Month: August 2018

Caleb Johnson claims he could score nine points in an NBA Finals game. Other fictions he’s spun include his fantastic debut novel, TREEBORNE, which is set in his native Alabama. He and James talk about staying true to the storytelling tradition, writing in dialect, giving characters autonomy, and reading the right book at the right time. Then, Justin Jannise, editor of GULF COAST: A JOURNAL OF LITERATURE AND FINE ARTS.

Caleb Johnson 

Caleb and James discuss:

Sewanee Writers’ Conference

Robbie!

Alabama Booksmith

Jake Reiss

University of Wyoming

Hernando de Soto

Chilton Country, Alabama

University of Alabama

Rick Bragg

THE SELMA-TIMES JOURNAL

DIRTY WORK by Larry Brown

Barry Hannah

Cormac McCarthy

William Gay

Daniel Woodrell

BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES

THE MARS ROOM by Rachel Kushner

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

William Faulkner

Lewis Nordan

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

TRAIN DREAMS by Denis Johnson

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Justin Jannise of Gulf Coast

Justin and James discuss:

The University of Houston

“The Figure a Poem Makes” by Robert Frost

TREEBORNE by Caleb Johnson

Donald Barthelme

REDIVIDER

“The Bear” by William Faulkner

Phillip Lopate

The grief over the sudden death of his wife Joy compelled novelist Jonathan Santlofer to begin writing, and those scribbled thoughts and memories became his beautiful memoir, THE WIDOWER’S NOTEBOOK. He and James discuss losing the first person you want to share stories with, not letting yourself off the hook, falling in love with a cat, relying on process, and, ultimately, refusing to live in the shadows. Plus, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich on the response to their book, THE FACT OF A BODY.

Jonathan Santlofer

Jonathan and James discuss:

SALON

PEOPLE

Yaddo

FOOD CITY: FOUR CENTURIES OF FOOD-MAKING IN NEW YORK by Joy Santlofer and Marion Nestle

Norton

New York University Faculty Club

Tom’s Bakery

Brooklyn Brine

Malaprop’s Bookstore

RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS by Beverly Donofrio

Lee Child

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky

LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov

AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser

THE ICEBERG by Marion Coutts

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

IN A DARK WOOD by Joseph Luzzi

“Experience” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion

H IS FOR HAWK by Helen Macdonald

Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

Alexandria and James Discuss: 

“On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character” by Philip Lopate

Jonathan Santlofer

Lauren Groff

“By the Book” from THE NEW YORK TIMES