S2E1: Horror / I appreciate bold swings

S2E2: Nonhuman POV / But which one of us is right?

This week, we discuss the nonhuman point of view in Brendan Wenzel’s picture book “They All Saw a Cat” and Mary Oliver’s poem “Driving Through the Wind River Reservation: A Poem of Black Bear”. Aparna discovers magical and meddlesome eucalyptus properties and Haley shares a story from her grandfather’s childhood.  Mentions:  * "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate (2012) * "Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (2017) * "Dream Work" by Mary Oliver (1986) * "Time is a Mother" by Ocean Vuong (2022) * @m_d_n_f_ on Instagram  * Austin Kleon's newsletter: https://austinkleon.com/newsletter/ * Pádraig Ó Tuama’s poem “There is a Time to Love and a Tome to Hate: a Time for Making War” from his collection “Feed the Beast” (2022) Thank you to Pádraig Ó Tuama whose poem “The Facts of Life” inspired the title of this podcast.  Cover image by Sanjana Kapur.

S2E1: Horror / I appreciate bold swings

Welcome to season 2! It's a horrifyingly good start to the season. We discuss the poems "Windigo" by Louise Erdrich (1984) and "Cruel Strokes" by Steffi Tad-y (2022) and the picture book "The Wolves in the Walls" written Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean (2003). Other mentions: * Carol Ann Duffy's poems “Mrs Darwin” and “Mrs Aesop” from “The World’s Wife” (Picador, 1999) * Article on The Windigo and colonialism as cannibalism: Dillion, Portland State University: https://web.pdx.edu/~dillong/Windigo%20(Dillon).pdf [https://web.pdx.edu/~dillong/Windigo%20(Dillon).pdf] * "What the Dark Sounds Like" by Aparna Kapur (Pratham Books, 2023) https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/555145-what-the-dark-sounds-like * "Really Good Actually" by Monica Heisey (William Morrow, 2023) Thank you to Pádraig Ó Tuama whose poem “The Facts of Life” inspired the title of this podcast.  Cover image by Sanjana Kapur.

Season 2 Trailer

Haley and Aparna are back for another season! It'll be nothing like the first season. We will have no fun, there will be no joking. Just kidding! This season we're focusing each episode on a theme, genre, or category, reading and discussing one picture book and one(ish) poem within that topic. Does Aparna understand poetry? Can Haley learn to be lighthearted? You'll have to listen to find out!

Episode 14: I'm Proud of You, Probably

It’s Christmas in March as we discuss our favourite Christmas albums in this episode! For the main discussion, we revisit the letters we wrote to our future selves when we were writing our dissertations. Haley discovers fusion; Aparna discovers patenting a living organism! Aparna spotlights the newsletter Fifty Two (https://fiftytwo.in) Haley spotlights Team Trans’ first draft tournament in WC (https://thehockeynews.com/news/growing-the-game-first-all-trans-hockey-tournament-a-success) Mentions: Kelly Link's short story “The Wrong Grave” (2009) “fanfiction is art now? the fanfic to published book pipeline” by Carley Thorne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFDE-BX3pzg) The Nylon’s "A Wish For You" Christmas album (2006) Celine Dion’s "These Are Special Times" Christmas album (1998) "A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack (1965) Denise Levertov’s “Some Notes on Organic Form” (1965) Hank Green Fusion TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@hankgreen1/video/7176414313681292549) Thank you to Pádraig Ó Tuama whose poem “The Facts of Life” inspired the title of this podcast. Cover image by Sanjana Kapur.

Episode 13: Drooled on by a Princess

In this episode, I interview Aparna about her creative ambitions. She talks about the merits of children’s literature being taken less seriously, pushing back against mediocrity in the industry, and the fear of running out of ideas. We discuss our biggest lessons learned from the week. We debate whether "Let It Go" is a Christmas song. We also talk about the feedback we got on our dissertations! Haley discovers a very gassy fact about seals (and tells the worst pun). Aparna discovers a flaky fact about croissants. Aparna spotlights the podcast “Our Opinions are Correct” (https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/ [https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/]) Haley spotlights Aparna Kapur on her award for Best MA Dissertation. Mentions: 69 Love Songs, album by The Magnetic Fields (1999) That’s Christmas to Me (Deluxe edition), album by Pentatonix (2015) “Ruckus on the Road” by Sanjana Kapur and Aparna Kapur, Puffin India “One More Croissant For the Road” By Felicity Cloake (2019) “Pretty Monsters” Kelly Link (2003) Thank you to Pádraig Ó Tuama whose poem “The Facts of Life” inspired the title of this podcast. Cover image by Sanjana Kapur. Seal Sneezing sounds are from @viralhog “Seal Sneezes Sound Like Farts”