The Lives of Writers

Michael talks with Kevin Sampsell about his work at Powell's, the story of Future Tense Books, getting into books at 21, stumbling on a memoir, getting into collage after publishing a novel, I MADE A…

Michael talks with Siân Griffiths about her horse (Larry), riding, coming of age as a writer in denial, finishing a novel and grad school as a new mother, starting her essay collection THE SUM OF HER…

Michael talks with Keely Shinners about Cape Town, writing about the arts, their path to becoming a novelist, How to Build a Home for the End of the World (Perennial Press), world building, autobiogr…

Michael talks with Robert Vaughan about the creation of Bending Genres, reading and writing with dyslexia, almost becoming a musician, finding book publishers from public readings, his sixth book ASK…

Michael talks to Marisa Siegel about her time as owner/eic of The Rumpus, poetry as a thread through her life, writing and editing FIXED STARS (Burrow Press, 2022), writing the personal in poetry vs …

Michael talks with Emily Costa about the making of UNTIL IT FEELS RIGHT, turning a diary into a book, OCD, performing in therapy, intensive CBT, reasons to make the private public, timeliness, a nove…

Michael talks with Jennifer Wortman about reading as a disaffected teen, becoming a fiction writer, her story collection THIS. THIS. THIS. IS. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE., self-conscious narrators, theme appea…

Michael talks with Erin Slaughter about her journey to finding community as a writer, figuring out a balance between disclosure and dignity in poetry, THE SORROW FESTIVAL (Clash Books, 2022), writing…

Michael talks with Sara Lippmann about running, palpable honesty, the reissue of DOLL HOUSE (2014), the new collection JERKS (Mason Jar Press), the gaps in a person and the gaps between people, entra…

Michael talks with David Shields about THE VERY LAST INTERVIEW, the consequence of choosing art over life, the link between humor and hopelessness, the plots underneath his collage or "plotless" work…

Michael talks with Brad Listi about starting The Nervous Breakdown, developing the Otherppl podcast, his co-authored literary collage BOARD, his new autofiction novel BE BRIEF AND TELL THEM EVERYTHIN…

Michael talks with Amy Barnes about her life of writing, the influence of fairy tales, literalizing metaphor, the flash fiction form, her collection AMRBOTYPES (Word West Press), the ways in which th…

Michael talks with Susannah Q. Pratt about convincing her family to attempt not buying new things for a year, feeling overwhelmed by objects in the home, the commerce systems that wrap into our lives…

Guest host Mike Nagel talks with Graham Irvin about donating sperm, getting into reading and writing in high school, the influence of Burroughs and Brautigan, his first book LIVER MUSH (Back Patio Pr…

Michael talks with Mike Ingram about co-founding Barrelhouse, co-hosting the Book Fight podcast, attention, the evolution of his creative nonfiction book NOTES FROM THE ROAD, a novel in progress, the…

Michael talks with Scott Mitchel May about moving back to the midwest, working as political staffer, writing novels as practice to write more novels, The World According to Garp, his first story coll…

Michael talks with Sara Rauch about the imaginative properties of creative nonfiction, writing into questions without answers, writing about affairs and heartbreak, the making of the second Autofocus…

Michael talks with Shane Kowalski about working at the post office, reading tastes changing, keeping a daily fiction blog for ten years, his collection of fiction SMALL MOODS, writing weird stuff in …

Michael talks with Cynthia Arrieu-King about filling blank books as a kid, quilting, her creative nonfiction book THE BETWEENS, writing about race, taking breaks, collaging anecdotes on a theme, and …

Michael talks with DeMisty Bellinger about learning to read early, taking the love of a literature to a phD, the development of her forthcoming novel NEW TO LIBERTY, her poetry collection PECULIAR HE…