Episode 233: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong – “Parks and Rec”

Episode 60: Isaac Bashevis Singer

In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of Isaac Bashevis Singer. An immigrant to the United States, Singer was an esteemed essayist, short story writer, novelist, translator, and children’s book author. As a young man in Poland, Singer initially pursued rabbinical studies, but the pull of literature was too strong. He worked as [...]

Episode 233: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong – “Parks and Rec”

This week, pop culture historian Jennifer Keishin Armstrong stops by to discuss her latest book Parks and Rec: The Underdog TV Show That Lit’rally Inspired a Vision for a Better America. Armstrong tells the definitive story of the creation and legacy of the beloved television show Parks and Recreation, with exclusive interview content from its [...]

Episode 59: Henry David Thoreau

In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of Henry David Thoreau. An essayist and poet, Thoreau lived a provocative life in which he endeavored to escape the limitations of human society by exploring the wider, wilder natural world. He was a naturalist, land surveyor, pencil maker, abolitionist, and student of Indigenous American culture [...]

Episode 232: Naoko Fujimoto

This week, we chat with poet Naoko Fujimoto, a senior editor at RHINO Poetry. She stopped by the AWM the other week to discuss the work of translation, her poetry process, and her forthcoming book titled: of Women: 20 Japanese Female Poets / 20 Waka Poems, a collection of translated Japanese waka-poems, including text collage [...]

Episode 231: Marilyn Hacker & Deema K. Shehabi

This week, poets Marilyn Hacker and Deema K. Shehabi discuss their powerful new book Water to Water: Gaza Renga, a poetry collaboration in the call-and-response form of renga written during the conflict in Gaza. This conversation originally took place April 20, 2026 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HUB [...]