In this week’s episode, I interview novelist and memoirsit Joanna Rakoff,

and then talk once again with the poet Tony Hoagland,

plus Brittany McIntyre writes bravely about how a book I never expected to learn more about changed her life.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Carlton Melton's "Country Ways" accompanied Brittany McIntyre's essay.

In Orlando, come hear me, Kimberly Lojewski, Robert Metcalf, and Tiffany Razzano read at There Will Be Words on January 13th.

Learn more about J. Bradley's love poem workshop at the Orlando Public Library here.

Check out the dreamy surf rock of The Bambi Molesters.

This week’s episode got a bit out of hand. Jared Silvia tells me that, for legal reasons, this needs to be called a radio play.

Anyway, I talk to Santa, have an interview you have to hear to believe--maybe you still won't believe it--plus

I replay Melissa Crandall's personal essay about A Christmas Carol.

NOTES

Pre-order Nathan Holic’s new novel, The Things I Don’t See, here for only $6.

In this week’s episode, I interview author and editor Jaquira Díaz.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Read Jaquira Díaz's "Cami" at Story South.

Read Jocelyn Bartkevicius's "Out of the Garden" at The Missouri Review.

NOTES

Pre-order Nathan Holic's new novel, The Things I Don't See, here for only $6.

In this week’s episode, I present a rambunctious reading honoring Repeal Day, which I think might be one of the twelve days of Christmas.

The Drunken Odyssey All Stars on this occasion included Dianne Turgeon Richardson, Tod Caviness, Anna King, Jared Silvia, Sam Slaughter, Danita Berg, Matt Peters, Teege Braune, and Vanessa Blakeslee.

Episode 128 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

In this week’s episode, I interview the musician, Michael Hearst.

Plus Danita Berg reads her essay, "A Note on my Skin."

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Watch Whoopie Golberg's one-woman Broadway show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CDSak1Pcbs

The music accompanying Danita Berg's essay is Carlton Melton's "Smoke Drip," from their album Photos of Photos.

Read Madison Bernath's review of Miami Bookfair International here.

Daniel Handler (who sometimes when he writes is known as Lemony Snickett) made a remarkably dense joke about self-consciousness about racial stereotypes after Jacqueline Woodson won the National Book Award Young People's Literature Prize for her book, Brown Girl Dreaming. Handler was not nearly self-conscious enough to know that Woodson's allergy to watermelon was precisely psychological in nature as a reaction to racism. Read Jacqueline Woodson about this event here at The New York Times. To read about Handler's appropriate apology, read this story in The Washington Post.

Here is Jacqueline Woodson's acceptance speech for this award:

[embed]https://vimeo.com/112642169[/embed]

Here is a link to the Indiegogo campaign for We Need Diverse Books.

_______

Episode 128 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 126 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

In this week’s episode, I talk about Horace's Ars Poetica with Vanessa Blakeslee,

plus Sam Slaughter talks about the ignominious beginning of Two Drunken Writers Brewery.

 NOTES

At 3 P.M., on Tuesday, November 18, the memoirist and novelist Marya Hornbacher will read at the University of Central Florida. Get info here.

Congrats to Tiffany Razzano, on the successful launch of Florida Bookstore day!

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

The music accompanying Ian Rogers's Essay is The Lovely Moon's "And We Danced Into the Night."

The music in the introduction ("Central Coast Swing")and conclusion ("Baia") of this episode was by the immortal Croatian surf rock band, The Bambi Molesters.

This week is a live show for Horror Movie Poetry Night, starring The Drunken Odyssey All Stars.

On this occasion, The Drunken Odyssey All-Stars included:

Amy Watkins (The Walking Dead)
Vincent Crampton Dr. Josef Heiter (The Human Centipede)
Anna King (The Silence of the Lambs)
Drew Johnson (The Shining)
Jeff Shuster (The Blair Witch Project)
Melanie Neale (Jaws)
Teege Braune (Werewolves)
Karen Price (Rosemary's Baby)
Stephanie Rizzo (Gremlins)

On this week's show, I present a discussion of and readings from work that resulted in the companionship of Lord Byron, his physician John Polidori, and the Shelley's during the Year without a Summer, in which a ghost story challenge was undertaken.

Mary Shelley

John William Polidori

Lord Byron

Notes

Please give thanks to the amazing talents and efforts of this episode's two readers:

Chris Booth

August Evans

In this week’s episode, I share a recording of a Halloween show in Jesse Bradley's prose reading series, There Will Be Words, in which I was a reader.

The There Will Be Words Fourth Annual Flash Fiction Spooktacular featured

KAREN BEST
KEITH GOUVEIA
MATT PETERS
JOHN KING
WHITNEY HAMRICK
BRETT PRIBBLE
TEEGE BRAUNE
JARED SILVIA

Karen Best (Photo by Leslie Silvia).

In this week’s episode, I talk about Douglas Glover's Attack of the Copula Spiders with Vanessa Blakeslee,

plus Sam Slaughter writes about how Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son changed his life.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

In this week’s episode, I interview Pat Rushin, who authored the screenplay for the new Terry Gilliam film, The Zero Theorem, which opens in the U.S.A on September 19th,

Plus Craig-Paul Moreau writes about Randy Shilts's And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out where The Zero Theorem will be playing in the U.S.A. here.

Check out "My parents helped me to lose my virginity,” the new personal essay in The Guardian by Boris Fishman (Episode 107).

In this week’s episode, I interview Stephen Corey, Editor-in-Chief of The Georgia Review,

Photograph by William Walsh.

Plus August Evans writes about Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Margaret Atwood if the first entrant into the Future Library Project, with work to be printed in 2214, from trees in a forest planted this year (reported in a Guardian story by Alison Flood).

Congrats to Bookmark It‘s first six months! In Orlando, check it out at theEast End Market.

On this week’s show, I answer some mail with my friend, David James Poissant,

Plus Clint Peters writes about how reading Montaigne changed his life.

NOTES

Check out David James Poissant's wonderful story collection, The Heaven of Animals.

According to NPR, Robert Hass has won the Wallace Stevens prize.

According to The Guardian, Doris Lessing willed 3,000 books to a library in Harare, Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Florida Polytechnic is opening with a library that has zero print books (Guardian).

Also according to The Guardian, Martin Amis's controversial new book, Zone of Interest, is having some publishing difficulties.

I incorrectly called Bullets and Burgers a shooting range, when according to The Times, Burgers and Bullets is the name of the tour guide service that brings people to a shooting range about 25 miles outside of Vegas, in Arizona, where a nine year-old girl accidentally shot her shooting instructor with an Uzi after he set the gun to repeater action.

On this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer and ghost writer extraordinaire, Maya Sloan.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

 NOTES

Learn more about the Kerouac House here.

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet Sarah Grieve,

plus Rose Tran writes about what Sherman Alexie taught her about humor.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

On this week’s show, I talk to Vanessa Blakeslee about what Aristotle's Poetics can teach us about fiction writing today,

Plus Kevin Bray writes about reading John Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

This new project--discussing relevant books about the craft of storytelling--is a continuation of a long defunct feature of the show. Two years ago, Jaroslav Kalfař and I discussed Stephen King's On Writing on episode 6 and John Gardner's The Art of Fiction on episode 2.

Quoting George Orwell in an shockingly Orwellian way, Amazon has undertaken a weird counter-compaign to the Authors United movement, according to David Streitfield in The Times. Check out the statement from Authors United that led to this counter-campaign.

On this week’s show, I talk to the Trio Award-winner Iris Jamahl Dunkle,

plus Jeffrey Ethan Lee reads his essay, "The Poet's Mother's Deathbed Conversion" at Fergie's Pub in Philadelphia.

Books Discussed

 NOTES

If in Philly, check out the Moonstone Poetry Series, at Fergie's Pub.

My friends Jared Silvia and Ryan Rivas are new hosting a new show, Functionally Literate Radio, on WPRK.

On this week’s show, I talk to Ryan Rivas and Nathan Holic about the publication of Forget How You Found Us: 15 Views of Orlando, Volume III,

plus I share readings from stories by Karen Best, Matt Peters, and Jonathan Kosik from the collection.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Learn about the great youth programs offered by Page 15 in Orlando.

Amazon is having a bad quarter, according to The New York Times.

Next month, Third Man Books, the new print publishing wing of Third Man Records, will release an anthology called Language Lessons, Volume 1.

Quentin Tarantino will be filming The Hateful Eight after all, according to Kurt Russell and the L.A. Times.

Check out the amazing surf rock revival of The Bambi Molesters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=expdxldXIa4

On this week’s show, I talk to writer, teacher, and advocate Pauline Hawkins,

plus Caitlin McDonnell writes about discovering her urge to teach, from a night spent in jail, in "The Capacity of Language to Make Us Less Alone."

NOTES

Harper Lee has contested any participation or approval in Marja Mills's new biography of her, according to The Guardian.

To learn more about Pauline Hawkins' radical way of teaching George Orwell's Animal Farm, read her blog here.

This episode proudly features the music of The Intoxicators.

On this week’s show, I talk to the publisher of Beating Windward Press, Matt Peters,

Plus Stephen Scully writes a memoir essay about meeting two baseball legends.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

The British children's book author Allan Ahlberg refused a lifetime achievement award due to its being sponsored by Amazon, according to The Guardian.

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer Boris Fishman,

Plus Lisa Korthals shares her essay about reading Lolita as a child.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet and essayist Nicole Callihan,

plus Maureen Vance writes about Jane Eyre.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

According to The Guardian, British publishers and the Society for Authors (a trade union for UK writers) are trying to push back against Amazon’s fierce demands for more power in the book industry. They liken Amazon's terms to a form of "assisted suicide."

According to The Times, Barnes and Noble will spin off its Nook division as a separate company from its traditional bookseller endeavors.

Carlton Melton's "Spiderwebs" accompanies Maureen Vance's "Jane and Me." This song is available on the album Always Even.

The Tequila Worms have generously offered their album Cantina as a free download.

On this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer and memoirist-extraordinaire Alden Jones,

plus Peter Demarco writes about discovering Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

According to The Guardian, Salman Rushdie has won the PEN/Pinter award for 2014.

Also according to The Guardian, Quentin Tarantino and Matt Wagner will collaborate on a Django/Zorro crossover comic book.

On this bonus episode, I guide listeners through a lovely tour of Ulysses on today, which is Bloomsday.

TEXT DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out Black 47's music here, or wherever you buy music. "I Got Laid on James Joyce's Grave" appears on Trouble in the Land.

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer and poet Alan Michael Parker,

Plus Andrew Gretes offers his "Ode to Zorba."

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Davis Sedaris talked about the Amazon/Hachette battle to Parnassus Books, a bookstore in Tennessee. 

On this week’s show, my friends Teege Braune of In Boozo Veritas fame, Sean Ironman of Heroes Never Rust fame, Jeff Shuster, who is the Curator of Schlock, and Dianne Turgeon Richardson join me for a roundtable discussion of Donald Duck on his 80th birthday.

 TEXTS DISCUSSED

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet Erica Dawson,

Plus Nicole Callihan reads her memoir essay, "The Week in News."

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Nicole Callihan's "The Week in News" originally appeared on The Well and Often Press.

Nicole Callihan's poetry collection, Superloop.

NOTES

Jeremy Greenfield, in an article for The Atlantic, has explored the continuing struggle between Amazon.com and the Hachette publishing group.

The Peyton James Freeman Prize for nonfiction essays is now accepting submissions. There is no reading fee, and the contest is being judged by Cheryl Strayed.

Horoscopes penned by my signature character Guy Psycho are now available online at The Newer York's site.

On this show, I eulogized Bunny Yeager and Maya Angelou.

On this week’s show, I answer some mail with my friend, David James Poissant,

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer Kseniya Melnik,

Plus Matt Berman writes about Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer Kelly Luce,

Plus Nicole Callihan meditates on motherhood, sustenance, autism, and language in "Notes Toward: Babies, Bananas, Boxes."

TEXTS DISCUSSED

 NOTES

Nicole Callihan's "Notes Toward: Babies, Bananas, Boxes" first appeared on River and Sound Review.

According to The Guardian and Publishers Weekly, some members of South Carolina's state legislature is trying to punish its state universities that support gay and lesbian culture. For more information about the protest over this, check out the website of Writers Speaking Out Loud.

Congratulations to Laura Van Den Berg for her story O-Pah-Locka (published in the southern review), and for Dylan Landis for her story, “Trust” (published in Tin House) for winning O'Henry Prizes for 2014. Laura was my guest on episode 91, and Dylan was my guest on episode 48.

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer and historian of Florida attractions Lu Vickers,

Plus Joe Marchia writes about Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

 TEXTS DISCUSSED 

NOTES 

Check Out our new videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Cg6lFnfl4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH1nXs9hWeY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2jeezvsixU

Check out this indiegogo crowd-sourcing effort to bring St. Mark’s Bookshop to a new home in the East Village.

Sheman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is given away to students in an Iowa district in which the novel is banned from schools.

On May 13th, I will participate in The Best of There Will Be Words 2013 show. If you're in Orlando, join us.

Episode 96 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download. On this week’s show, I present Rick Moody's recent reading at the University of Central Florida.  TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out this indiegogo crowd-sourcing effort to bring St. Mark’s Bookshop to a new home in the East Village.

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet Eleanor Lerman,

Plus Alden Jones writes about her time working in Cuba.

 TEXTS DISCUSSED 

Check out episode 48 to hear Eleanor Lerman's essay about Leonard Cohen's Spice Box of Earth.

NOTES 

Check out the indiegogo crowd-sourcing effort to bring St. Mark’s Bookshop to a new home in the East Village. Endorsed by this show and Anne Waldman.

I recommend Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s production of Julius Caesar, playing until April 20th.

Check out Beating Windward Press’s call for essays for its forthcoming essay collection, The Things They Did For Money: How Writers, Artists, and Creatives Support the Habit.

On this week’s show, I talk to Bob Contant and Terry McCoy, the owners of St. Mark's Bookshop,

Plus Dan Lauer writes about identity and New York City.

NOTES 

Check out the indiegogo crowd-sourcing effort to bring St. Mark's Bookshop to a new home in the East Village. Endorsed by this show and Anne Waldman.

I recommend Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s production of Julius Caesar, playing until April 20th.

Check out Beating Windward Press’s call for essays for its forthcoming essay collection, The Things They Did For Money: How Writers, Artists, and Creatives Support the Habit.

Episode 93 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the multidisciplinary wonder that is J. Bradley,

Plus Molly Gleeson writes about reading Anthony Trollope while teaching in Saudia Arabia.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

 Hear J. Bradley read his "You + Me = Awwwwwww Yeah" + "Pussycat Interstellar Naked Hotrod Mofo Ladybug Lust Blaster" by Derrick Brown on the second erotic poetry live show of The Drunken Odyssey.

NOTES 

I recommend Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s production of Julius Caesar, playing until April 20th.

Check out Beating Windward Press’s call for essays for its forthcoming essay collection, The Things They Did For Money: How Writers, Artists, and Creatives Support the Habit.

In England, authors are protesting a new measure that prohibits inmates from getting access to books in the mail (BBC).

Beckett once directed his own plays, in performances featuring San Quentin inmates.

Here's an image of the Chronic City finale poster.

On this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer Laura Van Den Berg,

Plus Will Dowd reads two poems.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

I recommend Orlando Shakespeare Theater's production of Julius Caesar, playing until April 20th.

Check out Beating Windward Press's call for essays for its forthcoming essay collection, THE THINGS THEY DID FOR MONEY: HOW WRITERS, ARTISTS, AND CREATIVES SUPPORT THE HABIT.  

On this week’s show, my friends Teege Braune of In Boozo Veritas fame, Matt Peters, Jared Silvia, and my brother James King join me for a wooly discussion of St. Patrick's Day. Much was consumed.

My red face was sunburn. The angle of my head, weariness.

On this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer David James Poissant,

Plus Max Bakke writes about Nick Hornby's High Fidelity.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Read David James Poissant's "I Want to be Friends with Republicans" here.

NOTES

OST's William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar can be seen from March 19 - April 20, 2014. Go here for more details.

On this week’s episode of the world's greatest writing podcast, I talk to fiction writer John Henry Fleming,

Plus James Sanders writes about reading The Autobiography of Malcom X.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

The VIDA count for 2013 is now available.

Orlando now has a new independent bookshop: Bookmark It, at the East End Market in Winter Park (3201 Corrine Drive).

Find Burrow Press’s releases here, & check out the discounted subscription rate.

If you live in Orlando, do come to Vanessa’s book release party.

On this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer Vanessa Blakeslee,

And Anthony Seidman writes about James Thompson's The City of Dreadful Night.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

If you live in NYC, check out this wonderful event with my friends Gilbert King (episode 60) and my fellow NYU alum, Maaza Mengiste. RSVP is required.

Find Burrow Press’s releases here, & check out the discounted subscription rate.

If you live in Orlando, do come to Vanessa's book release party.

On this week’s show, I talk to fiction writer and memoirist Kevin Sampsell,

Plus Kevin Bray writes about finding Men on Divorce.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Find Burrow Press's releases here, & check out the discounted subscription rate.

On this week’s show, I talk to the musician Rich Millman from the band Carlton Melton,

Plus Kelsey Liebenson-Morse writes about reading Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

The Florida Writers’ Conference goes from February 13th-15th, ending with the Florida premiere of Terry Giliam’s new film, written by Pat Rushin, The Zero Theorem. Click here to learn how to register for the conference.

Read Beating Windward’s call for essays for its forthcoming anthology, The Things They Did for Money: How Writers, Artists, and Creatives Support the Habit.  

The Heaven of Animals, the forthcoming collection from friend-of-the-show David James Poissant, is available for pre-order. Please support the launch of his book, which is wonderful reading.

On this week’s show, I talk to the journalist Lynn Waddell,

Plus D. S. Jones writes about how the Charles Bukowski's Post Office changed his life.

On this week’s show, I answer some mail with my friend, David James Poissant,

According to The Guardian, the short list for the Hatchet Awards has been announced.

TEXTS DISCUSSED