In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan share how they started the podcast, and offer podcasting tips with some help from friends who host their own shows. Then LitHub.com editor-in-chief Jonny Diamond speaks about the launch of LitHub Radio and his five-year anniversary as LitHub.com’s conten ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, Anjali Enjeti and Lacy Johnson speak with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about recent news and legislation about abortion, as well as its depiction in literature and film. Guests: ● Lacy Johnson ● Anjali Enjeti Readings for the Episode: ● “Is Masculinity a Terrorist Ideology? La ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, taped live at the inaugural Wordplay in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Marlon James and Daniel José Older speak with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the politics of literary categories. They talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the history of queerness in Africa, the importance of ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, taped live at the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri, George and Paula Saunders talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about writing, politics, class, and the contenders for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election. To hear the full episode, subscrib ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelists Emily Raboteau and Omar El Akkad discuss telling the stories of climate change with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Raboteau talks about her recent NYRB article, "Climate Signs," and El Akkad shares how his history as a journalist connects to his novel, American War, R ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, editors Brigid Hughes of A Public Space and Jennifer Baker of Electric Literature and the Minorities in Publishing podcast discuss the world of literary journals with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. What gets an editor’s attention? How much editing do they really do? And where w ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelist Marcus Burke and sportswriter Shira Springer discuss writing and basketball with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. As March Madness rages on, we talk buzzy topics in the sports world: apprenticeship in college basketball, the need for consistent coverage of women athletes ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, scholar and author C. Riley Snorton and author T Fleischmann discuss intersections of gender, race, and their own writing with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Readings for the Episode: · Nobody is Supposed to Know: Black Sexuality on the Down Low by C. Riley Snorton · Black on B ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelist and screenwriter Brit Bennett and television and screenwriter Emily Halpern discuss their projects and craft with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. What is it like to adapt your own novel for screen—for Kerry Washington? What’s it like to attend a big awards show? How can ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, playwright Rhiana Yazzie and novelist Brandon Hobson and hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell discuss Native literature. In the wake of viral images showing Covington Catholic students disrespecting Native activist Nathan Phillips in Washington, D.C., this episode turns the focus away ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelists R.O. Kwon and Paul Harding and hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell discuss writing about God and faith. Readings for the Episode: · The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon · Tinkers and Enon by Paul Harding · Blind Spot and Open City by Teju Cole · The Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, publicists and writers Carla Bruce-Eddings and Karen Gu and novelist Tom Barbash talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about how literary publicity works, and how books and authors get attention. Readings for the Episode: Part I: · Carla Bruce-Eddings on Twitter· Algonquin Book ...…

In this special holiday episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, fiction writer and memoirist Bich Minh Nguyen talks to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about her history as a refugee, recent news about the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies, and her holiday traditions. Readings for the Episode: · Stealing Buddha’s D ...…

In this live episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, recorded at the 2018 Miami Book Fair, writers Steve Almond, Mark Leibovich, and Etan Thomas talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the NFL, the NBA, and moral and political questions around professional sports. Readings for the Episode: · Against Football: One Fan's R ...…

In this live episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, recorded at the 2018 Miami Book Fair, novelist Madeline Miller talks to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about ancient Greek epic, translation, mythological realism, and literary adaptation. Readings for the Episode: Circeand The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller The Odysse ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, writers Edmund White and Emily Temple talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about writers feuding with each other. Readings for the episode: · “25 Legendary Literary Feuds, Ranked,” by Emily Temple, Literary Hub.· “YouTube, the Great Radicalizer,” by Zeynep Tufekci, The New Yor ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, reporter Jane Coaston and writer Alexander Chee talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the upcoming midterm elections. Readings for the episode: How to Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee · “Max Boot, Jackie Robinson, and the racism problem in the Republican ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, Idra Novey and Esmé Wang talk to hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, trauma, and mental health. Readings for the episode: · The Border of Paradise by Esmé Wang · The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Wang (forthcoming) · Esmé Wang's websit ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, fiction writers Elizabeth McCracken and Tony Tulathimutte and poets Kathryn Nuernberger and Hadara Bar-Nadav talk about graduate programs in creative writing with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Readings for the episode: · The Program Era by Mark McGurl· “MFA vs POC,” The New Yo ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, fiction writers Garrard Conley and SJ Sindu discuss writing about queer identity with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Conley talks about having his book Boy Erased adapted for film, and writing about the evangelical community. In the show’s second half, Sindu talks ...…

For episode 25 of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelist and journalist Nathaniel Rich and poet and activist Juliana Spahr discuss writing about climate change and ecological destruction with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Rich discusses the history and craft behind his groundbreaking New York Times Magazine arti ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, critic and editor Oscar Villalon and novelist and screenwriter Arthur Phillips discuss book advances and the effects of finances on creativity with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Villalon explains how advances work, and why the publishing industry uses them. In the ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, writers James Traub and Margot Livesey discuss the idea of morally weak characters with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Traub talks moral weakness, the concept of decency in the public sphere, and his recent Atlantic article about the Strzok hearing. Livesey explore ...…

In this episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, writers Alice Bolin and Kristen Martin talk with Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan about the appeal and popularity of stories that revolve around dead girls and women. Bolin, author of Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession, discusses why we seek out stories that depict vi ...…

Writers Pamela Paul and Mira Jacob talk with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the literary side of reboots, comics, and superheroes. Editor of the New York Times Book Review Pamela Paul (the author of My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues) talks about the relevance and impact of literary retellings and h ...…

Writers Cristina Henriquez and Edwidge Danticat talk with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell in an episode about the urgent issue of keeping immigrant families together and resisting their mass incarceration and detention. Henriquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans, talks about the tragic real-life inspiration for her short story “ ...…

Writers Tayari Jones and DaMaris B. Hill talk with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell in the second of two special episodes on the effects of mass incarceration on American communities and democracy. Jones, author of the New York Times bestseller An American Marriage, discusses the collateral effects of incarceration, the disproportionate ...…

Poet and memoirist Reginald Dwayne Betts and novelist Zachary Lazar join V.V Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell for the first of two special episodes on the effects of mass incarceration on American communities and democracy. Betts, a poet, memoirist and lawyer who was incarcerated as a young man, talks about writing in different genres, as wel ...…

In recent years, socialism has been on the rise—or was it ever really gone? In episode 17, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to Dana Goldstein of The New York Times about what it’s like to cover teacher walkouts and strikes today, and how today’s actions compare to those she wrote about in her bestselling book, The Teacher Wars, whic ...…

Was this episode our destiny? In episode 16, Jess Row and Meghan O’Rourke talk fate and fortune with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Jess Row speaks first about race and fate, his novel Your Face in Mine, and his upcoming essay collection, White Flights. Then Meghan O’Rourke talks about how she saw her poem “My Life as a Subject” back ...…

In episode 15, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell ask who’s funny in the age of Trump, and how they’re managing to pull it off. They talk to Sloane Crosley, author of the new essay collection, Look Alive Out There, about the humor of the everyday and the freedom and subversiveness of not writing about the president. The also speak to Alexa ...…

In episode 14, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell examine the omnipresent American comfort narrative of mystery and crime fiction. Why do we love crime stories so much? How do they shape the way that we think about a whole host of real-world issues from the Mueller investigation to Black Lives Matter and the shootings of young black men by ...…

Earlier this month, mob attacks on Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community prompted a state of emergency in that country, and a temporary ban on Facebook and other social media applications. In Episode 13, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell speak to Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu’s Sri Lanka correspondent, about her reporting on those incidents ...…

In mid-February, seventeen students and adults were shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In the aftermath, surviving students have led a powerful campaign for gun control. In episode 12, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell bring you two authors—and a pile of books—that have covered the territory of school shoot ...…

In episode 11, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell offer a very Lit Hub take on Academy Awards season. What’s the process really like when a book becomes a movie? How does Hollywood decide which books will work best for the big screen? For answers, they talk to production and development executive Christina Sibul, who worked on the Academy ...…

Recently, the Polish Senate passed a law that would criminalize any suggestions of complicity by the Polish state in Nazi war crimes, including the Holocaust. In episode 10, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to the novelist Steve Yarbrough about the nationalist Law and Justice party, which is behind the ban—and how their authoritaria ...…

For episode 9, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk with Ron Charles, editor of The Washington Post Book World and Shanthi Sekaran, author of Lucky Boy, about obscenity, literature, and immigration. In the first half of the show, Charles leads us through the famous 1933 obscenity trial involving James Joyce's Ulysses and the 1964 trial ...…

In episode 8, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk about sensitivity reads, cross-cultural writing, and the lack of diversity in the publishing industry with author and COO of We Need Diverse Books Dhonielle Clayton and agent Ayesha Pande. In the first half of the show, Clayton talks about her own career as a sensitivity reader—or, as s ...…

In search of some nostalgic holiday cheer, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell climb in the way back machine and time travel to 1997 with critic and editor Oscar Villalon and novelist Curtis Sittenfeld. Oscar rounds up the books that won prizes twenty years ago, the books that remain relevant, and explains why these books aren't always the ...…

In episode 6, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk political betrayal past and present with novelist Jess Walter and poet Kiki Petrosino. Jess Walter once interviewed an ailing Mark Felt, aka "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame, and he gives us the skinny on the literary qualities of Nixon, Trump, Flynn, NY mobsters, and his 2005 novel Citi ...…

The novelists V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell discuss how cuts to higher education are threatening the fabric of American life. Guests John Freeman and Sarah Smarsh talk about the higher cost of college has exacerbated income inequality. And the director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Lan Samantha Chang, weighs in on how the great Midwe ...…

V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell discuss Russian-American political machinations with Ukrainian-born novelist Sana Krasikov and novelist Charles Baxter explores America's curious fascination with Chekhov and great Russian literature. For more, head to LitHub.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

In episode three of fiction/non/fiction, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal and novelist Alexander Chee about Facebook, Russia, dark ads, and how writers are changing their relationship to social media. For more, head to LitHub.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

In episode two of Fiction/Non/Fiction, Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan talk to Jia Tolentino and Claire Vaye Watkins about Hollywood's serial abusers, harassment, and the now infamous Harvey Weinstein. For more, head to LitHub.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

In the first episode of fiction/non/fiction, Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan talk to Brit Bennett and Matt Gallagher about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of institutional racism and police violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy fiction/non/fiction.