Otherppl with Brad Listi

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 545, my conversation with author and poet Mark Leidner. It first aired on October 3, 2018. Leidner is a writer from south Georgia who currently lives in California with his family. His books include a poetry collection called Returning the Sword to the Stone, a story collection entitled Under the Sea, and a collection of aphorisms called The Angel in t...

Hari Kunzru is the author of the novel Blue Ruin, available from Knopf. Kunzru is the author of six other novels, Red Pill, White Tears, Gods Without Men, My Revolutions, Transmission, and The Impressionist. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy in Berlin, and the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, he is a regular contributor to The New York...

Myriam Lacroix is the author of the debut novel How It Works Out, available from The Overlook Press. It is the official May pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Lacroix was born in Montreal to a Québécois mother and a Moroccan father, and currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA from Syracuse University, where s...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 708, my conversation with author and comedian Sam Tallent. It first aired on May 26, 2021. Tallent is a comedian, novelist and host of the Chubby Behemoth Podcast. For the last decade, he has performed more than 45 weekends per year in North America, Asia, Australia and Europe. His writing has appeared in Birdy Magazine and on VICE.com and he’s told jo...

Carvell Wallace is the author of the debut memoir Another Word for Love, available from MCD Books. Wallace grew up between Southwestern PA, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. He attended Tisch School for the Arts and worked as a stage actor before spending fifteen years in direct service youth non-profits. He has covered arts, entertainment, music, culture, race, sports, and parenting for The New Yor...

A new 'Craftwork' episode entitled 'The Life of a Bookseller.' My guest is Paul Yamazaki, principal book buyer for City Lights Bookstore. His new book is called Reading the Room: A Bookseller's Tale, available from Ode Books. Yamazaki has been the principal buyer at City Lights Booksellers, the legendary San Francisco bookstore and publisher founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin, for m...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 626, my conversation with author Garth Greenwell. The episode first aired on February 26, 2020. Greenwell is the author of What Belongs to You, which won the British Book Award for Debut of the Year, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and was a finalist for six other awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize...

Hanif Abdurraqib is the bestselling author of the memoir There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, available from Random House. Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio, and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" grant. His most recent book, A Little Devil in America, was the winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burns Prize and a finalis...

Helen Tworkov is the author of the debut memoir Lotus Girl, available from St. Martin's Essentials. Tworkov is founding editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the first and only independent Buddhist magazine, and author of Zen in America: Profiles of Five Teachers (North Point Press; 1989). She first encountered Buddhism in Asia in the 1960s and has studied in both the Zen and Tibetan traditions...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 732, my conversation with author Alexandra Kleeman. The episode first aired on October 13, 2021. Kleeman is the author of the novel Something New Under the Sun (Hogarth Press). Her other books include the story collection Intimations and the debutnovel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, which was a New York Times Editor's Choice. Her fiction has been p...

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about the power of names in writing and real life. My guest is Ethel Rohan, author of the novel Sing, I, available from Triquarterly Books. Rohan is an award-winning essayist, novelist, and short story writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Irish Times, PEN America, and Tin House. Her previous books include The Weight of Him and In...

Alejandro Zambra is the author of the story collection My Documents, available from Penguin Books. Official April pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Megan McDowell is the book's translator. Zambra is the author of ten books, most recently Chilean Poet and Multiple Choice. The recipient of numerous literary prizes, as well as a New York Public Library Cullman Center fellowship, he has published fictio...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 373, my conversation with author Bud Smith. The episode first aired on July 29, 2015. Bud Smith works heavy construction and lives in Jersey City, NJ. He is the author of Teenager (Vintage), Double Bird (Maudlin House, 2018), Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press, 2017), among others. His fiction has been published in The Paris Review, The Believer, The Baff...

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to structure a novel. My guest is Mark Cecil, author of the debut novel Bunyan and Henry, available from Pantheon Books. Cecil is the host of The Thoughtful Bro podcast, for which he conducts interviews with an eclectic roster of award-winning and breakout storytellers. Formerly a journalist for Reuters, he is Head of Strategy for literary social media startup...

Annell López is the author of the debut story collection I'll Give You a Reason, available from The Feminist Press. Winner of the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize. López is a Dominican immigrant. A 2022 Peter Taylor fellow, her work has received support from Tin House and the Kenyon Review Workshops and has appeared in American Short Fiction, Michigan Quarterly Review, Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhe...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 377, my conversation with author Karolina Waclawiak. The episode first aired on August 26, 2015. Waclawiak  is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Life Events, The Invaders, and How to Get Into the Twin Palms. She was most recently the Editor in Chief of Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News. Previously, she was the Executive Editor of Culture...

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to build a rewarding creative life. My guest is Ben Tanzer, author of the novel The Missing, available from 7.13 Books. Tanzer is an Emmy winner. His work includes the short story collection Upstate, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Ben is a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National...

José Vadi is the author of a memoir-in-essays called Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder's Lens, available from Soft Skull Press. Vadi is also the author of an essay collection called Inter State. An award-winning essayist, poet, playwright and film producer, his work has been featured by the Paris Review, The Atlantic, the PBS NewsHour, Free Skate Magazine, Alta Journal of California, and the Ya...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 455, my conversation with author Min Jin Lee. The episode first aired on January 9, 2019. Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award, and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2022, Lee received the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary A...

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to write good stories. My guest is Steve Almond, author of a new book on writing called Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, available from Zando. Almond is the author of a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, including All The Secrets of The World and the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His essays and reviews have been published...

Lydia Millet is the author of We Loved It All: A Memory of Life, available from W.W. Norton & Co. Millet is the author of A Children's Bible, shortlisted for the National Book Award and a New York Times Top 10 book of 2020. Her many other works of fiction have won awards from PEN Center USA and the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the story collection Love in Infant Monkeys was a Pulitzer Pri...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 559, my conversation with poet, artist, and television writer Tommy Pico. The episode first aired on January 9, 2019. Pico is a poet, artist, and tv writer. He is author of the books IRL, Nature Poem, Junk, and Feed, and he has written on the television shows Reservation Dogs, Resident Alien and Crystal Lake. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservati...

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to get (somewhat) better at art. My guest is Nicholson Baker, author of Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art, available from Penguin Press. Nicholson Baker has written seventeen books, including The Mezzanine, Vox, Human Smoke, The Anthologist, and Baseless--also an art book, The World on Sunday, in collaboration with his wife, Margaret Brentano...

Alexandra Tanner is the author of the debut novel Worry, available from Scribner. Tanner is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. She is a graduate of the MFA program at The New School and the recipient of fellowships from MacDowell and The Center for Fiction. Her writing appears in The New York Times Book Review, Gawker, and Jewish Currents, among other outlets. Worry is her first novel. *** Otherp...

In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 762, my conversation with author John Keene about his poetry collection Punks, which won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2022. The episode first aired on March 9, 2022. Keene is a writer, translator, professor, and artist who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2018. In 1989, Keene joined the Dark Room Writers Collective, and is a Graduate Fellow of...