LitCit: Antioch's Literary Citizen Podcast

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's  LitCit, host Jenna Ray chats with BookEnds Literary Agency agent, Allegra Martschenko . Allegra's client list represents a dynamic range of thoughtful, funny, ambitious and propulsive reads across speculative and romance genres. Following a career in scholarly publishing with presses including Princeton University, The University of Colorado and Cornell Un...

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit , host Gabriela Revilla Lugo chats with award-winning author Reyna Grande . Grande is the bestselling writer of The Distance Between Us , A Dream Called Home , and A Ballad of Love and Glory , and her work has been celebrated internationally for its intimate portrayals of migration, resilience, and belonging. In this conversation, Grande reflects on her evol...

On this episode of  Antioch MFA 's  LitCit , host Hyelee Kim chats with  Annie Hwang . Hwang is an agent at  Ayesha Pande Literary , an advocate, and a champion for underrepresented voices. Her authors include John Paul Brammer, Franny Choi, Alison Rollins, and USA Today best-selling author Jihyun Yun. As a former journalist with a keen editorial eye, Hwang discusses her career and preference for...

On this episode of   Antioch MFA Program's  LitCit,  host Jenna Ray chats with author, artist, teacher and antioch MFA alumni,  Lisa Freeman . They discuss her multi-faceted career, her historical young adult novels,  Honey Girl   and  Riptide Summer , her newest story "Snow People" in the anthology  The Gift Exchange ,  and writing about LGBTQIA+ and women's reproductive rights in a historical co...

On this episode of  Antioch MFA's   LitCit , host Gina Rae Duran interviews acclaimed writer Bonnie Hearn Hill . Hill is author of sixteen suspense novels, most recently the Kit Doyle Crime Blogger series and the novel The River Below . Hearn Hill's work also appears in  The White Picket Fence , an anthology from Flower Song Press edited by host Gina Rae Duran. Listen to Hearn Hill reflect on her...

On this episode of  Antioch MFA's   LitCit , host Gabriela Revilla Lugo interviews acclaimed writer Winnie Holzman. Holzman is the creative force behind some of the most influential works in contemporary storytelling, including the beloved musical  Wicked  and TV classics like  My So-Called Life  and  Once and Again . Hear Holzman reflect on her artistic journey, the cultural resonance of her work...

On this episode of   Antioch MFA Program's  LitCit,  host Ash Anderson chats with Tony-nominated actor, award-winning playwright and novelist,  John Cariani . Cariani is an Antioch University mentor and has penned more than twenty plays, including Almost, Main , which has been produced more than 5000 times and which he adapted into a novel. This episode was produced by Karen Sampson and mastered b...

On this episode of Antioch MFA 's LitCit, host Gabriela Lugo chats with Colette Freedman . Freedman is an internationally produced playwright with over 50 produced plays and musicals. Her play Sister Cities has been produced around the country and internationally, including Paris (Une Ville, Une Soeur), Rome (Le Quattro Sorelle), and Australia. She made her West End Debut at the Lyric Theatre in A...

On this episode of Antioch MFA 's LitCit, host Mansi Aneja chats with writer and Antioch nonfiction faculty member, Edgar Gomez . Gomez is a queer NicaRican writer born and raised in Florida. He is the author of the memoir High-Risk Homosexual that was released in 2022 and won the American Book Award, a Stonewall Israel-Fishman Nonfiction Book Honor Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. Get to kno...

On this episode of Antioch MFA 's  LitCit,  host Alejandra Alexander chats with writer, director, producer, teacher, and esteemed Antioch dramatic writing faculty member,  Joy Kecken . Joy's short films,  Woman Hollering Creek  and  Louisville , and her feature documentary,  The Biggest Little Farm , have screened at over 30 film festivals. She has also developed series for Amazon, ABC Signature,...

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit , host Brenda Fantroy-Johnson chats with acclaimed author, essayist, activist, and esteemed Antioch faculty member Anjali Enjeti . Together they discuss in detail her debut novel The Parted Earth , her essay collection, Southbound , what writing as activism means, and exploring family history. This episode was produced by Bo Thomas Newman and edited by Brend...

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit, host Bo Thomas Newman chats with author, screenwriter, editor, director, journalist, and professor, Morgan Jerkins . They discuss her multifaceted career as a professor, editor and journalist, the balance between fiction and nonfiction, her past works such as This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) Ameri...

On this episode of Antioch MFA program's LitCit , host Jonathan Chou chats with poet, children's book author, filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist, and the Antioch MFA program's new Core faculty head of Poetry, Cathy Linh Che . Together they go in-depth of Cathy Linh Che's previous poetry collection, Split , and her new collection, Becoming Ghost , in addition to discussing Jonathan Chou's collecti...

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit , host Jacqueline Rose chats with Los Angeles writer, artist, and publisher, Kai Adia . They discuss Kai's poetry collection,  Depths of Anima , the Pushcart nominated Afrofuturist anthology she co-edited, Future Splendor: A Celebration of a New Renaissance,   and the press she co-founded, Bee Infinite Publishing. Adia also discusses her overlapping responsi...

On this second episode of a two-part episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Caren McDonald chats with guest, Sorcha De Brún , a writer, lecturer, researcher, and Irish translator. They discuss the new wave of Irish language novelists as well as Sorcha De Brun's recent monograph about the intersection of masculinities and the Irish language, focusing on three contemporary writers: Mícheál Ó...

On this first episode of a two-part episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit, host Caren McDonald chats with Sorcha De Brún , a writer, lecturerer, researcher, and Irish translator. They discuss how friendship can serve as an important tool for learning language, the need for imagination to keep the Irish language alive, and the different theories on translation pedagogy. Additionally, they critique Caren'...

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit , host Jacqueline Rose chats with author, journalist, essayist, and esteemed Antioch faculty member, Erin Aubry Kaplan . They discuss a great deal of Kaplan's books: Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, And Walking The Color Line and I Heart Obama , the respect of social justice in writing and observing the world around us, and answering the question: What does it mea...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's Lit Cit , host Lisa Locascio Nighthawk chats with author, memoirist, and critic, Claire Dederer . They discuss her CNF novel,  Monsters A Fan's Dillema , the importance of a literary community, separating the art from the artist, preserving your mental health in the current political landscape, and the value of structure vs. plot in storytelling. This episo...

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit , host Bo Thomas Newman engages in a thought-provoking conversation with author, attorney, and esteemed Antioch faculty member Natashia Deón . Delving into an exploration of Deon's acclaimed novels, Grace and  The Perishing, Deon provides unique insights into her professional life as a writer, her activism, her adept juggling of diverse careers and even home...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's Lit Cit , host Caren McDonald chats with author, Jessica Johns . They discuss Johns' debut novel, Bad Cree , the power of community, and the importance of learning your inner wisdom. This episode was produced by Bo Thomas Newman and mastered by Beth Dewey.

On this episode of Antioch MFA program's LitCit , host Keshia Nash-Johnson chats with guest Ken Liu , author of the Dandelion Dynasty fantasy series, which inludes the novel The Grace of Kings , and the award-winning shortstory collection, The Paper Menagerie.  They discuss his creation and use of the genre Silkpunk, his writing process, his literary influences, and the way his speculative fiction...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Amalia Mora chats with Lynn Ferguson, a self described "mongrel of the arts," whose career spans TV, radio, film, and stage. They discuss Lynn's work as a writer and storyteller, self-forgiveness as a cure for writer's block, and why creating connection-often through the use of humor-motivates her writing. They talk about her debut collection...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Paula Williamson chats with guest and screenwriter, Angela Harvey. Angela reveals her unconventional path into television writing. She discusses her success in the stories of the supernatural, her exploration of race, religion and politics, and her excitement about the depiction of Black rural life onscreen. This episode was produced by Michael...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Bo Thomas Newman chats with guest Shannon C.F. Rogers , winner of the 2024 APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature and author of the debut YA novel, I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom . In this interview, Shannon discusses her upbringing in Albuquerque, her experience as a playwright, her Filipino-American identity, themes of gri...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Bo Thomas Newman chats with guest Kimberly King Parsons , author of two works including her recent debut novel, We Were The Universe . In this interview, Kimberly shares her journey as a writer, the differences between crafting short-stories and novels, and how motherhood and psychedelia play a central part in We Were the Universe . This episo...