How Literature Can Save the World

Daniel Seifert's writing is published in The New York Times, Consequence, and Gulf Coast. His work received a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize 2026 anthology, and has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. He lives in Singapore, and is working on a novel. 

Ibrahim Fawzy,  is a literary translator, academic and writer from Egypt. He holds an MA in Comparative Literature. His translations, reviews and interviews have appeared or are forthcoming in ArabLit Quarterly, Words Without Borders, The Markaz Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, Poetry Ireland Review, among others. He is currently an editorial assistant at R...

Mara Karlin , former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities, Brookings Institute Fellow and Director for Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and author of The Inheritance. 

Matt K. Parker has been many things in his life: a musician, a programmer, an activist, a writer, a consultant, a business owner, a husband, a father. And he's lived in many places, including Texas, New York, California, and Connecticut. But amidst all the life and career changes, and all the moving from one coast to the other and back, the one constant in his life has been reading.    Whether hid...

Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/5fsc-6-XpNU  

Randy Winston , writer,  Director of Fiction  at  The Black List , host of the podcast,  Read the Acknowledgments , and former Creative Director for the  Center for Fiction . Find him at RW . Watch this interview at https://youtu.be/kePiTHOhDLU  

Hugh Martin , poet and author of  In Country  and The Stick Soldiers, editor of  War, Literature, and the Arts, professor, and veteran of the conflict in Iraq.

Joe Meno , author of  Hairstyles of the Damned ,  Marval and a Wonder ,  The Boy Detective Fails , and  Book of Extraordinary Tragedies ; editor and professor.

Natalia Theodoridou is a transmasculine writer whose stories have appeared in publications such as Kenyon Review, The Cincinnati Review, Ninth Letter, and Strange Horizons, and have been translated into Italian, French, Greek, Estonian, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. He won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, the 2022 Emerging Writer Award by Moniack Mhor & The Bridge Awards, and th...

Elizabeth Lukács Chesla is the daughter of Hungarian refugees and a mother of three. Her award-winning fiction debut, You Cannot Forbid the Flower, was published in 2023. She writes, edits, and teaches from the suburbs of Philadelphia, where she was born and raised. Liz holds an MA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and certificates in Transformative Language Arts and t...

Adrian Bonenberger is the author of The Afghan Post and  The Road Home , a New York Times and Foreign Policy contributor, the founder of Wrath-Bearing Tree , and a combat veteran. 

Brecht De Poortere was born in Belgium and grew up in Africa. He currently lives in Paris, France. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Hudson Review (3rd Prize Short Fiction Contest), the Missouri Review, the Baltimore Review, Grain, X-R-A-Y, The Forge Literary Magazine and Consequence, amongst others. Find him at  www.brechtdepoortere.com

Wynter K Miller is the Managing Editor at Electric Literature, where she supports the publication of The Commuter and Recommended Reading. Previously, Wynter served as a contributing editor, Interim Books Editor, and Associate Editor at Electric Lit, and was the Managing Editor of Forum Literary Magazine. Find Wynter at Wynter K Miller | Editor | Writer . Home - Electric Literature   Next episode...

Matthew Krajniak earned a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Houston as a C. Glenn Cambor fellow. He coedited Wendy Battin: On the Life & Work of an American Master (Unsung Master Series, 2020), and his writing has appeared in Gulf Coast, Poetry Foundation, Willows Wept Review, The Avalon Literary Review, The Wax Paper, and elsewhere. He is the Executive Editor of Cons...

Sarah Starr Murphy is the Managing Editor of The Forge Literary Magazine, and her writing is in The Threepenny Review, Epiphany, Baltimore Review, and many more. She’s eternally writing a novel and never without a book to read. She’s a marathoner with epilepsy, often found wandering the forest in rural New England. Find her at Welcome! | Sarah Starr Murphy ; follow her @sarahstarrmurphy.bsky.socia...

Welcome to How Literature Can Save the World! This is an introduction episode explaining the purpose, interview format, and frequency of the podcast, as well as sharing the books that have changed my life.