Shows
The Artist's StatementNicky Gonzalez: Toes Lifting OffNicky Gonzalez joins us to discuss her Gothic debut novel, Mayra (2025, Random House), a story about two friends who reunite in a mysterious house in the Florida Everglades and uncover a hidden history. It’s a book that Karen Thompson Walker describes as "part coming-of-age story, part Twilight Zone episode, part thoughtful meditation on all of the ways that memory is itself a haunted house." Gonzalez hails from Hialeah, Florida. She earned her MFA from the University of Oregon, where she also taught fiction and composition. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, ...
2025-07-2251 minThe Artist's StatementPuloma Ghosh: It's No Longer ApplePuloma Ghosh joins us to discuss her debut short story collection Mouth (2024, Astra House). We discuss her vision for the genre-crossing book, her creative process, and how she got interested in writing, including her love of fan fiction. She reads from her stories “In The Winter” and “Persimmons.”
Ghosh was born in Kolkata, India and raised outside Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and her MFA from Bennington College. She currently lives in Chicago.
Ghosh’s short stories have appeared in One Story, Craft, Cutleaf, The Cantabrigian, and Another Chic...
2024-06-1143 minThe Artist's StatementJustin Torres: Inheriting Ghosts2023 National Book Award for Fiction winner Justin Torres joins us to discuss his novels We The Animals (2011, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Blackouts (2023, Farrar, Straus and Giroux). We talk about what Torres considers success in his writing, the value of fiction that diverges from the realm of reality, and how he approached his award-winning new work.
Inspired in part by the book Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns, Blackouts moves between fact and fiction as it explores the life of an unnamed narrator referred to as "nene," his older friend Juan Gay, and historical...
2023-12-1258 minThe Artist's StatementK-Ming Chang: Language DenaturalizedSeason 3, Episode 2, features K-Ming Chang. She is the author of debut novel Bestiary, short story collection Gods of Want, and her latest novel, Organ Meats, her third book in what she describes as mythic tryptich, published by One World/Random House.
Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and an O. Henry Prize Winner.
In this conversation, we discuss her evolving view of books and the characters she gives agency to. We delve into her earliest writing experiences and how she keeps in touch with those childhood inspirations. We also explore her use of language as a...
2023-10-241h 13The Artist's StatementDenton Loving: Building MonumentsSeason 3, Episode 1, features poet Denton Loving. He is the author of two poetry collections, Crimes Against Birds, published by Main Street Rag in 2014, and his new book, Tamp, published by Mercer University Press earlier this year. Set in Appalachia,Tamp's central theme focuses on the grief and sense of loss that followed the death of Loving’s father. He also explores ancestry, religion, and our interactions with both the natural and dream worlds.
Loving’s work has appeared in River Styx, Iron Horse Literary Review, The Chattahoochee Review among other journals. He earned his MFA from the Bennin...
2023-05-0951 min
The Artist's StatementNicole Sealey: So Much To SeeSeason 2, Episode 3 brings you poet and inaugural Granum Foundation Prize winner, Nicole Sealey. We begin the discussion with Sealey's earlier works, The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named (Northwestern University Press, 2016) and Ordinary Beast
(Ecco, 2017). Sealey recounts her editorial decisions in her first publications, and how they sparked ideas for new work. We also explore her sources of inspiration, including a conversation with her mother, and the role of form in propelling her creations. In the second half of the episode, we discuss her award winning project, "The Ferguson Report: An Erasure," which she describes as "a...
2022-06-2253 minThe Artist's StatementJulie Otsuka: Swimming Through MemoriesSeason 2, Episode 2 features Julie Otsuka, best-selling author of When the Emperor Was Divine, The Buddha in the Attic, and her latest novel, The Swimmers. We discuss the inspiration and evolution of The Swimmers, and some of the technical challenges associated with Otsuka's frequent use of the first person plural point of view. She discusses how she became a writer and her work routines, including how they have changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also explore how Otsuka relies on intuition and intellect to create her work.
In this interview, Otsuka reads excerpts from The S...
2022-04-2055 minThe Artist's StatementBen Ehrenreich: The Shape of TimeSeason 2 of The Artist's Statement opens with journalist, essayist, and novelist, Ben Ehrenreich, winner of a 2021 American Book Award for his non-fiction work Desert Notebooks: A Roadmap for the End of Time. Ehrenreich discusses the inspiration for this poignant book that followed his time in Palestine and his return to American society under the presidency of Donald Trump. Beginning in the awe-inspiring landscapes of Joshua Tree National Park and moving to the alternative desert of Las Vegas, Ehrenreich reflects on our perceptions of time in the face of change and trauma. He draws on the ancient texts of Mayan...
2022-02-2352 minThe Artist's StatementClaire Vaye Watkins: Novel FormsIn Episode 10 of The Artist's Statement, we chat with Claire Vaye Watkins, author of three works of fiction, including her latest novel, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (Riverhead, 2021). Watkins discusses the blurred boundaries between fiction and fact in her new work, and the story threads she brought together to complete it. We explore the impact of her viral essay "On Pandering" and her evolving relationship with writing, and how the influence of classical works can both help and hinder creativity. Watkins shares how she came to work with her agent, Nicole Aragi. She also offers her insights...
2021-12-0156 minThe Artist's StatementMarytza Rubio: Mystic LandscapesEpisode 9 of The Artist's Statement features Marytza K. Rubio, author of Maria, Maria, and Other Stories (Liveright/W. W. Norton, 2022). Rubio discusses the inspiration and evolution of her debut collection, and how she shared her vision with her agent and editor. We chat about the occult, the significance and power behind the name "Maria," and the details behind the mystic setting of her centerpiece novella. In the interview, we also talk about the considerations behind Rubio's multilingual writing, her role as the founder of the Makara Center for the Arts, and the impact of her changing life experiences on...
2021-10-0640 minThe Artist's StatementMichael Emmerich: Writing Across LanguagesWhat happens during the translation process of a literary work from Japanese to English? In Episode 8 of The Artist's Statement, we speak with Michael Emmerich, author of more than a dozen literary works in translation, including those by authors such as Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata, Banana Yoshimoto, Genichiro Takahashi, and Hiromi Kawakami.
Emmerich discusses the role of Japanese literature in American culture, his translation process, and some considerations for authors who will have their work translated. He also details specific examples from Takahashi's novel, Sayonara, Gangsters, and Kawakami's novel, Manazuru.
The author of The Tale...
2021-09-0857 minThe Artist's StatementDonika Kelly: Finding CenterIn Episode 7 of The Artist's Statement, we're joined by Donika Kelly, poet and author of The Renunciations (2021) and Bestiary (2016), both published by Graywolf Press.
Kelly discusses the The Renunciations and the journey of self-exploration and therapy that led to its creation. She talks about the importance of having and nurturing a speaker and a safe space from which to create, along with the value of being protective of information, both for the writer and the reader. The conversation delves into the distinction between reality and artifice in artmaking, and how one can cultivate silence to help the...
2021-08-0456 minThe Artist's StatementBONUS: Jenny Boully and Sak YantIn this bonus episode of The Artist’s Statement, we speak to Jenny Boully about the ancient art of Sak Yant and the role of the Thai language and Buddhism in her writing life.
Boully reads her essay “On the Eve of My Eternal Marking,” which first appeared in The Paris Review on July 10, 2019.
Host: Davin Malasarn
The Artist's Statement is brought to you by The Granum Foundation. Learn more at granumfoundation.org.
2021-07-1527 minThe Artist's StatementJenny Boully: Imagination and Its ConsequencesJenny Boully, 2020 Guggenheim Fellow and author of Betwixt and Between: Essays on the Writing Life, The Book of Beginnings and Endings, The Body, not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them, and other works joins us from Bennington, Vermont, for Episode 6 of The Artist's Statement Podcast.
Boully discusses the origins of her recent books and how her work bridges genres.
"I think when the mind is at odds with itself or wrestling with itself, which is what essays do, I find that if I can switch my approach, or switch...
2021-07-0752 minThe Artist's StatementNikki Giovanni: Speaking of WaterThe Artist's Statement Episode 5 features legendary poet Nikki Giovanni. She discusses the importance of spirituals as inspiration for her work and how artist's from poets to novelists to dancers inhabit truth. Giovanni recounts her early days as an activist and writer along her path to success, including her time at Fisk University. The conversation touches on space travel, her experiences as an interviewer with the television series "Soul!", the Black Lives Matter movement, children's literature, and the importance of water. Giovanni reads poems "Baby West," "Atrocities, and "Make Me Rain."
Hosted by Davin Malasarn.
The...
2021-06-071h 20The Artist's StatementCraig Cotter: Memories, InventionsCraig Cotter, the author of four collections of poetry, including After Lunch with Frank O’Hara, joins us from Pasadena, CA for Episode 4 of The Artist's Statement. He talks about his early writing career as a student at Michigan State University and the poetry editor of Red Cedar Review. He discusses his poems “The Drayton Plains Nature Center” and “For Alex,” which include a major recurring character in his work. He also reads “You Ever,” “People,” “Alex and Me at the Beach as Teenagers,” and “Ayaz Marhoni & Mahmoud Asgiri.” Other topics explored in this episode include the mistreatment and execution of gays in the 1...
2021-05-031h 01The Artist's StatementKuzhali Manickavel: Writing English in IndiaIn this episode of The Artist's Statement, we feature short fiction writer Kuzhali Manickavel, whose work has been described as surreal, sci-fi, absurdist, and weird. Manickavel, who calls in from Bangalore, India, discusses how she characterizes her own work and how international perspectives can lead to alternative definitions. We examine her stories, "The Decline and Fall of Western Dance in a South Indian Women's College" from her collection Things We Found During the Autopsy, "Item Girls," and her chapbook The Lucy Temerlin Institute for Broken Shapeshifters Guide to Starving Boys: Their Salient Features, How to Find Them, How to...
2021-04-0259 minThe Artist's StatementBONUS: Kathy Fish reads "Tenderoni"Kathy Fish reads her flash fiction story, "Tenderoni."
(Contains explicit language.)
2021-03-0704 min
The Artist's StatementKathy Fish: Beauty in BrevityKathy Fish joins us for this episode of The Artist's Statement focused on flash fiction, defined as stories under 1,000 words. She discusses the genre, its origins, and how it can be distinguished from short stories and prose poetry. She also elaborates on techniques she uses to create her flash pieces, including juxtaposition, contradiction, and repetition, and how she finds titles for her work. Fish’s most recent collection is Wild Life: Collected Works 2003-2018, now in its 2nd print run with Matter Press. She reads and discusses “Foreign Film,” “Today When I Asked You About a Couple We Knew in Canberra...
2021-03-0159 minThe Artist's StatementColm Toibin: Rhythm and LifeIrish author Colm Toibin joins us for the inaugural episode of The Artist's Statement. He discusses his early writing career and his evolution from poet to journalist to novelist, and his return to poetry. We examine Toibin's novella, A Long Winter, and short story "One Minus One" from his collection, The Empty Family. He reads from his latest novel, The Magician, which tells the story of writer Thomas Mann and is scheduled for publication by Viking Press in September, 2021. Toibin describes the importance of finding rhythm in sentences and how intuition and intellect work together to develop his narratives. H...
2021-02-0143 minThe Artist's StatementWelcome to the Artist's StatementWriting is a balance of forces, the pull of intellect versus emotion, technique versus intuition. I’m Davin Malasarn. In the Artist’s Statement, we talk to writers about how they navigate those dynamics to create their work. What happens between that initial inspiration and the final, published piece? And, how do you find that spark in the first place?
Join me as we talk with some of today’s most exciting writers. We’ll look across genres, identities, and cultures in search of those common threads at the heart of creativity, as well as what makes every ar...
2021-01-3001 min