Sick Sad Lit

In the Season 2 finale of Sick Sad Lit , I sit down with Agustina Bazterrica, the internationally bestselling author of Tender Is the Flesh . This conversation didn’t just stay with me...it fundamentally changed how I read books. Together, we explore the cultural landscape of Argentina and how violence, patriarchy, and political history shape Agustina’s work. She walks me through her writing proce...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , I sit down with Torrey Peters, acclaimed author of Detransition, Baby and Stag Dance , for a deeply honest conversation about the realities of the modern writing life. Torrey opens up about the emotional labour of touring, the pressures of book marketing, and how societal change shapes creative expression. Together, we discuss desire, identity, and transformation—...

In this deeply honest and hopeful episode, I sit down with writer, musician, and creator Lauren McQuistin—author of No Lost Causes Club and the voice behind @brutalrecovery —to talk about getting sober young, building emotional muscles from scratch, and what it really means to reclaim your life when alcohol stops serving you. We explore sobriety as self-respect, the discomfort and beauty of feelin...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit, I sit down with one of the most provocative and fearless voices in contemporary fiction: Eliza Clark. Author of Boy Parts, Penance, and She’s Always Hungry, Clark writes with scalpel-like precision about modern alienation. Nobody captures the digital grotesque quite like her. We talk about the ethics of obsession, the cultural hunger for true crime, and how fi...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit, I sit down with R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries, Exhibit, and co-editor of Kink, to talk about the emotional labor of writing, the role of fear in creativity, and what it means to tell stories that demand vulnerability. We explore how desire, identity, and ancestral trauma shape Kwon’s work, and how embracing discomfort can lead to deeper truth on the page....

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , I sit down with acclaimed South Korean author Bora Chung: the brilliant mind behind Cursed Bunny and her haunting new collection, Midnight Timetable . Known for blending horror, humour, and political satire, Bora’s stories blur the line between the grotesque and the profound, using the supernatural to explore the most human of emotions. We talk about her journey f...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , I sit down with acclaimed author Ottessa Moshfegh to dive deep into her writing process, the evolution of her style, and the themes that haunt her fiction. From McGlue and Eileen to My Year of Rest and Relaxation , Death in Her Hands , and Lapvona , Moshfegh’s novels consistently interrogate the limits of identity, the grotesque and sublime aspects of embodiment,...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , I sit down with bestselling author Mona Awad to talk about her highly anticipated new novel, We Love You, Bunny (out today!). A dazzling return to the world of her cult classic Bunny , it blends fairy-tale horror, satire, and dark academia into a story about creation, obsession, and the power of storytelling. Mona and I explore the evolution of her writing - from...

Internationally acclaimed writer Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night , Things We Lost in the Fire , and The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, joins Sick Sad Lit to talk about horror that doesn’t chill - it burns. In this visceral and wide-ranging conversation, she and I explore how the oppressive heat of Buenos Aires fuels her fiction, how music shapes her creative process, and how journalism...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit, I sit down with writer and violinist Ling Ling Huang, author of the acclaimed debut novel Natural Beauty and the recently released Immaculate Conception. Together, we explore the ways fiction - and creative expression more broadly - helps navigate identity, ambition, and the emotional aftermath of betrayal and transformation. Ling Ling shares how her background in...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , I sit down with author Emma Van Straaten to explore the raw, unsettling beauty of her debut novel, This Immaculate Body . Emma reflects on her journey from aspiring writer to published author, sharing how her own personal history informed the creation of her complex protagonist, Alice. We discuss the nuances of character development, how trauma shapes narrative vo...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , author Anna Dorn joins me to discuss her novel Perfume and Pain , a sharp and provocative exploration of identity, desire, and self-destruction. Anna opens up about her writing process, and her transition from a legal career to full-time novelist. We dive into the literary value of unlikeable women in fiction, the cultural tension around cancel culture, and how qu...

Sunday Times Best-Selling Author of The Lamb, Lucy Rose steps into the Sick Sad Lit (virtual) studio for a fierce, funny, and fearless conversation about everything that fuels her fiction. From the folklore of her rural upbringing to the feminist lens that informs her monstrous female characters, Lucy unpacks how horror can be a home for complexity. The episode touches on the metaphor of cannibali...

In this episode of Sick Sad Lit , host Jen Eastwood sits down with acclaimed author Sarah Rose Etter to unpack the emotional and political weight of writing in a collapsing world. They explore how magical realism and dark fiction serve as tools for survival and resistance under late-stage capitalism, and how attention spans, burnout, and economic precarity shape the creative process. Through a raw...

In this episode, horror author Gretchen Felker-Martin discusses her writing process, the impact of queer representation in horror literature, and crafting complex characters in books like Manhunt and Cuckoo . We explore taboo themes, dark fiction, and advice for emerging authors navigating today’s literary world. Follow Gretchen on Instagram. Join the conversation with Sick Sad Lit on Substack and...

Chuck Tingle joins Sick Sad Lit to explore queer horror, satirical romance, and the role of absurdity in the horror genre. We talk about identity, publishing, and how positivity and love become acts of protest in art — and in life. Preorder Lucky Day. Follow Chuck on Instagram. Join the conversation with Sick Sad Lit on Substack and Instagram . In this engaging conversation, Chuck Tingle, a renown...

Welcome to Sick Sad Lit — a podcast about the books that get under your skin. Host Jen Eastwood talks with the writers behind today’s most unsettling, unforgettable fiction: horror, gothic, surreal, and literary works that explore obsession, identity, rage, the body, and the bizarre. This is a space for complicated characters, experimental form, and authors who aren’t afraid to get weird — or hone...