In which novelist Lauren Groff talks utopia, twelfth-century feminine desire, and the ghost of Hildegard von Bingen.

In which Elena Passarello gives Aesop a run for his money.

In which editor-at-large Sidik Fofana discusses MFA culture, slow writing, and teaching high school, as well as his stories “The Okiedoke” and “The Rent Manual,” which were originally published in the Sewanee Review.

In which Danielle Evans discusses characterological framework, the coincidence of unintentional motif, and the underpinnings of a successful short story.

In which editor-at-large Brandon Taylor interviews Katie Kitamura, author of A Separation and Intimacies. In this episode, Kitamura considers how her work explores the inner landscapes of the self.

In which poet Nikky Finney begins with love.

In which Lisa Taddeo, author of the New York Times bestseller Three Women and the novel Animal, talks about the mundane cruelty of male indifference, the deferral of female desire, and power dynamics in heterosexual relationships that elide female agency, favoring narratives of absolute victimhood.

In which Ross Gay, poet of Be Holding; Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; and author of the New York Times Bestselling collection of essays The Book of Delights, discusses “Joy as the rightful subject of our literary concerns or inquiry.”

In which Caki Wilkinson personifies hope and muses, “Hope is a character and things are not going well for her. I was thinking about Emily Dickinson, like what is the 2020 version of Emily Dickinson’s ‘Hope is the thing with feathers?’. Definitely not a bird.”

In which Rebecca Wolff, poet and editor of Fence magazine, discusses the sparse structure of her writing life, her editorship of Fence, and the kinetic tension between stanzas and space on the page: “I think the space is just as present but maybe not more. It’s a place full of hope, it’s a place where I am hoping that the reader will allow themselves to make connections that I am not willing to make for them.”

In which Graham Barnhart, poet and US Army veteran, discusses the paradox of being an army medic—“You carry a rifle and an aid bag full of medical supplies to treat the people you’re potentially expected to shoot”; and the capacity of poetry to contain that paradox without limiting it: “How do I communicate what feels like a personal experience without ignoring the violence and oppression of the machine I’m a part of that allowed me to receive that experience, even providing medical care as a way of pursuing the war?”

In which the poet Jennifer Habel, author of The Book of Jane discusses the process of reexamining traditionally female forms of artistry and how that exercise animates her own craft.

In which editor Adam Ross interviews novelist Chris Bachelder about his thoughts on patient writing, and Bachelder reads an excerpt from his novel The Throwback Special.

In which Erin McGraw, a former teacher at the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State as well as a prolific author with three novels and four collections of short stories, entreats aspiring writers: “Forgive yourself.”

In which Pulitzer prizewinning poet Paul Muldoon confronts himself. “Ok Paul get a grip. Face reality this is what you do, and it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do,” says he. “It is as reasonable a thing to do as to be a philosopher or a psychiatrist or a pulmonary specialist. Just get over yourself. It’s not about you. You are a poet.”

In which poets Edgar Kunz, the author of Tap Out, and Anders Carlson-Wee, the author of The Low Passions, consider influence and camaraderie—the ways in which their friendship has shaped their writing practices and their first books.

In which Anna Lena Phillips Bell—author of the poetry collection Ornament and editor of Ecotone—considers the ways poetry helps us map the natural world and how “art is not a frivolous pursuit.”

In which Margaret Renkl—the author of Late Migrations and a contributing writer for the New York Times—wonders if the arc of the universe still bends towards justice.

In which editor Adam Ross interviews bestselling author Stephanie Danler about her upcoming memoir Stray. In this episode, Danler discusses the differences between writing fiction and memoir and gives the listener a behind-the-scenes look into how a book gets refined in its final stages of editing

In which Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart and Abandon Me, dubs writing "psychological alchemy" and recites a poem by Mary Oliver.

In which editor Adam Ross interviews Garth Greenwell, the author of Cleanness and What Belongs to You. In this episode, Greenwell is crowned King of MFA Programs and decrees mandatory reading in a second language and deeply in translated works.

In which Adam Ross, editor of the Sewanee Review, introduces the Sewanee Review Podcast for readers and storytellers.