LitCit: Antioch's Literary Citizen Podcast

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , Caren McDonald chats with guest Ana Maria Spagna, a writer, teacher, and former backcountry trails worker. They discuss Spagna's newest book, Pushed: Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre , and the power of reframing narrative and honoring other people's stories. They also talk about the importance of imagination for nonfiction writers, the ben...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Keshia Nash-Johnson engages author Isabel Yap in a discussion about her breakout short story collection Never Have I Ever . Isabel talks about fanfiction as a sandbox for a writer's growth, the value of cultural mythology in her stories, monsters and the monstrous parts of humanity, death and its weight in her writing, the musicality of prose,...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's   LitCit,   host  Thomas Huisking  chats with screenwriter  Hanz Wasserburger . Hanz discusses his journey from lawyer (assistant attorney general in the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division) to screenwriter ( A Tale of Two Coreys ,   Second Impression ). This interview was conducted shortly after the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike, and was produced and mast...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Jessica Chisum chats with guest Gayle Brandeis about her latest book  Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss  (2023). Gayle discusses her favorite childhood authors, why writers are afraid to write about illness, what it means to write a "bonus book," and her new "novel in multiverse" in which Lilith embodies Marilyn Monroe! Thi...

On this episode of  Antioch MFA Program's   LitCit host Thomas Huisking  talks to screenwriter Ross Brown about his journey from second assistant director to television writer to executive producer and creator of three different network shows. If you remember  Webster , The Facts of Life , and  Step By Step , among others, you're in for a treat! This interview was conducted shortly before the 2023...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , Ian Rodriguez chats with guest Iwalani Kim an associate agent at Sanford J. Greenberger Associates. They discuss what makes a story moving and Iwalani's pathway from slam poetry to becoming an agent, giving her fresh insights. They also talk about how works have literary value with evocative characters and bring words from two of Iwalani's favorite...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Diana Hardy chats with guest Kavita Das . Kavita Das discusses writing for social change in her book  Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues .  Das explores the importance of representation and the barriers she faced while writing Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar , the life story of Grammy-nominated Hindusta...

On this episode of  Antioch MFA Program's   LitCit , host Kevin Cummins chats with guest Toni Ann Johnson: playwright, screenwriter, and author of five books including her most recent,  Light Skin Gone to Waste . In this interview, Toni Ann shares stories of her New York upbringing, discusses how race and lightness intersect, and tells us why she values James Baldwin. This episode was produced by...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit , host Michelle Yee chats with guest Vanessa Hua, author of three books including her most recent, Forbidden City . In this interview, Vanessa shares stories about her beginnings as a writer, why she went back to school for an MFA, and how Forbidden City took fourteen years to become published. This episode was produced by Michael Sedillo and mastere...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Irvina Kanarek chats with guest Toni Jensen about her Memoir, Carry (2020) which includes her personal experiences with gun violence, domestic violence, and living as a white-presenting indigenous person. Jensen also shares her thoughts about combating racism in the classroom, what it truly means to be labeled a 'difficult woman', her writing p...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Maggie Lam chats with guest Diana Khoi Nguyen about their beginnings as a poet, philosophies in teaching, and techniques used in creating their debut poetry collection Ghost Of . Diana reads "Triptych" and shares stories and tips around self-care when writing about trauma and grief. This episode was produced by Michael Sedillo and mastered by M...

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Mikaela Ryan chats with guest Ellen O'Connell Whittet, who is the author of the memoir What You Become in Flight (2020), and a co-host of the podcast, Good Moms on Paper . Mikaela and Ellen discuss unlearning childhood lessons about the body and femininity, studying with Jo Ann Beard, honing the tiny expert, balancing motherhood with teaching a...

Host Michael Sedillo talks to young adult author Aminah Mae Safi about her newest novel, Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix (2022), a combination of historical fiction about the Third Crusades and a retelling of Robin Hood. Aminah discusses identity, representation, diversity in literature, and her life as a writer. This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and mastered by Michael Sed...

Host Diana Hardy talks to author Shruti Swamy about her short story collection, A House Is A Body (2020) , and novel, The Archer (2021) . Shruti Swamy discusses her experience launching two books back-to-back during the pandemic, motherhood and creativity, punctuation, her influences, and what she's working on now. This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and mastered by Diana Hardy.

Host Samantha Rahmani speaks with Parrish Turner , an editorial assistant at HarperCollins and proud member of the HarperCollins Union, about the recent HarperCollins Union strike. As of the date of this episode's release, the union and HarperCollins have reached an agreement, and union members returned to work on February 21st. Check out HarperCollins Union (@hcpunion) on Twitter , Instagram , an...

Host Michael Sedillo talks to author Gudalupe García McCall about her speculative 2022 YA novel, Echos of Grace . Gudalupe García McCall discusses representation of Latinx youth in YA literature, culture, family, teaching young people, writing speculative fiction, and her forthcoming collaboration with David Bowles, Secret of the Moon Conch . This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and maste...

Host Diane Gottlieb discusses Janet Rodriguez 's memoir Making an American Family: A Recipe in Five Generations . Rodriguez discusses the mixed-race experience, matriarchs, memoir as legacy, and the importance of telling our most necessary stories.   This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and mastered by Michaela Emerson.   

​​Host Kenzy El-Mohandes speaks with author Nikki Darling about her 2018 novel, Fade into You , and her forthcoming books–a collection of essays and poetry called The Call is Coming from Inside the House , and a horror novel set in mid-century Los Angeles called Dark Blue Manner. Darling discusses new narrative, growing up in Los Angeles, fandom, obsession, Madeline Miller, Stephen King, Hanya Yan...

Host Maggie Lam engages poet Paul Tran in a discussion about the intentionalities behind writing about trauma, their process of self-inquiry as poetic investigation, and what freedom / survival means to them. Paul shares stories from their roots in spoken word poetry, anecdotes of being in community with queer poets of color, and lessons passed down from mentors such as Rigoberto Gonzalez , Carl P...

Host Samantha Rahmani speaks with author Mitali Perkins about her book Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children's Novels to Refresh Our Tired Souls , a study of classic children's literature. Perkins discusses her journey as a children's author, the need for multistoried experiences for children, the navigation of problematic and harmful works with young readers, and ways to critically examine bias i...

Host Lee Takemoto speaks with author Victoria Patterson about her story collection, Drift , the sinister side of growing up in Newport Beach, teaching, journaling, activism, and the green flash that sometimes occurs at sunset.    Episode mastered by Kenzy El-Mohandes. 

Host Julie Sugar speaks with translator and poet Dan Bellm about his translation of Balam Rodrigo's Central American Book of the Dead , forthcoming from FlowerSong Press this summer 2022. Bellm discusses teaching the Art of Translation course at Antioch, his work as an interpreter, and experiences as a poet and translator. Bellm reads his translation of "The Patron Saints" from Balam Rodrigo's Cen...

Host Kenzy El-Mohandes speaks with author Anna Dorn about her forthcoming novel, Exalted . Dorn discusses her character development process, vulnerability, projection, and her works of poetry. This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and mastered by Kenzy El-Mohandes.

Host Samantha Rahmani speaks with author Crystal Hana Kim about her novel If You Leave Me . Kim discusses polyphonic stories, writing character, research in historical fiction, audience and representation,and intergenerational narratives of trauma and hope.  This episode was mastered by Samantha Rahmani.   

Host Barbara Platts chats with Chris Feliciano Arnold about his book The Third Bank of the River . Arnold talks about his travel and research for the book, as well as teaching and the writing life. This episode was produced and mastered by Kenzy El-Mohandes.