Otherppl with Brad Listi
Episodes
How to Write Good Stories
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to write good stories. My guest is Steve Almond, author of a new book on writing called Truth is the Arrow, Mercy...
912. Lydia Millet
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lydia Millet is the author of We Loved It All: A Memory of Life, available from W.W. Norton & Co. Millet is the author of A Children's Bible, shortl...
Tommy Pico on Touring, Performing, Alter Egos, Tricking Yourself, Poetry, Voice, Longform, Improv, Daily Writing Practice, Beyonce, Bird Songs, Purpose, and Building Community
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 559, my conversation with poet, artist, and television writer Tommy Pico. The episode first aired on Jan...
How to Get Somewhat Better at Art
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to get (somewhat) better at art. My guest is Nicholson Baker, author of Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Be...
911. Alexandra Tanner
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alexandra Tanner is the author of the debut novel Worry, available from Scribner. Tanner is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. She is a graduate of ...
John Keene on Ghost Books, Song Cave, Publishing, Reading Poetry, Delayed Gratification, Language, Meaning, Youth, Freedom, Identity, Memories, Stories, History, and Punks
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 762, my conversation with author John Keene about his poetry collection Punks, which won the National Bo...
910. Catherine Lacey
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Catherine Lacey is the author of the novel Biography of X, available in trade paperback from Picador. Lacey is the author of the novels Nobody Is Ev...
909. Rowan Beaird
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rowan Beaird is the author of the debut novel The Divorcées, available from Flatiron Books. Beaird is a writer whose work has appeared or is forthco...
Stephen Graham Jones on Stephen King, Slasher Movies, Fear, Writing Fast, Being Physical, the Mechanics of a Joke, Dilating the Moment, Imaginary Safe Places, Screenwriting, Caffeine, and the Perfect Horror Novel
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 666, my conversation with author Stephen Graham Jones. It first aired on August 16, 2020. Stephen Graham...
908. Téa Obreht
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Téa Obreht is the author of the novel The Morningside, available from Random House. Obreht is the internationally bestselling author of The Tiger's...
907. Adelle Waldman
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Adelle Waldman is the author of the novel Help Wanted, available from W.W. Norton & Co. Waldman is the best-selling author of The Love Affairs of ...
Tao Lin on Iced Coffee, Cannabis, Eating Tobacco, Beta-Carbolines, Kathleen Harrison, Terence McKenna, Tripping, Taking Notes, Autobiographical Writing, MDMA Films, Memory, and Leave Society
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 521, my conversation with author Tao Lin. It first aired on May 20, 2018. Lin is the author of the mem...
906. Katya Apekina
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Katya Apekina is the author of the novel Mother Doll, available from The Overlook Press. Apekina is a novelist, screenwriter, and translator. Her deb...
905. Tana French
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tana French is the author of the novel The Hunter, available from Viking Books. It is the official March pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Tana French ...
Sebastian Castillo on Teaching, Creative Constraints, Oulipo Writing, Edouard Leve, Hybrid Forms, Warhol, GIF Novels, Dennis Cooper, Boredom, Emotion, Imitation, and Philip Roth
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 679, my conversation with author Sebastian Castillo. It first aired on November 4, 2020. Castillo is a w...
904. Tommy Orange
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tommy Orange is the author of the novel Wandering Stars, available from Knopf. Orange is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American In...
How to Write Flash Fiction
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to write flash fiction. My guest is author and editor Tommy Dean. Dean is the author of two flash fiction chapboo...
Leland Cheuk on Success, Rejection, Persistence, Bad Luck, Denial, Near-Death Experiences, Rebirth, Freedom Swimmers, and Good Luck
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 613, my conversation with author Leland Cheuk. It first aired on November 20, 2019. Cheuk is an award-...
903. Sloane Crosley
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sloane Crosley is the author of the memoir Grief Is for People, available from MCD Books. Crosley is the author of the novels Cult Classic and T...
902. Lauren Markham
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Markham is the author of A Map of Future Ruins, available from Riverhead Books. Markham is the author of the award-winning The Far Away Broth...
Ben Loory on Needles, Doctors, Nighttime, The Sun, Endings, Dennis Etchison, Screenwriting, Growing Up Without a TV, Writing Mathematically, and The Twilight Zone
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 29, my conversation with author Ben Loory. It first aired on December 25, 2011. Loory is the author of ...
901. Vanessa Chan
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Vanessa Chan is the author of the bestselling debut novel The Storm We Made, available from Marysue Rucci Books. It is the official February pick of t...
900. Leslie Jamison
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leslie Jamison is the author of the memoir Splinters, available from Little, Brown & Co. Jamison is the author of the New York Times bestsellers ...
Jacinda Townsend on Music, Kentucky, Childhood, Greyhound Buses, Getting Taken Seriously, Siblings, Skipping Grades, Leaving Home, and Harvard
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 264, my conversation with author Jacinda Townsend. It first aired on March 30, 2014. Jacinda Townsend i...
899. Sarah Tomlinson
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Tomlinson is the author of the novel The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers, available from Flatiron Books. Tomlinson, a former music journalis...
898. Paul Theroux
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Theroux is the author of the novel Burma Sahib, available from Mariner Books. Theroux is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels i...
Bethany C. Morrow on Air Travel, Basic Human Manners, Throat Chops, Self-Soothing, Pretzels, Mindful Eating, California Produce, The Obscenity of Vegetarians, and Her Sister’s Potato Salad
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 531, my conversation with author Bethany C. Morrow. It first aired on July 4, 2018. Morrow is a natio...
897. Margot Livesey
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Margot Livesey is the author of the novel The Road from Belhaven, available from Knopf. Livesey was born and grew up on the edge of the Scottish Hig...
896. Brandi Wells
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Brandi Wells is the author of the debut novel The Cleaner, available from Hanover Square Press. Wells' other books include the novella This Boring A...
Megan Boyle on Tao Lin, Marriage, Media Coverage, Blogging, Me Fatigue, Isolation, Hippie Siblings, Moving, Shyness, and Alien Abductors
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 13, my conversation with author Megan Boyle. It first aired on October 30, 2011. Boyle (b. 1985) lives i...
895. Christina Cooke
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Christina Cooke is the author of the debut novel Broughtupsy, available from Catapult. Cooke's writing has previously appeared in The Caribbean Write...
894. Annie Liontas
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Annie Liontas is the author of the memoir-in-essays Sex with a Brain Injury, available from Scribner. Liontas is also the author of the novel Let M...
Lidia Yuknavitch on Artistic Responsibility, Life and Death Moments, The Savior Complex, Understanding Others, Ideology, Direct Action, Rage, and Change
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 370, my conversation with author Lidia Yuknavitch. It first aired on July 15, 2015. Yuknavitch is the b...
893. Venita Blackburn
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Venita Blackburn is the author of the debut novel Dead in Long Beach, CA, available from MCD Books. Blackburn's other books include the story colle...
892. Ishmael Reed
21 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ishmael Reed is the author of the play The Slave Who Loved Caviar, now available in print from Archway Editions. Ishmael Reed is the author of over t...
Atticus Lish on Book Reviews, Expectations, Isolation, Chinese, New York, Family, Drawing, Phillips Exeter, and Don DeLillo
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 331, my conversation with Atticus Lish. It first aired on November 19, 2014. Lish is the author of the n...
891. Marie-Helene Bertino
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Marie-Helene Bertino is the author of the novel Beautyland, available from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. Bertino's other books include the novels Parakee...
890. De'Shawn Charles Winslow
14 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
De'Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of the novel Decent People, now available in trade paperback from Bloomsbury. Winslow's debut novel, In West Mi...
Jean Kyoung Frazier on New York City, Bartending, Crushtomers, Not Caring, Dead Flies, First Lines, Reconnecting, and Ambivalence About Ambition
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 659, my conversation with Jean Kyoung Frazier. This episode first aired on July 22, 2020. Jean's debut n...
Publishing Industry Predictions: 2024
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode. A conversation with Kathleen Schmidt, an expert on the book business and the author of a Substack called Publishing Confide...
889. Julie Myerson
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Julie Myerson is the author of the novel Nonfiction, available from Tin House. It is the official January pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Myerson ...
Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi on Moving, Revolution, Sai Baba, Transnational Personhood, Sea Captains, and the Upper Midwest
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 507, my conversation with author Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi. This episode first aired on March 7, 20...
888. Susannah Breslin
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Susannah Breslin is the author of the memoir Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment, available from Legacy Lit. Breslin is a freelance jou...
My Favorite Books of 2023
31 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this, the final episode of 2023, I'm sharing my ten favorite books of the year. Incredibly difficult to choose—and really, there are dozens of b...
Best of 2023 - Part 3
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The third in a series of episodes, looking back on 2023 and breaking down the most popular conversations of the year. Today, a look at the top-five m...
Best of 2023 - Part 2
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The second in a series of episodes, looking back on 2023 and breaking down the most popular conversations of the year. Today, a look at five of the m...
Best of 2023 - Part 1
24 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first in a series of episodes, looking back on 2023 and breaking down the most popular conversations of the year. Today, a look at the five most-...
Alexander Chee on Titles, Endings, Writer Types, Anger, Patience, Deadlines, and the Messiness of the Creative Process
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 400, my conversation with author Alexander Chee. This episode first aired on February 16, 2016. Chee is...
887. Lauren Elkin
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Elkin is the author of Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art, available from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. Elkin's essays have appeared in ma...
How Meditation Can Inform Creative Writing
17 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how meditation can inform creative writing. My guest is Melissa Broder, author of the novel Death Valley (Scribner). ...
Michael Earl Craig on Shoeing Horses, Poetry, Grad School, Feedback, Raymond Carver, Family, and Creative Inheritance
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 308, my conversation with poet Michael Earl Craig. This episode first aired on August 31, 2014. Craig i...
886. E.J. Koh
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
E.J. Koh is the author of the debut novel The Liberators, available from Tin House. It is the official December pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Koh's...
885. Rumaan Alam
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rumaan Alam is the bestselling author of the novel Leave the World Behind, available in trade paperback from Ecco Books. In 2020, it was a finalist fo...
Chuck Klosterman on Brooklyn, Book Tour, Time, Predictions, Identity Politics, Farming, High School, Dreams, and Heavy Metal
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 423, my conversation with bestselling author Chuck Klosterman. This episode first aired on July 20, 201...
884. Blake Butler
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Blake Butler is the author of the memoir Molly, available from Archway Editions. Butler is the author of five books of fiction, including There Is No...
883. Wendy Chin-Tanner
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wendy Chin-Tanner is the author of the debut novel King of the Armadillos, available from Flatiron Books. Chin-Tanner is the author of the poetry col...
Elizabeth Ellen on Whiskey, Childhood, Shyness, Florida, House Parties, Panic Attacks, and The Hills
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 99, my conversation with author and publisher Elizabeth Ellen. This episode first aired on August 26, ...
How to Think Like a Publicist
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, all about the art of book publicity. My guest is longtime literary publicist Lauren Cerand. Lauren has more than twenty ye...
How to Be a Ghostwriter
26 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, all about ghostwriting. My guest is Stuart Horwitz, founder and principal of Book Architecture. Horwitz has spent over twe...
Susan Choi on Adolescence, Motherhood, Teaching, Me Too, Power, Abuse, and High School
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 647, my conversation with author Susan Choi. She won the National Book Award in 2019 for her novel Trus...
882. Lindsay Hunter
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lindsay Hunter is the author of the novel Hot Springs Drive, available from Roxane Gay Books. Hunter received her MFA in Writing from the School o...
881. Lexi Freiman
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lexi Freiman is the author of the novel The Book of Ayn, available from Catapult. Freiman is an Australian writer and editor who graduated from Columb...
Jonathan Ames on Insecurity, Writing, Youth, Time, Choices, Failure, Letting Go, Luck, David Letterman, and Hollywood Meetings
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 520, my conversation with author Jonathan Ames. Ames is the author of several books, including I Pass L...
880. Michael Cunningham
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Cunningham is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the author of the novel Day, available from Random House. Cunningham is a novelist, screenwriter,...
879. Jami Nakamura Lin
12 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jami Nakamura Lin is the author of the memoir The Night Parade, available from Mariner Books. It is the official November pick of the Otherppl Book Cl...
Megan Fernandes on Edmonton, Poetry, Immigration, Patriotism, Language, Bernie, and Covid
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 627, my conversation with author and poet Megan Fernandes. Her books include The Kingdom and After, Go...
878. Thurston Moore
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thurston Moore is a founding member of the band Sonic Youth and the author of a new memoir entitled Sonic Life, available from Doubleday Books. Moore ...
877. Justin Torres
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Torres is the author of the novel Blackouts, a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction. Available from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux...
Wendy C. Ortiz on Dreams, Ghosts, Tori Amos, Belief, Machine Elves, and Jungian Analysis
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 436, my conversation with Wendy C. Ortiz. Her books include Excavation: A Memoir, Hollywood Notebook, an...
How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with Dan Sinykin, author of Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature, available from Col...
876. Athena Dixon
29 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Athena Dixon is the author of the memoir-in-essays entitled The Loneliness Files, available from Tin House. Dixon's other books include the essay coll...
Brad Phillips on The Name Brad, Heroin, Divorce, Suicide, Friendship, the Art World, and Instagram
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 564, my conversation with author and visual artist Brad Phillips. His debut story collection, Essays and...
How to Fight for Truth in an Age of Disinformation
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with Lee McIntyre, author of On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy, available from MIT Press. McIntyre is Res...
875. Eliza Clark
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Eliza Clark is the author of the novel Penance, available from Harper Books. It is the official October pick of the Otherppl Book Club. A native of Ne...
Hilton Als on Writing on the Floor, Time Between Projects, Andre Leon Talley, and Creative Evolution
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 244, my conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner Hilton Als. This episode first aired on January 19, 2014...
874. Elle Nash
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Elle Nash is the author of the novel Deliver Me, available from The Unnamed Press. Nash is the author of the novels Gag Reflex (Clash Books, 2022) a...
873. Claudia Dey
15 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Claudia Dey is the author of the novel Daughter, available from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Dey's previous novel, Heartbreaker, was a Northern Lit an...
Douglas Coupland on Insomnia, Thursdays, Work Habits, News, Visual Thinking, and Early Writing
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 268, my conversation with Douglas Coupland. This episode first aired on April 13, 2014. Since 1991 Coup...
872. Roxane Gay
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Roxane Gay is the author of the essay collection Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business, available from Harpe...
871. David L. Ulin
08 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David L. Ulin is the author of the novel Thirteen Question Method, available from Outpost 19. Ulin is the author or editor of nearly twenty books, inc...
Frederick Barthelme on Family, Architecture, Red Krayola, Writing, and Getting Kicked Out of School
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 327, my conversation with Frederick Barthelme. This episode first aired on November 5, 2014. Barthelme s...
870. James Frankie Thomas
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Frankie Thomas is the author of the debut novel Idlewild, available from The Overlook Press. It was the official September pick of the Otherppl ...
869. C Pam Zhang
01 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
C Pam Zhang is the author of the novel Land of Milk and Honey, available from Riverhead Books. Zhang's other book is the debut novel How Much of Th...
Susan Straight on Riverside, Family, Ross Macdonald, and Writing in Your Car
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 117, my conversation with Susan Straight, author of the novel Mecca (FSG). This episode first aired on ...
868. Vauhini Vara
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Vauhini Vara is the author of the story collection This is Salvaged, available from W.W. Norton & Co. Vara has been a reporter and editor for the Wa...
867. Mona Awad
24 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mona Awad is the bestselling author of the novel Rouge, available from Marysue Rucci Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Awad's other books inclu...
Natalie Baszile on Time, Writing, Big Decisions, Creative Community, and Motherhood
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 257, my conversation with Natalie Baszile, author of the novel Queen Sugar (Penguin Books). This episode...
866. Anne Enright
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Enright is the author of the novel The Wren, The Wren, available from W.W. Norton & Co. Enright is author of seven novels, most recently Actres...
865. Karl Ove Knausgaard
17 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Karl Ove Knausgaard is the author of the novel The Wolves of Eternity, available from Penguin Press. Translated by Martin Aitken. Knausgaard's My Stru...
Joyce Johnson on Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, the Beat Generation, Ecstatic Writing, and Québécois Culture
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 147, my conversation with Joyce Johnson, author of the biography The Voice is All: The Lonely Victory of...
How to Write an Anti-Hero
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new 'Craftwork' episode, all about anti-heroes. My guest is Tod Goldberg, author of the novel Gangsters Don't Die, available from Counterpoint Press...
864. Lauren Groff
10 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Groff is the bestselling author of the novel The Vaster Wilds, available from Riverhead Books. Groff is a three-time National Book Award final...
Matt Sumell on Writing, Self-Editing, Billy Joel, Long Island, Family, Drinking, and Anxiety
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 374, my conversation with Matt Sumell, author of the novel-in-stories Making Nice (Picador). It first ai...
863. Yiyun Li
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yiyun Li is the author of the story collection Wednesday's Child, available from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Li is the author of several works of fic...
862. Myriam Gurba
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Myriam Gurba is the author of the essay collection Creep: Accusations and Confessions, available from Avid Reader Press. Gurba is a writer and artist....
Laura van den Berg on Boxing, Anxiety, Attention, Astrology, Vanity, and Writing in a Notebook
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 546, my conversation with Laura van den Berg, author of five works of fiction. It first aired on October...
How to Be a Travel Writer
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Maggie Downs is an award-winning journalist, travel writer, and the author of the memoir Braver Than You Think:Around the World on the Trip of My (M...
861. Rebekah Bergman
27 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rebekah Bergman is the author of the debut novel The Museum of Human History, available from Tin House. It is the official August pick of the Otherppl...
Remembering Tom Hansen, 1961-2023
26 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, a special episode remembering the life and work of Tom Hansen, who died this week of esophageal cancer. Hansen was born in Seattle and raised ...
Charles Shields on Kurt Vonnegut, WWII, Dresden, Suicide, and The Great Depression
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's flashback, an outtake from Episode 24, my conversation with biographer Charles Shields, author of And So It Goes— Kurt Vonnegut: A Life, ...