Acclaimed novelist Garth Greenwell joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about book banning, writing about sex, and the different (and often coded) reasons people talk about limits to reading. A former high school teacher, Greenwell discusses the ideological roots of book bans targeting Black and LGBTQIA+ writers and describes how books like Giovanni’s Room gave him hope and inspiration as an isolated queer teenager in the South. Finally, he talks about the need for generosity and patience in this debate and why we should all be willing to have hard conversations about what is, and is not, appropriate reading material for students. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #bookbans #literature #lgbtqia #race #censorship #libraries #queer

Poet Randall Mann, a winner of the Kenyon Review Prize in Poetry, joins Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to continue last week’s conversation about the significance of literary awards. Mann talks about how poets use prizes to seek publication, the increasingly diverse winners, and why he loves frank: sonnets, by Diane Seuss. He also reads the poem “Beginning & Ending with a Line by Michelle Boisseau,” from his most recent collection, A Better Life. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #poetry #literature #awards #RandallMann

National Book Award-winning novelist Susan Choi and critic and editor Oscar Villalon talk to Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about the business, prestige, and (hopefully) idealism of literary awards. Choi talks about critical reception versus award recognition, the roles of luck and taste, and how winning a major prize for her novel Trust Exercise changed her career. Villalon talks about making his way through stacks of nominated books, who can afford to judge book awards, diversity on judging panels, and his experience chairing the 2021 Pulitzer Prize fiction jury. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #awards #literature #prizes #books #novels

(Taped January 21, 2022.) Yale historian Marci Shore join hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. Shore lays out the Ukrainian political history that helped set the stage for current tensions, explains how Trump learned from Putin’s efforts to subvert Ukrainian elections, and recommends favorite Ukrainian writers. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #journalism #russiaukrainewar #russia #ukraine #literature

(Taped January 22, 2022.) New York Times Moscow bureau chief Anton Troianovski joins hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. Troianovski discusses his reporting on the recent talks between the U.S. and Russia, contextualizes Russia’s unusual demands, and considers the odds of a diplomatic solution. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #journalism #russiaukrainewar #russia #ukraine #nytimes

Author Terese Marie Mailhot joins hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about the possible long-term mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mailhot reads from her bestselling memoir Heart Berries and talks about how children’s futures may be shaped by the trauma they have experienced since early 2020. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #memoir #writing #pandemic #mentalhealth

Author Paul Lisicky joins hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about the possible long-term mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisicky discusses the situation in light of his experiences with the AIDS epidemic and through the lens of his memoir Later: My Life at the Edge of the World. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #fiction #writing #novelist #aids #pandemic #mentalhealth

Novelist Asali Solomon joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss accountability, the ongoing Congressional investigation into the January 6 insurrection, and her new novel. The Days of Afrekete, an Obama-era story, follows Liselle Belmont, a Black woman throwing a dinner party for her white husband, a politician who is suspected of corruption. As she considers her own personal and political choices, she flashes back to a lost love: her college girlfriend Selena. Solomon reads from the book and talks about depicting accountability and its lack, the intimate costs of being connected to power, and how Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Toni Morrison’s Sula, and Audre Lorde’s Zami influenced her storytelling. She also reflects on how reading the late bell hooks gave her a new vision of herself in the world. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #fiction #writing #novelist #thedaysofafrekete #jan6

Acclaimed novelist Nadifa Mohamed joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the crisis around migrants passing from Belarus into Poland and thus into the E.U. Mohamed analyzes the crisis, engineered by Russian-backed strongman Alexander Lukashenko, in the context of Europe’s historical antipathy toward immigration, and reads from her Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, The Fortune Men, the fictionalized account of a Somali immigrant named Mahmood Mattan, set in Cardiff, Wales during the 1950s. She discusses how attitudes toward immigration shaped Brexit and the U.K.’s draconian new Nationality and Borders Bill, which will potentially affect the lives of around six million people, including the novelist herself. ____________________________________________________________ Listen to the full podcast! Spotify ➜ open.spotify.com/show/1QtocazAaaHZLl6Ua8Xfbt Apple Podcasts ➜ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fiction-non-fiction/id1293762863 Google Podcasts ➜ podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ5MzA4MDIucnNz Stitcher ➜ stitcher.com/show/fictionnonfiction ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Podcast) Website ➜ fnfpodcast.net Twitter ➜ twitter.com/fnftalk?lang=en Instagram ➜ instagram.com/fiction.non.fiction.podcast Facebook ➜ facebook.com/FNFpod/ ____________________________________________________________ Social Media (Hosts) V.V. Ganeshananthan: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/V_V_G Instagram ➜ instagram.com/v_v_ganeshananthan Whitney Terrell: Twitter ➜ twitter.com/Wsterrell Instagram ➜ instagram.com/wsterrell9 ____________________________________________________________ #fiction #writing #novelist #immigration #unitedkingdom #thefortunemen