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Jun 29, 2016

Max Porter is the guest. His debut novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, is the official June pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club.  Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, it is available now from Graywolf Press.

Max and I spoke by telephone. He was at home in London. It was nighttime for him. I was here in Los...


Jun 22, 2016

Viet Thanh Nguyen is the guest. His debut novel, The Sympathizer, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. It is available now from Grove Press.

I want to say that Viet is the first Pulitzer winner ever to appear on the program. I could be wrong. (Am I forgetting someone?) I read The Sympathizer earlier this...


Jun 15, 2016

Stephen Elliott is the guest. He is the founding editor of The Rumpus, the author of seven books, and the director of three films. His latest film, After Adderall, will be premiering at the Rumpus Lo-Fi Los Angeles Film Festival on July 30th.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to meet Stephen Elliott. He just moved...


Jun 8, 2016

Claire Hoffman is the guest. Her new memoir, Greetings from Utopia Park, is available now from Harper Books. 

Claire is a friend of mine here in Los Angeles. She grew up in Fairfield, Iowa in an intentional community founded by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi, for the uninitiated, was a spiritual guru and the...


Jun 1, 2016

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is the guest. Her debut novel, The Nest, is available now from Ecco Books. 

Cynthia is living the dream. Or at least one kind of dream. It's a common dream: write novel, sell novel for big advance, watch as novel becomes New York Times bestseller, do media tour for novel, feel somewhat weird and...