The Maris Review

Dr. Brandon Hobson is the author of the novel, The Removed, as well as Where the Dead Sit Talking, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and winner of the Reading the West Award. He received his PhD in English/creative writing from Oklahoma State University. His fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in such places as McSweeney’s, Conjunctions, NOON, and elsewhere. Hobso...

Christopher Bonanos is city editor at New York magazine, where he covers arts and culture and urban affairs. He is the author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid and Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous, and he is the editor of Encyclopedia of New York by the editors of New York magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Torrey Peters is the author of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker, which are available for free on her website. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. She grew up in Chicago and now lives in Brooklyn and her debut novel is called Detransition, Baby. This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Save 10% your firs...

MATEO ASKARIPOUR was a 2018 Rhode Island Writers Colony writer-in-residence, and his writing has appeared in Entrepreneur, Lit Hub, Catapult, The Rumpus, Medium, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn. Black Buck is his debut novel.  Recommended Reading: How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang The Spook Who Sat By the Door by Sam Greenlee Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth Learn more about yo...

George Saunders is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ten books, including Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Man Booker Prize; Congratulations, by the way; Tenth of December, a finalist for the National Book Award; The Braindead Megaphone; and the critically acclaimed short story collections CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia, and In Persuasion Nation. He teaches in the creative wr...

Kate Zambreno is the author of several acclaimed books including Screen Tests, Heroines, and Green Girl. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The Virginia Quartlerly Review, and elsewhere. She teaches in the writing programs at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Hill is a writer from Hot Springs, Arkansas. His work has appeared regularly in Grantland and The Ringer, and has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, and New York magazine, as well as on This American Life. He lives in Nyack, New York, with his wife and three children, where he serves as the vice president of the National Writers Union. The Vapors is his first book. Lear...

Maggie Smith is the author of three books of poetry: Good Bones,The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, and Lamp of the Body. Her latest book, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, a collection of essays and quotes, is a national bestseller. In 2016 her poem “Good Bones” went viral internationally. Public Radio International called it “the official poem of 2016.” This episode is brought t...

Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including the bestsellers Beautiful Ruins and The Financial Lives of the Poets, the National Book Award finalist The Zero, and Citizen Vince, the winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction has appeared in Harper's, McSweeney's, and Playboy, as well as The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He lives in his...

Michelle Buteau is a comedian, actress, and host known for her roles in The Circle, Always Be My Maybe, First Wives Club, Someone Great, Russian Doll, and Tales of the City, as well as her stand-up specials, including Welcome to Buteaupia, on Netflix and Comedy Central. She lives in the Bronx with her husband and family. She and her husband also run Van der Most Modern, a vintage furniture store i...

While you wait for our next episode, we wanted to share Wondery’s newest podcast, Little Stories Everywhere, with you. Little Stories Everywhere is the perfect immersive experience to share by the fireplace with loved ones this holiday season.  Each week, hosts Virginia Madsen and Robbie Daymond will read a different children’s classic - some of the most magical stories ever told, now reimagined w...

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is the author of the novels Ms. Hempel Chronicles, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and Madeleine Is Sleeping, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her fiction has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including the New Yorker, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Best American Short Stories, and the O. Henry Prize Stories....

Emily Temple earned a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia. Her short fiction has appeared in Colorado Review, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, Indiana Review, Fairy Tale Review, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is a senior editor at Literary Hub. A Lightness is her first novel. Recommended Reading: Luster by Raven Leila...

Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Kiese Laymon, Ottilie Schillig Professor in English and Creative Writing and the University of Mississippi, is the author of the novel Long Division, the memoir Heavy, and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Recommended Reading: The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw Breathe...

Diane Cook is the author of the novel, THE NEW WILDERNESS, which was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, and the story collection, MAN V. NATURE, which was a finalist for the Guardian First Book Award, the Believer Book Award, The Pen/Hemingway Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction.  Recommended Reading: Fire Season by Philip Connors The World Without Us by Alan Weisman A Ch...

David Sedaris is the author of Calypso, Theft by Finding, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked, and Barrel Fever. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. He lives in England and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters....

David Goodwillie is the author of the novel American Subversive, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the memoir Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. He has been drafted to play professional baseball, worked as a private investigator, and was an expert at Sotheby’s auction house. He lives in Brooklyn. His latest novel is Kings County. This Episode's Sponsors: This episode is brought to y...

Rumaan Alam is the author of Leave the World Behind, Rich and Pretty, and That Kind of Mother. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, The Rumpus, Buzzfeed, and elsewhere. He studied at Oberlin College, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Recommended Reading: Memorial by Bryan Washington Homeland Elegies by Aya...

Jason Diamond is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. His first book was Searching for John Hughes. And his latest is called The Sprawl. Recommended Reading: Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald White Girls by Hilton Als Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam This Episode's Sponsors: This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and the new short story collection Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kal...

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of the novels Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Certain Dark Things, Untamed Shore, and a bunch of other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows. Recommended Books: Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica This Episode's Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing and...

Ayad Akhtar is a playwright, novelist, and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of American Dervish, named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012. As a playwright, he has written numerous award-winning works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colin Dickey is a writer, speaker, and academic, and has made a career out of collecting unusual objects and hidden histories all over the country. He's a regular contributor to the LA Review of Books and Lapham's Quarterly, and is the co-editor of The Morbid Anatomy Anthology. He is also a member of the Order of the Good Death, a collective of artists, writers, and death industry professionals in...

Morgan Jerkins is the NYT bestselling author of This WIll Be My Undoing. She is a senior editor at Medium’s ZORA magazine. Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, Vogue, the New York Times, the Atlantic, Elle, Rolling Stone, Lenny Letter, and BuzzFeed, among many other outlets. She lives in New York. Her latest book is called Wandering In Strange Lands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Karolina Waclawiak is the author of the novels How to Get into the Twin Palms and The Invaders. Formerly an editor at The Believer, she is the executive editor of culture at BuzzFeed News. Her latest novel is called Life Changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Natasha Trethewey is a former US poet laureate and the author of five collections of poetry, as well as a book of creative nonfiction. She is currently the Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. In 2007 she won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her collection Native Guard. Her latest book is called Memorial Drive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...