You know her, you love her, WE GOT SAMANTHA IRBY! The author of WOW, NO THANK YOU joins us to talk about everything BUT writing. Okay, some writing is discussed. Also: secret snacks, procrastinating, her TV work, and more!

Today we're joined by Lisa Taddeo (ANIMAL) to talk about her sharp, wrenching, bold, feral new novel! We get into just how Lisa came up with this concept, writing unreliable narrators, allowing the wild to unfold, writing fiction vs nonfiction, and a...

Marream Krollos (STAN) joins to talk about her intense, voicey, bold, riveting novella, waiting years to find her audience, teaching in Saudi Arabia, maintaining the connection to her dream of being published, and more! 

Zach Dodson (BATS OF THE REPUBLIC) joins us to discuss his novel-in-progress about a moon colony (!!!), designing while writing, starting over when a project needs reworking, the marketing/business side of publishing, and more, including a delightful...

Today we're joined by Nikki Dolson (LOVE AND OTHER CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR)! Nikki tells us how she taught herself to write by reading; the mental gymnastics of being a mom/worker who wants to write; the realness of writer's block; carving out her place in...

Leah Carroll (DOWN CITY) is here! After she reads a relentless, hilarious, wild essay, we discuss horrible bosses; the filthy part of the filthy rich; finding work and community after being laid off; being a rabble rouser; writing hybrid true...

Today we talk with our boyfriend J. Robert Lennon (SUBDIVISION, LET ME THINK, Graywolf '21) about the joy in writing/creating/describing physical spaces; how the HELL he came up with the idea for SUBDIVISION; releasing a collection at the same time as...

Miranda Popkey (TOPICS OF CONVERSATION) joins us to chat about starting an MFA program having not written fiction before (!!!); working with form or idea over plot; the fear of writing sex scenes; working in the publishing industry; being mentored by...

Today we talk with Jennifer Berney () about what it's like to have a memoir out in the world, leaving off a project during the pandemic and writing letters instead, "enjoying the turtle," how to be a shy writer, the historical novel she returns to...

Alex and Lindsay chat with () about writing through the "brain fog" of early parenthood; writing about the body; creating safe spaces in order to access vulnerability while writing; creating/accessing boundaries when writing; working with her agent...

Today we talk with Shannon McLeod (WHIMSY), author and high school teacher! Topics include: picking up a blueberry with your vagine; what is Shannon's submission process?; how do you pronounce "deluge"?!; Shannon's journey through two rounds of MFA...

Today we talk to true luminary Catherine Nichols about her novel, which is based on Nijinsky's life and is an exploration of how someone could create something so powerful when they're not the one in power. If that hasn't blown your mind, then wait...

In this ravioli of an episode, we talk with queer literary icons Kristen Arnett and Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya! Do they show each other their WiP? Which writer talks to herself while writing? Did you know you could make your own writer's retreat in which...

Today we chat with Adam O'Fallon Price (THE HOTEL NEVERSINK) on topics including: reading is terrifying; is The Hotel Neversink a novel in stories or is it something else?; what's it like being a "late bloomer" in the writing world?; "walking on the...

Today our guest is Michael Zapata (THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU). Topics include: socialist librarians; New Orleans;  storytelling vs. writing; teaching: not for Alex; how serving your community feeds your writing and vice versa; Chicago's...

Today we talk with Erin Somers (STAY UP WITH HUGO BEST), author, mom, and industry scribe! Erin's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, American Short Fiction, Tin House, and elsewhere. She is a reporter for the...

Today we talk to Chelsea Martin (CACA DOLCE), writer, illustrator, and mother, about how reading is weird; writing before baby vs after baby; protecting new projects; PLUS: we invented the hottest new social media craze (it MIGHT be an MLM but it's...

The Butheads talk to artist and writer Dmitry Samarov (OLD STYLE) about self-publishing, how pig faces are the more human faces so they are less vegetarian, writing from life and making connections / composites, working in the service industry,...

Amber Sparks (AND I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU), author, employee, and mother, joins the Butheads to discuss boogers, what we thought writing while parenting would look like vs what it actually looks like, the endless pain of noveling, how loving your...

Today we talk with Matthew Salesses (CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD), author, professor, and dad. Topics include: his amazing daughter, learning how to write what you want to write, the good news about these young bucks in today's workshops, how Matt gets...

The Butheads talk to Rumaan Alam, author (LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND), critic, and father, about voice and cooking for children and POV and Willa Cather and Don DeLillo and Wigleaf and how writing short stories is cute. 

The Butheads talk to Elissa Washuta, member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. She is the author of My Body Is a Book of Rules and Starvation Mode, and her book White Magic is forthcoming from Tin House Books....

Chris L. Terry (BLACK CARD), author, screenwriter, runner, and dad joins the Butheads to talk about transforming his novel into a script, living in LA during the pandemic, rewarding himself by not writing, publishing with a smaller press, and...

Meghan Phillips is a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, author (ABSTINENCE ONLY, Barrelhouse), public library employee, and mother. Alex and Lindsay chat with her about ghost sex, mothers-in-law reading their work, pregnancy, and...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Juan Martinez, a writer, professor, and father about Chicago neighborhoods, Orlando chain businesses, and a groundhog that lives by the Taco Bell.  Later, Alex and Lindsay read some of their work and offer up writing...