Shadow // Yaddo
Episodes
Everyone Is Using It
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Superstar writers Meghan O'Rourke and Thomas Beller on the allure AI, virtual love, and the power of language.
Scars On The Soul
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
John Kelly and Paul Lisicky on storytelling, subversion, and a voice that still breaks our hearts—Joni Mitchell.
Art Grows Out of Life
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Composers Paul Austerlitz and Daniel Thomas Davis on vodou pilgrimages, lake vibes, life as collaboration, playing the hurdy-gurdy, and more.
Space on Wheels
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A.S.M. Kobayashi on hanging out with archivists, navigating space on wheels, playing with audio, finding transcendence in everyday objects, and more...
Understructure
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ron Baron on limitless exploration, the history of the urn, hands as tools, and embracing brokenness. PLUS: Preview Laurie Anderson's Amelia.
Real Time
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Masterful novelists Rebecca Makkai and Porochista Khakpour on her latest, Tehrangeles, plus parodies, parables, short attention spans, diaspora dra...
Icons
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Walk on the wild side, with two phenomenal biographers: Cynthia Carr on Candy Darling—dreamer, icon, superstar—and Brad Gooch on pop-art activist ...
Carson Comeback!
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Revel in all things Carson McCullers, the wunderkind writer who catapulted to fame in 1940 with the publication of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. On ta...
Secret Studio Lives
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Audio from 1890, the symbolic power of pizza, blue suede shoes, thinking like a vulture, and more in our season roundup of favorite moments, with Nafi...
Hair's Breadth
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Interdisciplinary artist Nafis M. White on unraveling history, finding resilience and beauty in loss, and enlisting raw materials like hair to explore...
Somewhere
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leonard Bernstein—the conductor and composer known globally for his charisma and style—comes roaring back into the public discourse. We celebrate ...
Form, Scale, Medium
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Art converges with nature, meticulous work that spans decades and continents, making the impossible possible and more, with a feature on internationa...
Understory
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Forest restoration, how families avoid reality, coming to terms with trauma, healthy ecosystems and more, with luminous storyteller Martha McPhee, aut...
A Tear in the Veil
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ghosts, artificial intelligence, horror, estrangement and more, with acclaimed writers Vauhini Vara (The Immortal King Rao, This Is Salvaged) and Bria...
True Song
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the Black roots of the banjo, the godfather of bluegrass, novelist as bandleader, and more, with a trio of talented musicians and writers: Celebrat...
Blue Is the Cure
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Explore liminal worlds with three phenomenal Yaddo artists: Painter Elliott Green and the writer and artist Chris Rush on landscapes of the mind, blue...
Wild Side
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On music, the '90s, and NYC cool: Bestselling novelist Sam Lipsyte (The Ask, Home Land, No One Left to Come Looking for You) in conversation with es...
All a Canvas Holds
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every art form has its own language, a puzzle to unlock. One of the great joys of life is having a conversation with an artist who can decipher the c...
Hear Now
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Archival audio, a love story, new tech, and more! Hear some of the first sounds ever recorded: The New York Public Library (NYPL) digitized rare wax c...
Trash!
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Shadow Yaddo hosted by Elaina Richardson is out now! Tres—Ilana Boltvinik and Rodrigo Viñas—is an art research collective based in Mexico City. T...
Snow Day!
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrating the conclusion of Season 2, with a behind-the-scenes take on Shadow // Yaddo. Plus: A few of our favorite moments featuring Moby, Terry Mc...
Divine Dissonance
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Inhabiting the space between two places, forms or cultures and exploring the tensions that dissonance creates: Celebrated author Gish Jen on post-Nixo...
Above & Beyond
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here are two of the hardest working artists we know: Sculptor Harry Leigh on the decades of discipline that saw him through more than half a century o...
Showing Stories
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Boom, pow, bang! Nerd-out with the cool kids of comix: Emmy- and Ringo- award winning artist and writer Dean Haspiel in conversation with acclaimed pa...
Keep On
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Patricia Towers—extraordinary editor, formidable poker player and supreme Virgo—in conversation with bestselling novelist Elizabeth Strout on proc...
Big Bad Books
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Banned Books Week: Let's celebrate and safeguard, come hell or highwater, our freedom to read! Bestselling novelist Colm Tóibín on Salman Rushdie's ...
State of Mind
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Time to get out of the hammock, and into the intellectual groove, with a discussion on narrative medicine, a field of study that applies skills used i...
Summer Break!
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're incredibly grateful to all who've listened and contributed to our "little podcast that could," which began in September 2020 and now has listene...
"Interrogate & Celebrate", with Danyel Smith
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Danyel Smith on her new page-turner, Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop. With a self-described "lust for loud," Danyel has s...
Jazz Hands, with Mark Morris and Fred Hersch
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're betting on these virtuosic minds to power a post-pandemic renaissance: Mark Morris, "the most successful and influential choreographer alive" (T...
The Real Deal, with Terry McMillan
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As an antidote to Orwellian doublespeak, we're highlighting Yaddo artists whose work radiates authenticity: Bestselling novelist Terry McMillan on kic...
Back on Broadway, with James Lapine, Doug Wright and Carol Lipnik
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrating the return of live performance, with Pulitzer Prize-winning theater artists James Lapine—Sondheim-collaborator, director and screenwrite...
Math as Language, with John Sims and Steve Buscemi
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Conceptual artist, producer and activist John Sims on shredding confederate iconography, the power of Pi, quilting with the Amish, being handcuffed in...
The Russians are Coming, with Gary Shteyngart, Sloane Crosley and Nathan Barr
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ringing in the "Old New Year" with literary supernovas Gary Shteyngart (Our Country Friends) and Sloane Crosley, whose forthcoming rom-com thriller, C...
You Belong Here, with Marianne Boruch and Lynn Freed
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of year when many of us give some thought to our roots, our sense of home, where we belong. Travel is fraught, and the strain of the ho...
A Grand Old Dream, with Andrea Elliot
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Success. Fallacy of the one who escaped. The roots of racism and more, with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Andrea Elliott on her new book, Invisible ...
Sanctuary, with Uwem Akpan and Brad Kessler
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Yaddo luminaries Brad Kessler and Uwem Akpan on empathy across boundaries, essential storytelling, the paradox of sanctuary, and the decade it takes t...
Every Real Story is a Ghost Story, with Rufus Collins and Allan Gurganus
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Halloween, yes! Sweater-weather, dog costumes, candy discounts and more. Gather 'round for a good old-fashioned ghost story: Acclaimed actor Rufus Col...
Artist Reunion, with Lauren Groff, Sheila Heti and Sarah Manguso
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When artists get together, conversation flows! Antics, disco, cocktails and more in this week's celebration of our upcoming Yaddo Artist Reunion. Thre...
Beginnings, with Moby, Blair Brown, John Kelly and Dona Ann McAdams
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrating the launch of Season 2 with Moby! We'll take you back to the beginning of Yaddo, with a live performance by director and Tony Award-winnin...
Episode 24: Shorten the Distance Between Laugh Lines
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrating the finale of our first season with two of our favorite humorists and radio stars: Elna Baker, writer, comedian, producer for "This Ameri...
Episode 23: Maps and Legends
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Opera, voyages, battlegrounds and more: Playwright Sandra Seaton on how she came to be a librettist, why she's moved to reimagine the past and how sh...
Episode 22: Real Magic
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Venture behind the scenes for a glimpse of Yaddo magic: Chef and writer Gabrielle Hamilton (Blood, Bones & Butter) in conversation with New York magaz...
Episode 21: See the Light
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With summer in full swing, we consider the triumph of light over dark. The luminous writer Jo Ann Beard discusses her new book, Festival Days, with r...
Episode 20: Change is Like an Ocean
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Routing a racial justice revolution through Hollywood" (The New York Times): Brilliant filmmaker Shaka King, director and co-writer of Judas and the ...
Episode 19: Love of Labor
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Whether it's a creative pursuit, side-hustle or "real" job, work is at the heart of this episode featuring novelists Lisa Dierbeck and Jonathan Ames o...
Episode 18: Family Mystery
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Obsession, motherhood, long-held secrets and more in this week's exploration of family: Kirstin Valdez Quade on her new novel, The Five Wounds, in whi...
Episode 17: Future Forward
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As arts venues reopen (hooray!), we asked two brilliant friends to imagine a new paradigm for concert classical music: Venezuelan/American composer, m...
Episode 16: Nature Noir
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dig into the forensics of a new kind of noir, climate crime, with acclaimed novelist and nonfiction writer Nathaniel Rich, author of Second Nature: Sc...
Episode 15: Full Circle
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Yaddo connections run far and wide! One of these circles is having a red, hot streak in the East Village scene in New York City, where a group of perf...
Episode 14: Spring Fever
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Work hard, play hard, and avoid the "tyranny of the early riser"—stay up late with Shadow // Yaddo! We'll be delving into the '70s, with New York Ti...
Episode 13: Out West
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Time for some Big Sky! We're headed out west with two incredibly talented Yaddo artists: Maxim Loskutoff on rural v. urban, guns, and his new novel, "...
Episode 12: Dare to Fail
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Writer-director Adam Goldman on bootstrapping his way to a TV series, being "a structure queen," and procrastinating with great fervor. Miranda July s...
Episode 11: Invisible Among Us
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed filmmaker Mitch McCabe on her latest feature, "Civil War Surveillance Poems," which began in 2018 as speculative nonfiction about an impendi...
Episode 10: Brave New World
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence, weaponized data and turning STEM into STEAM: Virtuosic mathematician, human rights lawyer and novelist Zia Haider Rahman spea...
Episode 9: Falling Down Is Funny
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dancing turtles, family antics, the joy of libraries and more in this week's episode featuring bestselling humorist David Sedaris in conversation with...
Episode 8: Merry, Merry!
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For our very special holiday edition, we share a few of our favorite things: Allan Gurganus reads "A Fool for Christmas," composer Paul Moravec shares...
Episode 7: Cocktail Attire
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We bring the cocktail party to you: Interdisciplinary artists James Hannaham and Mark King discuss quarantine fashion, architecture and more. The rema...
Episode 6: Reality Dreams
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The brilliant Amitava Kumar ("Immigrant, Montana") talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and novelist Ayad Akhtar, whose new novel "Homeland El...
Episode 5: Back to Basics
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Doughty on his new band, new book and why he always keeps a guitar in his hands. Glendalys Medina shares a performance and discusses the difficul...
Episode 4: Home
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew O'Hagan discusses his "proudly misspent youth" as well as his imaginative landscape and new novel, Mayflies; Gabriel Kahane shares work from hi...
Episode 3: Artists On Animals
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dogs, cats, and the allure goats: How the global crisis has brought us back to the wild, with Brad Kessler and Mary Gaitskill. Contributing artists: J...
Episode 2: How To Live
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sheri Fink on our global pandemic, Rick Moody: Life Coach answers your burning questions, and Victor LaValle talks heroes for this week's theme: How t...
Pilot Episode: Why Yaddo?
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We answer the questions: What exactly is Yaddo, and why does it matter? Contributing artists: Jonathan Ames, Edgar Oliver, Laura Schwendinger, Dean Ha...