GrottoPod

Lewis Buzbee, Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss the craft of books, and why we still love bookstores, even after (especially after) working at them. Lewis Buzbee’s most recent novel is Diver. He is also the author of The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, Blackboard, After the Gold Rush, Fliegelman’s Desire, as well as three award-winning books for younger readers, Steinbeck’s Ghost, The Haunting of Char...

Shingai Njeri Kagunda , T. K. Rex and Doug Henderson discuss editing fiction publications, the triumphant return of Fantasy Magazine, and creating space for underrepresented writers. Shingai Njeri Kagunda (they/she) is an Afrosurreal/futurist storyteller from Nairobi, Kenya with a Literary Arts MFA from Brown. Shingai’s work has been featured in The Best American Sci-fi and Fantasy 2020 and 2023 e...

Nina Schuyler , Susan Kaye Quinn , Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss writing climate fiction and one central theme: hope. How to have it, how to write it, and why it’s more important than ever. Nina Schuyler’s short story collection, In This Ravishing World, won the W.S. Porter Prize and the Prism Prize for Climate Literature and was published in July 2024. Her novel, Afterword, won the 2024 Pe...

Cynthia Gomez, M. M. Olivas, Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss monsters, middles, invented towns, whose fear gets centered in horror, and counternarratives. Stuff we talked about in the episode: Sundown in San Ojuela by M. M. Olivas (Mara) The Nightmare Box and Other Stories by Cynthia Gómez Mara's website Cynthia's website Brent Lambert (author) Gordon White (author) Nancy Kress (author) Steve...

Margaret Juhae Lee , Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss the differences between history and memoir, memoir and autobiography, research and worldbuilding, fiction and memory, plus generative writing, being a Taurus, internal reward systems, and putting yourself in the story. Stuff we talked about in the episode: Margaret's book Starry Field Writing Day Workshops The Situation and the Story: The A...

Roberto Lovato , Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss scarlet macaws, breaking down structural inequality in publishing, and Rooted & Written —the first tuition-free professional conference for Writers of Color in the United States. Stuff we talked about in the episode: Applying to Rooted & Written Cristina Rivera Garza Malcolm Harris Palo Alto  Roberto’s book Unforgetting: A Memoir of Fam...

Jonathan Escoffery , Celeste Chan , and T. K. Rex discuss education without a safety net, the intersection of racism, capitalism and belonging, ticking clocks and how to break them, finding Jamaican patties in the Bay Area, the intimacy of the second person, and needing the fear. Stuff we talked about in the episode: If I Survive You - novel by Jonathan Escoffery Apex snap judgment panels Paul Bea...

Hugh Ryan , Mark Wallace and T. K. Rex discuss MFAs, finding out what kind of writer you are, queer history, pitching niche topics, tarantulas, finding the right peers and instructors for your writing, and the punkest thing ever. Stuff we talked about in the episode: The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison Bennington workshop C. L. Polk's Patreon New York Public Libra...

Lori Ostlund , Doug Henderson , and T. K. Rex discuss hopeful fiction, metaphor, the Midwest, balancing humor and darkness, crafting characters who feel like real people, the Flannery O’Connor award, and a third addition to the pantser/plotter dichotomy: poet. Stuff we mentioned in the episode: Lori’s novella Just Another Family flannery o’connor award Flannery winner Iheoma Nwachukwu Rainbow Rail...

Sam J. Miller, Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss tapping into who you really are, going too far first, the Clarion writers workshop, writing stories with a structural conceit, filing off the serial numbers, writing from a marginalized point of view, loneliness, climate anxiety, hope, inhale and exhale phases, video games, writing as programming, AI, writing to a specific audience, and writing t...

The GrottoPod is back! In this kickoff episode for the new season, writers T. K. Rex and Doug Henderson discuss upcoming guests, their favorite writing craft tips, the importance of finding local writing community, and writing weird. Stuff we mentioned in the episode: Classes and Events at the Writers Grotto Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses Clarion Writers Workshop at UCSD Club Chicxulu...

Novelist Dallas Woodburn joins us on the GrottoPod this week to read from her recent book, The Best Week that Never Happened , described as a “captivating, poignant story is perfect for teens on the brink of discovering who they are and what really matters.” Woodburn is a former Steinbeck fellow in creative writing and the author of two earlier books of short fiction, Woman, Running Late, in a Dre...

We hope that this message finds you as well as can be. 2020 has contained a great deal of change for the GrottoPod, and for our production team. To fill you in: the Writers Grotto recently moved out of its physical offices in San Francisco, and we at GrottoPod consequently moved out of the podcast studio where we recorded so many of the interviews that we’ve broadcast on this show. Given these cha...

Preeti Vangani joins the GrottoPod this week to talk with producer Brad Balukjian about her evocative essay, “A Meditation on Bitterness,” published in Bending Genres. Vangani is a brand manager turned poet and personal essayist who authored Mother Tongue Apologize (RLFPA Editions), and won the RL India Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in  BOAAT, Juked, Gulf Coast and Threepenny Review, among o...

Poet Tess Taylor , who published two collections this year, Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange and Rift Zone , joins us on the GrottoPod this week to read some of her poetry. Taylor is the author of three other books of poetry, including The Misremembered World, selected by Eavan Boland for the Poetry Society of America’s inaugural chapbook fellowship, and The Forage House, called “stunning”...

Journalist and author Roberto Lovato returns to the GrottoPod this week to read from his debut book, Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs and Revolution in the Americas. A recipient of a reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center, Lovato has reported on war, violence, terrorism in Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Paris and the United States. Until 2015, Lovato...

Maw Shein Win returns to the GrottoPod this week to read from her new book of poetry, Storage Unit for the Spirit House . Win is a poet, editor, and educator who lives and teaches in the Bay Area. Her poetry chapbooks include Ruins of a Glittering Palace and Score and Bone. Invisible Gifts: Poems was published by Manic D Press in 2018. Win is the first poet laureate of El Cerrito, California (2016...

Roberto Lovato is an educator, journalist and writer based at The Writers Grotto and the author of “Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs and Revolution in the Americas” (Harper Collins). He joins fellow writer Jesus Sierra in this week’s episode to talk about the book. Lovato is also a co-founder of #DignidadLiteraria , the movement advocating for equity and literary justice for the...

Author and scientist Brad Balukjian joins the GrottoPod’s summer reading series this week to share an excerpt from his new book, The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife. The Wax Pack . Out now, Wax Pack is the true story of tracking down all the players in a single pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards on a 11,341-mile road trip across the U.S. Balukjian is also a professor of...

Bonnie Tsui joins us on the GrottoPod this week to read an excerpt from her latest book, “Why We Swim.” The book, published in April, offers cultural and scientific exploration of our human relationship with water and swimming. Tsui is a journalist, a longtime contributor to the New York Times, and the author of “American Chinatown,” the winner of the Asia/Pacific American Award for Literature and...

Adam Smyer joins us on the GrottoPod this week to talk about his new book, You Can Keep That To Yourself: A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Intentioned People of Pallor . It’s a pocket-sized translation guide designed to keep white folks out of trouble, and it couldn’t be more timely. Smyer is also the author of the novel Knucklehead, which was the sole title shortl...

Award-winning writer Vanessa Hua joins the GrottoPod summer reading series today to share a taste of her short story "VIP Tutoring" from her newly reissued collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities. Hua is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of A River of Stars. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Found...

Writer Raina León joins the GrottoPod this week as part of our summer reading series to share her piece "Solstice in Solidified Sugar." León is a full professor of education at Saint Mary’s College of California, only the third Black person (all women) and the first Afro-Latina to achieve that rank there. She is a member of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, Cave Canem, CantoMundo,...

Food writer Rachel Levin continues our GrottoPod reading series in a special Shabbat episode. Listen in as she reads from EAT SOMETHING: A Wise Sons Cookbook for Jews Who Like Food and Food Lovers Who Like Jews, co-written with Evan Bloom, co-founder of Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen in San Francisco. Levin, a Writers Grotto member, is also the author of Look Big: And Other Tips for Surviving Anima...

Today on the GrottoPod we're kicking off our summer reading series, bringing you readings from Writers Grotto members. Today we're featuring Ann Kim, who reads from her brand-new novel, A Good Family, available now. Ann Kim (writing as A.H. Kim) was born in South Korea and immigrated to Ohio as a toddler. She went to Harvard College and Berkeley Law School and is a practicing attorney. She is the...