Shows
The Book ReviewBook Club: Let's Talk About 'The Catch,' by Yrsa Daley-WardIn this month’s installment of the Book Review Book Club, we’re discussing “The Catch,” the debut novel by the poet and memoirist Yrsa Daley-Ward. The book is a psychological thriller that follows semi-estranged twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were babies when their mother was presumed to have drowned in the Thames.The novel begins decades later, when Clara sees something strange: A woman who looks just like their mother is stealing a watch. Clara believes this is her mother, and wants to welcome her back into her life. Dempsey is less certain, in part because...2025-07-2552 min
Community of Writers PodcastsWriters Workshops 2025 - Panel: “And Then the Queen Died of Grief: on Plot” with Venita Blackburn, Kirsten Chen, Jamie Ford, Amy Waldman. Moderated by Katy HaysWelcome to the Podcast feed for the 2025 Summer Workshops in Olympic Valley. This week, we will upload daily craft talks, panels and readings as they happen. Be sure to subscribe to our feed to receive all recordings automatically. A full schedule of events can be found here.Music: Hot Nights by DreamAudioThe views expressed in this program are those of its presenter and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the values of the Community of Writers or its Board of Directors.The views expressed in this program are those of its presenter...2025-07-1057 min
Strong Sense of Place | Travel Through BooksLoLT: The Pen America Awards and Two New BooksIn this episode, we get excited about two new books: The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig and I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney. Then Dave talks about the stellar winners of the 2025 Pen America Awards.
Links
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
Invasive by Chuck Wendig
I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney
Truth in Advertising by John Kenney
Writer’s Digest interview with John Kenney
The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float by Farley Mowat
Pen America website and Instagram
Pen International website
Pen American Literary Award...2025-05-0217 min
The Critic and Her PublicsJackson Howard: "Risk It All"Jackson Howard is an editor and writer from Los Angeles who lives in Brooklyn.He’s Senior Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and its imprints MCD and AUWA (headed by Questlove), where he acquires and edits a broad range of fiction and nonfiction. Writers he has published include Judith Butler, Brontez Purnell, Catherine Lacey, Bryan Washington, Laura van den Berg, Sarah Schulman, Jonathan Escoffery, Fernando A. Flores, Susan Straight, Imogen Binnie, Shon Faye, Henry Hoke, Thomas Grattan, Venita Blackburn, Missouri Williams, and many others. Books he has edited have won or been nominated for the Booker Pr...2025-03-1136 min
Chicago Writers PodcastS2 Ep 03: 2025 Preview with the Chicago Review of BooksRachel's Recommendations Favorite 2024: What's Not Mine by Nora Decter Non-2024 book: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez 2024 book no one read: Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn Most anticipated 2025 by a Chicago author: Original Sins by Eve L. Ewing Most anticipated by an author with a long gap since last book: Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Small press titles: The Gloomy Girl Variety Show by Freda Epum Leave: A Postpartum Account by Shayne Terry No Offense: A Memoir in Essays by Jackie Domenus Friends might think you're nuts but sorry not sorry: The Harder I Fight the...2025-02-0343 min
Book GangThe Best Agatha Christie Books Deep Dive PodcastUncover the Agatha Christie beginner's guide with Victoria from The Reader's Couch! Explore her best-underrated gems and find new modern authors like Christie.Deep dive into Agatha Christie's legacy with Victoria Wood from The Reader's Couch podcast! In this episode of the All-Star Book Influencer Series, we uncover what makes Christie's mysteries so enduring, why her storytelling resonates across generations, and how contemporary authors like Sophie Hannah and Louise Penny have taken cues from her genius.Takeaways include:Victoria's introduction to Christie through The Body in the Library.Christie's masterful use of red herrings...2024-12-2031 min
The Book Maven: A Literary RevueWriting as Therapy with Jessica Hendry NelsonJessica Hendry Nelson joins me to talk about memoir vs. creative nonfiction, ownership over a story, and therapeutic outlets in writing. Jessica’s novel, Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief, came out in September of 2023 with The University of Georgia Press. In Pop! Goes the Culture, I discuss manmade monsters in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos, and docuseries Chimp Crazy on HBO Max. These stories call to question what makes a human: communication, community, or creation? This week, my Six Recs are: Dead in Long Beach California by Venita Blackburn, List...2024-10-2526 min
The Book Maven: A Literary RevueWriting as Therapy with Jessica Hendry NelsonJessica Hendry Nelson joins me to talk about memoir vs. creative nonfiction, ownership over a story, and therapeutic outlets in writing. Jessica’s novel, Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief, came out in September of 2023 with The University of Georgia Press. In Pop! Goes the Culture, I discuss manmade monsters in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos, and docuseries Chimp Crazy on HBO Max. These stories call to question what makes a human: communication, community, or creation? This week, my Six Recs are: Dead in Long Beach California by Venita Blackburn, List...2024-10-2526 min
Community of Writers PodcastsBibliocracy Episode 10: Venita Blackburn on Dead in Long Beach, CalifonriaMy guest this week is acclaimed short story writer and, now, novelist Venita Blackburn. Her debut novel, Dead in Long Beach, California arrives after two acclaimed short story collections, Black Jesus and Other Superheroes and How to Wrestle a Girl. This new novel is a multi-form, multi-voiced chronicle of loss, self-discovery, of desperately sad if also playful strategies of identity and investigation. Its brilliant premise is matched by its engagement with language, much of it delivered via a collective consciousness which frames the storytelling, a formal device which makes such good sense because the protagonist...2024-05-0929 min
Fully Booked by Kirkus ReviewsVenita BlackburnVenita Blackburn joins us to discuss Dead in Long Beach, California (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Jan. 23), “an astonishing debut novel from a remarkably creative writer” (starred review). Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.2024-01-3045 min
Otherppl with Brad Listi893. Venita BlackburnVenita Blackburn is the author of the debut novel Dead in Long Beach, CA, available from MCD Books. Blackburn's other books include the story collection Black Jesus and Other Superheroes, which won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize and was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction; and another collection called How to Wrestle a Girl, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her stories have appeared in The New Y...2024-01-241h 30
Your Library on the Go With Free AudiobookDead in Long Beach, California: A Novel Audiobook by Venita BlackburnListen to this audiobook in full for free onhttps://hotaudiobook.com/freeID: 689712
Title: Dead in Long Beach, California: A Novel
Author: Venita Blackburn
Narrator: Lynnette Freeman
Format: Unabridged
Length: 05:30:00
Language: English
Release date: 01-23-24
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genres: Fiction & Literature, Literary Fiction, LGBTQ+
Summary:
'This book rewired my brain; it's a bonafide knockout.' Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth
'You can try bracing yourself for the ride this story takes you on, but it's best to just surrender. Your wig is going to fall off no matter what you do.' Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight...2024-01-235h 30
All the Books!New Releases and More for January 23, 2024This week, Liberty and Tirzah discuss No One Can Know, Radiant Heat, Martyr!, and more great books!Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify and never miss a book.Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news.2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep yo...2024-01-2336 min
Book Riot - The PodcastJanuary 2024 "It Book" Knockout RoundJeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky choose the "it book" of January 2024 from a roster of 10 finalists.Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.For more industry news, sign up for our Today in Books daily newsletter!2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, an...2024-01-0345 min
The Empty Chair by PEN SAS5E1 Girlhood, Bodies and New Possibilities of BeingZethu Matebeni chairs a conversation with Venita Blackburn, Thenjiwe Mswane and Lindiwe Nkutha. Our guests contemplate the depictions of girlhood, family life, bodies without compromise, and intimacy in their work. They also read short extracts from their books. Listen to the Bonus Episode to hear the extended readings.
Professor zethu Matebeni is an activist in the academy. She is the SARChI chair in Sexualities, Genders and Queer Studies at the University of Fort Hare. Venita Blackburn is the author of Black Jesus and Other Superheroes (University of Nebraska Press, 2017) and How to Wrestle a Girl (Macmillan Publishers, 2021). Sh...2022-08-0452 minThe Empty Chair by PEN SAS5 Bonus Episode: Readings by Venita Blackburn, Thenjiwe Mswane & Lindiwe NkuthaIn this bonus episode, Venita reads "Smoothies" from How to Wrestle a Girl; Lindiwe reads the opening section titled ‘Anna’ from the story “Jocasta's Hairballs” in 69 Jerusalem Street and Thenjiwe reads Chapter 21 “Nonhle” from All Gomorrahs Are The Same.
You can listen to shorter versions of their readings as well as their scintillating conversation with zethu Matebeni in episode one of season five.
This podcast series is funded by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa.2022-08-0424 min
Weird EraEpisode 43: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Jackson HowardJackson Howard is an editor and writer from Los Angeles who lives in Brooklyn.
He’s an Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and its imprint MCD, where he acquires and edits a broad range of fiction and nonfiction. Writers he publishes include Judith Butler, Brontez Purnell, Sarah Schulman, Catherine Lacey, Fernando A. Flores, Susan Straight, Venita Blackburn, Imogen Binnie, Thomas Grattan, Missouri Williams, Jonathan Escoffery, Kaitlyn Tiffany, and many others.
As a writer, his reviews, profiles, and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Pitchfork, The Cut, Rolling Stone, The Ringer, them., W...2022-07-1548 min
The Paris ReviewA Gift for Burning (with Monica Youn, Molly McCully Brown, Venita Blackburn, George Saunders)George Saunders, in an excerpt from his Art of Fiction interview, explains how his teenage job delivering fast food prepared him to write fiction; Monica Youn reads her poem “Goldacre,” which tells the truth about Twinkies; Molly McCully Brown reads her essay “If You Are Permanently Lost,” in which she confesses that “space makes no sense”; and Venita Blackburn reads “Fam,” a very short story about self-love and social media.
This episode was sound designed and mixed by Helena de Groot, and mastered by Justin Shturtz.2021-11-0334 min
The Paris ReviewSeason 3 Trailer: The Paris Review Podcast ReturnsThe celebrated podcast returns for its third season. Join us on an audio odyssey through the pages of The Paris Review, featuring the best fiction, poetry, interviews, and archival recordings, from the world's most legendary literary quarterly.
This season features fiction by Yohanca Delgado, Venita Blackburn, Bud Smith, Allan Gurganus, and Edward P Jones. Poetry from Monica Youn, Deborah Landau, Jericho Brown, Antonella Anedda, and Natalie Scenters-Zapico. Plus excerpts of interviews with Joan Didion, Robert Frost, Rachel Cusk, and George Saunders. This season includes the voices of Phoebe Bridgers, Connor Ratliff, Jessica Hecht, and Amber Gray.
2021-10-0402 min
The Maris ReviewEpisode 121: Lauren GroffLauren Groff is a two-time National Book Award finalist and The New York Times–bestselling author of three novels, The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, and Fates and Furies, and the celebrated short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. Her latest novel is called Matrix.Recommended Reading:Something New Under the Sun by Alexandra KleemanDear Memory by Victoria ChangHow To Wrestle a Girl by Venita BlackburnHarrow by Joy Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-09-1635 min
Begin This Ground-Breaking Full Audiobook And Feel The Difference.How to Wrestle a Girl: Stories by Venita BlackburnPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/521975to listen full audiobooks.
Title: How to Wrestle a Girl: Stories
Author: Venita Blackburn
Narrator: Tashi Thomas, Jamal Henderson, Jamie K. Brown, Angel Pean, Venita Blackburn
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 5 hours 49 minutes
Release date: September 7, 2021
Ratings: Ratings of Book: 1 of Total 1
Ratings of Narrator: 1 of Total 1
Genres: Literary Fiction
Publisher's Summary:
'How to Wrestle a Girl is a work of stunning grace and rhythm. In these stories Venita Blackburn reminds us she is a writer unlike any other, her stories propelled by voice and wit and harsh beauty.' --Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Fr...2021-09-075h 49Don’t Miss Your Ears To A Game-Changing Full Audiobook.How to Wrestle a Girl: Stories by Venita BlackburnPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/521975to listen full audiobooks.
Title: How to Wrestle a Girl: Stories
Author: Venita Blackburn
Narrator: Tashi Thomas, Jamal Henderson, Jamie K. Brown, Angel Pean, Venita Blackburn
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 5 hours 49 minutes
Release date: September 7, 2021
Ratings: Ratings of Book: 1 of Total 1
Ratings of Narrator: 1 of Total 1
Genres: Short Stories
Publisher's Summary:
'How to Wrestle a Girl is a work of stunning grace and rhythm. In these stories Venita Blackburn reminds us she is a writer unlike any other, her stories propelled by voice and wit and harsh beauty.' --Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Fr...2021-09-075h 49Listen to the Best Full Audiobooks in Literature, Literary FictionHow to Wrestle a Girl: Stories by Venita BlackburnPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/521975to listen full audiobooks.
Title: How to Wrestle a Girl: Stories
Author: Venita Blackburn
Narrator: Tashi Thomas, Jamal Henderson, Jamie K. Brown, Angel Pean, Venita Blackburn
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 5 hours 49 minutes
Release date: September 7, 2021
Ratings: Ratings of Book: 1 of Total 1
Ratings of Narrator: 1 of Total 1
Genres: Literary Fiction
Publisher's Summary:
'How to Wrestle a Girl is a work of stunning grace and rhythm. In these stories Venita Blackburn reminds us she is a writer unlike any other, her stories propelled by voice and wit and harsh beauty.' --Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Fr...2021-09-075h 49
Bound Off Short Story PodcastBound Off Short Story Podcast - Issue 57 - October 2010A Perfect Unicorn by Mary Miller. Taboo by Venita Blackburn. Beethoven Venison by Nathan Weinstein. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boundoff.substack.com2010-10-1510 min
Bound Off Short Story PodcastBound Off Short Story Podcast - Issue 57 - October 2010A Perfect Unicorn by Mary Miller. Taboo by Venita Blackburn. Beethoven Venison by Nathan Weinstein.
2010-10-1500 min