Animal Riot Podcast

Episode 53: Guerrilla Lit

In this 53rd episode of the Animal Riot Podcast, we invite Marco Rafala, author of How Fires End, and Lee Matthew Goldberg, author of The Ancestor, The Desire Card, and more, to discuss their longstanding Manhattan reading series, Guerrilla Lit, and how they've adapted during the pandemic. We also dig into how coronavirus has affected the community, their writing, and even themselves. Best of all, we discuss what makes New York the epicenter of culture and literature, regardless of what's going on right now. 

Episode 52: Indoor Sunglasses

Welcome to the 52nd Episode of the Animal Riot podcast, brought to you by Animal Riot Press. Today, we invite two of our OG crew, Jared Marcel Pollen and Seth Katz--along with David Holllander, the Author of our second title, Anthropica, due to hit the proverbial stands on September 1st. Listen in as we continue a conversation that's woven through several episodes, about the state of the publishing industry, and specifically, how David navigated its turn toward more commercial work. We also take this opportunity to discuss the differences between European and American literature. Best of all, as we speak of such things, you can envisage David wearing what we can only guess were darkly iridescent knock-off Ray-Bans, which we can assure you is in deep contradiction to his normal behavior. 

Episode 51: The Way I Used to Write

Welcome back Animals. It's been a while, but we've got the podcast back up and running, beginning with episode 51, featuring the old pack, Devin Kelly, Seth Katz, Jared Marcel Pollen, and George Sawaya. In today's episode, we reflect upon what drives us to write, not just during the ongoing pandemic, when it can seem as if everything that matters has been rearranged from all recognition but why we pick up a pen in the first place. We reflect on everything from Michael Jordan's relentless drive and artistry as reflected in the recent documentary, The Last Dance, to how we used to write before the ambition and vanity of wanting to publish our work began to influence our innocent passion for putting words on paper. We might even muse on how Top Gun was subsidized by the government because they want us to feel a certain way about our country.

Episode 50: Making the Space for Writing

Animals! It's our 50th episode! And this week our producer Katie and previous guest & producer Annie Krabbenschmidt have taken over the show... (who knows what they did with Brian!) and are thrilled to welcome Sarah Paolantonio to the show! Sarah is a 'recovering' music programmer who always keeps the radio on. She's a writer of nonfiction and you can read more from her in EntropyMagazine and on her website. Follow Sarah on Twitter via @sarahpaol because she wants to know what your favorite Bob Dylan record is. Join us today as we get down and talk nonfiction, rant & rave about Franzen & DFW, talk politics, and generally discuss whatever the fuck we're feeling. 

Episode 49: Who gets to write what?

We're back, animals! Here with the 49th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by Animal Riot Press, a literary press for books that matter. We're here today with the wonderful Mathea Morais, Director of the Noepe Center for Literary Arts on Martha’s Vineyard. Her debut novel There You Are was recently released and we're thrilled to bring her on today to talk about writing communities, debut novels, and debate the timeless question "Who gets to write what?".

Episode 48: Adult Poets

We're back animals! And this week we've got special guest poet & radical educator Abigail Kirby Conklin. Abby is the author of the debut chapbook, Triage, out now from Duck Lake Books. She's been published in Duck Lake Journal, Garfield Lake, K’in Literary Journal, Storyscape Journal, The Lampeter Review, The Northern Virginia Review, Sugar House Review, among numerous others. Abby also works in the New York City arts education scene, and today we'll be talking about debut books, poetry, radical pedagogy, and being a grown up poet! Get your paws warmed and let's go! 

The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Episode 47: What’s in the box?

Hey Animals! We're back this week with an episode on writing groups and more, featuring two of our favorite writing group pals: Jennifer Werbitsky and Melissa Shaw! Jen and Mel couldn't have more different backgrounds in their day jobs - Jen works in the corporate world, while Mel is a teacher at an arts education nonprofit - but in the writing world they click and we can't wait to hear what they'll read for us today. Join us for talks on writing groups, llamas, and the latest product to drop from Tim Cook... 

 

Episode 46: The Escapist

Hey Animals! We're back with Episode 46, featuring writer and teacher David Puretz. David is the Editorial Director at Global City, an independent press that publishes the literary and cultural journal Global City Review, and a growing list of other books and anthologies, including his own: The Escapist, which is his debut novel. Join David and host Katie Rainey as they talk about Global City's history, publishing, and finally getting the work out there!

The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Episode 45: Twenty Acres of Taylor Swift

Hoppy New Year Animals! We hope your 2020 is kicking off to a good start. Here's our first episode of the year, featuring writer, editor, and reading series curator Andrew Lloyd-Jones. Andrew is an award-winning short story writer, and won the Fish International Short Story Prize with his story “Feathers and Cigarettes”, recently adapted for film. He is the  founder, producer, and host of the regular live fiction reading series and podcast Liars' League NYC in New York. Join us today as we talk about the reading series community, short story writing, rejections, and being really uncomfortable talking about ourselves... 

The transcript of this episode can be found on our website.

Episode 44: Everything You Do Is Completely Meaningless But It Is Very Important That You Do It

We're back animals! And we've got a very special last episode of 2019 for you! Featuring the one and only David Hollander, author of L.I.E. and the forthcoming Anthropica from Animal Riot! Join David and host, Katie Rainey, as they talk about experimental fiction, publishing, the overwhelming nature of our world, and get a sneak peek at the forthcoming Anthropica, to be published in September 2020.

The transcript of this episode is available on our website.