Connor Towne O'Neill

Yasmin Zaher

Yasmin Zaher joins Vanessa Golenia to discuss her debut novel, THE COIN. Their conversation touches on what it means to write intuitively without outlines or plans or even a structure in mind, about letting a novel’s secrets remain elusive, and the value of humor in dark times.

Flora Chan

Designer Flora Chan joins poetry editor, Marshall Woodward, to discuss what makes a "good" book cover, how authors can have a stronger voice in the design process, and what design can do (if anything) to combat current book banning trends.

Nick Flynn

Nick Flynn joins co-hosts Vanessa Golenia and Maha Ahmed to discuss his latest collection of poetry, LOW. In this episode, we discuss finding poetic inspiration at church, near-death experiences, and the ways nascent AI is made for poetry.   Music by Ryan Bollenbach and cover art by Kearstyn Boucher.

Cate Pasquarelli

We invited Cate Pasquarelli to discuss her recent project, The Museum of Embellished History—an art installation that presents a “museum show” about the fictional events of New Bantam, Connecticut. In this episode, we talk about what makes small towns a natural backdrop for disaster narratives and what blurring fact and fiction in art can tell us about the stories we want to believe in.    Music by Ryan Bollenbach and cover art by Kearstyn Boucher.

Connor Towne O'Neill

Connor Towne O’Neill is the producer of White Lies — the NPR podcast documentary which became a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for its work reinvestigating the unsolved murder of civil rights activist, Rev. James Reeb. Its most recent season puts fresh eyes on the 1991 Talladega Prison Riot. Connor joins us to discuss the art of investigative storytelling, the “entry fiction” doctrine, and why stories that have been long thought dead are worth revisiting decades later.    A special thanks to our sound engineer, Sarah Nguyen. Music by Ryan Bollenbach and covert art by Kearstyn Boucher.