Nation of Writers
Episodes
Episode 58: Tupac Shakur
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of poet, actor, and rapper Tupac Shakur. Quoting from his official website: “Tupac Shakur is one...
Episode 57: Sholem Asch
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of Sholem Asch. Born in Poland to an Orthodox Jewish family, Asch was a novelist, playwright, and essa...
Episode 55: Gertrude Stein
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of Gertrude Stein. A poet, novelist, and essayist, Stein was a towering literary figure in her time. S...
Episode 54: James Weldon Johnson
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of James Weldon Johnson. A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, he wrote fiction, poetry, and nonfiction....
Episode 53: Nguyễn Quí Đức
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of Nguyễn Quí Đức. Born in Da Lat, Vietnam in 1958, Đức arrived in the United States at 17 as...
Episode 52: F. Scott Fitzgerald
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald published his first novel, Thi...
Episode 51: Flannery O’Connor
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Flannery O’Connor. Born in Georgia in 1925, O’Connor wrote prolifically before her early ...
Episode 50: Studs Terkel
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Studs Terkel. A Chicago resident from age 10 until his death at age 96, Studs Terkel epitomized Chica...
Episode 49: Nathaniel Hawthorne
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of novelist and short story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Hawthorne’s pate...
Episode 48: Rod Serling
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This episode lies between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call...
Best of 2024!
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we take a look back at some of our top episodes of 2024 from both of our podcast series: AWM Author Talks and Nation of Writers. This is ou...
Episode 47: James Welch
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of poet and novelist James Welch. Part Blackfeet and part Gros Ventre, Welch grew up on the Blackfeet an...
Episode 46: Yay Panlilio
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Filipina-American journalist and guerilla leader Yay Panlilio. Born in 1913 to a Filipina mother and ...
Episode 45: Gloria E. Anzaldúa
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of queer Chicana poet, essayist, and theorist Gloria E. Anzaldúa. Quoting from The Gloria Anzaldúa Rea...
Episode 44: Mike Royko
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of journalist Mike Royko, a Chicago writing icon. Quoting from the Newberry Library’s current exhi...
Episode 43: Thomas Wolfe
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Thomas Wolfe, one of the country’s leading novelists of the early twentieth century. A contemporary...
Episode 42: Rachel Pollack
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of the multifaceted writer Rachel Pollack. She was the author of 41 books, including two award-winning n...
Episode 41: Audre Lorde
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet and author Audre Lorde. Born in New York City in 1934, Lorde was the daughter of immigrants...
Episode 40: W. S. Merwin
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet W. S. Merwin. Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 2010, William Stanley Merwin had a career tha...
Episode 39: Kate Chopin
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of fiction writer Kate Chopin, who dared to write about female sexuality, longing, and identity at ...
Episode 38: Norman Lear
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of television pioneer Norman Lear. We are joined by pop culture historian Jennifer Keishin Arms...
Episode 37: W. C. Heinz
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
*Episode note: In the introduction, we incorrectly called the book co-written with Vince Lombardi Running into Daylight. The correct title is Run to D...
Best of 2023!
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, we take a look back at some of our favorite moments from the top episodes of our two ongoing series – Nation of Writers and...
Episode 36: Joan Didion
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of writing icon Joan Didion, a writer’s writer. Not only a groundbreaking journalist, essayist, noveli...
Episode 35: William Apess
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of indigenous author and orator William Apess. In 1829 Apess published his memoir A Son of the Fore...
Episode 34: Edna St. Vincent Millay
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The wildly popular Jazz Age poet ventured fearlessly beyond traditional...
Episode 33: Betty Friedan
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Betty Friedan. The feminist writer and activist acclaimed as the mother of second-wave feminism,...
Episode 32: Phillis Wheatley Peters
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet Phillis Wheatley Peters. Kidnapped in West Africa, Wheatley Peters was renamed after the sh...
Episode 31: Cormac McCarthy
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of the late Cormac McCarthy, whose novels about wayward characters in the rural American South and ...
Episode 30: Ursula K. Le Guin
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Ursula K. Le Guin. As you can read on her website, UrsulaKLeGuin.com, she was, “a celebrat...
Episode 29: Walt Whitman
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of iconic poet Walt Whitman, who grew up in working-class New York City and was largely self taught...
Episode 28: Gwendolyn Brooks
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet, author, educator and community builder Gwendolyn Brooks, who was born in Topeka, Kansas. S...
Episode 27: Edith Wharton
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Edith Wharton, who was born in 1862 into a tightly controlled society at a time when women were ...
Episode 26: Zora Neale Hurston
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Zora Neale Hurston, who was, simply, extraordinary. She grew up in Eatonville, Florida, an all-b...
Episode 25: Nelson Algren
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Chicago legend Nelson Algren, one of the most well known literary writers in America in the 40s and 5...
Episode 24: Willa Cather
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Willa Cather. As one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century, Cather was gifted in con...
Episode 23: Rudolfo Anaya
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Rudolfo Anaya. A writer powerfully attuned to the land, history, and people of his native New Me...
Episode 22: Oscar Hijuelos
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Oscar Hijuelos, who became the first Latino to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for his nov...
Episode 21: Octavia E. Butler
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Octavia E. Butler. Butler was an acclaimed American writer who defied genre, though she is most ...
Episode 20: Prince
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of the one and only Prince. The Purple One was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist...
Episode 19: Nora Ephron
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Nora Ephron, one of the most popular, accomplished, and beloved writers in American journalism a...
Episode 18: Sylvia Plath
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Sylvia Plath, the poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Plath is perhaps best known for her pu...
Episode 17: Margaret Wise Brown
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Margaret Wise Brown, the children’s book author of classics such as Goodnight Moon and The Run...
Episode 16: Toni Morrison
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Toni Morrison. A writer who needs no introduction, Toni Morrison is one of the most cherished Am...
Episode 15: Hannah Arendt
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Hannah Arendt. Arendt is one of the most renowned political thinkers of the twentieth century, a...
Episode 14: Rachel Carson
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Rachel Carson, a hugely influential marine biologist and nature writer. Her 1962 book Silent Spr...
Episode 13: Zitkála-Šá
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Zitkála-Šá, who also went by the name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin. Zitkála-Šá was a member of ...
Episode 12: Shirley Jackson
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of multi-dimensional writer Shirley Jackson, perhaps best known for her horror novels and short sto...
Episode 11: Anthony Bourdain
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of chef, author, documentarian, and tv personality Anthony Bourdain. We’re joined by his longtime...
Episode 10: Américo Paredes
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast is presented in conjunction with our new virtual exhibit, American Voices, which you can explore at NationOfWriters.org. In this episode,...
Episode 9: Reinaldo Arenas
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast is presented in conjunction with our new virtual exhibit, American Voices, which you can explore at NationOfWriters.org. In this episode,...
Episode 8: Hisaye Yamamoto
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Japanese American author Hisaye Yamamoto. You can learn more about Yamamoto by exploring our vir...
Episode 7: Maya Angelou
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we dive into the life and work of Maya Angelou with Nikki Giovanni and Glory Edim. About our guests: Nikki Giovanni is an acclaimed p...
Episode 6: Ray Bradbury
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we discuss Ray Bradbury with Bradbury scholars Jason Aukerman and Patrick Mullins. Be sure to check out our newest online exhibit Ray Bra...
Episode 5: Margaret Walker
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we discuss Margaret Walker with Angela Stewart, Archivist at the Margaret Walker Center, an archive and museum dedicated to the preservat...
Episode 4: Abraham Lincoln
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we discuss the life and writings of Abraham Lincoln with our guests Carolyn Curiel, former U.S. Ambassador and Senior Speechwriter for Bill Cli...
Episode 3: Louisa May Alcott
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the Nation of Writers Podcast, a monthly series from the American Writers Museum that aims to explore our ever growing Nation of Writers by...
Episode 2: Sequoyah
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the Nation of Writers Podcast, a monthly series from the American Writers Museum that aims to explore our ever growing Nation of Writers by...
Episode 1: Edgar Allan Poe
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the Nation of Writers Podcast, part of the American Writers Museum podcast network. This episode is the first in a new monthly series that ...