Skylight Books Podcast Series
1,625 episodes - English - Latest episode: 22 days ago - ★★★★★ - 15 ratingsEnjoy recent author events, interviews, and bookseller series. Visit our website to learn more: www.skylightbooks.com
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Episodes
Better Than the Movie 13: MONEYBALL w/ Michael Chin
March 28, 2024 07:01 - 1 hour - 101 MBHappy Opening Day! And coincidentally, Tyler has selected a baseball classic for his birthday pick: Michael Lewis's MONEYBALL: THE ART OF WINNING AN UNFAIR GAME and the Oscar-nominated film adaptation co-written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Bennett Miller. How did they turn those stats into a movie!?! Guest Michael Chin (Great Wave Goods) helps break down the differences between page and screen. Hosted by Tyler Austin, Allan Traylor, and Justin Remer. Produced by Justin Remer. Recorde...
Better Than the Movie 12: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY w/ Emily VanKoughnett
February 29, 2024 08:01 - 1 hour - 108 MBHow's the peepin', Tommy? Netflix's RIPLEY series is still more than a month away from dropping, but guest Emily VanKoughnett (Los Angeles Review of Books; LIT ANGELES) joins the BTTM crew to discuss Patricia Highsmith's classic murder story from 1955, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, and the 1999 film adaptation from writer-director Anthony Minghella, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow... and the incomparable Philip Seymour Hoffman. TOMMY! (There's a little chat about 1960's PURPLE NOON...
SKYLIT: Tommy Orange, WANDERING STARS
February 22, 2024 18:30 - 36 minutes - 49.7 MBIt's a sneak peek special! Skylight's own Elodie sits down with the incredible Tommy Orange (There, There) to talk about his new novel Wandering Stars (Feb. 27)...listen in for a reading of an excerpt, Tommy's thoughts on Native American representation and why he's hopeful for the future. To pre-order Wandering Stars: https://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780593318256 Edited by Mick Kowaleski Music by Duck the Piano Wire
SKYLIT: Eric Wolfson, FIFTY YEARS OF THE CONCEPT ALBUM IN POPULAR MUSIC
February 08, 2024 08:01 - 1 hour - 92.5 MBFrom The Beatles to Beyoncé! Author Eric Wolfson discusses his new book on the shifting identity of the concept album in rock, pop, and hip-hop music with bookseller (and, yes, friend) Justin Remer. The book breaks down 25 albums across five eras, and Eric and Justin get into many of them here. A great chat for veteran music nerds and new fans alike. Produced by Justin Remer. Recorded at LAPL Octavia Lab. Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire. Closing music: "R...
SKYLIT: Will Harris, SURELY YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS
February 06, 2024 17:50 - 1 hour - 89.8 MBI am serious. And don't call me Shirley. Resident film buff Tyler Austin sits down with Will Harris, pop culture journalist, to discuss the interviews that comprise Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! Together, they discuss some of Will's favorite interviews and some truly great behind-the-scenes scoops from one of the greatest comedies of all time. ------------------------------------------------------------ Produced by Tyler Austin and Mick Kowaleski. Music b...
Better Than the Movie 11: NIGHTBREED / CABAL w/ Garon Cockrell
January 25, 2024 08:05 - 1 hour - 103 MBHappy New Year! BTTM is back for 2024 with a birthday pick from Allan: Clive Barker's NIGHTBREED, based on the horror novella CABAL by Barker himself! Tyler is the opposite of a gorehound, so he is really mad at Allan for making this pick. Our guest is the delightful -- and delighted -- Garon Cockrell (of the podcasts Never Not Funny and How to Survive with Danielle and Kristine). Hosted by Tyler Austin, Justin Remer, and Allan Traylor. Produced by Justin Remer. Recorded at the LAPL Octav...
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 10: THE THIN MAN w/ Jen Johans
December 21, 2023 08:05 - 58 minutes - 79.7 MBYou go after him, and you'll find his shadow - or his song - and you'll have to go home. There'll never be another: THIN MAN! Jen Johans (Watch With Jen podcast) joins the Better Than the Movie crew for a holiday classic (of sorts). It's the William Powell and Myrna Loy comic mystery that launched a 6-film series, THE THIN MAN, directed by W.S. Van Dyke, with a script by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the novel by the great Dashiell Hammett. This is Nick and Nora, and NO infin...
SKYLIT: Rosecrans Baldwin, EVERYTHING NOW
December 07, 2023 19:29 - 38 minutes - 52.5 MBSkylight royalty Rosecrans Baldwin joins Elodie to talk about his Los Angeles classic Everything Now. He talks about what makes L.A. a city-state, what makes it such a beautiful and conflicting place to be, and his three quintessential L.A. reads! (Spoilers below!) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Produced by Elodie Saint-Louis and Mick Kowaleski Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" ...
SKYLIT: Kliph Nesteroff, OUTRAGEOUS: A HISTORY OF SHOWBIZ & THE CULTURE WARS
November 30, 2023 08:05 - 1 hour - 90.9 MBGet ready for a serious discussion of a funny book! Kliph Nesteroff's OUTRAGEOUS is the author's third investigation into the world of comedy, following THE COMEDIANS and WE HAD A LITTLE REAL ESTATE PROBLEM. While pundits may posit that you can't joke about anything anymore, Nesteroff's history shows that comic entertainment has been the frequent target of outrage for the better part of two centuries. In this discussion with Tyler Austin, Nesteroff digs into the political influences that hav...
SKYLIT: Charles Bramesco, COLORS OF FILM: THE STORY OF CINEMA IN 50 PALETTES
November 23, 2023 08:05 - 47 minutes - 37 MBHello listeners! On this episode Tyler talks to film and television critic Charles Bramesco about his book, "Colors of Film: The Story of Cinema in 50 Palettes" Produced by Tyler Austin & Alena Saunders Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 9: PRISCILLA / ELVIS AND ME w/ Collin Jonkman
November 16, 2023 08:03 - 1 hour - 116 MBA fairy tale romance or blatant child abuse? Today, the BTTM crew tackles another nonfiction film adaptation, Sofia Coppola's PRISCILLA, taken from the memoir ELVIS AND ME by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and Sandra Harmon. Musician and educator Collin Jonkman helps assess the grandeur of Coppola's filmmaking, the quality of Presley's prose, and the toxicity of what could be described as a "May-February romance." Collin, Allan, Tyler, and Justin also discuss the pitfalls of music memoirs and bi...
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 8: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON w/ David Kimbel
October 26, 2023 07:05 - 1 hour - 128 MBTime to investigate! It's the BTTM crew's first dissection of a nonfiction adaptation: the new Martin Scorsese film, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, which is based on the book by David Grann. Fellow bookseller David Kimbel joins the core trio of Justin Remer, Allan Traylor, and Tyler Austin in their analysis of these two related retellings of the bloody Reign of Terror which targeted the wealthy Osage Indian population of Oklahoma in the 1920s. Other essential works of true crime and nonfiction ...
Better Than the Movie Halloween Special: GOOSEBUMPS
October 19, 2023 07:05 - 1 hour - 97.2 MBTrick or treat! Allan Traylor, Tyler Austin, and Justin Remer take a spooky stroll down memory lane, exploring the world of the kiddie horror book series GOOSEBUMPS by R.L. Stine. Allan is the (relative) expert of the group, so he assigns titles for Tyler and Justin to read. He also springs a GOOSEBUMPS title trivia game on the other two. All three fellas watch the 2015 film and... they have some notes. This was recorded before the new Disney/Hulu series was released, but the BTTM crew tal...
SKYLIT: James Park, CHILI CRISP
October 12, 2023 07:09 - 48 minutes - 44.8 MBHello listeners! On this episode Tyler talks to James Park, food writer and author of the new cookbook "Chili Crisp: 50+ Recipes to Satisfy Your Spicy, Crunchy, Garlicky Cravings" about all things-- you guessed it-- chili crisp. Produced by Tyler Austin & Alena Saunders Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 7: A HAUNTING IN VENICE / HALLOWE’EN PARTY w/ Natalie Freeman and Allison Smith
September 28, 2023 07:05 - 1 hour - 120 MBIt's spooky season, and our LITTLE GREY CELLS are HAUNTED! Former Skylight booksellers Natalie Freeman and Allison Miriam Smith return to the store to join Allan, Tyler, and Justin for the Better Than the Movie crew's most rambunctious (and, let's admit it, CHAOTIC) episode yet. This fulsome fivesome discuss Kenneth Branagh's third movie outing as detective Hercule Poirot, A HAUNTING IN VENICE, and its credited source material, HALLOWE'EN PARTY by Agatha Christie, which is a completely dif...
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 6: MISERY w/ Mark Rennie
August 24, 2023 07:05 - 1 hour - 97.4 MBShe's his number one fan. The hilarious and well-read Mark Rennie (TWO OLD QUEENS podcast) joins a reduced BTTM crew to discuss MISERY, the Stephen King novel and the Oscar-winning film from screenwriter William Goldman and director Rob Reiner. (And cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld!!) With a new documentary about King adaptations out in theaters, KING ON SCREEN, the fellas also discuss some other King faves on page and screen. Produced by Justin Remer and Mick Kowaleski. Opening music: "Op...
SKYLIT: Elliott Kalan, MANIAC OF NEW YORK
August 10, 2023 23:47 - 1 hour - 59.8 MBHello listeners! In this episode, Tyler chats with Elliott Kalan, co-host of wildly successful bad movie podcast The Flop House, Emmy Award winning head writer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the creative force behind the comics MANIAC OF NEW YORK and MANIAC OF NEW YORK: THE BRONX IS BURNING. Elliott discusses his earliest inspirations for Maniac Harry, a masked and immortal killer, whose murderous rampages become a semi-regular occurrence/nuisance to New Yorkers, his rules of sati...
SKYLIT: Warren Zanes, DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE
July 28, 2023 01:38 - 1 hour - 93.7 MBCalling all fans of The Boss! In this episode, Tyler Austin sits down with Warren Zanes, writer of Petty: The Biography, Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis (33 1/3), and, most recently, Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. Tyler and Warren talk about Bruce’s seminal album, the singular vision necessary to create its distinct sound, and the lead up to/aftermath of the release. Warren goes into detail about why most albums don’t deserve a full book, what it’...
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 5: JAWS w/ Kristen Lopez
July 20, 2023 07:05 - 1 hour - 98.2 MBJust when you thought it was safe to download a podcast... The BTTM fellas are back to talk JAWS with film writer and podcaster Kristen Lopez (who discussed her book about 52 classic film adaptations BUT HAVE YOU READ THE BOOK? on a recent Skylit episode). Steven Spielberg's film has become an American classic, but what about Peter Benchley's original novel? It's got more sex, more mafia enforcers, and more small town economic hardship -- but is it better than the movie? Produced by Just...
SKYLIT: Artem Mozgovoy, SPRING IN SIBERIA
July 13, 2023 22:07 - 54 minutes - 75.3 MBArtem Mozgovoy discusses his debut novel, Spring in Siberia, with the managing editor of Red Hen Press, Dr. Kate Gale. The work has been praised by Publishers Weekly as a "superb debut", "touching and well written, genuinely compelling and convincing" by Sir Stephen Fry, and "a capacious work of vision, courage, and thoroughness" by Ocean Vuong. Artem takes Kate through his childhood in central Siberia, his career starting as a cadet reporter at 16 and the editor-in-chief by 26, and, event...
SKYLIT: Millie De Chirico & Quatoyiah Murray, TCM UNDERGROUND
July 06, 2023 20:35 - 50 minutes - 68.8 MBCinephiles, tune in! In this episode, Tyler Austin hosts Millie De Chirico and Quatoyiah Murray, co-writers of TCM Underground, a movie-lover's guide to 50 of the most campy, kitschy, shocking, and weirdly wonderful cult films you need to see. Millie and Quatoyiah take the Ty-Guy through the cult classics of the Turner Classic Movie series, and discuss everything from writing with a partner to buying Salo DVDs from the Italian Dark Web. Produced by Tyler Austin and Mick Kowaleski Music by...
SKYLIT: Charles Ardai of Hard Case Crime
June 29, 2023 17:21 - 1 hour - 88 MBListen here, gumshoes and femme fatales, we’re gonna give you the straight story on the QT and very hush hush. Skylight’s own torpedo, Tyler, tangles with Charles Ardai, mystery writer and founder of Hard Case Crime, a publishing imprint re-releasing classics of the pulp underworld and modern takes on the time-tested genre. Charles spills the beans about his journey into the publishing world, what it’s like to meet and work with your literary heroes, how he writes his own fiction, and when h...
SKYLIT: Alex Pappademas, QUANTUM CRIMINALS
May 26, 2023 15:52 - 1 hour - 113 MBFire in the hole! Any major dude will tell you that this podcast is a hit. Were you thinking of skipping? Only a fool would say that! That's pretzel logic. On this episode, we host king of the world Alex Pappademas as he discusses his new Steely Dan book QUANTUM CRIMINALS with the razor boy himself, Tyler Austin. Hop in your midnite cruiser, turn that heartbeat over again, and hang with Alex as he discusses doing the dirty work with illustrator Joan Lemay and everything and anything Steely!...
Better Than the Movie, Ep.4: ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET
May 18, 2023 07:05 - 1 hour - 91.4 MBIt's Three Men and a Little Lady! Allan, Justin, and Tyler tackle the long-delayed feature film adaptation of the iconic "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" by legendary children's author Judy Blume. The flick has got a great creative team, including director Kelly Fremon Craig ("The Edge of Seventeen") and Oscar-winning producer James L. Brooks ("Terms of Endearment"). The BTTM fellas talk coming-of-age stories, Rachel McAdams's Oscar chances, Benny Safdie's unexpected suavity, Kathy Bat...
SKYLIT: Kristen Lopez, ”But Have You Read the Book?”
May 11, 2023 18:29 - 43 minutes - 59.9 MBOne-third of the Better Than the Movie gang, Tyler Austin, sits down with Kristen Lopez to talk about her book of 52 essential page-to-film adaptations. In But Have You Read the Book?, presented by Turner Classic Movies, Lopez explores just what makes these works classics of both the page and screen, and why each made for an exceptional adaptation—whether faithful to the book or exemplifying cinematic creative license. Produced by Mick Kowaleski and Tyler Austin Music by Duck the Piano W...
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 3: THE SISTERS BROTHERS w/ Alena Saunders
April 20, 2023 17:50 - 1 hour - 94.5 MBIt's Guest O'Clock, pardners! Skylight's own Alena Saunders (of LIT ANGELES fame) drops in to the back room to talk about one of her favorite books, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, and its 2018 film adaptation directed by Jacques Audiard. The conversation gets heated in this one...Conflict between the BTTM Boys?? Say it ain't so! ______________________________________________________________________ Produced by Mick Kowaleski and Justin Remer Music by Duck the Piano Wire.
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 2: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
March 23, 2023 19:07 - 1 hour - 92.6 MBThe boys are back! Justin, Allan, and Tyler return for the second episode of Better Than the Movie. This time, they're going over not one, but TWO adaptations of Erich Maria Remarque's war classic All Quiet on the Western Front: the 1930 Best Picture winner, directed by Lewis Milestone, and the 2022 German-language version directed by Edward Berger. What are the gang's takes on the war movie canon? Does either adaptation stack up to the original novel? What did you, the fans decide? The anti...
SKYLIT: Michael Schulman, ”OSCAR WARS” w/ Alex Ross
March 09, 2023 18:30 - 54 minutes - 75.2 MBIt's Oscar season! Join us for a deep dive into the Academy Awards as Michael Schulman discusses his new book, Oscar Wars, with fellow New Yorker writer Alex Ross. They discuss the Academy's dark history with union busting, its philosophical struggles in awarding spectacle vs. intimacy, and the lessons Michael learned while writing this book that he's excited to apply before this year's ceremony. This episode is well worth the listen before your Oscar party! Produced by Mick Kowaleski Orde...
Better Than the Movie, Ep. 1: CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD/KNOCK AT THE CABIN
February 16, 2023 19:26 - 1 hour - 107 MBThis episode contains spoilers of both Paul Tremblay's book The Cabin at the End of the World and its 2023 film adaptation, Knock at the Cabin. Proceed with caution! Welcome to our first new Bookseller Special Series of 2023! Three of Skylight's biggest CinemaHeads, Justin, Tyler, and Allan, will get together once a month to discuss their favorite adaptations from page to screen. For the first episode, they're tackling Paul Tremblay's 2019 insta-classic horror novel Cabin at the End of the ...
SKYLIT: Karen Han, ”Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema”
February 09, 2023 23:42 - 27 minutes - 38 MBWe welcome the incomparable Karen Han to the podcast to chat with Justin Remer about her new book Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema. She discusses how she examined the career of the South Korean writer/director and chats about coining "#BongHive" on Twitter. She's a delight and so is this ep! _______________________________________________ Produced and edited by Mick Kowaleski. Music by Duck the Piano Wire
SKYLIT: Jessica Johns, ”Bad Cree”
February 02, 2023 19:07 - 36 minutes - 50.7 MBIt's our first episode in the New Year! Did you miss us? In our 2023 debut episode, Nat Freeman talks to Jessica Johns about her debut novel Bad Cree, hailed by Paul Tremblay as "a mystery and a horror story about grief, but one with defiant hope in its beating heart." _______________________________________________ Produced by Nat Freeman & Mick Kowaleski. Music by Duck the Piano Wire
SKYLIT: Where Monsters Lurk & Magic Hides
December 08, 2022 19:51 - 1 hour - 106 MBJoin us for the final Skylight episode of 2022! In this MONSTER of a finale, Skylight's Nat Freeman talks to the editors and contributors to Where Monsters Lurk & Magic Hides, an anthology of Latine/x genre fiction from both new and established young adult authors. The stories in this anthology span the genre categories of romance, sci-fi & fantasy, and gothic horror. They take place in this world, other worlds, or maybe somewhere in between. Most importantly, the characters on these pages ar...
SKYLIT: Dr. Clarence Lusane, ”TWENTY DOLLARS AND CHANGE” w/ Janell Hobson
November 28, 2022 16:19 - 44 minutes - 62 MBIn Twenty Dollars and Change, political scientist Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed The Black History of the White House, writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasive social inequities are inextricably linked--changing one can transform the other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as a lens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoing reckoning with...
SKYLIT: adrienne maree brown, ”FABLES AND SPELLS”
November 19, 2022 16:55 - 41 minutes - 57.4 MBFables and Spells is a vibrant selection of visionary works, both previously published and brand new. Included here is adrienne maree brown's most beloved story, "The River," as well as the two sequel tales of her Water Trio. The remaining sixty-seven pieces explore moments of beauty, conflict, and transformation that also weave deep, radical lessons. With narrative "fables" of speculative fiction and "spells" that play with the lines between poetry, instruction, song, and chant, Fables and...
SKYLIT: Emil DeAndreis, ”TELL US WHEN TO GO” w/ Joseph Bien Kahn
November 17, 2022 16:32 - 49 minutes - 68.5 MBThe post-recession Bay Area is a land fertile for world-changers and dreamers. This is the setting for Emil DeAndreis's Tell Us When To Go, a millennial coming-of-age story, part Silicon Valley satire and part urgent glimpse into the darker sides of privilege, troll culture, and class disparity. It asks the question, what comes of a friendship, or a city, with so much splitting it apart? Can it be saved? Cole Gallegos is the ace of his college pitching staff, projected to make millions in ...
SKYLIT: Anna Moschovakis, ”PARTICIPATION” w/ Amina Cain
November 15, 2022 15:57 - 50 minutes - 70.3 MBIn the latest novel from Anna Moschovakis, two reading groups, unofficially called Love and Anti-Love, falter amidst political friction and signs of environmental collapse. Participation offers a prescient look at communication in a time of rupture: anonymous participants exchange fantasies and ruminations, and relationships develop and unravel. As the groups consider--or neglect--their syllabi, and connections between members deepen, a mentor disappears, a translator questions his role, a co...
SKYLIT: Colette Sartor, Gerda Govine Ituarte, Cassandra Lane, & Carla Rachel Sameth
November 10, 2022 15:01 - 1 hour - 99.5 MBJoin us for a tremendous conversation and group reading with LA-based writers and poets. Colette Sartor, Gerda Govine Ituarte, Cassandra Lane and Carla Rachel Sameth convene to read their works and discuss their admirations, fears, and perspectives on writing as women. Moderated by Skylight's Tyler Austin. _______________________________________________ Produced by Nat Freeman & Michael Kowaleski. Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
SKYLIT: Danny Ramadan, ”THE FOGHORN ECHOES” w/ Lance Morgan
November 08, 2022 15:00 - 58 minutes - 80.7 MBHussam and Wassim are teenage boys living in Syria during America's 2003 invasion of Iraq. When a surprise discovery results in tragedy, their lives, and those of their families, are shattered. Wassim promises Hussam his protection, but ten years into the future, he has failed to keep his promise. Wassim is on the streets, seeking shelter from both the city and the civil war storming his country. Meanwhile Hussam, now on the other side of the world, remains haunted by his own ghosts, doing ...
SKYLIT: Kyra Simone & Emmalea Russo
November 07, 2022 15:23 - 44 minutes - 62.1 MBKyra Simone, Palace of Rubble A collection of stories composed primarily of single words culled each day from the New York Times, among other news sources. Written under constraint in the tradition of Oulipo, these hybrid works of prose are reconstructions that no longer resemble the original texts, yet draw from the same reservoir of vocabulary, conveying new images and ideas, while preserving some distant ember of the universe from which they were first generated. Emmalea Russo, Confett...
SKYLIT: Emerson Whitney, ”HEAVEN” w/ Claire Boyle
November 03, 2022 17:40 - 46 minutes - 64.1 MBAt Heaven's center, Emerson Whitney seeks to understand their relationship to their mother and grandmother, those first windows into womanhood and all its consequences. Whitney retraces a roving youth in deeply observant, psychedelic prose-all the while folding in the work of thinkers like Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, and C. Riley Snorton-to engage transness and the breathing, morphing nature of selfhood. Join Whitney for a conversation with Claire Boyle ___________________________________...
SKYLIT: ”IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET”
October 31, 2022 20:55 - 1 hour - 125 MBHorror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes--such as the circumspect and resilient "final girl," body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet--spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into...
SKYLIT: Ama Codjoe, ”BLUEST NUDE” w/ Aleshea Harris & Ashaki Jackson
October 28, 2022 19:33 - 55 minutes - 76.5 MBAma Codjoe's poems explore how the archetype of the artist complicates the typical expectations of women: be gazed upon, be silent, be selfless, reproduce. Dialoguing with and through art, Bluest Nude considers alternative ways of holding and constructing the self. From Lorna Simpson to Gwendolyn Brooks to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, contemporary and ancestral artists populate Bluest Nude in a choreography of Codjoe's making. Precise and halting, this finely wrought, riveting collection is marked ...
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Billy-Ray Belcourt, ”A MINOR CHORUS”
October 25, 2022 15:35 - 52 minutes - 72.8 MBIn the stark expanse of Northern Alberta, a queer Indigenous doctoral student steps away from his dissertation to write a novel, informed by a series of poignant encounters: a heart-to-heart with fellow doctoral student River over the mounting pressure placed on marginalized scholars; a meeting with Michael, a closeted man from his hometown whose vulnerability and loneliness punctuate the realities of queer life on the fringe. Woven throughout these conversations are memories of Jack, a cousi...
SKYLIT: Andrea Chapela, ”THE VISIBLE UNSEEN” w/ Kelsi Vanada
October 20, 2022 18:27 - 54 minutes - 74.6 MBIn powerful, formally inventive essays, The Visible Unseen disrupts the purported cultural divide between arts and science. As both a chemist and an award-winning author, Andrea Chapela zeros in on the literary metaphors buried in the facts and figures of her scientific observations. Through questioning scientific conundrums that lie beyond the limits of human perception, she winds up putting herself under the microscope as well. While considering the technical definition of glass as a liqui...
SKYLIT: Ruha Benjamin, ”VIRAL JUSTICE” w/ Lance Morgan
October 17, 2022 17:37 - 52 minutes - 72.2 MBLong before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day. Join us for a conversation between Benjamin and Lance Mor...
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: ”Death in the Mouth” Roundtable
October 14, 2022 20:14 - 1 hour - 96.2 MBDeath in the Mouth is a collection of horror stories and art showcasing BIPOC and ethnically marginalized storytellers from around the world. You’ll read stories featuring grotesque manifestations of dread, the enveloping sludge of grief, and the insectoid itch of deep-seated fear. Embodiments of mania and displacements of faith. Harrowing ecstasy and debilitating hope. Transgressions of the body, the spirit, and the community. Unique and terrifying alien mythology from the future. Quiet, cr...
SKYLIT: Alexandra Lange, ”MEET ME BY THE FOUNTAIN”
October 12, 2022 17:39 - 53 minutes - 73.3 MBFew places have been as nostalgized, or as maligned, as malls. Since their birth in the 1950s, they have loomed large as temples of commerce, the agora of the suburbs. In their prime, they proved a powerful draw for creative thinkers such as Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, and George Romero, who understood the mall’s appeal as both critics and consumers. Yet today, amid the aftershocks of financial crises and a global pandemic, as well as the rise of online retail, the dystopian husk of an abandon...
SKYLIT: Vanessa A. Bee, ”HOME BOUND” w/ Lydia Kiesling
October 10, 2022 16:45 - 41 minutes - 57.6 MBIn Home Bound, a singular and intimate memoir of identity and discovery, Vanessa A. Bee explores the way we define “home” and “belonging” — from her birth in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to her adoption by her aunt and her aunt’s white French husband, to experiencing housing insecurity in Europe and her eventual immigration to the US. After her parents’ divorce, Vanessa traveled with her mother to Lyon and later to London, eventually settling in Reno, Nevada, as a teenager, right around the financial c...
SKYLIT: Anne K. Yoder, ”THE ENHANCERS” w/ Amanda Goldblatt
October 05, 2022 18:51 - 42 minutes - 59.1 MBThe Enhancers is a polyvocal novel that follows three teenage friends coming of age in a technopharmaceutical society. Hannah is born and raised in a town whose industry revolves around Lumena Corp., maker of the supplement Valedictorian. When Hannah and her friends start taking Valedictorian, or V., a mandated mental augmentation, they start to witness its untoward effects--Celia is institutionalized after an accidental druginduced psychotic break, and not long after Hannah's mental stabilit...
Live On Crowdcast: Writing Bisexuality w/ Antonia Angress & Jen Winston
October 03, 2022 21:53 - 57 minutes - 79.9 MBIt’s Bi Visibility Week, and what better way to celebrate than to join novelist Antonia Angress and memoirist Jen Winston for this very bisexual chat! Topics include writing queer characters in fiction vs. nonfiction, capturing nuance, and reading other works that get bisexuality right. Join us for this conversation with Angress and Winston, moderated by Nat Freeman, recorded live on our Crowdcast channel on Monday, September 19. _______________________________________________ Produced b...