucking a manuscript, and the fear of getting squashed by the universe.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show over at iTunes, if you haven’t done so already. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

 Many thanks & enjoy the show…

-BL  

INTERVIEW WITH ELECTRIC LITERATURE

I’ve been interviewed by Electric Literature, which has some really nice things to say about the podcast. Many thanks to Julia Jackson, editor of the Electric Dish.

Here’s the intro to the interview:

A few weeks ago, I first listened to a new literary podcast: Other People with Brad Listi, which I found through Melissa Febos‘ Facebook profile. She was interviewed on it, as well as other people that I admire and am interested in: Victoria Patterson, Megan Boyle, Steve Almond, Emma Straub, and more. While I expected the podcast to be interesting I was blown away, finding it downright enjoyable — and now I’m hooked. In a world full of distractions — where almost everything I encounter is practically begging me not to write — Brad Listi’s podcast has made me hit the pause button on my iTunes, blow off social obligations, and sit my ass down in a chair and write. The show is funny, insightful, entertaining, affirming, and, more than anything — inspiring. It easily one of the best podcasts on the web. Because I am now such a fan I wanted to ask Brad a few questions, and he kindly obliged.

To read the rest, just click right here.  

EPISODE 19 — ELISSA SCHAPPELL

The guest is Elissa Schappell, author of the story collections Use Me (William Morrow), which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the brand new Blueprints for Building Better Girls, available now from Simon & Schuster.

A former senior editor at The Paris Review, Elissa is a contributing editor and the Hot Type book columnist at Vanity Fair. She is also the co-founder and editor-at-large of Tin House magazine.

Topics of conversation include: feathers, taxidermy, pigeons, Mike Tyson, Tin House, face tattoos, Delaware, Joe Biden, social identity, elegant segues, the Lower East Side, talking in circles, chameleons, empathy, social graces, George Plimpton, The Paris Review, New York City, temporal lobe epilepsy, Berlin, Portugal, Spy magazine, Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter, and the abundance of good writers in the world.

If you haven’t subscribed to the show over at iTunes, please do. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too. 

Okay then.

Thanks, as always, for tuning in and listening.

Enjoy…

-BL

EPISODE 18 — KATIE ARNOLDI

Today’s guest: Katie Arnoldi, the bestselling author of three novels: Chemical Pink, The Wentworths, and Point Dume.

This one’s gonna blow your mind, people. Just trust me. It’ll make you want to buy a plane ticket. It’ll make you want to stow away on a boat. It’ll make you want to go undercover and rescue a POW in a war-torn Third World country.

Topics of conversation include: marijuana, Mexican drug cartels, surfing, surf Nazis, art, discipline, lighting one’s hair on fire while making a quesadilla, southeast Utah, road trips, books on tape, experiential learning, Blackhawk helicopters, wanderlust, field research, sharks, kids, Tasers, camping, the Venice Biennale, the artist Paul McCarthy, and getting out of one’s own way creatively.

Please subscribe to the show over at iTunes, if you haven’t done so already. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

Many thanks & enjoy…

-BL

EPISODE 17 — JOSHUA MOHR

Joshua Mohr is the guest. He’s the author of three novels: Some Things That Meant the World to Me, Termite Parade, and, most recently, Damascus. All are available from Two Dollar Radio, one of America’s finest independent presses.

“The bard of the underbelly,” says Jonathan Evison.

A rave for Damascus from The Rumpus: “It’s as if [Mohr] is standing over your shoulder lighting each page with a match as you read.”

A very good talk with a rising star writer. We discuss things.

Topics of conversation include: teaching, San Francisco, the benefits of insomnia, Hubert Selby Jr., coffee, punk rock, gentrification, creatively permissive cities, Arizona, Kurt Vonnegut, kids, monkishness, priorities, readerships, addiction, The Big Lebowski, fairy tales, reality television, and poets who live in their cars.

If you haven’t subscribed to the show over at iTunes, please do. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too. 

Many thanks. Enjoy the show….

-BL

EPISODE 16 — GINA FRANGELLO

Gina Frangello is the guest. She is the critically acclaimed author of the novel My Sister’s Continent (Chiasmus Press), the story collection Slut Lullabies (Emergency Press), and the forthcoming novel A Life in Men (Algonquin).

She is also the esteemed fiction editor over at The Nervous Breakdown.

Gina’s a good one. (That’s an understatement.) The word “indefatigable” comes to mind. She’s an extremely gifted writer, a college instructor, a mother of three, a publisher, an editor. You name it. She finds a way to do it all. And she’s been a great help to a great many writers for a lot of years.

We get into it.

Topics of conversation include: Chicago, Other Voices Books, growing up Italian-American, how her parents met, jazz, alcohol, poverty, Madison, drug abuse, California, the dirt-poor writer who lived in her parents’ garage, high school, dance clubs, neighborhood violence, parenthood, jogging yuppies, Avignon, keg parties, editing, London, whirlwind romance, psychology, Italy, New Hampshire, Arles, prison, battered women, the MFA, and the institution of marriage.

If you haven’t subscribed to the show over at iTunes, go do it. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

Many thanks, everybody.

-BL

EPISODE 15 — JILLIAN LAUREN

The guest is Jillian Lauren, author of the memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, a New York Times bestseller, and the brand new novel Pretty, both available from Plume Books.

Kirkus calls her a “deft storyteller,” and Antoine Wilson, author of The Interloper, calls Pretty “a harrowing journey from darkness to light to real life.”

Topics of conversation include: youth, addiction, fearlessness, the difference between dull experience and dull writing, sex work, billionaire psychology, New Jersey, Vietnam, the Prince of Brunei, rehab, therapy, parenthood, beauty college, the Big Apple, LA, transcendental meditation, Weezer, discipline, sobriety, compulsive documentation, Instagram, the vibration of a publicity cycle, bowling, versatility, and acting.

If you haven’t subscribed to the show over at iTunes, please do so. It’s free.

Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

Many thanks for listening. Enjoy.

-BL