Chris and James go through Chris’s life from set maker and creator of latex fish to author of the brilliant GOLDEN DELICIOUS and HOW TO KEEP YOUR VOLKSWAGEN ALIVE. They talk about how writers want to hear from you, how random kindnesses led to their careers, and how Chris came upon his writing style. Then, Kim Liao discusses her essay “Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year,” which was published on lithub.com.

CHRIS AND JAMES DISCUSS:

Powell’s Books

Kevin Sampsell

Boris Vian

JESUS’ SON by Denis Johnson

HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson

TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA by Richard Brautigan

THE FAERIE QUEENE by Edmund Spenser

Sam Shepard

Harold Pinter

Caryl Churchill

Spalding Gray

A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dixon

BIG RIVER: THE ADVENTURE OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Roger Miller

Geoffrey Wolff

Tobias Wolff

Jayne Anne Phillips

Margot Livesey

Junot Diaz

George Saunders

CIVILWARLAND IN BAD DECLINE by George Saunders

DOGWALKER by Arthur Bradford

Andre Dubus

Andre Dubus III

Arielle Greenberg

Mary Caponegro

Cheryl Strayed

Salvador Plascencia

100 YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace

 

KIM AND JAMES DISCUSS:

Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

Slice Literary Conference

AWP Conference

Kevin Larimer

POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE

Lithub

Black Lawrence Press

Vermont Studio Center

Mark Powell pulls double duty to talk about both writing (as the author of four novels, most recently, THE SHELTERING) and MFA programs (he helped start the program at Stetson University). They chat about Mark’s circuitous route to writing from his childhood in South Carolina to his time in divinity school to his slow realization that he needed to write about his own life.