On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Keshia Nash-Johnson chats with guest, Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie. They discuss his creation and use of the genre Silkpunk, his writing process, the influences of his writing, and the way his writing engages with his readers. This episode was produced by Michael…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Amalia Mora chats with Lynn Ferguson, a self described "mongrel of the arts," whose career spans TV, radio, film, and stage. They discuss Lynn's work as a writer and storyteller, self-forgiveness as a cure for writer's block, and why creating connection-often through the use of humor-motivates h…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Paula Williamson chats with guest and screenwriter, Angela Harvey. Angela reveals her unconventional path into television writing. She discusses her success in the stories of the supernatural, her exploration of race, religion and politics, and her excitement about the depiction of Black rural l…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Bo Thomas Newman chats with guest Shannon C.F. Rogers, winner of the 2024 APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature and author of the debut YA novel, I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom. In this interview, Shannon discusses her upbringing in Albuquerque, her experience as a playwright…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, host Bo Thomas Newman chats with guest Kimberly King Parsons, author of two works including her recent debut novel, We Were The Universe. In this interview, Kimberly shares her journey as a writer, the differences between crafting short-stories and novels, and how motherhood and psychedelia play a ce…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, Caren McDonald chats with guest Ana Maria Spagna, a writer, teacher, and former backcountry trails worker. They discuss Spagna’s newest book, Pushed: Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre, and the power of reframing narrative and honoring other people’s stories. They also talk about the importanc…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Keshia Nash-Johnson engages author Isabel Yap in a discussion about her breakout short story collection Never Have I Ever. Isabel talks about fanfiction as a sandbox for a writer’s growth, the value of cultural mythology in her stories, monsters and the monstrous parts of humanity, death and its…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Thomas Huisking chats with screenwriter Hanz Wasserburger. Hanz discusses his journey from lawyer (assistant attorney general in the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division) to screenwriter (A Tale of Two Coreys, Second Impression). This interview was conducted shortly after the 2023 Writers Guild of Amer…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Jessica Chisum chats with guest Gayle Brandeis about her latest book Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss (2023). Gayle discusses her favorite childhood authors, why writers are afraid to write about illness, what it means to write a "bonus book," and her new "novel in multivers…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit host Thomas Huisking talks to screenwriter Ross Brown about his journey from second assistant director to television writer to executive producer and creator of three different network shows. If you remember Webster, The Facts of Life, and Step By Step, among others, you’re in for a treat! This interv…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program's LitCit, Ian Rodriguez chats with guest Iwalani Kim an associate agent at Sanford J. Greenberger Associates. They discuss what makes a story moving and Iwalani's pathway from slam poetry to becoming an agent, giving her fresh insights. They also talk about how works have literary value with evocative characte…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Diana Hardy chats with guest Kavita Das. Kavita Das discusses writing for social change in her book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues. Das explores the importance of representation and the barriers she faced while writing Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar,…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Kevin Cummins chats with guest Toni Ann Johnson: playwright, screenwriter, and author of five books including her most recent, Light Skin Gone to Waste. In this interview, Toni Ann shares stories of her New York upbringing, discusses how race and lightness intersect, and tells us why she values …

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Michelle Yee chats with guest Vanessa Hua, author of three books including her most recent, Forbidden City. In this interview, Vanessa shares stories about her beginnings as a writer, why she went back to school for an MFA, and how Forbidden City took fourteen years to become published. This epi…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Irvina Kanarek chats with guest Toni Jensen about her Memoir, Carry (2020) which includes her personal experiences with gun violence, domestic violence, and living as a white-presenting indigenous person. Jensen also shares her thoughts about combating racism in the classroom, what it truly mean…

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Maggie Lam chats with guest Diana Khoi Nguyen about their beginnings as a poet, philosophies in teaching, and techniques used in creating their debut poetry collection Ghost Of. Diana reads “Triptych” and shares stories and tips around self-care when writing about trauma and grief. This episode …

On this episode of Antioch MFA Program’s LitCit, host Mikaela Ryan chats with guest Ellen O’Connell Whittet, who is the author of the memoir What You Become in Flight (2020), and a co-host of the podcast, Good Moms on Paper. Mikaela and Ellen discuss unlearning childhood lessons about the body and femininity, studying with Jo Ann Beard, honing the …

Host Michael Sedillo talks to young adult author Aminah Mae Safi about her newest novel, Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix (2022), a combination of historical fiction about the Third Crusades and a retelling of Robin Hood. Aminah discusses identity, representation, diversity in literature, and her life as a writer. This episode was produc…

Host Diana Hardy talks to author Shruti Swamy about her short story collection, A House Is A Body (2020), and novel, The Archer (2021). Shruti Swamy discusses her experience launching two books back-to-back during the pandemic, motherhood and creativity, punctuation, her influences, and what she's working on now. This episode was produced by Samant…

Host Samantha Rahmani speaks with Parrish Turner, an editorial assistant at HarperCollins and proud member of the HarperCollins Union, about the recent HarperCollins Union strike. As of the date of this episode’s release, the union and HarperCollins have reached an agreement, and union members returned to work on February 21st. Check out HarperColl…

Host Michael Sedillo talks to author Gudalupe García McCall about her speculative 2022 YA novel, Echos of Grace. Gudalupe García McCall discusses representation of Latinx youth in YA literature, culture, family, teaching young people, writing speculative fiction, and her forthcoming collaboration with David Bowles, Secret of the Moon Conch. This ep…

Host Diane Gottlieb discusses Janet Rodriguez’s memoir Making an American Family: A Recipe in Five Generations. Rodriguez discusses the mixed-race experience, matriarchs, memoir as legacy, and the importance of telling our most necessary stories. This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and mastered by Michaela Emerson.…

​​Host Kenzy El-Mohandes speaks with author Nikki Darling about her 2018 novel, Fade into You, and her forthcoming books–a collection of essays and poetry called The Call is Coming from Inside the House, and a horror novel set in mid-century Los Angeles called Dark Blue Manner. Darling discusses new narrative, growing up in Los Angeles, fandom, obs…

Host Maggie Lam engages poet Paul Tran in a discussion about the intentionalities behind writing about trauma, their process of self-inquiry as poetic investigation, and what freedom / survival means to them. Paul shares stories from their roots in spoken word poetry, anecdotes of being in community with queer poets of color, and lessons passed dow…

Host Samantha Rahmani speaks with author Mitali Perkins about her book Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children’s Novels to Refresh Our Tired Souls, a study of classic children’s literature. Perkins discusses her journey as a children’s author, the need for multistoried experiences for children, the navigation of problematic and harmful works with you…

Host Lee Takemoto speaks with author Victoria Patterson about her story collection, Drift, the sinister side of growing up in Newport Beach, teaching, journaling, activism, and the green flash that sometimes occurs at sunset. Episode mastered by Kenzy El-Mohandes.Oleh Lee Takemoto Salo

Host Julie Sugar speaks with translator and poet Dan Bellm about his translation of Balam Rodrigo’s Central American Book of the Dead, forthcoming from FlowerSong Press this summer 2022. Bellm discusses teaching the Art of Translation course at Antioch, his work as an interpreter, and experiences as a poet and translator. Bellm reads his translatio…

Host Kenzy El-Mohandes speaks with author Anna Dorn about her forthcoming novel, Exalted. Dorn discusses her character development process, vulnerability, projection, and her works of poetry. This episode was produced by Samantha Rahmani and mastered by Kenzy El-Mohandes.Oleh Kenzy El-Mohandes

Host Samantha Rahmani speaks with author Crystal Hana Kim about her novel If You Leave Me. Kim discusses polyphonic stories, writing character, research in historical fiction, audience and representation,and intergenerational narratives of trauma and hope. This episode was mastered by Samantha Rahmani.…

Host Barbara Platts chats with Chris Feliciano Arnold about his book The Third Bank of the River. Arnold talks about his travel and research for the book, as well as teaching and the writing life. This episode was produced and mastered by Kenzy El-Mohandes.Oleh Barbara Platts

Lee Takemoto sits down with Jenny Qi as they talk about her new book of poetry, Focal Point. Qi discusses poetry, science and how writing contained the grief of losing her mother. The episode was produced by Kevin Cummins and mastered by Lee Takemoto.Oleh Lee Takemoto

Host Lisa Locascio Nighthawk chats with novelist Mary Gaitskill about her latest book The Devil’s Treasure. Gaitskill discusses the devil, defamiliarization and the feeling of dislocation, the writing process, writing programs, and the qualities that make a true writer. This episode was produced by Amy Klipstine and mastered by Samantha Rahmani.…

Host Ahsan Butt in conversation with guest Farah Ali about Karachi, Pakistan as home, estrangement as a fundamental human condition, avoiding sentimentality on the page, and getting to the “why behind the why” of her complicated characters. Ali reads passages from “Loved Ones,” a short story from her debut collection People Want to Live.…

Host Kevin Cummins engages author Anne Liu Kellor about her path to publishing Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging, her memoir about a bilingual, mixed-race American woman’s three-year sojourn in China, the country of her mother’s birth. The writers discuss racial identity, free-writing, and silence. This episode was produced …

Host Louise Rozett engages children’s author Lauren Tarshis in a discussion about her path to publishing the popular I Survived series, the need to develop children as readers, research rapture, and constrained timelines when writing creative nonfiction. This episode was produced and mastered by Amy Mills Klipstine, Kevin Cummins, and Lee Takemoto …

Host Julie Sugar leads guest Sharman Apt Russell in a discussion about her latest book, Within Our Grasp, and the push to end childhood malnutrition, the use of metafiction, and finding satisfaction in your writing life. This episode was produced and mastered by Julie Sugar and Amy Mills KlipstineOleh Julie Sugar

Host Yamini Pathak engages poet Jaswinder Bolina in a discussion about writing as a person of color, adopting a persona, and the freedom of poetry. Bolina reads from his essay “Writing Like a White Guy” and his poems “Supremacy” and “Station.” This episode was produced and mastered by Amy Mills Klipstine.…

Host Mair Allen chats with poet Sally Wen Mao about her essay High-Rise Syndrome published in The Believer magazine, temporality and the self portrait, and poetry as a refusal of silencing. Mao reads her poem Batshit featured in the anthology Together in a Sudden Strangeness (ed. Alice Quinn). Part 2 of 2. This episode was produced by Amy Mills Kli…

Host Mair Allen chats with poet Sally Wen Mao about her collection Oculus, the politics of recognition and consumption of the self, the hustle of the poetry life, and art as collaboration and protest. Mao reads Anna May Wong Goes Viral from Oculus. Part 1 of 2. This episode was produced by Amy Mills Klipstine and mastered by Samantha Rahmani. Graph…

Host Lisa Locascio chats with writer and psychotherapist Wendy C. Ortiz about her books Excavation: A Memoir and Hollywood Notebook, as well as some of her personal essays, her experiences as an alumni of the Antioch MFA program, the practice of writing, writing about the self, her relationship with the City of Los Angeles, and how astrology weaves…

Host Samantha Rahmani and author Megan Giddings discuss her debut novel Lakewood and its grappling with the American healthcare system, medical experimentation, race, trust, and friendship. Giddings also talks about editorial experiences, the transition from writing short stories to a novel, the concept of certainty in fiction, genre in the modern …

Host Lisa Locascio chats with writer Francesca Lia Block about her latest novel House of Hearts, her long, successful career in writing, going back to school to get her MFA, what she loves about teaching creative writing, the long afterlife of books, and themes in her writing like climate change, self-harm, eating disorders, and delicious food. Thi…

Sarah Haas engages writer and mentor Sarah Manguso in a discussion about the need to write, concision and omission in regards to social justice, and Manguso’s forthcoming book Very Cold People. This episode was produced and mastered by Amy Mills Klipstine with graphic design by Lisa Croce.Oleh Sarah Haas

Host Lisa Locascio and guest Melissa Broder discuss disordered eating and desire in her new novel Milk Fed, along with love and death in The Pisces, her works of poetry and prose, her podcast eating alone in my car, writing in motion, and publicity and promotion. Broder reads a passage from Milk Fed and the poem My Own Nothing featured in Superdoom…

Host Antoinette Wiley leads award-winning author Tananarive Due in a discussion about her upcoming novel The Reformatory, the allure of horror, recognizing Black trauma, using fiction to repair harm, and the value of honing short fiction skills. This episode was produced and mastered by Amy Mills Klipstine with graphic design by Lisa Croce.…

Host Lisa Croce engages author Naima Coster in conversation about her New York Times bestselling novel, What’s Mine And Yours. Coster discusses inspiration, craft, and themes of integration and gentrification in her novel. Episode produced and mastered by Samantha Rahmani. Graphic design by Lisa Croce.…

Host Victoria Chang in discussion with poet Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo about the publication journey of her first book, Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge, poetry as witness from her time at the border with No More Deaths, and the influence and importance of family and community. Bermejo reads “Upon Celebrating America’s Birthday,” “The Story of t…

Host Barbara Platts chats with writer, publisher, and software developer Lise Quintana about her eclectic range of experience in the publishing world, working as the editor-in-chief of Lunch Ticket, Antioch MFA’s literary journal, launching Zoetic Press and its award-winning journal NonBinary Review, and inventing the e-reader software Lithomobilus…

Host Victoria Chang and guest Laura Buccieri discuss Laura's dual roles of publicist and poet, wearing different hats in the literary world, gender in language, and staying creative. Laura reads her poem “St. Rays” published in Apogee. Part 2 of 2. This episode was produced and mastered by Amy Mills Klipstine.…

Host Victoria Chang and guest Laura Buccieri, Director of Publicity at Copper Canyon Press, discuss the life of a literary publicist: strategies for gaining reviews, managing author expectations, discovering the story of a book, the longevity of poetry, and Laura’s commitment that every book gets heard. Part 1 of 2. This episode was produced and ma…