Sometimes I find myself in the throes of writing agony. I don’t like the term writers’ block because it implies a certain impermanence. But what is vernacularly referred to as writers’ block, is part and parcel of the creative act itself. Anyone who’s tried to do something creative for an extended period of time can vouch for this. No one can exact…

I came across a novel that used food as tool for reflection into the life and mind of a few characters. Rachel Khong’s first novel Goodbye Vitamin, is about a woman who moves back home to care for her father, who has started to develop Alzheimer’s. And Khong meditates on this family by refocusing on their daily activities. From cooking to eating, t…

A reading from the play "Clara Thomas Bailey," followed by a conversation between Katie Futterman and playwright Caridad Svich.Maya Bargdorf, Rowan Heffelfinger, and Kate Ryan read an excerpt of "Clara Thomas Bailey," a play by Caridad Svich published in NER 44.3. After the reading, podcast host Katie Futterman talks to Svich about how she came to …

In August, West Virginia University announced that it would be dissolving its Department of World Languages, Literature and Linguistics. And a couple months after that, my school Middlebury College, chose to eliminate a faculty position in its creative writing department. As someone studying English Literature, and who cares deeply about the future…

Hosted by Gavin Richards and Cali Jantzen, this episode features Joan Leegant reading an excerpt of her story "Wild Animals," followed by a short interview.The conversation explores the volatile nature of family, Leegant's unique syntax, loyalty to the sentence, the writer as an "unconscious" medium, and the author's advice on discovering one's own…

I read Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land when it first came out in November of 2020. That time was filled with rampant polarization, multiple quaratines, alternative realities, an insurrection, and politics that was so messy it was near impossible to find any hope and see America as this Promised Land that Obama wrote about. Thinking about the …

Last November, I had Alexander Chee on the show. And in preparation for his interview, I read The Best American Essays 2022. I came across an essay titled “Ghosts.” This essay stood out from the rest of the anthology because it seemed to have 9 iterations. When I read further, I was baffled at the idea that a writer had used Artificial Intelligence…

About 6 months into my first year of college, I found myself soliloquizing to some friends about the beauties of suburban life. It struck me immediately that I was longing for a world that I found profoundly boring for 18 years, and had swore to never replicate. I was going to live my big life in cities. Yet the pleasures of driving around open roa…

As part of this mini series on the past and future of the music industry, I wanted to speak to another person who’s been a force in the industry for years. I came across an article in The Nation that was called The End of the Music Business. This piece presented the history of a century in recorded music that began with pre-war 78-rpm gramophone re…

In 2019, I went to New York City for 24 hours. I told my high school teachers I was sick, postponed two tests, and asked for an extension on a project; all because Jerome Lowenthal had agreed to give me a piano lesson at the Juilliard School. On a cold New York Winter Night, I went to his studio and he heard me play Bach and Beethoven. We went on f…

If you keep up with academic chatter in English literature, there’s a debate going around about the versatility of English degrees, and of the fairly insular nature of literary criticism that comes out of academia. A piece in the New Yorker earlier this year, titled The End of the English Major, prompted me to do some thinking about the world of li…

Irish poet Nessa O'Mahony reads her poem "Cillín," published in NER 44.2, followed by an interview with summer interns Cali Jantzen and Gavin Richards.Their discussion traverses the “hidden histories” of Ireland, the politics of memory, and the role of poetry in reckoning with the past.The poem appears in NER's special feature "The Door Left Wide: …

Imagine writing a history of the world from the perspective of a small California town that spans less than 30 sq. miles. That’s exactly what Malcolm Harris did. His new book Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and The World was published earlier this year by Little Brown and Company. This is a sweeping historical account of the foundin…

I’ve been interested in this genre of “abstract hip hop” for a while now. The classification has existed for many years, usually referring to rappers and artists who make perhaps more esoteric music than mainstream hip-hop artists. Kenny Segal has been a consistent presence over the past decade or so, and received several accolades for his producti…

El Williams III reads his poem "There Was a Brood," followed by an interview with Yardena Carmi.Their discussion explores writing about place and personal experience, as well as the poet's inspirations for this piece, which turns car trouble, summer heat, and a brood of cicadas into poetry.By New England Review

Indian politics has always been a beast I’ve been afraid of broaching both on the show and in my personal conversations. There are countless nuances that are often difficult for listeners outside the country—including myself—to understand. And the debate is so fluid and rampant that it’s easy for opinions to be misconstrued and cast-aside. A conver…

Katie Moulton reads an excerpt from her essay "The Elvis Room" (NER 43.3), followed by a conversation with host, Becca Clark. The author discusses her writing and editing processes, memorializing her dad, her family's fascination with Elvis Presley, and more.By New England Review

On today’s episode we have poet Elisa Gabbert. Elisa is the author of six collections of poetry and essays. Her two latest books are the essay collection The Unreality of Memory published by FSG Originals and the poetry collection, Normal Distance, published by Soft Skull Press. The Unreality of Memory is a collection that reckons with disasters la…

Alexander Chee is the author of two novels, Edinburgh, and The Queen of the Night and one collection of essays called How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He was also the editor for the 2022 edition of The Best American Essays Anthology, which was just published by HarperCollins. Alexander has the uncanny ability to methodically examine his own …

Fiction writer A. E Kulze reads from her story "The Ladybugs," followed by a conversation with podcast hosts Andrew Grossman and Kate Sadoff.Kulze talks about her writing process, the role of the unconscious in forming the whole, and the joy of a perfect editorial cut. She also speaks more broadly about gender and domesticity, the failures of conte…

Once in a while you get musicians that evade all possible descriptors. Such is the case today’s guest AV Dummy. All I can say with certainty is that the London-based band is made up of vocalist BUCHANAN, Producer Christy Carey, Bass player Sat Chatterjee, and Drummer Jerome Johnson. They recently released their debut album titled PORNOVIOLENCE. Thi…

On today’s episode we have playwright, screenwriter, and professor Zayd Ayers Dohrn. He recently wrote and hosted the new podcast Mother Country Radicals for Crooked Media. This podcast is an audio documentary about his parents Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers who were radical activists in an organization called the Weather Underground. Dohrn chronic…

Hosts Andrew Grossman and Kate Sadoff present an excerpt from the play "Splits/kin," co-authored by Milia Ayache and Amina Hassan, followed by a conversation with the authors. They talk about their process of collaboration, the influence of fairy tales and founding myths, and the global love affair between fathers and their television sets.The exce…

On today’s episode we have novelist and Zen Buddhist Priest Ruth Ozeki. She is the author of several books, including A Tale for the Time Being which was shortlisted for the 2013 Booker Prize, and her latest novel The Book of Form and Emptiness was published by Penguin Random House in 2021 and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022. Ozeki also t…

On today’s episode we have novelist Emily Temple. She’s currently the managing editor at LitHub and her debut novel The Lightness was published in 2020 by Harper Collins. The Lightness is the story of three teenaged girls who find themselves at a summer meditation retreat in Colorado called “The Levitation Center.” Determined to unlock the secrets …

On today’s episode we have writer Jo Ann Beard. She is the author of the essay collection The Boys of My Youth, the novel In Zanesville, and her latest collection Festival Days was published in 2021 by Little Brown and Company. She has won several awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. Her essay “The Fourth State of Matter” on the Univ…

On today’s episode we have writer, critic, and lecturer at Harvard University, Maggie Doherty. Maggie’s writing has appeared in several places including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Yale Review, and The Nation. She’s also the author of the book The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s, which was pub…

On today’s inaugural episode we have poet, novelist, biographer, screenwriter, and Professor at Middlebury College, Jay Parini. Throughout his illustrious career, Parini has authored several biographies on writers including Robert Frost, John Steinbeck, and Gore Vidal. His novel about Leo Tolstoy, The Last Station, was adapted into an award winning…

Helene Achanzar reads her poem "Chicago," followed by a conversation with Tejas Srinivasan about poetic structure, the realities of labor, modern paintings, her beloved home city, and more.Helene Achanzar is the winner of NER's 2022 Emerging Writers' Award. A Filipina-Canadian poet and educator, she is an associate editor for Poetry Northwest and d…

Lu Mila and Michelle Marquez read two works of short fiction by Cuban authors Anna Lidia Vega Serova and Jorge Enrique Lage, both translated by Jennifer Shyue. Podcast host Madison Middleton interviews Shyue, who talks about how she fell in love with translation and details some of the pleasures and perils of this exacting and creative work.Both wo…

Jesse Lee Kercheval reads her essay "Crash," followed by a conversation with Rebecca Amen. The short essay interrogates the author's memory of a shocking car accident that took place more than 50 years ago. In the interview, Kercheval further explores the nature of memory, essay writing in general, and her work as a translator of Uruguayan poetry."…

Michael McGriff reads an excerpt from his poem "Questions for the Interrogation," followed by an interview with Yardena Carmi. Their conversation explores the poem's tribute to rural Oregon and Pablo Neruda, the limitations of memory and language, and McGriff's work as a translator.This excerpt from "Questions for the Interrogation" was originally …

Celeste Levy reads the poem "Offered as Suddenly a Forest" by Zach Linge.The reading is followed by a conversation between Celeste and Zach, who talk about the poem from both the reader's and the writer's points of view. They explore the origins of the poem's images, writing during the pandemic, and the shades of truth that poetry can reveal.…

Madison Middleton reads from the short story "Suffering in Motion" by McKenna Marsden, followed by a conversation between reader and writer. The story was originally published in NER in spring 2020. Episode hosted by Carolyn Kuebler, Editor of NER.By New England Review

Hosted by Courtney Wright, this episode features an essay by Jessie van Eerden, "A Story of Mary and Martha Taking in a Foster Girl," and an interview with the author, followed by a poem by John Freeman, "Columbine and Rue." "A Story of Mary and Martha..." was originally published in NER 40.3 and is read by Francis Price. "Columbine and Rue" was pu…

Hosted by Simone Edgar Holmes, this episode presents four poems from NER's special feature on contemporary poets from the UK, edited by Marilyn Hacker.Shazea Quraishi reads "Elegy"; Seni Seneviratne reads "A Girl in the Woods"; Naomi Foyle reads "Made from Fibres Not Readily Penetrated"; and Sasha Dugdale brings it home with "Chair No. 14."All of t…

Simone Edgar Holmes presents NER writers George Szirtes, Joannie Stangeland, and Angelique Stevens reading their new work.Listen in as George Szirtes reads his poem “English Rain,” Joannie Stangeland reads her poem “Parcel,” and Angelique Stevens reads from her memoir “The Only Light We've Got”—all published in recent issues of the New England Revi…

Hosted by Ruhamah Weil, Episode 10 presents Jan Beatty, Greg Johnson, and Jakob Maier, reading their own work from New England Review 40.4. Jan Beatty reads her poem “The Body Wars,” Greg Johnson reads excerpts from his memoir “Daddy’s Aitch,” and Jakob Maier reads his poem “Food Court Ghost Town.” Ruhamah also spoke briefly to Tricia Allen, of the…

What makes a good poem?What makes a good story?Three NER 40.4 poets read their work in this podcast, bringing us owls and children, fathers and sons, death, dogs, and more. Middlebury College intern Susan Deutsch hosts the episode, and connects with local readers, writers, and librarians, as well, all of whom chime in to share their thoughts on the…

Hosted by Rahat Huda and Leila Markosian, Episode 8 of the New England Review podcast features the poem "Lark" by Corey Marks and the story "Indoor Animals" by Noah Bogdonoff."Lark" was originally published in New England Review 39.3 (2018), and is read here by Katie Marshall. "Indoor Animals" was originally published in New England Review 39.4 (20…

Episode 7, hosted by NER interns Rahat Huda and Leila Markosian, features two memoirs steeped in childhood, "Teapot in Turquoise" by Phoebe Stone, and "From the Beginning" by François Scarborough Clemmons.By New England Review

This episode, hosted by Jeremy Navarro, features Jay Parini reading his short autobiographical piece, "A Beer with Borges," and Genevieve Plunkett reading her O. Henry Award–winning story, "Something for a Young Woman.""A Beer with Borges" was originally published in NER in spring 2018, and "Something for a Young Woman" was published in NER in fall…

This is the inaugural episode of a new, ongoing project: the Vermont Writers Series. Hosted by Juliette Luini, this episode features poet Didi Jackson reading her work published in NER as well as poems from her forthcoming collection. "Burning Bush" was published in spring 2018. "Brancusi's Bird in Space" was published on NER Digital. Her first col…

This episode, hosted by Megan Job, features two stories: "Phnom Penh 2012" by Emily Geminder and "Biomass" by Alla Gorbunova, translated by Elina Alter.“Phnom Penh 2012” was originally published in NER in the Winter of 2015 and is read by Emily Ma.“Biomass” was originally published in NER in the Summer of 2018 and is read by Masha Makutonina.…

This episode, hosted by Megan Job, features a poem, “In Order of Appearance,” by Heather Christle, and a story, “Modal Window,” by Janet Towle. “In Order of Appearance” was originally published in NER in the Summer of 2018 and is read by Melanie Rivera.“Modal Window” was originally published in NER in the Summer of 2018 and is read by Becca Berlind…

This episode, hosted by NER intern Kylie Winger, showcases works by three well-known and much-loved American poets. “Sweet” by Bob Hicok was originally published in NER in the Spring of 2016 and is read by Pele Voncujovi.“Obit—Memory,” “Obit—Music,” and Obit—Grief” by Victoria Chang were originally published in NER in the Fall of 2017 and are read …

This episode, hosted by NER intern Juliette Luini, features a poem, "Shotgun Elegy," by Henry Kearney IV and a story, "Chinese Opera," by Anne Raeff. "Shotgun Elegy" was originally published in NER in the Fall of 2016 and is read by Will Koch."Chinese Opera" was originally published in NER in the Summer of 2016 and is read by Gabby Valdivieso.…