In this week’s show, John speaks with debut novelist C. Michelle Lindley's, whose The Nude is a page-turning literary meditation on the madness of the commerce of art and labor and relationships and all sorts of things.

On #649, John speaks with recent writer-in-residence at the Kerouac Project of Orlando, the poet Ezza Ahmed.

In this week's show, John talks to opera director Yuval Sharon about the past and perhaps future rebirths of opera, while advocating for the relevance of this provocative art form. Yuval's new book, A New Philosophy of Opera, is lucid, persuasive, passionate, and fun.

On this week’s show, John King talks to the two-time former poet laureate Billy Collins about his latest collection, Water, Water, and how, if the window doesn't open up for the composition of poetry, once should strive to find a trampoline in the woods, and how one can learn from the poetic breakers of decorum.

On #646, John talks to Charles Bock about his extraordinary new memoir, how to make grief readable, the everyday struggles of writing and publishing, and the sacred perfection of the film of The Princess Bride.