Episode 347 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

This week is a cornucopia of poetry conversation with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Billy Collins!

Juan Felipe Herrera

Billy Collins

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Here's a present, something I acquired when collecting bootlegs in the 1990s. I hope you enjoy it while I get over this damned cold.

In this week’s episode, I share a conversation I had with author, editor, comic book fan, and book designer Chip Kidd, from about 40 feet away from Biscayne Bay. We spoke about the DC/Marvel divide, the sublime art of Alex Ross, how art springs from our need to see the work we want to enjoy the most, and how so many areas of the book business intersect, if you are paying attention.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

In this week’s episode, I share a recording of Loose Lips, the monthly current events literary thing run by Burrow Press, who selected Katherine J. Parker to curate and host this installment.

Katherine J. Parker by Jared Silvia.

Joshua Begley by by Jared Silvia.

Whitney Paige Hamrick by Jared Silvia.

John King by Jared Silvia.

Karen Price by Jared Silvia.

Tom Lucas by Jared Silvia.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out John's previous appearances on Loose Lips:

• Episode 301
• Episode 282
• Episode 250
• Episode 219

In this week’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about the new story anthology, A Very Italian Christmas, from New Vessel Press.

In our discussion, we manage to talk about yuletide loneliness, poverty, despair, prostitution, elk herds, Christmas, fascism, prostitution, friendship, Paul Auster's screenplay for Smoke, and David Sedaris's classic essay, "Dinah the Christmas Whore."

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out Vanessa and I talking about A Very French Christmas from last year.

Check out my interview with Davis Sedarisback on episode 50.

In this week’s episode, I talk to poet and memoirist Linda Buckmaster about how our subjects sometimes choose us, the wondrous weirdness of Florida, and how the find form in the flux of composition.

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In this week’s episode, I talk to Brian Turner & Jared Silvia about making a beautiful, experimental poetic album of space ballads and duets.

Episode 341 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 to creative nonfiction writer LaTanya McQueen about how our stories sometimes choose us, how to write a really good footnote, and how to try to talk about history and race in America.

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In this week's episode, I talk to fiction writer Kimberly Lojewski!

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NOTES

Check out my interviews with Tony Hoagland back on episode 40and 132.

In this week’s episode, I am joined by Joshua Begley, AC Warner, Katherine Parker, Elise McKenna, Tom Lucas, Amy Watkins, Joshua Dull, Dianne Turgeon Richardson, and Vincent CramptonCount Orlock for Horror Movie Poetry Night V!

In this week’s episode, I am joined by Dale Lucas, Tom Lucas, and Elise McKenna for a deep dive into Stephen King's 1981 treatise on the horror genre, Danse Macabre.

Photo by Katherine J. Parker.

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Photo by Katherine J. Parker.

NOTES

Check out Don Peteroy's amazing essay on how to read the entire Dark Tower series while still having a life.

In this week’s episode, I talk to the poet Sean Conrey about poetry, religion, trees, and our long ago time at Purdue University.

In this week’s episode, I talk to fiction writer Jane Ridgeway about our stories and characters choosing us instead of the other way around, the delicious problem of historical fiction, and what teenagers today like to read, among other topics.

[caption id="attachment_23534" align="alignnone" width="2048"]Jane Ridgeway by Steve Erwin.

In this week’s episode, I talk to novelist Ben Gwin about postmodern satire, addiction, whether MFAs ruin or sustain writers, and for some reason I insist that he needs to write poetry,

plus I talk to Jared Silvia about synth music, Woody Guthrie, the vagaries of how folk music gets recorded, and Jared's annual recording project every Labor Day.

In this week’s episode, I talk to Peter Kuper about Kafka, the remarkable art form of comic books, the indie comic book scene in the late 1980s, Spy Vs. Spy, finding your Muse when it leaves the marketplace, and so much more.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out Brian Turner, Jared Silvia, recordings of Elise Kusnetz, and others in a performance of The Interplanetary Acoustic Team at the Timucua White House in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday, September 25th.

Check out Kyle Eagle's impeccable new jazz podcast, The Major Scale. If you search the iTunes store, you can find it there as a free download you can and should subscribe to.

Leslie Salas reviewed Peter Kuper's adaptation of The Metamorphosis for the Drunken Odyssey back in 2013.

Details from Kafkaesque:

Episode 332 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 with Vanessa Blakeslee about Chuck Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories.

Episode 332 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 host a party in honor of the 60th anniversary of the publication go my favorite Jack Kerouac work, The Dharma Bums.

In this week’s episode, I am joined by Chris Lafave, Erik Deckers, and David James Poissant for a discussion of Kurt Vonnegut.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

When in Indianapolis, visit the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.

If you are in Orlando, that is, the City Beautiful, this Wednesday, come celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Dharma Bums at the house where Jack wrote it.

Here is our On the Road show from last year.

https://youtu.be/Dg_V4amBlJo

In this week’s episode, I chat with novelist Blair Hurley about our experiences in NYU's MFA program, how to plot novels, religion, and how to really dress like a writer.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out Brian Turner's album, featuring recordings by his late wife, Ilyse Kusnetz.

This week, I interview Dale Lucas, the author of the Fifth Wardand Doc Voodooseries of novels about exploring ethics in long-form narrative, world-building (and when to stop), how to keep writing the novel in maddening isolation, and other stuff, too.

Books Discussed

NOTES

Check out Dale's essayabout having Simon Vance perform the audiobook of his novel, The Fifth Ward: First Watch.

In this week’s episode, I interview Adrian Todd Zuniga, the host of Literary Death Match, about how to plot a novel, and how he plotted his novel, Collision Theory.

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NOTES

Check out my previous convo with Adrian back on Episode 190.

In this week’s episode, I talk with the Orlando legend, Patrick Greene, about the power of being an autodidact, the importance of curiosity outside of one's area of expertise, and the struggles of trying to live the life of a writer.

NOTES

To get some idea of Pat Greene's influence, here's a video featuring his 60th birthday celebration at the gallery earlier this year.

https://youtu.be/CYXqonaFaAQ

In this week’s episode, I talk with the poet Abraham Smith about his latest release, the book-length work, Destruction of Man.

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In this week’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about short story writing over the long haul, and about her brand new book, Perfect Conditions.

Plus James Chapin writes about how the King James Bible changed his life.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

In this week’s episode, I chat with the classicist and translator, Emily Wilson, whose translation of the Odyssey feels both superbly magical and contemporary.

[caption id="attachment_23399" align="alignnone" width="1001"]Emily Wilson by Ralph Rosen.[/caption]

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NOTES

Check out this new funky, psychedelic audio soundscape project featuring Brian Turner, Ilyse Kusnetz, and Jared Silvia, among others.

In this week’s episode, I chat with the actor Sean Pratt, who is approaching his 1,000th audiobook reading. We talk about breaking into voice work, how to read non-fiction, the audiobook of Infinite Jest, and many other things.

NOTES

Check out Sean's websiteto learn about his voice coaching and webinars.

In this week’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel as my copy of it crumbled and dissolved. I defend the honor of Henry James at great length.

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On this week’s program, The Drunken Odyssey enjoys perhaps its final Bloomsday live show, and its perhaps final visit to The Gallery at Avalon Island.

Jeremy DaCruz by Steve Erwin.Matthew Davis, Alisha Erao, and Sarah Morrison by Steve Erwin.Octavia Finch by Steve Erwin.Elise McKenna by Steve Erwin.Erik Branch by Steve Erwin.John King by Steve Erwin.Emmi Green by Steve Erwin.Patrick Greene and Jeremy DaCruz by Steve Erwin.

On this week’s program, Julian Chambliss returns to the secret headquarters of TDO so we could share notes about the first season of the new television show of Black Lightning, and consider the context of the classic comic book from the 1970s.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out this hysterical assist from Superman!

Compare Tobias Whale on the CW show (Marvin 'Krondon' Jones III) and his considerably different look in the original comics.

On this week’s show, I present the readings from the book release party for Condoms and Hot Tubs Don't Mix.

On this week’s program, I talk to novelist Michal A. Ferro about the midwest and Postmodernism and alcoholism and other matters of interest.

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NOTES

Review The Drunken Odyssey on  iTunes here.

If in NYC on June 16th, enjoy Bloomsday at Ulysses Folk House! I wrote a profile about a past year's event here.

On this week’s program, I talk to the fiction writer, screenwriter, and film director Laura Lee Bahr at the close of her residency at the Kerouac Project of Orlando.

[caption id="attachment_23227" align="alignnone" width="4288"]Photo by Shawn McKee.[/caption]

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

On this week’s program, I talk to the poet Terri Witek.

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NOTES

I’ll be reading with the other contributors to this awkward sexcapade anthology!

Episode 315 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 program, I talk to the novelist and filmmaker, Tom Stern.

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NOTES

I'll be at two forthcoming events in the City Beautiful.

Laura Lee Bahr will give her farewell readingat the Kerouac House on May 19th at 7:30.

Plus I'll be reading with the other contributors to this awkward sexcapade anthology!

In this week’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism and twitter and other stuff.

NOTES

[caption id="attachment_1614" align="alignnone" width="2592"] RIP, Phil Deaver.[/caption]

Pre-order Vanessa's forthcoming short story collection, Perfect Conditions.

If you like Walt Disney World, subscribe to my Disney-themed youtube channel.

On this week’s program, I talk to poets Gerald Stern and Victor Hernandez Cruz, plus we hear John McMahon's prologue to his work in progress, A Boy from Nantucket.

On this week’s show, I talk to M. Evelina Galang about writing about the insistence of history, collaborating with other voices, being inspired by our elders, and conveying the true flux of language.

Books Discussed

On this week’s show, I talk to essayist Chelsey Clammer about the lyric essay, finding humor in trauma, and being honestly surprising.

BOOKS DISCUSSED

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet David McLoghlin about the pains and joys of being a third culture kid, the aesthetic fun of the poetic sketch, the importance of travel and being present even when home, and the importance of saving everything one writes. I read a poem from the ARC that got cut from the published version of the book, and David maybe has second thoughts about its omission...

BOOKS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Check out David reading Rilke's "Presentiment" back on episode 275.

On this week’s show, the format is quite different.

On this week’s show, I talk to poet, memoirist, and editor Brian Turner about how to build a strong anthology, how working in other media helps our writing, and working with our instincts in the writing process. His latest editing project, The Kiss: Intimacies From Writers, is now available from Norton.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

• Learn more about The Ocean Clean Up, one of the beneficiaries of proceeds from The Kiss.
• Follow The Kiss column over at Guernica Magazine.
• If you live in Orlando, check out Poetry and Prose at the Timicua White House on Wednesday, April 4th.

On this week’s show, I share my interview with poet Sean Patrick Mulroy,

plus I chat with my veteran friend Joshua Dull (on the right) about his plans to do more mission work in Costa Rica.

NOTES

If you can, throw a few bucks into the can to send Joshua back to Costa Rica to work on clean water projects.

The Kerouac Project of Orlando is accepting applications for its 3-month residency program until April 16th.

On this week’s show, I share interviews I did with the short story writer Jim Shepard

and one of my favorite novelists, Jennifer Egan.

[caption id="attachment_22997" align="alignnone" width="1430"] Jennifer Egan © Pieter M. van Hattem.[/caption]

TEXTS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Please leave a review of the show on iTunes.

Episode 305 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 304 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 special AWP program, Vanessa Blakeslee and I face off against Book Fight's Tom McAllister and Barrelhouse's Poetry Editor, Dan Brady.

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Episode 304 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 program, I drive West of Orlando to meet up with two adventurers named Drunky & Rhiannon who've just happened to write the best guide to Walt Disney World as far is this show is concerned. We geek out about boozing like pros at WDW!

We drank outside at Hurricane Hannah's,

and then we walked over to inside the Ale and Compass over at the Yacht Club,

and then enjoyed some beverages at The Belle Vue Lounge in the Boardwalk Inn.

[caption id="attachment_22824" align="alignnone" width="4288"] The actual bar of The Bellevue Lounge.

BUY THESE BOOKS

NOTES

The Belle Vue Lounge is where I, sober, interviewed Ridley Pearson all the way back on #199.

This show did the Monorail pub crawl back on #77.

On this week’s program, I talk to the novelist Cheryl Della Pietra, an editorial assistant to Hunter S. Thompson in 1992, about the dynamics of working with him, the reality of the actual writer's life, the dangers of a legendary persona, Hunter's gift for meta-journalism, the challenges of fiction writing and negotiating a gonzo vision in the service of a non-gonzo narrative, and when to put your work in the drawer and move on.

In this week’s episode, I share a recording of Loose Lips, the monthly current events literary thing hosted by the inestimable Tod Caviness,

Patrick Scott Barnes and Tod Caviness by Katherine J. Parker.

Teege Braune,

Teege Braune by Patrick Scott Barnes.

Michael Cuglietta,

Michael Cuglietta by Patrick Scott Barnes.

Leigh Fields,

Leigh Fields by Patrick Scott Barnes.

Dianne Turgeon Richardson,

Dianne Turgeon Richardson by Patrick Scott Barnes

and moi,

[caption id="attachment_22847" align="alignnone" width="720"] Moi by Patrick Scott Barnes. L'il Indies by Katherine J. Parker.

In this week’s episode, I talk with Vanessa Blakeslee about David Mamet's Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama. We manage not to kill one another.

On this week’s program, I talk to the novelist Laleh Khadivi about empathy, anticipating the future, the snarl of time management, challenging oneself as a writer as a form of motivation, the absolute transformation of characters, patriarchal similarities between Middle East and West, the mystical nature of surfing, the fraught possibilities of adolescence, religious fervor, the problematic role of country to identity, and modernity and the immigrant experience.

NOTES

Check out the second installment of The Drunken Odyssey's Unauthorized Film Commentary Series:

https://youtu.be/VYfZUZjSgjo

Subscribe to TDO's youtube channel. 

On January 19th, 2018, Dianne Turgeon Richardson hosted an evening of protest poetry at Milk Bar in Orlando, Florida!

The readers included on this recording are Talor Carr, Rachel Fox, Lana Ghannam, Drew Weinbrenner, John King, Dianne Turgeon Richardson, Lisa Roney, Troy Cunio, Laurie Uttich, and Sean Patrick Mulroy.

Lana Ghannam.

Lisa Roney.

Bar dogs.

NOTES

• For help with getting Voter IDs, for yourself or others, please check out IDignity.
• Learn more about Exodus United.

Episode 297 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 program, I talk to poets Paul Muldoon

and Patricia Smith!

NOTES

Please subscribe to my youtube channel, and leave a review of the show on iTunes.

On this week’s program, I talk to the poet Denise Duhamel about the role of politics and play in poetry.

BOOKS DISCUSSED

NOTES

Here in Orlando, the City Beautiful, come out and hear some protest poetry on January 19th.

If you love Pat Greene, or just love great art, please donate a little something to The Downtown Arts District of Orlando.

The music used in this episode was “Tremor” and “As the Dark Wave Swells” by The Bambi Molesters.

On this week's program, I talk to Charles Simic about James Tate, Kansas surrealism, humor in poetry, and embracing the unconscious,
plus I talk to Richard Blanco about the accidents that turn us into artists, the grind of editing, and the joys of finding new forms and challenges.

Be sure to check out the music of David Rego, whose songs “Rings Ring” and "Sapphire Showers" appear on this episode.