The Chills at Will Podcast

Notes and Links to Joe Bond’s Work     Joe Bond is an award-winning short story writer whose debut novel HOPE HOUSE explores the lives of a group of troubled teenage boys in a treatment program in the late 1980s. Bond grew up around such homes in eastern Kentucky and began working in them when he was still in high school, starting out on night shift and later spending his summers as the primary ch...

Notes and Links to Hannah Lillith Assadi’s Work     Hannah Lillith Assadi is the author of the Women's Prize long-listed novel Paradiso 17 (Knopf 2026), inspired by the life of her late Palestinian father. Her debut novel Sonora (Soho 2017) received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize. Her secon...

Notes and Links to Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor’s Work     Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor is a professor of history at Smith College where she teaches courses on race, slavery and her father, comedic legend Richard Pryor. She is the award-winning author of the article “The Etymology of [N-Word]: Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North” and a 2016 book Colored Travelers: Mob...

Notes and Links to Imani Thompson’s Work       Imani Thompson is a British writer of Scottish, Irish, and Jamaican heritage. After studying Sociology at Cambridge University, she worked as a bookseller at Daunt Books. Honey is her first novel. She lives in London.    Buy Honey   Imani Thompson’s Author Page   Article about Imani Thompson in Vogue     At about 2:00, Imani responds to Pete asking ab...

Notes and Links to Assal Rad’s Work     Dr. Assal Rad is scholar of Middle East history and political advocate based in California. She works on research and writing related to U.S. foreign policy issues, the Middle East, contemporary Iran, and Israel/Palestine.     Dr. Rad graduated with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her PhD research focused on...

Notes and Links to Nafissa Thompson Spires’ Work     Born and raised in Southern California, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is the author of the award-winning, National Book Award longlisted short story collection, Heads of the Colored People.    She earned a doctorate in English from ­­­­Vanderbilt University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from ­­­­­­the University of Illinois. Her short...

Notes and Links to Kristen Millares Young’s Work     A prize-winning novelist, journalist and essayist, Kristen Millares Young is the author of the memoir Desire Lines, forthcoming from Red Hen Press and Brilliance Audio on October 6, 2026, and the novel Subduction, named a staff pick by The Paris Review. “Kristen Millares Young will take readers along on her journey of discovery as she publishes...

Notes and Links to Daniel Peña’s Work     Daniel Peña is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer and Associate Professor of Creative Writing.  Formerly, he was based out of the UNAM in Mexico City where he worked as Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholar. A graduate of Cornell University and a former Picador Guest Professor in Leipzig, Germany, his writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The Rumpus, the Kenyon Rev...

In this special anthology episode, Pete's shares his conversations with titans of the industry, Traci Thomas, David Naimon, and Brad Listi.      Traci Thomas is the creator and host of the critically acclaimed literary podcast, The Stacks. She is a passionate champion of books and a deeply curious interviewer. Traci is a monthly contributor on NPR’s Here & Now, a columnist for shereads.com, th...

Notes and Links to Brad Listi’s Work        Brad Listi was born in Milwaukee. He is the author of the novel Be Brief and Tell Them Everything (Ig Publishing / May 2022). His other books include the novel Attention. Deficit. Disorder., an LA Times bestseller, and Board, a work of nonfiction collage, co-authored with Justin Benton. In 2011 he launched the Otherppl podcast, one of the longest-running...

Notes and Links to David Naimon’s Work     David Naimon is a writer and host of the literary podcast Between the Covers. His writing is published widely, from Orion magazine to Tin House. It has garnered a Pushcart Prize and been reprinted in Best American Science & Nature Writing, Best Spiritual Literature, and The Best Small Fictions anthology. He is also the co-author, with Ursula K. Le Gui...

Notes and Links to Traci Thomas’ Work       Traci Thomas is the creator and host of the critically acclaimed literary podcast, The Stacks. She is a passionate champion of books and a deeply curious interviewer. Traci is a monthly contributor on NPR’s Here & Now, a columnist for shereads.com, the creator of the LAist live literary series, One for the Books. She also hosts and moderates literary...

Notes and Links to Jason M. Thornsberry’s Work     Jason M. Thornberry’s writing appears in World Literature Today, Los Angeles Review of Books, Maryland Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, South Florida Poetry Journal, JMWW, Letters Journal, Soundings East, Medicine and Meaning, Harbor Review, Entropy, Maudlin House, and many others. He was nominated in 2023 and 2024 for Best of the Net. Jas...

Notes and Links to Tomas Moniz’s Work     Tomas Moniz is a latinx writer living in East Oakland, CA. His debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/ Hemingway and the LAMBDA. His second novel, All Friends Are Necessary, won the 2024 California Golden Poppy Award.    His new novel, The King of Aloe Vera, will be published on September 29th, 2026 from Algonquin Books. He edited the po...

Notes and Links to Sarah Blakley-Cartwright’s Work     Sarah Blakley-Cartwright is the author of Alice Sadie Celine (Simon Books, Simon & Schuster, November 28th, 2023). She is also the author of Red Riding Hood (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), a New York Times #1 bestseller that was published worldwide in thirty-eight editions and fifteen languages.     Sarah is the editor of The Arti...

Notes and Links to Daniel Dockery’s Work        Daniel Dockery began writing online and in print in 2011. Since then, he's been a Senior Writer and Assistant Editor at Crunchyroll, as well as a Columnist and Assistant Editor at Cracked.com. He's also written for WIRED, Vulture, Polygon, SYFY, Paste Magazine, Roger Ebert, Thrillist, and various other outlets. His first book, Monster Kids: How Pokém...

Notes and Links to Benjamin Moser’s Work      Benjamin Moser is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector , a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2009. For his work bringing Clarice Lispector to international prominence, he received Brazil’s first State Prize for Cultural Diplomacy . He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017 ,...

Notes and Links to Ankur Thakkar’s Work     Ankur Thakkar is the author of Blow Yourself Up, which was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. His stories have appeared in Guernica, [PANK], and TriQuarterly. He was a 2025 Sewanee Writers’ Conference Scholar and his artwork has been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo and La Friche la Belle de Mai.    Buy Blow Yourself Up   Ankur Thak...

Notes and Links to Danny Funt’s Work     Danny Funt is a Charlotte-based writer and editor. His reporting on the business of sports betting, politics, news and sports media, climate solutions, and healthcare innovation has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, TheWeek.com, and the Columbia Journalism Review, and he has discussed the consequence...

Notes and Links to Julian Randall’s Work     Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black author from Chicago. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Callaloo, and the Watering Hole. Julian is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and the winner of the 2019 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Publishing Triangle.   His writing has been published in New York Times Magazine, Ploughsh...

Notes and Links to Julie Buntin’s Work     Julie Buntin’s new novel, Famous Men, is out as of July 14. Her debut, Marlena, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. It was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick and was released in ten territories worldwide and named a best book of the year b...

Notes and Links to Devin O’Shea’s Work       Devin Thomas O’Shea is the author of The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis, publishing with Haymarket Books on June 23, 2026. His writing is in The Nation, the Iowa Review, Slate, LA Review of Books, Boulevard, and elsewhere.    Buy The Veiled Prophet   Devin Thomas O'Shea's Website   Review and Informativ...

In this trailer episode, Pete reflects on the Importance (and the power of this capital "I") of Rage Against the Machine and their seminal Evil Empire album, which is celebrating 30 years of resistance. The limited podcast series will do a deep exploration of, and reflection on, the lyrics and context of each of the 12 powerful songs on the album.   Individual episodes can be bought for $3, and th...

Notes and Links to Rachel León’s Work     Rachel León (she/they) is a writer, editor, and social worker, who has worked in child welfare for nearly two decades. She serves as Managing Director for Chicago Review of Books. Their debut novel, How We See the Gray, is out from Curbstone Books as of May 15, 2026. Buy How We See the Gray   Rachel León Website     At about 1:45, Rachel gives a summary of...

Notes and Links to Steven Thrasher’s Work      Dr. Steven Thrasher is an American journalist and academic. In 2019, he became the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting and an assistant professor of journalism at Northwestern University 's Medill School of Journalism . In 2012, he won the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Journalist of the Year award.   Buy...