"Our book is about the function of the brain. We argue that we live in a world that is chaotic and often unpredictable, and the book presents our thesis that the brain invents a simplified world to help us navigate this chaos and conduct our daily activities."

Melissa Mogollon stops by the studio to talk about her debut novel Oyé, her time as a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and what she’s working on now. For her piece from the past, Mel shares a list she wrote during her time as a graduate student at the Workshop!

His Broadway show Stereophonic became the most-nominated play in Tony Award history

"I mean this book took me more than 10 years -- I started it while I was at Iowa!" We discuss his journey from apathetic high school student to a highly recognized journalist and author, as well his tips, tricks and inspiration for aspiring writers everywhere. 

"One morning, I got out of bed and looked out my window and saw a group of children dressed in full tactical gear."

"There was a term that I heard somewhere used, just the other day, and she said "I'm in my gathering phase." Have you guys heard that? Is that a term of art over here?" Nam takes us on his writer's journey -- from a law firm in Australia to the Iowa Writers' Workshop in Iowa City.

"The essays move around a lot in subject and form -- there are shorter, more lyric pieces, longer works of cultural criticism and literary journalism, some memoir work; one is about Brad Pitt eating on screen, another is about watching LeBron James's online dad content, another is about Andy Warhol's diaries"

Today's episode is a discussion with Bennett Sims about his new collection Other Minds and Other Stories, which was published in November 2023 by Two Dollar Radio., and his process, inspiration and writing life.

"I believe that broken bodies tell broken stories. Or, they can, at least. Mine does."

In today's podcast, poet and translator Dan Beachy-Quick talks with us about his early writing days, and his current Greek translations.

"My godmother gave me stationery -- it was jungle themed stationery that had my name, it was customized -- and I would write stories and send them to publishers."