TK with James Scott: A Writing, Reading, & Books Podcast

Satire can be the last, best way to critique difficult topics, and Ryan Chapman's blistering novel, RIOTS I HAVE KNOWN, takes on, among other things, incarceration, literature's standing in the cultu…

With the long road of a novel ahead of her, Julia Phillips mined her obsessions, and based her debut, DISAPPEARING EARTH, on her love of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and her desire to portray the eff…

The dazzling, drunken, dirty (in an elegant, literary way) debut by Chip Cheek, CAPE MAY, is the result of a feverish writing spree and a measured revision process. Old friends Chip and James discuss…

At first, she wrote essays as a distraction from her fiction, but over time, Grace Talusan felt the pull of the experiences that would form the foundation of her memoir, THE BODY PAPERS. From immigra…

Back in episode 47, Whitney Scharer discussed the incredible sale of her debut, THE AGE OF LIGHT, and now, she and James discuss the actual novel, which depicts the relationship between Lee Miller an…

In our final episode of our Sewanee Writers' Conference series recorded in the summer of 2018, James is joined by Christine Schutt, one of our greatest authors, to discuss her career from FLORIDA to …

The third in a series of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in the summer of 2018 finds James sitting down with Randall Kenan, who talks about the books that made him feel less…

In the second in a series of conversations recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in the summer of 2018, James spoke to three people from the world of playwriting: old friend and playwright Dan …

In the first in a series of Sewanee Writers' Conversations, recorded at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in July 2018, James sat down with poet Maurice Manning to talk about his latest collection, ONE…

Lydia Kiesling tricked herself into writing a novel by starting with small vignettes about her feelings as a new parent and setting them in a northern California that's rarely explored in literature.…

The realization that distance will always be present in even the most connected of people is one of the recurring themes in Rita Bullwinkel's spectacular debut story collection, BELLY UP (out now fro…

Daniel Torday makes a triumphant return to talk about his new novel, BOOMER1. He and James chat about creating the world around the book, reinventing like Dylan, aspiring to anti-lyricism, and gettin…

Laura van den Berg returns to discuss her brilliantly unsettling new novel, THE THIRD HOTEL. She and James discuss her three research trips to Havana, film adaptations, women in horror, crucial detai…

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 abo…

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. …

Though SOUTHERNMOST, the story of preacher Asher Sharp, took a while to take shape, it's a tale Silas House was born to tell. He and James discuss writing about LGBTQ issues, finding the right angle …

In the most clarifying conversation James has had about the process of learning to be a writer, Sarah Ann Strickley discusses her story collection, FALL TOGETHER, as well as the dangers of the Muse, …

Despite their easy descriptions-- a book about small town baseball, a memoir of grief and addiction, a discussion of reality television-- Lucas Mann's books are unlike anything else, with each page r…

In her debut novel, THE ENSEMBLE, Aja Gabel beautifully captures the shifting dynamics of a string quartet. She and James talk about boxing, prodigies, losing yourself in art, and capturing joy versu…

Of all the terrible just-out-of-college jobs that have been described on TK, Julia Fine probably had the worst. Later, she ended up leaving a good position to pursue an MFA, and the result is WHAT SH…