Animal Riot Podcast

Episode 33: Vulnerable

Welcome to the 33rd episode of the Animal Riot Podcast. This is a very special episode of the podcast because our beloved host, Brian Birnbaum, is back, this time in the hot seat as the interviewee. He and podcast producer, Katie Rainey, sit down for an honest and open conversation about struggle, addiction, being vulnerable with each other, and Brian's forthcoming novel Emerald City that will be published this Sunday, September 15th. Join us to hear all this and a special reading from Brian's debut novel. 

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

Episode 32: Independent Book Review

Welcome to the 32nd installment of the Animal Riot Podcast. Today we've got Joe Walters of Independent Book Review on the podcast. Joe traveled from Philly to be with us today & we're so excited to talk about IBR and all things book marketing, editing, and publishing. IBR wants to help you discover your next favorite book - and to help the authors who are writing them. They bring to light works by self-published authors and small presses, giving them the time of day that normal review outlets would not. Hear Joe talk about this endeavor and his very knowledgeable background in all things book marketing. 

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

Episode 31: Fugitives & Animals Part 2

We're back Animals! After a week off, we're back with our 31st episode. This episode is the second in our two-part series about our North Carolina trip we're calling "Fugitives & Animals: A Collaborative Literary Tour". In this episode, producer & stand-in host, Katie Rainey, sat down with the owners and workers of each bookstore we visited to talk about books, community work, and all things related to the North Carolina Literary Scene. We're so thrilled to feature these great community places, so tune in to hear from Scuppernong Books, Bookmarks, Sunrise Books, Firestorm Books & Coffee, Main Street Books & Wall of Books. 

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

Episode 30: Fugitives & Animals Part 1

We're back Animals! After a week off, we're back with our 30th episode coming to you from the back of a hostel in sunny Asheville, North Carolina. This past week, we've been traveling all across NC with our pals from Southern Fried Karma Press (SFK) on an endeavor we call "Fugitives & Animals: A Collaborative Literary Tour". In the first part of this series, we sat down with the one and only Steve McCondichie of SFK Press, along with two SFK authors, George Hovis and Matthew Duffus, to discuss the tour, their latest books, and all things related to the North Carolina Literary Scene. 

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

Episode 29: It’s my party, I’ll do what I want

Animal! We're so excited because our old pal, Aaron Poochigian, is our special guest on this 29th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast. We consider Aaron one of our O.A.s - original animals - because he's been a long time supporter of the Animal Riot Mafia. You may remember him from his cameo appearance in Episode 22 at the Paragraph: Writers Workspace, however, we've got him all to ourselves in the episode. Tune in to hear all about Aaron's rich career in the writing world, from his enviable day job with translations to the wild ride that is his latest work Mr. Either/Or: All The Rage, the sequel to his acclaimed Mr. Either/Or.

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

Episode 28: The Iceberg Theory

We're back with the 28th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by Animal Riot Press. We're so excited to welcome Chelsea Fonden and Janelle Greco of Eclipsed Reading Series on the podcast today! This dynamic duo is all up in the literary community - from their dope reading series to editing to running writing workshops for the homeless. Join us as we get heady about the writing process and talk about the nature of vulnerability and writing. And of course, we'll get a mix of genres as we hear these lovely ladies read. 

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

Episode 27: Kicking the Ghost

Welcome welcome welcome—welcome I say! To the 27th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by who tfe but us at Animal Riot Press. Today we’ve got Moses Utomi, fellow Sarah Lawrence Fiction MFA’er—-and proud of it. Today we’re going to talk all things genre, from its place (or lack thereof) in MFA programs—save for the rise of speculative fiction—the way Moses gets his proverbial ass in the proverbial chair, and his utterly peculiar and exciting experience living in China, not just as a writer, but an amateur kickboxer with actual paid victories to his name. And of course we’ll get a reading from a stunningly crystallized, mystically-inclined short piece of fiction Moses recently published.

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

Episode 26: Autofiction: Universal Virtue or Literary Selfie?

Welcome to the twenty-sixth installment of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by who else but us of the warren deceased. Too soon? Too bad. Because today we're talking all things autofiction--that modern neologism for autobiographical fiction. Is it good for the technology, or is it the literary equivalent of a selfie? Does it come from a desire to portray the universal, or is it merely a clever sublimation of modern egocentricism bred by social media and its inherent focus on the self? We're here to break such binaries and exhume the alluvial truth of the matter--or at least do our very bunny best. Join us as we talk about these things and others with a few of our O.A.s (Original Animals): Seth Katz, Jared Marcel Pollen, and George Sawaya. 

The transcript of this episode is available on our website.

Episode 25: Dear Ocean

Welcome back, bunny-people, for the 25th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by--who else?--Animal Riot Press. Today we sit down with Kwame Opoku-Duku, a poet and prose writer whose book, Unbnd Verses, out with Glass Poetry Press, is a collection of poems that confront the comportment of black bodies in today's America. Kwame and yours truly discuss his trajectory--from his struggle to channel the dark energy of his youth into the light of his sparkling poetry, to his work with Human Impacts, a environmental-focused advocacy group, and the attendant reading series he curates, Dear Ocean, which invites writers to read work surrounding issues of climate change. 

The transcript for this episode is available on our website. 

Episode 24: Y’all Means All

Welcome to the twenty-fourth episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by Animal Riot Press, a literary press for books that matter. Today we've got the one and only Steve McCondichie of Southern Fried Karma Press on the podcast. Steve is a writer & entrepreneur & subversive southerner & a rebel since kindergarten from the outskirts of Hotlanta. As a publisher, Steve's mission is to tell a million stories of "Y'all Means All" and SFK Press is this sister press of our dreams. Join in to hear us talk about this and to hear Steve read from his latest novel: The Parlor Girl’s Guide out from SFK Press. 

The transcript for this episode is available on our website.