Keep the Channel Open

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2024/2/28/episode-147-ktco-book-club-baldurs-gate-3-with-maggie-tokuda-hall

Show Notes:

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 146: Olatunde Osinaike

Olatunde Osinaike is a poet based in Atlanta, GA. In his debut full-length poetry collection, Tender Headed, Olatunde explores Black masculinity, both celebrating and interrogating it in his sonically virtuosic poems. We talked about his approach to poetry, what poetic lineage means to him, and the silences inherent in patriarchy. Then for the second segment, we talked about departure albums and André 3000’s New Blue Sun.

(Recorded January 20, 2024.)

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Show Notes:

Olatunde Osinaike
Purchase Tender Headed: 44th and 3rd Booksellers (Atlanta, GA) | The Book Catapult (San Diego, CA) | Akashic Books (publisher)
Olatunde Osinaike - Upcoming Events
Bonus Reading for Patreon Subscribers: Olatunde Osinaike reads “Being Human Takes a Lot of Nerve”
Etheridge Knight - “The Sun Came”
Gwendolyn Brooks - “truth”
Paul M. Angle - “We Asked Gwendolyn Brooks about the Creative Environment in Illinois”
André 3000 - New Blue Sun
American Fiction
They Cloned Tyrone
Tristan Harris
Knives Out

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2024/1/31/episode-146-olatunde-osinaike

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 145: KTCO Book Club - Bianca (with Rachel Zucker)

For this KTCO Book Club conversation, poet and podcaster Rachel Zucker returns to the show to discuss Eugenia Leigh’s poetry collection Bianca. In our conversation, we talked about our approaches to talking about books with their authors, how form shapes how we take in intense subject matter in a poem, and how a book can be a means of connection.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2023/11/29/episode-145-ktco-book-club-bianca-with-rachel-zucker

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 144: Gerardo Sámano Córdova

Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a writer and artist from Mexico City. In his debut novel, Monstrilio, Gerardo draws from both horror and literary fiction traditions to tell a story about grief, family, and self-acceptance. In our conversation, Gerardo and I talked about genre expectations, genre fiction as a site of art, and what it means to be monstrous. For the second segment, we talked about the tension between fulfilling your own artistic vision and creating work that will sell.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 143: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a writer based in the Bronx, NY. In his debut novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana presents us with a dystopian future America where convicted prisoners fight each other to the death in a televised bloodsport. The book is both a blistering critique of the US carceral system and an insistence on the inalienable humanity of every person. In our conversation, Nana and I talked about what satire and dystopia open up for him as a writer, why it’s important to him to implicate both the reader and himself in his work, and how he thinks about prison abolition. Then in the second segment, we talked about the seductive nature of success as an artist in a capitalist society.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 142: Rachel Zucker

Rachel Zucker is a writer, podcast, and teacher based in New York and Maine. Her latest book, The Poetics of Wrongness, is a collection of essays (originally written and performed for the Bagley Wright Lecture Series) delving into her own poetics, motherhood, the history of confessional poetry, and the ethics of “say everything” poetry. In our conversation, Rachel and I talked about wrongness as a stance against moral purity, about addiction to doubt, and about poetry as an opportunity to create outside of capitalism. Then in the second segment, we talked about her new project, the Commonplace School for Embodied Poetics.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 141: KTCO Book Club - The Scapegracers (with Sarah Gailey)

For our latest KTCO Book Club episode, writer Sarah Gailey joins us for a discussion of H. A. Clarke’s YA novels The Scapegracers and The Scratch Daughters. In our conversation, Sarah and I talked about the ways Clarke’s novels subvert genre expectations, about the quality of teen girls’ rage, and about why these books are “capital-I Important.”

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Show Notes:

Sarah Gailey
Purchase The Scapegracers: Loyalty (Washington, DC) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Purchase The Scratch Daughters: Loyalty (Washington, DC) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Purchase Just Like Home: Loyalty (Washington, DC) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Subscribe to The Personal Canons Cookbook
The Craft
Sarah Gailey - When We Were Magic
Maggie Tokuda-Hall - Squad
Euphoria
How different generations react to a gay character being introduced
Holly Black - The Cruel Prince
Mark Russel & Mike Feehan - Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 24 May 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 140: Dayna Patterson

Dayna Patterson is a poet, photographer, and textile artist based in the Pacific Northwest. The poems in her latest collection, O Lady, Speak Again, use the voices of the women characters from Shakespeare’s plays to talk about patriarchy, motherhood, sexuality, religion, heritage. In our conversation, Dayna and I discussed her creative process and how she finds her way into a poem, her use of persona in O Lady, Speak Again, and how and why she interrogates that same device within the collection. The in the second segment, we talked about play, and how it interacts with the creative process.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 139: Joshua Burton

Joshua Burton is a poet and educator based in Houston, TX. The poems in Joshua’s debut collection, Grace Engine, ask what grace means in a hostile world of lynchings, mental illness, self-hate, and suicide. These poems offer no solace, yet nevertheless reach toward beauty and peace. In our conversation, Joshua and I talked about what a grace engine is, processing shame through poetry, and what can be unlocked by returning to the same subject in multiple poems. Then for the second segment, we talked about creating mythology as a way of honoring those whom history may have overlooked.

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Show Notes:

Joshua Burton
Purchase Grace Engine: Brazos Bookstore (Houston, TX) | The Book Catapult (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Mike’s video review of Grace Engine
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Mono no aware
Lynching of Jim McIlherron
Lynching of Mary Turner
Lynching of Laura and L. D. Nelson (note: link contains graphic images)
Royal Robertson
William O’Neal
Keep the Channel Open - Episode 108: The Craft of the Literary Podcast Interview
Joshua Burton - Fracture Anthology
Roland Barthes - Camera Lucida
Toni Morrison - Song of Solomon
Lupe Fiasco - DROGAS Wave

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 04:05:00 +0000

Episode 138: KTCO Book Club - The Cruel Prince (with Mel Thomas)

For our latest KTCO Book Club episode, media critic Mel Thomas joins us for a conversation about Holly Black’s YA fantasy novel The Cruel Prince. In our conversation, we discuss the ways that craft in YA fiction is often dismissed or overlooked by both critics and readers, the dynamics of abuse and trauma in the novel, and being able to enjoy art on multiple levels.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 137: Gabrielle Bates

Gabrielle Bates is a poet based in Seattle, WA. Throughout Gabrielle’s debut collection, Judas Goat, there is a feeling of quiet, that the poems are almost being whispered to you. And yet it is not a soft or comforting quiet that these poems bring, but rather one that often contains a sense of menace. In our conversation, Gabrielle and I talked about that disquieting feeling, the slipperiness of memory, the poetics of attention, and how important narrative to her poetics. Then for the second segment, we discussed what literature and poetry can do.

[Recorded Jan 2, 2023]

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 136: Abby Minor

Abby Minor is a writer based in central Pennsylvania. In her debut book of poems, As I Said: A Dissent, Abby combines the historical narrative of Ann Lohman—a 19th-century abortion provider in New York City—with personal and family history, creating a collection of poems that challenge the typical notion of an abortion story. In our conversation, Abby and I talked about her approach to documentary poetry, why it was important to her to push back against conventional abortion discourse, and how art and activism intersect. Then in the second segment, we talked about American work culture and the necessity of rest.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 135: Molly Spencer

Molly Spencer is a poet based in Michigan. The poems in her collections In the House and Hinge engage with chronic illness, divorce, domesticity, motherhood, and the ways that our lives don’t always work out the way we expected them to. In our conversation, we talked about dissolution, the uses of poetry, ways of knowing, and speaking unlovely truths. Then for the second section, we talked about attention—both the kind of attention we’d like to cultivate in our own lives, and what kind of attention we ask of our readers.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 134: Luther Hughes

Luther Hughes is a poet based in Seattle, WA. The poems in Luther’s debut collection, A Shiver in the Leaves, are tender, erotic, vulnerable, erudite, at times dark, and at times ecstatic. In our conversation, we talked about power dynamics in sexual encounters, different forms of love, and writing as a way of understanding oneself. Then in the second section, we talked about why so many sex scenes in popular media are so strange.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 133: André Ramos-Woodard

André Ramos-Woodard is a photographic artist originally from Texas and Tennessee. In their series BLACK SNAFU, André combines photographs celebrating Blackness with appropriated illustrations from racist cartoons as a way of confronting the history and present reality of American racism. In our conversation we discussed appropriation, questions of audience and community, and mental health. Then in the second segment, we talked about what inspires us outside of the visual arts.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 132: Amanda Marchand

Amanda Marchand is a Canadian, New York-based photographer. Amanda’s Lumen Notebook series is a body of elegant and strikingly beautiful images that nevertheless layer deep meaning within their seemingly simple compositions. In our conversation, Amanda and I talked about her process in creating these photograms and how working within strict constraints allows her to explore the technique more fully. We also discussed how she uses photography to facilitate connection and presence, and the duality of delight and mortality in her work. Then for the second segment we had a meandering conversation about autism, communication, attention, and using art to process and understand our emotional experiences.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 07:00:08 +0000

Episode 131: Fatemeh Baigmoradi

Fatemeh Baigmoradi is a photographic artist originally from Iran. In her series It’s Hard to Kill, Fatemeh works with archival family photos from Iran, using fire to obscure or destroy portions of the image—connecting to the way that her own family and many others burned their photos after the Iranian Revolution to protect themselves or others in the photos. In our conversation we talked about the relationship between photography and memory, censorship, and how violence, healing, and cleansing are all intertwined in Fatemeh’s work. Then in the second segment, Fatemeh and I talked about immigration.

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 07:34:31 +0000

Episode 130: Sarah Hollowell

Sarah Hollowell is a writer based in Indiana. Sarah’s debut novel, A Dark and Starless Forest, is a YA contemporary fantasy story centered on a family of foster sisters learning about their magic, until suddenly they start disappearing. In our conversation we talked about the difference in process between short stories and novels, how her novel portrays abuse dynamics, and the importance of fan fiction. Then in the second segment, Sarah and I talked about the Alpha Workshop.

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Show Notes:

Sarah Hollowell
Follow @sarahhollowell on Twitter
Purchase A Dark and Starless Forest: Viewpoint Books (Columbus, IN) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Alpha Young Writers Workshop
Ashley Schumacher - The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway
Rude Tales of Magic

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 25 May 2022 07:00:03 +0000

Episode 129: Ayesha Raees

Ayesha Raees is a poet and hybrid artist based in New York, Miami, and Lahore. In her debut book of poetry, Coining a Wishing Tower, she explores death, grief, culture, religion, separation, and return in a hybrid form that is part poetry, part narrative, part fable, and entirely remarkable. In our conversation, we talked about her book, her writing process, and sustaining a relationship with her work over time. Then in the second segment, we discussed community. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Goodpods | TuneIn | RSS Support: Support our Patreon | Review on Apple Podcasts | Review on Podchaser Share: Tweet this episode | Share to Facebook Connect: Newsletter | Email | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube Show Notes:

Ayesha Raees
Purchase Coining a Wishing Tower: Platypus Press | Bookshop.org
Rainier Maria Rilke - Letters to a Young Poet
bell hooks - The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2022/5/11/episode-129-ayesha-raees

Wed, 11 May 2022 07:00:56 +0000

Episode 128: Anahid Nersessian

Anahid Nersessian is a professor and critic based in Los Angeles, CA. In her latest book, Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse, Anahid takes the reader through close readings of John Keats’s six Great Odes, providing cultural context and explicating their themes of sexual violence, melancholy, and the seductiveness of beauty. More than that, though, the book is, itself, a love story. In our conversation, Anahid and I talked about how and why Keats’s Odes still resonate with readers today, how personal narrative entered these essays, and how it functions in them. Then in the second segment, we talked about experimental critical writing. Subscribe:

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:00:24 +0000

Episode 127: KTCO Book Club - Piranesi (with Maggie Tokuda-Hall)

For this installment of the KTCO Book Club, writer and podcaster Maggie Tokuda-Hall joins us to discuss Susanna Clark’s 2020 novel Piranesi. A relatively slim volume, Piranesi is surprisingly difficult to summarize but, like its labyrinthine setting, with patience and attention the book will reveal its profound beauty and kindness. (Conversation recorded February 24, 2022.) Subscribe:

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Show Notes:

Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Failure to Adapt
Purchase Piranesi: Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley, CA) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Purchase Also an Octopus: Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley, CA) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Purchase The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea: Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley, CA) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Purchase Squad: Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley, CA) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Purchase Love in the Library: Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley, CA) | Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego, CA) | Bookshop.org
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Jon Klassen
Mac Barnett
Carson Ellis
Mac Barnett & Carson Ellis - What Is Love?
M. T. Anderson - The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Kazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun
Normal Gossip
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - Friday Black

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 07:00:39 +0000

Episode 126: Yanyi

There’s a way in which the end of a serious relationship can shake your entire concept of yourself, and through your grief you have to find yourself again. Yanyi’s latest book of poems, Dream of the Divided Field, braids poems about heartbreak and implied emotional violence with poems about transition and immigration. Each has a similar but distinct sense of a loss of self, a search for self, a yearning for connection and belonging, a sometimes violent disconnection—to a partner, to a place or culture, to oneself and one’s own body. In our conversation, Yanyi and I discussed his book, deconstruction and reconstruction, attachment to nuance, and the relationship between beauty and violence. Then for the second segment, we talked about grief.

(Conversation recorded February 28, 2022.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:00:01 +0000

Episode 125: Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is a writer based in London, UK. Rowan’s second novel, Starling Days, is a beautiful story about the complex love between the book’s two protagonists, Mina and Oscar, and their respective challenges in the wake of Mina’s suicide attempt. Starling Days explores family and love in many forms, and how people both connect and separate. In our conversation, Rowan and I discussed the depiction of mental illness in her book, how she approached writing the multifaceted relationships between the book’s characters, and why it was important to her to include multiracial characters. Then in the second segment, we talked about faith and how we make and find meaning.

(Conversation recorded March 30, 2021.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 124: Farrah Karapetian

Farrah Karapetian is an artist based in California. Known for her large-scale photograms, Farrah’s wide-ranging practice incorporates sculpture, performance, and different forms of mark-making to stretch the photographic medium as she is driven by her intense and rigorous curiosity. In our conversation, Farrah and I talked about the appeal of the photographic medium, the tension between constructing an image and the happy accident, and the ethics of artistic beauty. Then in the second segment, we discussed the Nardal sisters and how we develop a language around issues like exoticization.

(Conversation recorded March 24, 2021.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Ken Rosenthal

Tucson-based photographer Ken Rosenthal's work has always stuck in my mind for both its striking visual style and the way that he uses images to represent and explore his internal emotional and psychological state. Whether he's looking at landscapes or family members or familiar objects, his photographs resonate because they represent the personal. We talked about several bodies of work, including his recent series The Forest and a work in progress called Days On the Mountain. For the second segment, Ken and I talked about change, and how when it comes in our personal lives it can spur us to new heights in our work.

(Recorded June 22, 2016. Originally released August 3, 2016.)

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Show Notes:

Ken Rosenthal
Purchase Days on the Mountain: Book Only | Limited Ed. with Print
Ken’s online store
Center for Creative Photography - “Why Photography?” event
Ken Rosenthal - Photographs 2001-2009
Ken Rosenthal - The Forest
Medium Festival of Photography
Mary Virginia Swanson
Diane Arbus
Sally Mann - Hold Still
Ken's Instagram
Ken's Twitter

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 123: KTCO Book Club - Song (with Gabrielle Bates)

For this installment of the KTCO Book Club, poet and podcaster Gabrielle Bates joins me for a conversation about Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s 1994 poetry collection Song. In our conversation, Gabrielle and I talked about how Kelly builds the worlds of her poems, how the poems layer metaphor, and how the poems manage to be simultaneously (and paradoxically) both surreal and grounded.

(Conversation recorded February 4, 2021.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 122: Kary Wayson

Kary Wayson is a poet based in Seattle, WA. The poems Kary’s latest collection, The Slip, are wonderfully slippery in both form and feeling, in a way that demands attention and rewards deep engagement. In our conversation we discussed what a poem can do, how we approach “meaning” in poetry, and how life changes affect our art. Then in the second segment, we talked about time and our human perception of duration.

(Conversation recorded January 5, 2021.)

Bonus Reading: Subscribers to the Likewise Media Patreon campaign can hear Kary read her poem “Untitled Poem (for a Feeling).”

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Show Notes:

Kary Wayson
Purchase The Slip: Burnside Review (Publisher) | Bookshop.org | Open Books (Seattle, WA) | The Book Catapult (San Diego, CA)
The Stranger - “Falling for The Slip”
The Seattle Review of Books - “After years of drought, Kary Wayson is writing poetry again”
Keep the Channel Open - Episode 33: José Olivarez
Kenyon Review - “The Slip interview with Kary Wayson”
Sarah Manguso - “A Glittering”
Neutral Milk Hotel - “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”
Robert Capa - “Watching the Tour de France in front of the bicycle shop owned by Pierre Cloarec, one of the cyclists in the race, Pleyben, France” - First Image - Second Image
Next KTCO Book Club pick: Song, by Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Remembering Paula Riff

My friend Paula Riff passed away recently, after having been ill with cancer for two years. Paula was a wonderful, kind, generous, and enthusiastic person, and a brilliant artist whose work pushed the boundaries of the photographic medium. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to talk with her about that work for the show. In our conversation, Paula and I talked about what photography is to her, why she’s attracted to alternative processes, and how her work is ultimately autobiographical. Then for the second segment, we talked about the value of physical art spaces. In honor of her memory, I’m re-sharing our conversation today. Rest in peace, Paula.

(This episode was originally released on January 15, 2020. Conversation recorded December 3, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2021/2/10/remembering-paula-riff

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 121: KTCO Book Club - Tender (with Wm Henry Morris)

For this installment of the KTCO Book Club, writer Wm Henry Morris joins me for a conversation about Sofia Samatar’s 2017 story collection Tender. The stories in this collection range from fairy tale and folklore to dystopian sci-fi to (almost) contemporary realism, but all have in common Samatar’s impeccable prose, attention to detail, and exceptional readership.

(Conversation recorded December 19, 2020)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 120: Kazim Ali

Kazim Ali is a writer based in San Diego, CA. Kazim’s latest poetry collection, The Voice of Sheila Chandra, uses sound to explode meaning and explore silence and voicelessness, bringing together history, philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience to create something truly profound. In our conversation, Kazim and I discussed the divine in art, what the sound of poetry can embody and enact, and the fundamental oneness of human life. Then for the second segment, we talked about music.

(Conversation recorded December 17, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Rizzhel Mae Javier

Rizzhel Mae Javier is a photographer and installation artist based in San Diego, CA. I first met Rizzhel when we were both participating in the portfolio reviews at the Medium Festival a few years ago, and her stop-motion, flipbook-style pieces immediately caught my attention. More recently, Rizzhel was named one of the 2017 emerging artists by the SD Art Prize for her "Unmentionables" project, creating new art out of old mementos. We had a great conversation for the show about her artistic process, what she loves about making mistakes, and her experience as a teacher. For the second segment, Rizzhel chose the Philippines as her topic.

(This episode was originally released on August 16, 2017. Conversation recorded July 26, 2017.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: José Olivarez

José Olivarez is a poet living and working in Chicago, Illinois, and is also co-host of one of my all-time favorite podcasts, The Poetry Gods. In our wide-ranging conversation we talked about how The Poetry Gods came to be, toxic masculinity in the poetry world, and how discovering poetry allowed José to find his artistic voice. In the second segment, we talked about beginnings and endings.

(This episode was originally released on February 15, 2017. Conversation recorded January 1, 2017.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Esmé Weijun Wang

Esmé Weijun Wang's debut novel The Border of Paradise was one of my favorite books of 2016. A multigenerational epic centered on an interracial family, the Nowaks, this book touches on so many profound topics, from mental illness to intergenerational trauma to culture clash to the very question of what it means to be a family, all done in stunningly beautiful prose. Esmé and I had a great conversation about her book in the first segment, and in the second segment we chatted about our favorite social media platform: Twitter.

(This episode was originally released on September 14, 2016. Conversation recorded July 19, 2016.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 119: Jordanna Kalman

Jordanna Kalman is a fine art photographer who lives and works in New York. Jordanna’s work explores loneliness, femininity and individuality, and the images are highly personal. In her series Little Romances, she rephotographs prints of earlier images of hers which had been stolen and misused. By considering the prints as objects and adding new elements, she creates a new narrative, examining the anxieties of being a woman and creating a form of protection for the image. In our conversation we discussed prints as still-life subjects, what anger can accomplish, and our mutual dislike of “mean” photography. Then in the second segment we discussed a recent Instagram dust-up between two photographers, and how it’s relevant to our larger society.

(Conversation recorded October 21, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 118: KTCO Book Club - The True Deceiver (with Alyssa Harad)

For this installment of the KTCO Book Club, I’m joined by writer Alyssa Harad for a conversation about Tove Jansson’s 1982 novel The True Deceiver. Despite the slimness of the volume, Jansson’s novel yet contains a surprising degree of depth and complexity, not to mention psychological tension, in a story that challenges the reader to consider the nature of truth, honesty, and different forms of deception.

(Conversation recorded September 22, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 117: Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith is a poet and essayist based in Bexley, Ohio. Maggie’s new book Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change was born out of a difficult life change; it both discusses and is an example of resilience and hope in the face of an unknown future. In our conversation, we talked about the book’s origins in a series of social media notes-to-self, about becoming an essayist after having been a poet for so long, and about finding agency through language. Then for the second segment, we talked about community and connection via social media.

(Conversation recorded September 10, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 116: KTCO Book Club - Human Archipelago (with David Naimon)

In the inaugural KTCO Book Club episode I’m joined by writer and podcaster David Naimon, host of the literary podcast Between the Covers. For our conversation, David selected Teju Cole and Fazal Sheikh’s hybrid photo/prose book Human Archipelago. In their collaboration, Cole’s writing and Sheikh’s images support each other in a way that expands the form of the traditional photobook and provides a potent exploration of human migration, national boundaries, imperialism, the connections between people, and our responsibilities to one another.

(Recorded September 2, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 115: David Adjmi

David Adjmi is a writer and playwright based in Los Angeles, CA. In his new memoir Lot Six, David tells the story of how he found himself through art and the theater, growing up feeling like an outsider as a gay, atheist, artistic youth in a small and insular Syrian Sephardic Jewish community in Brooklyn. In our conversation, David and I discussed the craft of memoir, the process of constructing one’s own identity, and why his book isn’t structured like the typical gay narrative. Then in the second segment, we discussed how the pandemic is affecting our ability to make narratives, and how art can function as a community.

(Conversation recorded August 31, 2019.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 114: Jessica Eaton

Jessica Eaton is a photographer based in Montreal, Quebec. At first glance, the minimalist compositions in Jessica’s images might seem simple, but the process behind their creation is anything but. Using a series of color filters and a painstaking multiple exposure technique, she is able to use light to construct color. In our conversation, we discussed her photographic technique, her impulse toward iteration, and why her work is not abstract. Then in the second segment we talked about coming to big life changes during a pandemic.

(Conversation recorded August 3, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 113: Matthew Salesses

Matthew Salesses is a writer based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Matthew’s new novel, Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear, is darkly funny, unsettling in the best way, and wholly original, the story of a Korean American man struggling simply to exist as he feels himself literally disappearing. In our conversation, Matthew and I discussed his book, the trap of the first-person perspective, and what it means to take responsibility. Then in the second segment, we talked about the meaning of love.

(Conversation recorded July 8, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 112: Ross Sutherland

Ross Sutherland is a writer and podcaster based in Peterborough, UK. Ross’s podcast Imaginary Advice is one of my favorites in any genre. Blending poetry, essay, and audio fiction with a wonderfully experimental approach to sound design, Imaginary Advice sounds like nothing else. In our conversation, Ross and I talked about what it’s like to make a podcast without a format, why starting with form can lead to unexpected discovery, and what collaboration can open up for a project. Then in the second segment, Ross and I talked about his recent difficulties trying to learn yoga via YouTube.

(Conversation recorded July 17, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 07:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Richard Georges

Richard Georges is a writer, editor, and lecturer in the British Virgin Islands. In his second collection of poems, Giant, Richard gives us a portrait of the BVI through landscape, through its history and its present. In our conversation, Richard and I talked about his book, the aftermath of empire in the BVI, and the relationship between poetry and myth. For the second segment, Richard talked about the particular moment that the BVI faced in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

(Conversation recorded June 12, 2018.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Mike Sakasegawa

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 07:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Alanna Airitam

Alanna Airitam is a portrait photographer based in San Diego, CA. In her series "The Golden Age," Alanna makes portraits of African Americans in the style of the Dutch Realism Golden Age of painting, images full of grace and beauty representing black people in a fine art context, a context from which they are all too often excluded. In our conversation we talked about that series, as well as her "Being Heard" project, which began as a response to seeing how different marginalized women were being excluded from the mainstream activist narrative. Then for the second segment, Alanna and I had a wide-ranging conversation about the roots of social injustice in our society.

(Conversation recorded April 10, 2018.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 111: Leah Huizar

Leah Huizar is a poet originally from Southern California. Leah’s collection Inland Empire juxtaposes personal history with California history, excavating different layers of colonialism and centering Mexican-American women. In our conversation, we talked about what it means to own or be of a place, the stories behind California history, and what parts of history we carry forward to the next generation. Then in the second segment, we discussed the value of creative endurance.

(Conversation recorded May 14, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 07:00:00 +0000

#PodcastBlackout

In solidarity with the ongoing protests against police violence, Keep the Channel Open is postponing our regular episode this week and participating in the #PodcastBlackout.

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/transcripts/2020/6/3/transcript-podcastblackout

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 08:18:34 +0000

Episode 110: Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Maggie Tokuda-Hall is a writer and podcaster based in San Francisco, CA. Maggie’s debut YA novel, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, is a swashbuckling pirate fantasy, and it’s also a nuanced and subversive story about colonialism, the power of storytelling, and the cost of violence. In our conversation, Maggie and I talked about her love of working in multiple forms and genres, the presentation of race in her novel, and writing the horrificness of violence. Then in the second segment, we discussed how to talk to our kids about problematic books and authors.

(Conversation recorded April 29, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 20 May 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 109: Sarah Gailey

Sarah Gailey is a writer based in Los Angeles, CA. Sarah’s latest novel, the YA fantasy When We Were Magic, is a wonderful story about teen friendship, magic, and queer love. In our conversation, we talked about the importance of representation and sensitivity edits, writing YA that respects teens, and how it’s okay to take up space in one’s relationships. Then for the second segment, we talked about something that’s been on all of our minds lately: food.

(Conversation recorded April 21, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 06 May 2020 07:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng is a writer based in Cambridge, MA. Celeste's first novel, 2014's Everything I Never Told You, is, without exaggeration, one of the most important books of my life. When I read it in 2016, it gave me my first real glimpse at what representation in fiction could mean, and it was revelatory. Celeste's newest novel, which was just released this week, is called Little Fires Everywhere, and I was thrilled to get the chance to talk with her about it. In our conversation we talked about both books, about the importance of representation in media and culture, our shared obsession with Hamilton, and about Celeste's fascination with family roles. For the second segment, Celeste talked about how she got over her phobia of octopuses.

(Conversation recorded July 27, 2017. Originally aired September 13, 2017.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 108: The Craft of the Literary Podcast Interview

Last month, I was scheduled to moderate a panel at the annual AWP Conference called “The Craft of the Literary Podcast Interview,” featuring Rachel Zucker of Commonplace, Dujie Tahat of The Poet Salon, and David Naimon of Between the Covers, three of my favorite literary podcasts. Due to the coronavirus, we ended up having to cancel our appearance at the conference, which makes it all the sweeter to be able to bring you this podcast version of our panel. In this wide-ranging coversation, Rachel, Dujie, David, and I talked all about the “how”s and the “whys” of interviewing, including the importance of establishing rapport with our guests, questions about the ethics of interviewing, and what the role of the host ought to be.

(Conversation recorded March 27, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 107: Julian K. Jarboe

Julian K. Jarboe is a writer based in Massachusetts. Julian’s debut story collection, Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel, is a mix of body-horror fairy tales, mid-apocalyptic science fabulism, and blue-collar queer resistance. The stories grapple with body dysmorphia and transformation, and the realities of laboring under late capitalism. In our conversation we talked about different communities responses to the climate crisis, the frustration of white feminism, and “science fabulism” as a genre. Then in the second segment, we talked about different aspects of food and community.

(Conversation recorded March 13, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Callie Wright
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 106: Jon Sands

Jon Sands is a poet based in Brooklyn, NY. I first became acquainted with Jon as one of the co-hosts of the podcast The Poetry Gods, one of my all-time favorites, and the poems in his latest collection, It’s Not Magic, are both exuberant and profound. In our conversation we talked about being braver on the page, about balancing self-love and accountability, and about writing toward growth. Then in the second segment we talked about how having kids changes how you see other people, and we talked about the work of Aracelis Girmay and how she uses personification in her poems.

(Conversation recorded February 18, 2020.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Callie Wright
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 105: Brandon Taylor

Brandon Taylor’s debut novel, Real Life, is one of the best books I’ve read in years. Real Life is the story of Wallace, an introverted, black, gay graduate student studying biochemistry. Over the course of a summer weekend, a series of confrontations with his friends and labmates and a confusing encounter with a straight classmate bring all of the unspoken tensions in the group to the surface. In our conversation, Brandon and I talked about the craft of writing a novel, the question of what real life is, the banality of racism, and the hidden selfishness inside altruism. Then in the second segment, we talked about digital communities and how our interactions in those communities have changed over time.

(Conversation recorded November 12, 2019.)

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Editing/Mixing: Callie Wright
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 104: Lilliam Rivera

Lilliam Rivera is a writer based in Los Angeles, CA. In her young adult novels The Education of Margot Sanchez and Dealing In Dreams, Lilliam tells familiar stories in new ways—instead of a typical teen drama or dystopian science fiction, she centers Latina characters in stories that take on topics like colorism and gentrification. In our conversation, we talked about why she’s drawn to write stories about young people, what it means to buy into the American Dream, and whether violence is actually empowering. Then for the second segment, we discussed Jeanine Cummins’ recent novel American Dirt and the controversy around it.

(Conversation recorded January 23, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 103: Philipp Scholz Rittermann

Philipp Scholz Rittermann is a photographer based in the San Diego, CA area. In his photographic work, Philipp has long been interested in trying to see the impossible, and in his latest series sight • time • memory, he tries to imagine what it would look like if his gaze could encompass more than just the present moment—using a large-scale projector, he projects a landscape image from a previous season onto the same landscape, then rephotographs the resulting scene. In our conversation, we talked about his fascination with time and memory, the pleasure of figuring out the “puzzle” of an image, and how to make images that reward long engagement. Then for the second segment, we discussed the decline of hand-making in our culture, the nature of authenticity, and the emotional impact of change.

(Conversation recorded January 10, 2020.)

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Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 102: Paula Riff

Paula Riff is a photographic artist based in Los Angeles, CA. Combining the cyanotype and gum bichromate processes, Paula Riff creates bold, colorful images that push the boundaries of the photographic medium. In our conversation, Paula and I talked about what photography is to her, why she’s attracted to alternative processes, and how her work is ultimately autobiographical. Then for the second segment, we talked about the value of physical art spaces.

(Conversation recorded December 3, 2019.)

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Wed, 15 Jan 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 101: Rakesh Satyal

Rakesh Satyal is a writer and editor. Rakesh’s novel No One Can Pronounce My Name was an utterly delightful read, subverting the stereotypical tropes of the immigrant story with humor and empathy to create something wonderfully unexpected. In our conversation, Rakesh and I talked about expanding the notion of what kinds of immigrant stories can be told, using humor to create connection, and writing toward what you want to know. Then in the second segment we talked about ASMR.

(Conversation recorded November 15, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2020/1/1/episode-101-rakesh-satyal

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Hanif Abdurraqib

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet from Columbus, Ohio. For today's episode I was pleased to talk to Hanif about his 2016 book The Crown Ain't Worth Much, one of my favorite reads of 2016. The poems in this book are an intensely personal account of his experiences growing up in Columbus, and in our conversation we talked about Hanif's approach to writing from experience, and how art can engender empathy. We also talked about music, a subject he's very familiar with as a music and culture writer for MTV News. For the second segment, we talked about a subject near and dear to Hanif's heart: the Columbus Blue Jackets.

(Conversation recorded January 23, 2017. Originally aired March 1, 2017.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/12/18/episode-34-rerun-hanif-abdurraqib

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Jess T. Dugan

Photographer Jess T. Dugan is one of my favorite contemporary portrait artists, whose work explores issues of gender, sexuality, identity, and community. Jess's 2015 book Every Breath We Drew is a favorite of mine, and I was pleased to be able to discuss that book with her, as well as her recent series To Survive On This Shore, photographs and interviews with transgender and gender non-conforming people over the age of fifty. We had a great conversation about her artistic process, how she approaches making a portrait, and how her tools inform her work. For the second segment, Jess chose "golden hour" as her subject, the time just before sunset when the light is both striking and rapidly changing.

(Conversation recorded May 8, 2017. Originally aired June 21, 2017.)

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Wed, 04 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Ada Limón

Ada Limón's latest book of poems, The Carrying, was just released this month by Milkweed Editions, and it's just beautiful. In this episode, Ada and I discuss the book, the power of naming, connection with the Earth, and her collaboration with poet Natalie Diaz. Then in the second segment, we talked about travel and artistic pilgrimages.

(Conversation recorded August 17, 2018.)

Bonus Reading: Subscribers to the KTCO Patreon campaign can hear Ada read her poem “Instructions on Not Giving Up.”

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Ada Limón
Ada Limón - The Carrying: Milkweed Editions | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
Ada Limón - Bright Dead Things: Milkweed Editions | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
Commonplace - Episode 76: Ada Limón
Ada Limón - Calendar
Magnificent frigatebird
Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass
Ada Limón - “The Burying Beetle”
Sorry to Bother You
Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz - “Envelopes of Air”
Natalie Diaz
Ada Limón - “Full Gallop”
John Ashbery
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop - Geography III
Pablo Neruda
Isla Negra Museum House
La Sebastian Museum House
La Chascona Museum House
Pablo Neruda - Ode to Common Things
Jeffery Saddoris
On Taking Pictures
Gisele Firmino
Frida Kahlo and the Ex-Voto Style Painting

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/11/20/episode-73-rerun-ada-limon

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 100: Keah Brown

Keah Brown is a journalist and essayist. Keah’s debut essay collection The Pretty One is an honest and thoughtful look at what it means to be black and disabled in a culture that doesn’t make space for marginalized bodies. In our conversation we talked about the importance of representation, the insidious nature of ableism, and compared notes on how each of us approaches an interview. Then for the second segment, we talked about the 24-hour news cycle.

(Conversation recorded October 17, 2019.)

Bonus Reading: Subscribers to the Likewise Media Patreon campaign can hear Keah read an excerpt from her book The Pretty One.

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/11/6/episode-100-keah-brown

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 99: Marisa Crane

Marisa Crane is a writer based in San Diego, CA. What I love about Marisa’s chapbook Our Debatable Bodies is how it moves from one emotion to another and another, both within a poem and throughout the collection—the poems juxtapose our society’s casual misogyny and homophobia with the tenderness and intimacy of a moment between lovers. In our conversation, Marisa and I talked about her book, our “zig-zagging brains,” and what it means to invite an audience into our private moments. Then for the second segment, we talked about the hit sitcom Schitt’s Creek.

(Conversation recorded October 8, 2019.)

Bonus Reading: Subscribers to the Likewise Media Patreon campaign can hear Marisa read her poem “We Get To Talking About Dating Apps & I Remember How.”

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/10/23/episode-99-marisa-crane

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 07:00:00 +0000

BONUS: LikeWise Fiction — "Whale Fall," by Alvin Park

Introducing LikeWise Fiction!

I'm thrilled to announce the launch of my new diverse fiction podcast, LikeWise Fiction! I'm sharing the first episode as a bonus for KTCO listeners—enjoy!

Whale Fall, by Alvin Park. A whale washes ashore, a village loses its memories, and a relationship falls apart.

(This story first appeared in issue 60 of SmokeLong Quarterly.)

Bonus Interview: Subscribers to the Likewise Media Patreon campaign can hear an interview with author Alvin Park.

This episode is sponsored by the William Male Foundation.

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Mon, 14 Oct 2019 07:30:00 +0000

Episode 98: Lyz Lenz

Lyz Lenz is a writer based in Iowa. Part journalism and part memoir, Lyz’s book God Land is a nuanced, insightful, and moving look at the role of faith in the culture of Middle America. In our conversation, Lyz and I talked about her book, belonging, false nostalgia, and the ways marginalized people are expected to share their pain. Then for the second segment, we talked about country music.

(Conversation recorded September 19, 2019.)

Bonus Reading: Subscribers to the Likewise Media Patreon campaign can hear Lyz read an excerpt from God Land.

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/10/9/episode-98-lyz-lenz

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 97: Binh Danh

Binh Danh is a photographer based in San Jose, CA. Using both historical photographic processes and his unique chlorophyll prints—using photosynthesis to embed images into leaves—Binh makes haunting and resonant images about war, aftermath, landscape, and memory. In our conversation, Binh and I talked about his creative process, his interest in history, and the deep connections between all things. Then in the second segment we took a moment to acknowledge the recent passing of legendary photographer Robert Frank, then talked about the aesthetics of smoke.

(Conversation recorded September 12, 2019.)

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https://keepthechannelopen.libsyn.com/episode-97-binh-danh

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 96: Helen Zaltzman

Helen Zaltzman is the host of the podcasts Answer Me This!, The Allusionist, and Veronica Mars Investigations. The Allusionist is one of my favorite podcasts, one that I never miss an episode of, an informative and entertaining and often deeply empathetic look at how we use language. In our conversation, Helen and I talked about her interest in language, her process in creating her shows, and the importance of the podcasting community. Then for the second segment, Helen and I talked about visible mending techniques.

(Conversation recorded August 12, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/9/11/episode-96-helen-zaltzman

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 95: Robert Calafiore

Robert Calafiore is a photographer based in West Hartford, CT. Robert’s photographic practice involves building elaborate sets around male nudes or mid-century modern glassware, then photographing them using a hand-built pinhole camera. The resulting images are stunningly colorful and each print is one-of-a-kind. In our conversation, Robert and I talked about his creative process, the depiction of the male figure in art history, the place of vulnerability in masculinity, and the immigrant story behind his glass work. Then in the second segment, Robert and I talked about the phenomenon of de-skilling and what it might mean for the future of humanity.

(Conversation recorded July 23, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/8/28/episode-95-robert-calafiore

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 94: Rachel Zucker

Rachel Zucker is a writer based in New York City. Rachel’s podcast Commonplace: Conversations with Poets (and Other People) is one of my favorite literary shows, a show that has deeply influenced my approach to podcasting. In our conversation, Rachel and I talked about Commonplace and her 2014 book The Pedestrians, how each of us approach hosting a conversational podcast, and writing as a form of self-castigation.

(Conversation recorded July 18, 2019.)

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Rachel Zucker
Commonplace: Conversations with Poets (and Other People)
Rachel Zucker - The Pedestrians: Wave Books | IndieBound | B&N
Rachel Zucker - SoundMachine (preorder)
SoundMachine
Rachel Zucker - MOTHERs: IndieBound | B&N
Alice Notley
Sharon Olds
Wayne Koestenbaum
Mike Sakasegawa - “The Lie Beneath the Story of My Family’s Asian American Dream”
Commonplace - Episode 50: Inside Commonplace
The Turnaround
Commonplace - Episode 71: Mira Jacob
Between the Covers - Miriam Toews : Women Talking
Commonplace - Episode 72: Ilya Kaminsky
Darcey Steinke - Flash Count Diary
Tina Chang - Hybrida

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/8/14/episode-94-rachel-zucker

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 93: Yanyi

Yanyi is a writer and critic. Yanyi’s debut book The Year of Blue Water is part poetry, part essay, part journal, and entirely itself, a document of self-discovery and human connection. In our conversation, we talked about his book, about its form and his process in creating it, and about creating community. Then in the second segment, we discussed Hannah Arendt’s seminal book The Origins of Totalitarianism.

(Conversation recorded July 11, 2019.)

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Yanyi
Yanyi - The Year of Blue Water: Yale University Press | IndieBound
Yanyi - Events
Maggie Nelson - Bluets
Maggie Nelson - The Argonauts
Hannah Arendt - The Origins of Totalitarianism
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Are You the One?

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/7/31/episode-93-yanyi

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 92: Ashly Stohl

Ashly Stohl is a photographer based in Los Angeles and New York. In the artist statement for her latest series, The Days & Years, Ashly writes, “In photography, they say that all portraits are really self portraits. So what are portraits of your kids? They are portraits of a parent.” In our conversation, we talked about artistic collaboration, personal photography, and the perception of motherhood in art and society. Then in the second segment we talked about the differences between New York and LA.

(Conversation recorded July 9, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/7/17/episode-92-ashly-stohl

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Sarah Gailey (2017)

Sarah Gailey's two recent novellas, River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, were a huge amount of fun for me as a fan of both Westerns and speculative fiction. Our conversation covered both of those books, their serialized novelette The Fisher of Bones, as well as their Hugo-nominated column at Tor.com about the women of Harry Potter. In the second segment, Sarah talked to me about Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg.

(Episode originally released on November 8, 2017. Conversation recorded September 22, 2017.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/7/3/episode-52-rerun-sarah-gailey

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 91: Michelle Brittan Rosado

Michelle Brittan Rosado is a poet based in Long Beach, CA. In her book Why Can’t It Be Tenderness, Michelle writes about California, Malaysia, and the space between, about divorce, and life transition, and new love. In our conversation we talked about her book, about her creative process and how she thinks about poetic form, and about mixed-race identity. Then in the second section we talked about the history of the pantoum, and our experiences with English-language versions of Asian poetic forms.

(Conversation recorded May 30, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/6/19/episode-91-michelle-brittan-rosado

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 90: Chaya Bhuvaneswar

Chaya Bhuvaneswar is a physician and writer. I read Chaya’s short story collection White Dancing Elephants this spring and really enjoyed it, both because of the way it centered South Asian and women’s stories, and for the complex, complicated relationships at the heart of each story. In our conversation, Chaya and I talked about White Dancing Elephants; about Seamus Heaney, punishment, and complicity; and about whose stories get called “dark.” Then for the second segment, we talked about some of Chaya’s favorite poets, and why poetry is important to her.

(Conversation recorded May 25, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/6/5/episode-90-chaya-bhuvaneswar

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 89: Julia Dixon Evans

Julia Dixon Evans is a writer based in San Diego, CA. I read Julia’s novel How to Set Yourself on Fire recently and was quite taken with her use of voice and the strong characterization of the story’s narrator, Sheila. In our conversation, Julia and I talked about her book, about experimenting with form as a writer, and about the question of likability. Then for the second segment we talked about trail running, and pushing yourself both physically and creatively.

(Conversation recorded April 22, 2019.)

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Julia Dixon Evans
Julia Dixon Evans - How to Set Yourself on Fire: Dzanc Books | IndieBound | B&N
Last Exit
Last Exit (Twitter)
Last Exit (Facebook)
Jennifer Egan - A Visit From the Goon Squad
Franny Choi
Fatimah Asghar
Joyce Carol Oates - “To Invigorate Literary Mind, Start Moving Literary Feet”
Kristen Arnett
Voice of San Diego - Culture Report
Sarah Rose Etter - The Book of X: Two Dollar Radio | IndieBound | B&N

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/5/22/episode-89-julia-dixon-evans

Wed, 22 May 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 88: Jennifer Greenburg

Jennifer Greenburg is a photographer based in Chicago, IL. In her series Revising History, Jennifer alters vintage found photographs by inserting herself into the image, creating something new that comments on the ways that the style and glamor of the post-war era glosses over the very real discrimination and gender inequality of the time. We talked about Revising History, the ways that photographs lie, and the need for visual literacy in our society. Then in the second segment, Jennifer chose vintage clothing as her topic.

(Conversation recorded March 21, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/5/8/episode-88-jennifer-greenburg

Wed, 08 May 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 87: David Bowles

David Bowles is a writer based in south Texas. David’s latest book of poems, They Call Me Güero, is a middle-grade novel-in-verse about a light-skinned Mexican-American boy who is just entering the seventh grade. In the book, David portrays the life of a border kid with all its joys and challenges. In our conversation we talked about that book, as well as about David’s collection of the myths and legends of pre-Colombian Mexico, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky. We discussed the importance of representation, especially for young people of color. Then for the second segment, David and I talked about finding our way to a softer masculinity, and seeking out pop culture that makes us cry.

(Conversation recorded March 12, 2019.)

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David Bowles
David Bowles - They Call Me Güero: Cinco Puntos Press | IndieBound
David Bowles - Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Cinco Puntos Press | IndieBound
David Bowles - A Kingdom Beneath the Waves
David Bowles - “Border Kid”
Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong - Here We Go
Gloria Anzaldúa
Nepantla
Sandra Cisneros - The House on Mango Street
Keep the Channel Open - Episode 84: Matika Wilbur
Dr. Debbie Reese - American Indians in Children’s Literature
Corinne Duyvis - #ownvoices
Savannah Smiles
The Good Doctor
Steven Universe
Hamilton
Captain Marvel
Elizabeth Acevedo - The Poet X
Jason Reynolds - Long Way Down

https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/4/24/episode-87-david-bowles

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 86: Lydia Kiesling

Lydia Kiesling is a writer based in San Francisco, CA. Lydia’s debut novel, The Golden State, is a lot of things: a road trip story, an intimate portrayal of young parenthood, a portrait of a far-Northern California community, and more. In our conversation, Lydia and I talked about The Golden State, her nonfiction writing, and the relationship between the two forms. We also discussed the ephemerality of parenting experiences, the power of nostalgia, and what rural California is like. Then in the second segment, Lydia chose as her topic the lives of Marshall and Phyllis Hodgson.

(Conversation recorded February 12, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/4/10/episode-86-lydia-kiesling

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 85: Mariela Sancari

Mariela Sancari is an Argentinian-born photographer based in Mexico City. Mariela’s series Moisés—a typology of portraits of men the age her late father would have been if he were still alive—is, in a way, a searching as well as an exploration of grief. In our conversation, Mariela and I talked about the how collaboration shapes her projects, how she uses iteration to create something new from existing work, and what the photobook form is and isn’t good for. Then in the second segment we talked about the unconscious references that inform our photographic work.

(Conversation recorded February 5, 2019.)

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https://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/3/27/episode-85-mariela-sancari

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 84: Matika Wilbur

Matika Wilbur, of the Swinomish and Tulalip tribes, is a photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. For her current endeavor, Project 562, Matika has visited hundreds of tribes across the United States, making portraits and sharing contemporary Native stories to counteract the stereotypes and misinformation so prevalent in mainstream media and history textbooks. In our conversation, Matika and I talked about the origins of Project 562, her collaborative portrait-making process, and the difference between activism and storytelling. Then for the second segment, Matika talked about ways to indigenize our spaces, acknowledge our indigenous communities, and form a relationship with the land.

(Conversation recorded January 29, 2019.)

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http://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/3/13/episode-84-matika-wilbur

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 83: Shivanee Ramlochan

Shivanee Ramlochan is a Trinidadian poet, arts reporter, and book blogger. I had the opportunity to read Shivanee’s book of poems Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting a few months ago and I found it a powerful experience. In our conversation, Shivanee and I talked about her book, making art out of our traumas, and navigating audience responses to our work. Then in the second segment, we talked about how few opportunities there can be for marginalized writers, and how this often creates an unnecessarily competitive environment.

(Conversation recorded January 24, 2019.)

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Support the LikeWise Fiction Kickstarter Show Notes:

Shivanee Ramlochan
Shivanee Ramlochan - Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting: Peepal Tree Press | IndieBound | B&N
Sonia Farmer
Sonia Farmer - The Red Thread Cycle in NE9
National Art Gallery of the Bahamas - National Exhibition 9: “The Fruit and the Seed”
Alice Hiller - “Everything I write, I give access to devastate me first”: Shivanee Ramlochan, on ‘saying the difficult thing’ with “weapons of conjure”
NGC Bocas Lit Fest
Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018
Colin Kaepernick
Novel Niche
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné - Doe Songs: Peepal Tree Press | IndieBound | B&N

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 82: Victoria Mara Heilweil

Victoria Mara Heilweil is a photographic artist, curator, and educator based in San Francisco, CA. I met Victoria at an opening here in San Diego a couple of years ago and immediately hit it off with her, as our work is very much on the same wavelength. In our conversation we talked about the importance of imperfection and the everyday in her work, placing her work in a feminist context, and her experience as an independent curator in San Francisco. Then for the second segment, we talked about the state of education in the United States, and the lack of respect given to teachers.

(Converation recorded January 15, 2019.)

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Wed, 13 Feb 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 81: Mike Sakasegawa

To celebrate the third anniversary of Keep the Channel Open, photographer Daniel Gonçalves turned the tables on me and took on the role of podcast host in order to spend some time talking about my own work. In our conversation, Daniel and I discussed my photographs and creative process, making an emotional connection through art, and why quiet masculinity is important to me.

(Conversation recorded January 17, 2019.)

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http://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2019/1/30/episode-81-mike-sakasegawa

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 80: Jerry Takigawa

Jerry Takigawa is a photographer, designer, and writer based in Carmel Valley, CA. In his photo series Balancing Cultures, Jerry explores his family’s history during the Japanese American Internment, creating striking and beautiful compositions that tell the story of a dark chapter in our nation’s past. In our conversation, I talked with Jerry about this body of work, about our shared identity as Japanese Americans, and about how he developed a visual vocabulary that has evolved throughout his artistic career.

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Wed, 16 Jan 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 79: Rachel Lyon

Rachel Lyon is a writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Rachel’s debut novel Self-Portrait With Boy caught my attention for its complex depiction of a young artist in 1990’s Brooklyn, and the story has stuck with me in the months since I first read it. In our conversation, Rachel and I talked about the similarities between her novel and one of her earlier short stories, about the necessity of art in the contemporary world, and about the way her novel and its characters engage with questions of class. Then in the second segment, we talked about alcoholism and the role drinking plays in our culture.

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Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 78: David Naimon

David Naimon is a writer and the host of the literature podcast Between the Covers, one of my absolute favorite podcasts. On his show, David brings a deep curiosity and impressive intellect to every conversation, making for some of the most engaging and in-depth interviews I’ve ever heard. In our conversation, David and I talked about the similarities and differences between our two shows, about the craft of interviewing, as well as about his own writing. Then in the second segment, David asked the question, is there a way for us as a society to change the way we tell stories that might enact change in our relationship to the natural world?

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Wed, 19 Dec 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 77: Brandon Thibodeaux

Brandon Thibodeaux is a photographer based in Dallas, TX. At the Medium Festival of Photography this year, Brandon presented his series In That Land of Perfect Day, in which he looks at faith, identity, and perseverance in a group of five African-American communities in the Mississippi Delta. In our conversation we talked about the project, the importance of empathy, and the responsibility of documentary photography. Then in the second segment, Brandon and I talked about the interaction between our personal work and our careers.

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Wed, 05 Dec 2018 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Claire A. Warden

The images from Claire A. Warden's series Mimesis are visually striking and delightfully inscrutable. Like most viewers, I was immediately grabbed by them when I first saw them, but it wasn't until I talked with Claire and read her artist's statement that I really understood what she was trying to say with these pictures. Having that experience, though, really deepened my appreciation for the work. This week, Claire and I talked about her unique process and the reason why it's so important that this series exist in the context of photography. In the second segment, we discussed race and being and immigrant, and how that affects the way one's identity forms.

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Wed, 21 Nov 2018 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Brandon Taylor (2017)

Brandon Taylor is a writer and graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. One of my favorite contemporary writers, Brandon's short stories are marvelously crafted, understated and emotionally charged, while his personal essays and cultural critique are insightful and often lyrical—all of it is just a joy to read. In today's conversation, Brandon and I talked about his work and his process, how he often finds himself inventing around the margins of the stories he takes in, and how and why he always resists the reductive take. For the second segment, Brandon chose expectation as his topic, both the excitement and terror of one's own anticipation of the future, but also the expectations others can put on us.

(Episode originally aired on April 26, 2017. Conversation recorded April 4, 2017.)

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Wed, 07 Nov 2018 08:00:00 +0000

From the Archive: Christina Riley

Christina Riley is a photographer and musician currently based in Seaside, California. When I first saw Christina's 2014 book Back to Me, I was immediately blown away by the emotional power and authenticity of the photographs. We talked about Christina's experience with bipolar disorder, her photographic process, and what it's like to move from Ontario, Canada to a small coastal community in Northern California. For the second segment, Christina chose change as her topic.

(Episode originally released on January 18, 2017. Conversation recorded November 21, 2016.)

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Wed, 24 Oct 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 76: Nicole Chung

Nicole Chung is a writer and editor. Nicole’s debut memoir All You Can Ever Know was released this month. In it, she tells the story of her life growing up as a transracial adoptee, of eventually finding and connecting with her birth family, and of becoming a parent, herself. In our conversation, Nicole and I talked about her wonderful book, our common experiences as Asian Americans, and about how to write a story that is still ongoing. Then in the second segment, Nicole and I talked about how we discuss race and identity with our kids.

(Conversation recorded September 6, 2018.)

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Show Notes:

Nicole Chung
Nicole Chung - All You Can Ever Know: Catapult | IndieBound | B&N
Nicole Chung - Events
#ChannelOpenPod
Nicole Chung - “Magic Can Be Normal”
Nicole Chung - “What I Learned From Kristi Yamaguchi”
Catapult
The Toast
Hyphen
Celeste Ng - Little Fires Everywhere
All You Can Ever Know Giveaway

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 75: Tami Bahat

Tami Bahat is a fine art photographer based in Los Angeles, CA. Tami’s Dramatis Personae photographs are a series of Renaissance-inspired portraits, depicting people interacting with a few carefully-chosen props or set pieces, and sometimes a live animal co-star. In our conversation we talked about Tami’s recent solo exhibition of Dramatis Personae at Building Bridges Art Exchange, about how experimentation is crucial to her process, and about the collaborative process of her portraiture. Then in the second segment, we talked about fear, and why it’s so important to get out of your comfort zone.

(Conversation recorded September 11, 2018.)

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Wed, 26 Sep 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 74: Franny Choi

Franny Choi’s chapbook Death By Sex Machine uses the framing of artificial intelligence to look at things like voicelessness, dehumanization, Asian fetishism, and more. In our conversation, Franny and I talked about her book, about the ethics of making art that uses other people’s voices, about writing lines that surprise yourself, and about Asian American solidarity. Then in the second segment, Franny talked about a recent trip she took to Korea.

(Conversation recorded July 24, 2018.)

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Show Notes:

Franny Choi
Franny Choi - Death by Sex Machine: Sibling Rivalry Press | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
Franny Choi - Floating, Brilliant, Gone: Write Bloody Publishing | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
Franny Choi - Soft Science: Alice James Books | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
VS Podcast
Franny Choi - “For Peter Liang”
Ex Machina
Chobits
Airea D. Matthews
Oh Jung-hee - River of Fire and Other Stories
Han Kang - The Vegetarian

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 73: Ada Limón

Ada Limón's latest book of poems, The Carrying, was just released this month by Milkweed Editions, and it's just beautiful. In this episode, Ada and I discuss the book, the power of naming, connection with the Earth, and her collaboration with poet Natalie Diaz. Then in the second segment, we talked about travel and artistic pilgrimages.

(Conversation recorded August 17, 2018.)

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Show Notes:

Ada Limón
Ada Limón - The Carrying: Milkweed Editions | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
Ada Limón - Bright Dead Things: Milkweed Editions | IndieBound | B&N | Goodreads
Ada Limón - Calendar
Magnificent frigatebird
Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass
Ada Limón - “The Burying Beetle”
Sorry to Bother You
Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz - “Envelopes of Air”
Natalie Diaz
Ada Limón - “Full Gallop”
John Ashbery
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop - Geography III
Pablo Neruda
Isla Negra Museum House
La Sebastian Museum House
La Chascona Museum House
Pablo Neruda - Ode to Common Things
Jeffery Saddoris
On Taking Pictures
Gisele Firmino
Frida Kahlo and the Ex-Voto Style Painting
Giveaway - The Carrying

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 72: Natalie Eilbert

Natalie Eilbert's newest collection of poems, Indictus, was published in January of this year, and reading it is a profound and intense experience. In our conversation, Natalie and I talked about Indictus, making amends, and what audiences ask of artists who make work about trauma. In the second segment, Natalie chose social media as her topic.

(Conversation recorded July 17, 2018.)

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http://www.keepthechannelopen.com/episodes/2018/8/15/episode-72-natalie-eilbert

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 71: R. O. Kwon

R. O. Kwon's debut novel, The Incendiaries, was just released last week, and it's one of the best books I've read this year. In our conversation, we talked about her new book, who the first readers she has in mind are, the inherent unreliability of narrators, and how the characters invent themselves for each other. Then in the second segment, R. O. talked about her other passion: rock climbing.

(Conversation recorded July 10, 2018.)

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Wed, 01 Aug 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 70: Blue Mitchell

Blue Mitchell is an independent publisher, curator, educator, and photographer based in Portland, OR. Blue's work, both as the publisher of Diffusion and as an artist in his own right, focuses on what he calls "artfully crafted" photography—that is, photographic art where you can see the artist's hand. In our conversation we talked about Blue's photographs and his use of a wide variety of techniques to create images that elicit a strong emotional response in the viewer. We also talked about his publishing company, One Twelve, and how Diffusion came about. Then in the second segment, we talked about portfolio review events, and how they can be a great way to connect with the photographic community.

(Conversation recorded June 26, 2018.)

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Wed, 18 Jul 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 69: Leah Umansky

Leah Umansky is a poet, collage artist, and self-described Game of Thrones and Mad Men super fan. I recently read Leah's latest book, the full-length poetry collection The Barbarous Century, and was struck by the exuberant use of language—it brought me a lot of joy. In our conversation, Leah and I talked about her book, her fascination with pop culture, and the power of story. Then in the second segment, we had a very spoilery discussion about the HBO series Westworld.

(Conversation recorded June 21, 2018.)

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Wed, 04 Jul 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 68: Richard Georges

Richard Georges is a writer, editor, and lecturer in the British Virgin Islands. In his new collection of poems, Giant, Richard gives us a portrait of the BVI through landscape, through its history and its present. In our conversation, Richard and I talked about his book, the aftermath of empire in the BVI, and the relationship between poetry and myth. For the second segment, Richard talked about the particular moment that the BVI faces today in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

(Conversation recorded June 12, 2018.)

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Wed, 20 Jun 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 67: Min Jin Lee

Min Jin Lee is a writer based in New York. Earlier this year I read Min's latest novel, Pachinko, and it just blew me away. In our conversation, we talked about the book and it's journey to publication, and the importance of making art out of what's true. Then for the second segment we talked about persistence as a writer, dealing with rejection, and learning to be OK with looking foolish in the beginning.

(Conversation recorded May 22, 2018.)

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Wed, 06 Jun 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 66: Hannah Cohen

Hannah Cohen is a poet and editor based in Virginia. I recently picked up a copy of Hannah's new chapbook Bad Anatomy and the way that the poems encompass both vulnerability and strength really struck me, as did the self-deprecating perspective. In our conversation, Hannah and I talked about Bad Anatomy, about emotional truth in poetry, as well as her work as co-editor of the online poetry magazine Cotton Xenomorph. Then in the second segment we discussed the challenges of working as an artist with a day job, especially a day job that isn't in academia.

(Conversation recorded May 15, 2018.)

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Wed, 23 May 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 65: Alanna Airitam

Alanna Airitam is a portrait photographer based in San Diego, CA. In her series "The Golden Age," Alanna makes portraits of African Americans in the style of the Dutch Realism Golden Age of painting, images full of grace and beauty representing black people in a fine art context, a context from which they are all too often excluded. In our conversation we talked about that series, as well as her "Being Heard" project, which began as a response to seeing how different marginalized women were being excluded from the mainstream activist narrative. Then for the second segment, Alanna and I had a wide-ranging conversation about the roots of social injustice in our society.

(Conversation recorded April 10, 2018.)

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Wed, 09 May 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 64: Andy Burgess

Andy Burgess is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tucson, AZ. Known for his paintings of mid-century and modernist paintings, Andy's wide-ranging practice also encompasses collage, printmaking, and photography, and more recently he has become a publisher, having started his own photobook publishing company, Dark Spring Press. In our conversation Andy and I talked about his approach to painting as a form of visual problem-solving, about finding an authentic path in the art world, and about learning to make beautiful photobooks. Then for the second segment, Andy chose nostalgia as his topic.

(Conversation recorded March 30, 2018.)

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Wed, 25 Apr 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 63: Morgan DeLuna

Morgan DeLuna is a photographic artist based in Southern California. In her Phenotype series, Morgan uses self-portraiture to explore her diverse genetic heritage. In our conversation we talked about that series, and the question that both of us have heard so many times: "What are you?" We also discussed her Extrospection photographs, a series of abstract bodyscapes documenting the topography of her physical existence over time. For the second segment, we talked about social media and its effects on human interaction and on the medium of photography.

(Conversation recorded March 13, 2018)

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Wed, 11 Apr 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 62: Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly is a poet and teacher based in New York, NY. Devin's latest book of poems, In This Quiet Church of Night, I Say Amen was a recent favorite of mine, an elegiac, contemplative book about family, love, and the ways in which life is more about the search than the finding. In our conversation, we talked about Devin's book as well as several of his essays, and Devin also read his poem "Elegy For the Long Drive." Then in the second segment, Devin chose whales as his topic.

(Conversation recorded February 8, 2018.)

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Show Notes:

Devin Kelly
Purchase In This Quiet Church of Night, I Say Amen: IndieBound | B&N
C. S. Lewis
Robert Hayden - "Those Winter Sundays"
Maggie Nelson - Bluets
Devin Kelly - “Anthony Edwards as Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw in Top Gun (1986)”
Devin Kelly - “Running Towards My Father”
Devin Kelly - “Caulking the Wagon”
Philip Hoare - The Whale
Between the Covers - Ursula K. Le Guin: Late in the Day
Anelise Chen - So Many Olympic Exertions

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 61: Ty Franck

Ty Franck is a writer based in Albuquerque, NM. Along with Daniel Abraham, Ty is the author of the bestselling science fiction series The Expanse. In our conversation, Ty and I talked about The Expanse, how it got started, and the process by which he and Daniel write the series. Then in the second segment, Ty asked the question: "Who owns the stuff in space?"

(Conversation recorded February 6, 2018.)

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Show Notes:

James S. A. Corey
Purchase Persepolis Rising: IndieBound | B&N
SyFy - The Expanse
Veronica Mars
World Government Summit
Moon Treaty
Outer Space Treaty
Moon (movie)
Helium-3
Regolith
Jules Verne - From the Earth to the Moon
Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers
The Shape of Water
Ursula K. Le Guin - Earthsea

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 60: Brenda Biondo

Brenda Biondo is a fine art photographer based in Colorado. Brenda's work focuses on three distinct areas: constructed abstractions centered on atmospheric color and light; conservation and land-based issues; and the way cultural artifacts move from the past into the present. In this conversation we talked about her documentation of American playgrounds, her background in journalism, her interest in land use and conservation, and her love of abstraction and modernist paintings. In the second segment, we talked about portfolio review events and how invaluable an opportunity they are for photographers.

(Conversation recorded January 4, 2018.)

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Wed, 28 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 59: Justyna Badach

Justyna Badach is a photographic artist based in Philadelphia, PA. Justyna's work examines the iconography of the masculine history of art in relation to her work as a female artist. In this episode we discussed several of her photographic series, including her Untitled Film Stills, Bachelor Portraits, and Land of Epic Battles series, how she uses her work to insert herself into spaces from which women have historically been excluded, and how she interrogates and challenges conventional notions of masculinity. The for the second segment we had a wide-ranging conversation, starting with the connection between writing and images, then moving to the importance of empathy, the roots of American anxiety, and how the current insistence on art having a social practice resembles propaganda mechanisms in totalitarian regimes.

(Conversation recorded December 21, 2017.)

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Wed, 14 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 58: Linda Alterwitz

Linda Alterwitz is a photographic artist based in Las Vegas, NV. Linda's work brings science and technology together with art to make some visually striking and very human images. In this episode we talked about her creative process, including how she first became interested in using medical imagery to make art. Then for the second segment, Linda chose balance as her topic.

(Conversation recorded December 5, 2017.)

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Wed, 31 Jan 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 57: Lisa M. Robinson

Lisa M. Robinson is a fine art photographer based in Tucson, AZ. Lisa's conceptual landscape photography has been hugely influential to me as an artist, so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to talk with her for the show. In our conversation we talked about her artistic process, the conceptual underpinnings of her new Chronos and Terrestra series, and why her work has meant so much to me. Then in the second section, we talked about the place of contemplative art in today's chaotic political environment.

(Conversation recorded December 14, 2017.)

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Show Notes:

Lisa M. Robinson
Klompching Gallery - Terrestra
Lisa M. Robinson - Snowbound
Lisa M. Robinson - Snowbound (book): Kehrer Verlag | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
Lisa M. Robinson - Oceana
Mary Virginia Swanson
at Length - Interview with Lisa M. Robinson
PhotoNOLA
Celeste Ng
Wendy Cope - The Orange
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 56: Chris Engman

Chris Engman is a fine art photographer based in Los Angeles. I first encountered Chris's work when he gave an artist lecture at the Medium Festival of Photography a few years ago, and his work just blew my mind. Chris's work focuses on the nature of photography and human perception, and he uses his meticulously constructed photographs to explore themes of time, impermanence, and memory. We had a great conversation about his work and process, and about the meditative nature of driving.

(Conversation recorded November 30, 2017.)

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Wed, 03 Jan 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 55: Daniel Gonçalves

Daniel Gonçalves is a portrait, editorial, and commercial photographer based in Los Angeles. I met Daniel at this year's Medium Festival of Photography, where he was participating in the portfolio reviews and showing work from his "Second Amendment Cowboy" series. We had a great conversation for this episode about his work exploring American gun culture and his fascination with Americana. For the second segment, we talked about the idea of home.

(Conversation recorded November 21, 2017.)

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Wed, 20 Dec 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 54: Courtney Balestier & Mike Sakasegawa

Courtney Balestier is a writer and the host of WMFA, a podcast where writers talk writing. I've been a fan of WMFA for several months now so I was very excited to collaborate with Courtney on this episode, which will be released jointly on both shows. In our conversation we took a behind-the-scenes look at both of our shows, diving into our interviewing processes and why each of us started our podcasts. We also talked about the creative projects we've been working on recently, and our shared fascination with place and identity.

(Conversation recorded November 29, 2017.)

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Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 53: Eleonora Ronconi

Eleonora Ronconi is a photographer originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, now a resident of the Bay Area. I first saw Eleonora's work via the Six Shooters project have followed her work ever since. Most recently I was pleased to see her work again at this year's Medium Festival of Photography, where she was showing her series "Serás Mis Ojos," a beautiful body of work about memory and family. In this episode we talked about that series as well as her other work, how photography allowed her to find her voice, and where she finds inspiration.

(Conversation recorded November 17, 2017.)

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Wed, 22 Nov 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 52: Sarah Gailey

Sarah Gailey's two recent novellas, River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, were a huge amount of fun for me as a fan of both Westerns and speculative fiction. Our conversation covered both of those books, her serialized novelette The Fisher of Bones, as well as her Hugo-nominated column at Tor.com about the women of Harry Potter. In the second segment, Sarah talked to me about Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg.

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Wed, 08 Nov 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 51: Mari Ness

Mari Ness is a speculative fiction writer and poet based in central Florida. I was recently turned on to Mari's work by a mutual acquaintance of ours, and I really enjoyed digging through her short stories and poetry. In our conversation we talked about her new book Through Immortal Shadows Singing, her experience working in the speculative poetry genre, and what she loves about revising fairy tales. For the second segment, Mari chose Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery as her topic.

(Conversation recorded September 12, 2017.)

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Wed, 25 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 50: Alexander Chee

Alexander Chee is the author of two novels, Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night. I read the latter of the two last year and it was one of my favorite books of the year. I was pleased to get a chance to talk with Alexander about that book, as well as his essay "How to Write an Autobiographical Novel," which will be included in his forthcoming collection of the same name. In our wide-ranging conversation we also talked about the work of Joan Didion, as well as a surprising influence on the structure of The Queen of the Night. For the second segment, Alexander chose our current political moment as his topic, as well as Ta-Nehisi Coates' recent essay "The First White President."

(Conversation recorded September 9, 2017.)

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Wed, 11 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 49: Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith is a poet living and working in Bexley, Ohio. In 2016 Maggie's poem "Good Bones" became a viral hit—it's since been translated into nearly a dozen languages and was named by PRI as "the official poem of 2016." That poem is now the title poem of her latest collection, a book that I found deeply moving. I was pleased to talk with Maggie about her new book and her writing process. Then for the second segment we talked about the idea of place, and raising our kids in a different century from the one we grew up in.

(Conversation recorded August 2, 2017.)

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Wed, 27 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 48: Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng is a writer based in Cambridge, MA. Celeste's first novel, 2014's Everything I Never Told You, is, without exaggeration, one of the most important books of my life. When I read it in 2016, it gave me my first real glimpse at what representation in fiction could mean, and it was revelatory. Celeste's newest novel, which was just released this week, is called Little Fires Everywhere, and I was thrilled to get the chance to talk with her about it. In our conversation we talked about both books, about the importance of representation in media and culture, our shared obsession with Hamilton, and about Celeste's fascination with family roles. For the second segment, Celeste talked about how she got over her phobia of octopuses.

(Conversation recorded July 27, 2017.)

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Wed, 13 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 47: Kevin Miyazaki

Kevin Miyazaki is an editorial and fine art photographer based in Milwaukee, WI. I've been a fan of Kevin's for some time now, both for his own work as well as his work highlighting and supporting the photographic community. We had a great conversation about his work and process, particularly about his use of image pairings and how effectively his photographs suggest a narrative, but with a sense of mystery as well. We also talked a lot about our common experiences as Japanese-Americans, and how our family histories inform our loves and our work. For the second segment, Kevin chose aging and ageism in creativity as his topic.

(Conversation recorded August 3, 2017.)

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Donate to these organizations to aid disaster relief in Houston:

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 46: Rizzhel Mae Javier

Rizzhel Mae Javier is a photographer and installation artist based in San Diego, CA. I first met Rizzhel when we were both participating in the portfolio reviews at the Medium Festival a few years ago, and her stop-motion, flipbook-style pieces immediately caught my attention. More recently, Rizzhel was named one of the 2017 emerging artists by the SD Art Prize for her "Unmentionables" project, creating new art out of old mementos. We had a great conversation for the show about her artistic process, what she loves about making mistakes, and her experience as a teacher. For the second segment, Rizzhel chose the Philippines as her topic.

(Conversation recorded July 26, 2017.)

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 45: Jennifer DeCarlo

Jennifer DeCarlo is the director of jdc Fine Art, which was one of my favorite galleries in San Diego. Today, Jennifer splits time between San Diego and Chicago, and still works constantly championing the artists she represents. I've appreciated Jennifer's insight and eye for years, so I was pleased to have a chance to sit down and talk with her. We talked about her background and how she came to start her own gallery, how she views her role as a gallerist, and also her experiences as a portfolio reviewer. For the second segment, Jennifer chose art collecting as her topic.

(Conversation recorded June 22, 2017.)

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Wed, 02 Aug 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 44: scott b davis

As a photographer, scott b davis is known for his stunning, shadowy platinum prints, which you really have to see in person to get the full effect. He's also the founder and executive director of the Medium Festival of Photography, which is not only one of my favorite events of the entire year, but also directly contributed to the genesis of this very podcast. In our conversation, scott and I discussed his work, what drew him to the platinum process, and how discovery plays a central role in his art and artmaking. In the second segment, scott chose Mexico as his topic, a place that's geographically close to us here in San Diego, even if it sometimes feels psychologically far away.

(Conversation recorded June 6, 2017.)

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Wed, 19 Jul 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 43: Susan Rosenberg Jones

Susan Rosenberg Jones is a photographer based in New York City. I've been a fan of Susan's for several years, starting with her series "Second Time Around," about her experience of being a newlywed in her 60's. We had a great conversation about that series as well as her series "Building 1," about the community in her apartment building. For the second segment, Susan and I talked about Neal Rantoul's article in PetaPixel, "A Disturbing Trend in Photography."

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Wed, 05 Jul 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 42: Jess T. Dugan

Photographer Jess T. Dugan is one of my favorite contemporary portrait artists, whose work explores issues of gender, sexuality, identity, and community. Jess's 2015 book Every Breath We Drew is a favorite of mine, and I was pleased to be able to discuss that book with her, as well as her recent series To Survive On This Shore, photographs and interviews with transgender and gender non-conforming people over the age of fifty. We had a great conversation about her artistic process, how she approaches making a portrait, and how her tools inform her work. For the second segment, Jess chose "golden hour" as her subject, the time just before sunset when the light is both striking and rapidly changing.

(Conversation recorded May 8, 2017)

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Wed, 21 Jun 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 41: Kinsee Morlan

Kinsee Morlan is the engagement editor at Voice of San Diego, author of the Culture Report, and host of the San Diego Culturecast. As one of the main arts and culture writers in the region, Kinsee has a great view of the breadth of the arts scene here in San Diego, so I was excited to get a chance to talk with her. In our conversation we talked about her work with Voice of San Diego, what's great about the arts in San Diego and what gets overlooked, public art in the city, and the diversity of the city's various neighborhoods. For the second segment, we talked about getting kids exposed to the arts, and staying engaged with the arts community as a parent.

(Conversation recorded May 5, 2017.)

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Wed, 07 Jun 2017 15:11:11 +0000

Episode 40: Rachel Hulin

Rachel Hulin is a photographer and writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. I first came to know Rachel's photographic work several years ago, and when I saw that she'd recently published her first novel, I snapped up a copy as quickly as I could. In our conversation we talked about her book, Hey Harry Hey Matilda, about working in multiple creative disciplines, and the differences between photography and writing. For the second segment, Rachel chose creative flow as her topic.

(Conversation recorded May 4, 2017.)

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Wed, 24 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 39: Becky Senf

Dr. Becky Senf is the Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, and the Norton Family Curator of Photography, a joint appointment between the Center and the Phoenix Art Museum. In our conversation, Dr. Senf and I talked about her work at the Center, and what the breadth and depth of the Center's archival collection enables in terms of researching and understanding the artists whose work is housed there. We also talked about a deeply personal exhibition she curated for Art Photo Index, entitled "Not MY Family Values," which is a favorite of mine. For the second segment, we talked about the #BuyArtFriday hashtag that she started, and what her hopes are for the initiative in the future.

(Conversation recorded April 4, 2017.)

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About the Show:

Keep the Channel Open is a bi-weekly podcast featuring in-depth conversations with artists, writers, and curators. The show is hosted by San Diego-based photographer and writer Mike Sakasegawa.

Wed, 10 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 38: Brandon Taylor

Brandon Taylor is a writer and a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One of my favorite contemporary writers, Brandon's short stories are marvelously crafted, understated and emotionally charged, while his personal essays and cultural critique are insightful and often lyrical—all of it is just a joy to read. In today's conversation, Brandon and I talked about his work and his process, how he often finds himself inventing around the margins of the stories he takes in, and how and why he always resists the reductive take. For the second segment, Brandon chose expectation as his topic, both the excitement and terror of one's own anticipation of the future, but also the expectations others can put on us.

(Conversation recorded April 4, 2017.)

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Wed, 26 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 37: Jonas Yip

Jonas Yip is a photographer and musician in the Los Angeles area, not to mention a friend of mine. I first met Jonas several years ago at the first Medium Festival of Photography, where we immediately hit it off. As he puts it in his bio, Jonas is "more interested in capturing feeling than in capturing detail," something that I've always found to be true about his work. For today's show we talked about several of his bodies of work, including his "Somewhere Between" series and his "Paris: Dialogue" series. For the second segment, we talked about the idea of the Internet as an archive, and what that might mean for our culture as we move into the future.

(Conversation recorded March 22, 2017.)

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Wed, 12 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 36: Barbarella Fokos

Barbarella Fokos is a writer and filmmaker based in San Diego, CA. I came to know Barbarella's work through The Artist Odyssey where, as one of the executive producers, she creates documentary films about artists and their processes and motivations. In our conversation, we talked about her work with The Artist Odyssey as well as her previous work, including her Emmy-winning show Art Pulse TV. I was also pleased to get her perspective on San Diego's burgeoning art scene. Finally, in the second segment, Barbarella chose as her topic the distinction between art and craft.

(Conversation recorded February 27, 2017.)

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Wed, 29 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 35: Paul Turounet

Paul Turounet is a photographer who lives and works in the San Diego area. Paul's work focuses on the border region between the United States and Mexico, which is a topic that is always relevant here in San Diego, but which has taken on even greater import over the past few months. Using forms from traditional darkroom prints to artist books to site-specific installations, Paul's photography encompasses a wide range of experiences, and I was happy to get the chance to talk with him for today's show. We talked about three of his series, "Tierra Brava," "Bajo La Luna Verde," and "Estamos Buscando A," all of which deal with various psychological aspects of the border region. For the second segment, we talked about the idea of artistic commitment.

(Conversation recorded February 24, 2017.)

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Wed, 15 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 34: Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib

Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib is a poet from Columbus, Ohio. For today's episode I was pleased to talk to Hanif about his 2016 book The Crown Ain't Worth Much, one of my favorite reads of 2016. The poems in this book are an intensely personal account of his experiences growing up in Columbus, and in our conversation we talked about Hanif's approach to writing from experience, and how art can engender empathy. We also talked about music, a subject he's very familiar with as a music and culture writer for MTV News. For the second segment, we talked about a subject near and dear to Hanif's heart: the Columbus Blue Jackets.

(Conversation recorded January 23, 2017.)

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Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 33: José Olivarez

José Olivarez is a poet living and working in Chicago, Illinois, and is also co-host of one of my all-time favorite podcasts, The Poetry Gods. In our wide-ranging conversation we talked about how The Poetry Gods came to be, toxic masculinity in the poetry world, and how discovering poetry allowed José to find his artistic voice. In the second segment, we talked about beginnings and endings.

(Conversation recorded January 1, 2017.)

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Transcript Episode Credits

Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa
Music: Podington Bear
Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 32: Ginger Shulick Porcella

Ginger Shulick Porcella is the Executive Director of the San Diego Art Institute, an experimental, bi-national contemporary arts center in San Diego, CA. In the three years since Ginger has been leading SDAI, it has grown to become one of most vibrant, innovative art spaces in San Diego, something that has been exciting for art-minded folks in San Diego, like me. In our conversation, Ginger and I talked her curatorial background, the changes she's made at SDAI, how it's grown, what's to come, and how she engages with the San Diego arts community. In the second segment, we talked about one of Ginger's favorite topics: conspiracy theories.

(Conversation recorded December 5, 2016.)

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Wed, 01 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 31: Christina Riley

Christina Riley is a photographer and musician currently based in Seaside, California. When I first saw Christina's 2014 book Back to Me, I was immediately blown away by the emotional power and authenticity of the photographs. We talked about Christina's experience with bipolar disorder, her photographic process, and what it's like to move from Ontario, Canada to a small coastal community in Northern California. For the second segment, Christina chose change as her topic.

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Wed, 18 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 30: Rachael Short

Rachael Short is a fine art photographer based in Carmel, California. After graduating from the Brooks Institute, Rachael had a thriving wedding and portrait photography business, which ended in 2010 when she was in a car accident that broke her neck and left her paraplegic. Nowadays, Rachael uses her iPhone as her primary tool, and makes beautiful platinum prints from her iPhone images. I talked with Rachael about her work, the town we're both from, the gallery she owns, and her experience as a board member with the Center for Photographic Art. For the second segment, we talked about the importance of supporting the people in our communities.

(Conversation recorded November 20, 2016)

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Wed, 04 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 29: Matt Eich

Matt Eich is a documentary and editorial photographer based in Charlottesville, Virginia. I've been a fan of Matt's work for several years now, and I was excited to get the chance to talk about his four-part project The Invisible Yoke. We talked about his approach to documentary photography, how he reckons with and avoids stereotypes in his work, and what he hopes the work can accomplish. For the second segment, we talked about how to balance family live with an art practice.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 28: Alexander Kohnke

Alexander Kohnke is a San Diego-based artist and graphic designer (originally from Germany) whose work incorporates a variety of different disciplines and genres, from printmaking to drawing to photography. Alex and I had a great conversation about his artistic process, especially about the value of randomness and how that interacts with intention. In the second segment we talked about politics.

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Wed, 07 Dec 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 27: Lindsay Hatton

I knew that I was going to read Lindsay Hatton's debut novel, Monterey Bay, as soon as I saw the title—I grew up in that area, after all—and I was pleased to discover that between the covers of the book lay a story that is by turns funny, sexy, and profound, an alternate history of a place I know and love so well. I talked to Lindsay about her book, about our shared experiences growing up on the Monterey Peninsula, and a lot about John Steinbeck (both as a real-world literary figure and as a character in her book). In the second segment, we talked about how to navigate multiple modes of creative expression, parenting, and artistic legacy.

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Wed, 23 Nov 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 26: Chantel Paul

Chantel Paul is the Program Coordinator of the San Diego State University Downtown Gallery, a space which has rapidly become an important part of the vibrant art scene here in San Diego. In this wide-ranging conversation we talked about the Downtown Gallery, her role as a curator, the burgeoning San Diego arts community, and photography portfolio reviews from the reviewer's perspective. In the second segment we talked about slowing down, technology, and its effect on our quality of life.

(Recorded August 25, 2016)

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Thu, 10 Nov 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 25: David Emitt Adams

David Emitt Adams recently won the 2016 Clarence John Laughlin award for his photography, and if you've ever seen it before, you know why. In his work, David uses the wet-plate collodion process to create images on objects from his students' used film canisters to discarded cans found in the desert to oil drum lids, and the interplay between the photographs and the objects on which they're exposed adds a whole new dimension. (No pun intended.) David and I had a great talk about his work, and then in the second segment we moved on to discuss the ideas of permanence and impermanence.

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Wed, 26 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 24: Shaindel Beers

Shaindel Beers is the author of two full-length collections of poetry, A Brief History of Time and The Children's War and Other Poems, and her poems have also been published in numerous journals and anthologies. I found both of her books deeply moving, from her depictions of growing up on a farm to poems inspired by child survivors of war, and I was pleased to get to talk to her about her books. For the second segment we talked about artists' collaborations.

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Wed, 12 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 23: José Iriarte

José Iriarte and I go way back, and it's been with great pleasure that I've watched his writing career start to take off over the past few years. He's had short stories appear in a number of publications, including Motherboard, Strange Horizons, and Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, and what I particularly love about his stories is that how he uses genre and genre elements to put a new perspective on or provide a means of entry into more familiar emotions and experiences. José and I talked about a few of his recent stories for the show, and then for the second segment we talked about online communities and the function of public "shaming."

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Wed, 28 Sep 2016 07:45:48 +0000

Episode 22: Esmé Weijun Wang

Esmé Weijun Wang's debut novel The Border of Paradise is one of my favorite books so far this year. A multigenerational epic centered on an interracial family, the Nowaks, this book touches on so many profound topics, from mental illness to intergenerational trauma to culture clash to the very question of what it means to be a family, all done in stunningly beautiful prose. Esmé and I had a great conversation about her book in the first segment, and in the second segment we chatted about our favorite social media platform: Twitter.

(Conversation recorded July 19, 2016.)

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Wed, 14 Sep 2016 07:04:12 +0000

Episode 21: Kurt Simonson

In his lecture at the 2014 Medium Festival of Photography, photographer Kurt Simonson said that the common thread running through his work is the idea of longing; whether through family or friendship or community, the desire for connection is something we all feel, and that feeling is something he examines in his work. For this episode Kurt and I talked about his 2015 book The Northwoods Journals, an intimate, powerful, and sometimes funny look at the family and place that shaped him. For the second segment Kurt chose community as his topic, particularly the photographic community that he and I are a part of.

(Recorded July 15, 2016)

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Wed, 31 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 20: Hannah Stephenson

This week, our very first poetry episode with Ohio poet Hannah Stephenson! I first started reading Hannah's blog, The Storialist, a year or so ago, and although most of the poems she posts there are short, they really invite you to spend some time with them. For this week's show, Hannah and I had a great talk about her 2013 book In the Kettle, the Shriek, and the thought process behind her poems.

(Recorded June 28, 2016)

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Wed, 17 Aug 2016 07:30:00 +0000

Episode 19: Ken Rosenthal

Tucson-based photographer Ken Rosenthal's work has always stuck in my mind for both its striking visual style and the way that he uses images to represent and explore his internal emotional and psychological state. Whether he's looking at landscapes or family members or familiar objects, his photographs resonate because they represent the personal. We talked about several bodies of work, including his recent series The Forest and a work in progress called Days On the Mountain. For the second segment, Ken and I talked about change, and how when it comes in our personal lives it can spur us to new heights in our work.

(Recorded June 22, 2016)

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Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 18: Aline Smithson

Aline Smithson may well be the busiest person in photography. Not only is she a brilliant artist in her own right, she is also the editor of one of the top photo blogs in the world, Lenscratch, where she posts new material every single day. On top of that, she teaches workshops around the country, gives lectures at photo festivals internationally, participates as a portfolio reviewer, juries all manner of photo competitions, and still manages to exhibit and make her own work. It's astonishing that one person can do as much as she does, and yet there she is, day in and day out, doing it.

In this episode I was pleased to talk with her about her recent book Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography, which spans nearly twenty years of her photographic career. And for the second segment, we had a great conversation about the rising role of women as gatekeepers and curators in the artistic community.

(Recorded June 14, 2016)

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Wed, 20 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 17: Amanda Dahlgren

Amanda Dahlgren was one of the first friends I made in the San Diego photography community, and I always look forward to a chance to talk with her. Amanda's work combines a strong sense of formal composition with an inquisitive mind, and we had a great conversation about her work, as well as about the benefits of going through art school and the value of community. Building community is something that is important to Amanda, and in the second segment we talked about her work with Open Show and the Society for Photographic Education.

(Recorded June 7, 2016)

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Wed, 06 Jul 2016 07:52:01 +0000

Episode 16: Jennifer McClure

If there's a recurring theme that runs through photographer Jennifer McClure's work, it's about connection, the presence or absence of it. We talked about her ongoing portrait series of singles in New York, and that led to a rich discussion about working with portrait subjects, finding your own style, and self-acceptance. For the second segment, we started off with the topic of what our end goals are as artists, and that quickly branched out to fallow periods and how we deal with them, self-care, community, and the representation of women among photographers.

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Wed, 11 May 2016 06:14:36 +0000

Episode 15: Carrie Elizabeth Thompson

Carrie Elizabeth Thompson is a photographer whose work I've been following for several years. Her work is rich in storytelling, and I was drawn in by its complexity and emotional honesty. We recorded our conversation the day after Prince died, and of course that was on both of our minds as we started talking. But as we talked about her work one idea we kept coming back to was the idea of sharing, and how being open lets other people feel like it's OK for them to be open as well. For the second segment, Carrie and I talked about love, and particularly about where love goes after it's gone.

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Wed, 04 May 2016 08:16:21 +0000

Episode 14: Pastilla

I met San Diego artist Pastilla in March at the MAS Attack event at the San Diego Art Institute, and after talking with her for a few minutes I knew that I wanted to continue the conversation. We started off talking about the piece of hers that had moved me so much when we first met, "La Metamorfosis de Kafka F2," about the story behind its creation, the frustration and tension in the piece itself. For Pastilla, the act of creating art functions like meditation, and we talked about her background in photography as well as the idea of accessibility. For the second segment, she chose as her topic the ways in which an artist can engage with and impact her community, which led to a discussion of stereotypes and stories.

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Wed, 27 Apr 2016 07:30:00 +0000

Episode 13: Carolina Montejo

Carolina Montejo is a San Diego-based photographer and writer whose work looks very futuristic, but don't be fooled: it's all about the contemporary. Carolina and I had a fascinating talk about the inspiration behind her in-progress series "Era: Fragments of an Evolving Landscape," covering everything from her visual technique, her combination of text and image, and the influence of Jorge Luis Borges.

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Wed, 20 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 12: Andi Schreiber

Photographer Andi Schreiber was one of the first people whose work inspired me to try to make meaningful photographs, myself. Andi's bold, vibrant work is a reflection of her life, looking at family and raising her two sons, and more recently looking at herself and how things are changing for her as she enters middle age. In our wide-ranging conversation we discussed parenting, growing and aging, the ways that each of us came to our work, the importance of connecting with both audiences and other artists, as well as sexual identity and how it's informed by both our stage of life and the way other people interact with us. For the second segment, Andi and I dug into a bunch of artists who inspire our practice.

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Wed, 13 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 11: Daniel Abraham

Daniel Abraham has written or co-written over twenty novels, among them some of my favorite recent science fiction and fantasy series. You may know him as one of the creators of the popular SyFy show The Expanse, but most recently he's just finished up his excellent series The Dagger and the Coin, the last installment of which—The Spider's War—came out in March. In our conversation, Daniel and I talked about many of the ideas and characters from his books, as well as what it's like to collaborate with another writer, and the process of adapting a story for television. In the second segment, Daniel started us off with a discussion of Johan Huizinga's book Homo Ludens, and its central concept of play behavior being the root of all human culture. From there we branched out to everything from the idea of money as a form of ritual magic to the competing narratives playing out in contemporary American society. It's heady stuff, but I had a blast talking to him.

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Wed, 06 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 10: Claire A. Warden

The images from Claire A. Warden's series Mimesis are visually striking and delightfully inscrutable. Like most viewers, I was immediately grabbed by them when I first saw them, but it wasn't until I talked with Claire and read her artist's statement that I really understood what she was trying to say with these pictures. Having that experience, though, really deepened my appreciation for the work. This week, Claire and I talked about her unique process and the reason why it's so important that this series exist in the context of photography. In the second segment, we discussed race and being and immigrant, and how that affects the way one's identity forms.

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Wed, 30 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 9: TML Dunn

I first saw TML Dunn's work last month at the opening of the "Energy: Made in Form" exhibition at the SDSU Downtown Gallery, and his work stopped me dead in my tracks. Visiting his studio later and getting to see the breadth of his work was great fun, and we sat down and had a conversation about his work and process. For the second segment, Matt was interested in talking about art education and why it's such an important (but sadly neglected) part of school curricula.

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Wed, 23 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 8: Bryan Ida

I've known Bryan Ida for a long time, which makes sense because we're family. But that's not the reason that he's one of my favorite living painters. Bryan's work uses bold colors and geometric forms to suggest the urban landscape, and his layered paintings function as a sort of personal archaeology, delving into memory and emotion. We had a great conversation about how his creative expression has changed over the time I've known him, and how his unique process developed. In the second segment, Bryan chose community as his topic, and we talked about everything from the LA art scene to everyone's first community: family.

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Wed, 16 Mar 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Episode 7: Jeffery Saddoris

Jeffery Saddoris is a painter and amateur photographer, and the host of several popular photography podcasts. I’ve been a longtime listener to his shows and am happy to have him as a guest on KTCO. We talked a lot about Jeffery’s background and how he came to photography and writing about the arts, as well as about the community he’s helped to build with his listeners. For the second segment we talked about a recent photograph of Mark Zuckerberg at the Mobile World Congress, and what the future of human interaction might look like.

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Wed, 09 Mar 2016 09:21:00 +0000

Episode 6: Robert Jackson Bennett

Robert Jackson Bennett is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors. His Divine Cities series—so far comprising the novels City of Stairs and City of Blades—is unlike anything I can recall seeing before, combining urban and epic fantasy with noir thriller to tell a story of adventure and politics and dead gods, redemption and sacrifice. In this week's episode we talked about the series, as well as about genre expectations, writing diversely, naming fantasy characters, and his highly entertaining Twitter presence. In the second segment, Robert's topic was generational differences, though as we went through it we ended up touching on everything from city planning to Fox News.

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Wed, 02 Mar 2016 08:09:03 +0000

Episode 5: Samantha Geballe

Samantha Geballe's photographs made a deep impression on me when I first saw them back in 2014. Her fearless series of self-portraits are some of the most intense, honest portrayals of an artist's inner life I've seen, documenting her emotional journey from obesity through gastric bypass surgery toward self-acceptance. In this week's episode we talked about her work, about honesty and fear, and about the importance of connection and being heard. Samantha's discussion topic, which we talked about in the second half of the show, was benefit of the doubt.

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Wed, 24 Feb 2016 08:52:09 +0000

Episode 4: Drew Nikonowicz

Photographer Drew Nikonowicz ruffled a few feathers at the 2015 Medium Festival of Photography with his series This World and Others Like It, but far from being put off by a divided audience, Drew looked at it as an opportunity to have a conversation. In this week's episode we talked about his work, photographic manipulations, and photographic truth. In the second segment we talked about video games, and how online and gaming experiences can be just as real and meaningful as those in "real life."

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Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:34:19 +0000

Episode 3: Elke Luyten & Kira Alker

I've known movement artists Elke Luyten and Kira Alker for a long time, and I always love getting the chance to talk to them. In this week's episode we spoke about their history with movement theater as well as their recent work on David Bowie's video "Blackstar." In the second segment, we talked about the focus and craft involved in Japanese food, and how a trip to Japan became a source of inspiration for their work.

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Wed, 10 Feb 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Episode 2: Rebecca L. Webb

Photographer Rebecca Louise Webb recently opened a two-person show at the San Diego Art Institute looking at the way that young people interact with the natural world. Rebecca's portion of the show drew from her new series Mother: Nature, which came out of her profound feeling of ambivalence about the impact of technology on the life of her teenage son. I had the opportunity to sit down with Rebecca, and we talked about technology, parenting, and how both of us make deeply personal work. Later in the conversation we discussed a recent article about Elinor Carucci and our thoughts on the balance between intellectual and emotional art.

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Wed, 03 Feb 2016 08:13:38 +0000

Episode 1: Trinh Mai

Trinh Mai is a Vietnamese-American interdisciplinary artist whose incredibly empathetic work encompasses painting, drawing, sculpture, and more. I was pleased to be able to sit down with her for the inaugural episode of this show, and talk to her about her work, her artistic process, and the importance of connection, respect, and compassion in the stories she tells. In the second segment we discussed the importance of cooperation between artists.

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