Kaveh Akbar weighs every word that he writes. An accomplished and published poet, any reader can tell that he understands the undeniable power of language with his first novel, called Martyr! Engaging, funny, fascinating and downright beautiful, Martyr! grabs your attention by the lapels and won’t let go. Read the book and listen to our podcast to hear how K ... Show More
Aug 21
Kathy Wang Believes in Satisfaction
Kathy Wang’s newest, The Satisfaction Café is the story of Joan Laing, her compromises, her victories, her loves and her loneliness. In this memorable story, Joan and her reflections lead us through the journey of her life…culminating in the opening of a unique, strange and lovel ... Show More
32m 11s
Aug 14
Our Writer in Residence Finishes His First Draft
J. Ryan Stradal is our Writer in Residence, if you have been following along. What does that mean? Well, we have been with him from step one since he started his fourth novel, as yet unnamed. A deeply personal novel that imagines the third act his mother might have lived if she h ... Show More
39m 28s
Aug 7
Classics Series: Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is a feverishly paced, lyrical portrait of an unnamed African American man in the 1930’s. Hauntingly beautiful and raw, this book changed how Americans think about race. Immediately popular and the winner of the National Book Award in 1953, Ralph Ell ... Show More
36m 12s
Aug 2021
Kaveh Akbar : Pilgrim Bell
Today’s guest, poet Kaveh Akbar, discusses his latest poetry collection Pilgrim Bell. Given that Akbar once suggested that syntax was identity, how do the changes in Akbar’s own poetry, from his first collection to now, reflect changes in himself as a person? Akbar talks about th ... Show More
2h 11m
Jan 2024
Kaveh Akbar's novel 'Martyr!' is a journey of identity, addiction and poetry
Halfway through today's episode, author Kaveh Akbar tells NPR's Scott Simon that his life is a summation of "private joys amidst collective grief and private grief amidst collective joy." It's a contrast that contextualizes his emotionally dark yet deeply funny debut novel, Marty ... Show More
8m 22s
Nov 2021
Kaveh Akbar — How Prayer Works
A narrative prose poem about two brothers — one on a visit home from college — who are turning to face east in their small shared room. With seven years between them, one is a young man and the other, the poet, is nearing his teens. Their prayer is interrupted by a sudden surpris ... Show More
15m 15s
Mar 2023
The Art of Noticing – and Appreciating – Our Dizzying World
“Poetry is the attempt to understand fully what is real, what is present, what is imaginable, what is feelable, and how can I loosen the grip of what I already know to find some new, changed relationship,” the poet Jane Hirshfield tells me. Through poetry, she says, “I know somet ... Show More
1h 20m
Dec 2023
L'Étranger - Albert Camus
"Mère décédée. Enterrement demain. Sentiments distingués." Voici le télégramme que reçoit Meursault, lui annonçant que sa mère, placée à l’hospice de Marengo, vient de mourir. C'est ainsi que commence ce roman d'Albert Camus, le premier du célèbre auteur, publié en 1942. "L'Étran ... Show More
22m 35s
May 2022
404 Kafka and Literary Oblivion (with Robin Hemley)
Author Robin Hemley joins Jacke for a discussion of Kafka, writerly ambition, and his new novel Oblivion: An After Autobiography, which tells the story of a midlist author who finds himself in the posthumous world where authors fade from obscurity into the world of Oblivion...unl ... Show More
58m 56s