WMFA: Recent Episodes
Courtney Balestier
Heather Clark is the author of Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist now out in paperback from Knopf. She and Courtney discuss how biography is like archeology, the "hysterical woman writer" stereotype, and the "profound and bottomless optimism" needed to undertake a large writing project.
In the bonus segment, Heather talks about finding joy in the writing process and how the joy she found writing Red Comet influenced the book's structure. Bonus segments are available to Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kristen Arnett's latest novel, WITH TEETH, is out now from Riverhead. In this conversation from 2019, she and Courtney talk about queer writing beyond the coming-out narrative, creating supportive frameworks for getting the work done, and, of course, taxidermy.
In the bonus segment, Kristen talks about writing about her home state of Florida. Listen to this and other bonus segments by visiting Patreon.com/wmfapodcast and pledging just $2 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Elissa's new essay collection, White Magic, is out now from Tin House. She and Courtney discuss reckoning with your past selves, time loops, and giving up control over the process. We also discuss one of Courtney's and the book’s favorite subjects: Twin Peaks. In the bonus segment, Elissa—who has received fellowships and awards from numerous institutions, including Creative Capital and the National Endowment for the Arts—shares some great advice on successfully applying for grants and other funding. Bonus segments are available to Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this conversation from 2018, Courtney and Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers, discuss complicating the notions of motherhood, why working on your characters is working on yourself, and keeping the faith through seven years of novel drafts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dantiel W. Moniz's debut collection, Milk Blood Heat, is out now from Grove Atlantic. She and Courtney discuss not protecting your characters, the inextricableness of place and identity, and deciding to take your writing seriously. In the bonus segment, Dantiel talks about endings and death, and what makes for a good short story ending. Bonus segments are available to Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lauren Oyler's debut novel, FAKE ACCOUNTS, is out now from Catapult. She and Courtney discuss social media, autofiction, and our various efforts to be understood online and on the page.
In the bonus segment, Lauren talks about how she approaches her reading habit, especially as a critic, and we talk about books we’re excited about. Bonus segments are available to Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
R.O. Kwon is the co-editor, with Garth Greenwell, of KINK, a new anthology of literary short fiction exploring love and desire, BDSM, and interests across the sexual spectrum. She is also the author of THE INCENDIARIES. In this episode from 2019, we talk about keeping faith in the writing process, holding characters at a distance, and thinking not just about who is telling the story but also why it's being told. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Matthew's latest book is Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping. He and Courtney discuss what's wrong with the way we talk about our work, how we can do better, and the most ill-used terms in craft discussions—some of which Matthew has banned from his own workshops.
In the bonus segment, Matthew talks about the workshop experience that led Matthew down a two-year dead end for his own novel in progress, and how he got himself turned back around. Bonus segments are available to Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mateo Askaripour's debut novel, Black Buck, is out now. He and Courtney talk about the intimacy of first-person POV, managing plausibility, and what we learn from the novels we don’t sell. (NOTE: There are some Black Buck plot spoilers between 40:30-45:15.)
In the bonus segment, Mateo discusses point of telling and addressing the reader in your work. Bonus segments are available to Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Danielle Evans' latest book is The Office of Historical Corrections, out now from Riverhead Books. She and Courtney talk about flipping received narratives, reckoning with the past, and the relationship between a work's active and emotional plots. In today's bonus segment, Danielle and Courtney talk about race and the craft of writing. Bonus segments are available to WMFA Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Simon Han's debut novel is Nights When Nothing Happened, out now from Riverhead Books. He and Courtney discuss the tricky label of universality, turning a short story into a novel, and how writing is like the Fast & Furious franchise. In today's bonus segment, Simon and Courtney talk about the value of writing the suburbs. Bonus segments are available to WMFA Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Anne Helen Petersen's latest book is Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. She and Courtney talk about the difficulty behind advice about "doing what you love," what freelance writing careers look like now, and how she synthesizes research into prose. In today's bonus segment, Anne and Courtney talk about burnout and writing. Bonus segments are available to WMFA Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Deesha Philyaw's fiction debut, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, is a National Book Award finalist. She and Courtney talk about creating complex characters, writing Black women, and staying true to your vision even in the face of rejection. In today's bonus segment, Deesha and Courtney talk about what makes good sex writing. Bonus segments are available to WMFA Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/wmfapodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Originally airing on November 8, 2017, Courtney and Celeste Ng—author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You—do a deep dive into process: what makes a good beginning, finding the voice, reverse outlining and more. They also discuss writing about identity and the other, and the importance of multiple narratives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Garth Greenwell is the author of What Belongs to You and Cleanness, and a 2020 Guggenheim fellow. In 2017, he and Courtney talked about being a poet novelist, the language of desire, and why he writes first drafts by hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Wayétu Moore, author of She Would Be King, discuss diasporic literature, the trouble with magical realism, and how to preserve your relationship with your craft. Wayétu's latest book is the memoir The Dragons, The Giant, The Women. (original air date 10/24/18) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Genevieve Hudson's debut novel, BOYS OF ALABAMA, is out now from Liveright. They and Courtney talk about developing complicated characters, writing the supernatural, and exploring "capital-T truth" in fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What in your creative process are you ready to say goodbye to? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carter Sickels latest novel, THE PRETTIEST STAR, is out now from Hub City Press. He and Courtney talk about activist art, writing poignancy without sentimentality, and documenting queer rural narratives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In the second quarantine call-in episode, writers with new releases share their favorite moments from a very different kind of book tour than they’d expected. Plus they shout out the new releases they’re reading! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On being with our surroundings—and our creative work—in a new way during quarantine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Elizabeth Acevedo's latest book, the novel-in-verse CLAP WHEN YOU LAND, is out now from Quill Tree Books. She and Courtney talk about creating character while working in verse, discovering the container that each story needs, and the "secret projects" she has as an author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
C Pam Zhang's debut novel, How Much of These Hills Is Gold, is out now. She talks with Courtney about writing a book for the characters in it, capturing nuanced performances of gender, and reinventing the myth of the American West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Writers should be great at solitude, right? I’m not. Today I'm talking about how isolation is forcing me to confront that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Emma Copley Eisenberg's first book, The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia, was released in January. She and Courtney discuss the complicated nature of truth and how she wrote a complex narrative that weaves first-person reportage with memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I'm reading excerpts from the diary of one of my literary idols, Virginia Woolf, that resonate with our current moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to this experimental episode of WMFA, featuring messages from writers around the country about how they’re handling creative life in quarantine. Let me know if you liked this episode—I might do more as this surreal reality continues! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A check-in during unstable times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney Maum's most recent book is the indispensable writers' guide Before and After the Book Deal. She and Courtney talk about navigating everything from contracts to marketing to what to pack on book tour. They also talk about Courtney's latest novel, Costalegre. In the Patreon bonus segment, Courtney talks about the advice she most wishes she'd received as a debut author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the last episode of the season, I'm reflecting on gratitude for our work, and how often (or rarely) we feel it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alexander Chee's latest book is the essay collection How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He and Courtney discuss the process of becoming real to yourself, staying accountable to the work, and how to keep a novel journal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Building containers for creative freedom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jami Attenberg's latest novel, All This Could Be Yours, is out now from HMH Books. She and Courtney discuss writing family narratives, identifying and playing to your strengths, and keeping the work fun for the reader. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Are we acting for our future selves? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brian Allen Carr's novel Opioid, Indiana is out now from Soho Books. He and Courtney discuss finding a character's voice, writing fast, and why he loves writing prompts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The important piece of writing advice that finally sunk in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How good are you at letting yourself (and your work) just be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Poet and essayist Mary Ruefle's new collection, Dunce, was just long-listed for the National Book Award. She and Courtney discuss boredom, uncertainty, and letting go of expectations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Keeping ourselves connected in the solitary work of writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
R.O. Kwon's novel THE INCENDIARIES was one of last year's biggest debuts, and it was 8 years in the making. We talk about keeping faith in the writing process, holding characters at a distance, and thinking not just about who is telling the story but also why it's being told. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's a special crossover episode with Olivia and Meghan from Marginally Podcast! We talk about defining your own identity as a writer, our works in progress, and how we make writing and podcasting sustainable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What do you need—and how do you figure out what you need anyway? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Author Michael Parker's latest novel, Prairie Fever, follows the fraught relationship of two sisters in early 1900s Oklahoma. He and Courtney talk about writing crackling dialogue, how he thinks about plot, and growing into your creative practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What aspect of your creative life needs a new narrative? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Appalachian poet Savannah Sipple wrote her piercing debut collection, WWJD and Other Poems, during a period in which she was also coming out of the closet. She and Courtney talk about the long journey of claiming her voice and finding the courage to use it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What kale, checks, and writing have in common. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Queer fiction writer Kristen Arnett wrote her debut novel, the eccentric and darkly hilarious Mostly Dead Things, while working full-time as a librarian. We talk about the framework she developed to keep writing, and why she wanted to write a book that looks at day-to-day queer life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why it's helpful to check in with our whys—plus a special request. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Journalist Casey Cep—author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee—is on the show discussing the mysteries of Harper Lee, knowing what you need as a writer, and the lines that can be drawn and erased between invention and reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When you're showing up but not really showing up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tommy Orange—author of last year's fantastic There There—visits WMFA to talk about being a messy writer, creating diverse narratives, and how parenthood made him take writing more seriously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to the first listener-request minisode! We’re talking about finding the right agent for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The fantastic Karen Russell is on the show discussing her new short story collection, Orange World, and developing an "occult sensibility" for shaping your work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Slowing down to speed up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Journalist David K. Randall's new book, Black Death at the Golden Gate, is a gripping work of literary nonfiction about the race to stop the bubonic plague from spreading through San Francisco and beyond in the early 20th century. He and Courtney discuss bring real (dead) people to life, organizing all that research, and why creative constraint can be a good thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A mini mini from my artist residency (👋) on expanding our ideas of process. Tell me how you write without writing by tagging @cfbalestier and using the hashtag #wmfawrites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Susan Choi's explosive and riveting new novel, Trust Exercise, is out now from Henry Holt. She and Courtney discuss the manipulative qualities of storytelling, the slipperiness of memory, and the advice Susan would give to her younger self as a debut novelist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do you approach your practice? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jane Alison's new book about narrative structure, Meander, Spiral, Explode, is out now from Catapult. She and Courtney discuss breaking narrative convention and how the traditional dramatic arc is and isn't like sex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do you feel about the way you get writing done? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Journalist Summer Brennan's new book, High Heel, is out now from Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series. She and Courtney discuss her fragmented meditation on feminism and the patriarchy, organizing an extensive research collection, and creating a narrative labyrinth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's foundational to writing—and it's not always easy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Morgan Parker's poetry collections include There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé and Magical Negro, out now from Tin House. Morgan and Courtney talk about representation and misrepresentation, writing into the vastness of black identity, and how hard it is to tell the truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On always learning and the wisdom of beginner's mind for writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Should you get an MFA? Courtney talks with special guests Erica Dawson (poet, author, MFA program director) and Leah Hampton (writer, editor, current MFA fellow) about one of the biggest—and most mystifying—decisions a writer can make.
Erica Dawson is the author of When Rap Spoke Straight to God, The Small Blades Hurt, and Big-Eyed Afraid. Her work has appeared in three editions of Best American Poetry, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, and other journals and anthologies. She is an associate professor of English and Writing at University of Tampa, where she directs the low-residency MFA program.
Leah Hampton is a fellow at the Michener Center for Writers and Editor in Chief of Bat City Review. Her work has appeared in Ecotone, storySouth, Appalachian Heritage, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. Her first book, Bodies, will be released by Henry Holt in 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Marlee Grace, author of How to Not Always Be Working, discuss inner critics, inspirational women, and turning our creativity into money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Nicole Chung, author of the memoir All You Can Ever Know, discuss the missing perspective in adoption narratives, re-examining familial truths, and writing through grief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Heather Havrilesky, author of What If This Were Enough?, discuss cultivating “weird aunt vibes,” owning the artist identity, and finally reaching the place where you write to please yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Liana Finck, artist and author of the graphic memoir Passing for Human, discuss the work of finding your artistic path, how comics are like poetry, and how Instagram grants her creative freedom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers, discuss complicating the notions of motherhood, why working on your characters is working on yourself, and keeping the faith through seven years of novel drafts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this special joint episode, Courtney and Mike Sakasegawa—photographer, writer, and host of the arts podcast Keep the Channel Open—talk about podcasting and what they're working on off the air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Courtney and Celeste Ng—author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You—do a deep dive into process: what makes a good beginning, finding the voice, reverse outlining and more. They also discuss writing about identity and the other, and the importance of multiple narratives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What We Lose author Zinzi Clemmons on writing grief, experimental literature and the author who changed her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carmen Maria Machado's debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, is short-listed for the National Book Award. She joins Courtney to talk about how short stories are like algebra (in a good way), processing life through narrative, and why she also loves writing erotica. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Matthew Newton—author of Shopping Mall, part of Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series—talks with Courtney about the mall's place in our culture and his life, balancing memoir and reportage, and the question to ask before starting your next project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Season two is here! Nick Riggle—skater, philosopher and author of the new book On Being Awesome—talks about his theory of awesomeness, how hard it is to write clearly, and how some of his favorite projects have been reactions to creative dissatisfaction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I had an incredible experience at my first Appalachian Writers' Workshop this summer, and I'm excited to bring you three readings recorded live at AWW: novelist Glenn Taylor, nonfiction writer Jeremy B. Jones and poet Rebecca Gayle Howell.
WMFA is back with season two in September! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Here's what's coming up for WMFA—and how you can help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jennifer Haigh's novel Heat and Light won a 2017 Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She and Courtney discuss writing about Appalachia, how writing a novel is an exercise in empathy, and why no one knows where her writing studio is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rachel Khong is a writer and former Lucky Peach editor whose debut novel, Goodbye, Vitamin, was just released by Henry Holt. She and Courtney discuss Rachel's fascination with memory, when to go to grad school and the weird world of ambient sound recordings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic whose work bridges personal experience and popular culture, covering everything from Ric Flair to the erasure of memory. He and Courtney discuss the deeper meanings of pop culture, writing as a physical act, and why Hanif believes the best poets are in black barber shops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Married writers Julie Buntin and Gabe Habash have both just released their debut novels, Julie's Marlena and Gabe's Stephen Florida. We talk about how they created these works, what drew them to their protagonists, and what it's like to live with another writer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You, discusses being a poet novelist, the language of desire, and why he writes first drafts by hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New York-born Afro-Caribbean poet Yesenia Montilla talks about writing the immigrant and the American experience, walking around with your two-weeks’ notice in your pocket, and why poetry is like a puzzle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The author of See You in the Cosmos, a middle-grade novel, talks about editing our own narratives, presenting complex issues to kids, and how he raised $24,000 on Kickstarter to publish his first book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Esmé Weijun Wang, author of The Border of Paradise: A Novel, discusses writing with limitations, career "up-leveling," and that time she tossed an entire novel draft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jason Diamond, author of the memoir Searching for John Hughes, discusses the helpfulness of failure, visiting famous authors' graves and analyzing your past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this bonus mini episode, we discuss class and art—and the attitudes about both that we bring to creative work—with last week's guest, Rebecca Gayle Howell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rebecca Gayle Howell is on this week's episode to discuss the art of listening, writing and faith, and creation as resistance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, we talk to Tanwi Nandini Islam, author of Bright Lines, about exfoliating fear from your mind, giving yourself permission, and claiming your authority as a voice of your culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, we talk to Juan Vidal, author of the forthcoming book Rap Dads, about being a creative loner who loves collaboration, using music to tap into the subconscious, and never giving up on the ideas that move you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, we talk to author Taylor Larsen about writing without ego, engaging with your characters, and the surreal experience of debut authorship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Before the huge success of Station Eleven—which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award and won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Toronto Book Award—Emily St. John Mandel wrote three novels published with small presses. In this episode, we discuss book discoverability, taking the preciousness out of writing, and the difficulty of knowing when to quit your day job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices