WMFA

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.

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.

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.

Jason Diamond, author of the memoir Searching for John Hughes, discusses the helpfulness of failure, visiting famous authors' graves and analyzing your past.

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. 

Rebecca Gayle Howell is on this week's episode to discuss the art of listening, writing and faith, and creation as resistance.

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.

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.

This week, we talk to author Taylor Larsen about writing without ego, engaging with your characters, and the surreal experience of debut authorship.

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.