The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life

This week, I talk to two poets.

First, I speak with the joyous Jericho Brown about his complex relationship to poetic tradition, identity, and music. Frankly, I kept making tangents to music. Perhaps too many. But this was one of my favorite interviews from Miami Book Fair International.

Jericho Brown MBFI 2019

Second, I speak with Richard Blanco about the poetry of we, and the importance of giving an audience an entertaining performance, and writing poetry that makes me cry in yet another of my favorite interviews from MBFI.

Richard Blanco

TEXTS DISCUSSED

The TraditionHow to Love a Country

NOTES

This episode is sponsored by the excellent people at Scribophile.

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Direct download: The_Drunken_Odyssey_Episode_403.mp3
Category:Arts/Culture/Writing -- posted at: 1:06am EDT

This week, Vanessa Blakeslee and I assail more essays on the craft of literature, this time two by T.S. Eliot.

TS Eliot TDO

TEXTS DISCUSSED

"Hamlet and Its Problems" can be found here; "Tradition and the Individual Talent" can be found here.

Direct download: The_Drunken_Odyssey_Episode_402.mp3
Category:Arts/Culture/Writing -- posted at: 11:03pm EDT

This week, I offer another round of conversations from Miami Book Fair International, in which I talk to Steve Almond about his favorite novel, Stonerby John Williams,

Steve Almond

plus I speak with poet Carolyn Forché about her memoir, All You Have Heard is True.

Carolyn_Forché_NBCC_2011_Shankbone.jpg

TEXTS DICSUSSED

Stoner

What You Have Heard is True

Direct download: The_Drunken_Odyssey_Episode_401.mp3
Category:Arts/Culture/Writing -- posted at: 2:49pm EDT

This week, I talk to fiction writer Nathan Englander about the pressurized form of fictional worlds, giving the reader something worth their time and money, getting to the pain as soon as possible, continuing to learn about one's craft deep into one's career, Judaism in literature, and the wisdom of our friend Darin Strauss.

Nathan EnglanderNathan Englander and your humble host in The Confucius Institute at Miami Dade College.[/caption]

Books Discussed

Kaddish dot comWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Anne FrankFor the Relief of Unbearable Urges

 

Direct download: The_Drunken_Odyssey_Episode_400.mp3
Category:Arts/Culture/Writing -- posted at: 1:50am EDT

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