National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy pulled up to Pink Pig Productions to chop it up about her debut novel The Turner House, writing middle-aged characters, segregated school systems, and why listening to women can you make men better

Jess Row talks Your Face in Mine, Cop Films and Whiteness as a System of Denial

Nov 14th, 2017 1h 3m

Writer and novelist, Jess Row, came through to chop it up about his novel, Your Face In Mine; the perniciousness of police movies; whiteness as a system of denial; and the trouble that inevitable comes with telling the truth.

Garnette Cadogan on Walking, James Baldwin, Charlottesville, and the 4 Ws

Oct 25th, 2017 1h 19m

Anyone who knows essayist, Garnette Cadogan, knows he loves to walk. Amongst his love for walking also exists his love for James Baldwin essays, the 4 Ws--warmth, wisdom, wit and whimsy--and Clark's. Garnette also talked about growing up in Kin

Esmé Weijun Wang on Being Twice as Good, Mental Illness, and The Border of Paradise

Oct 18th, 2017 1h 1m

Writer, novelist and 1930s fashion revivalist Esmé Weijun Wang pulled up to Pink Pig Productions to chop it up about her novel, The Border of Paradise, illness as both metaphor and reality, and why an honest reckoning with illness, mental and p

Yrsa Daley-Ward on Bone, Finding Yourself, and Harassing Your Local Bookseller

Oct 16th, 2017 53m 35s

Yrsa Daley-Ward pulled up to Pink Pig Productions to chop it up about her debut poetry collection, Bone, what it means to reckon with the pains and pleasures of living in our bodies; how all this can, and will, give us poetry; and why you shoul

Jason Diamond on Punching Nazis, Favorite Jordans and Searching for Hughes

Oct 11th, 2017 48m 14s

Writer, Jason Diamond pulled up to Pink Pig Productions to talk about his memoir, Searching for John Hughes, 80s movies as his first literature, his favorite Jordans, getting heckled by Spike Lee as a kid, and punching Nazis in the face for the

Aja Monet on My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter, Poetry, Obama, and Giving Her Regards to Brooklyn

Oct 9th, 2017 57m 54s

Even with a cold, Poet, activist, and Brooklyn native, Aja Monet spits fire. She pulled up to Pink Pig Productions studio to talk about her new debut poetry collection, My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter; the importance of Black Americans to under

D. Watkins on Baltimore, Sister Souljah, and Writing The Beast Side and The Cook Up

Sep 27th, 2017 45m 6s

We had writer and educator, Baltimore's own D. Watkins pulled up to Pink Pig Productions studio to talk about The Beast Side and The Cook Up, Sistah Soulja as a literary influence, and why bringing literature to neighborhoods like his, with peo

Kaitlyn Greenidge on We Love You Charlie Freeman, Lenny Letter, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves

Sep 26th, 2017 57m 21s

Writer and novelist, Kaitlyn Greenidge pulled up to talk about her debut novel, We Love you Charlie Freeman, histories we tell ourselves in order to live, writing for Lenny Letter, and getting teenagers to write.

Jason Reynolds on Langston Hughes, Writing Spider-Man, and Putting Respeck on YA Writers' Name

Sep 25th, 2017 58m 49s

Writer and YA novelist Jason Reynolds pulled up in his terry cloth interior Golden Goose kicks, kicking it with about the brilliance of Langston Hughes, the advice given to him by Walter Dean Meyers, supporting independent bookstores, writing t

Safiya Sinclair on Growing up Rastafarian, Tourism in Jamaica and Poetry as an Impolite Body

Sep 24th, 2017 53m 33s

Poet and Whiting Award winner Safiya Sinclair pulled up and popped out in these super swaggy Alexander Wang shoes to talk about growing up Rastafarian in Montego Bay, Jamaica; poetry as an impolite body, how tourism in Jamaica disenfranchises t

Ibi Zoboi on Honoring Ancestors, Black Arts Scene, American Street and Being Longlisted for an NBA

Sep 24th, 2017 1h 6m

Hours after her YA novel, American Street was longlisted for an NBA, Ibi Zoboi pulled up to chop it up about the role the black arts movement played in her life, Old Brooklyn (read: before gentrification) and the importance of paying homage to

Claire Messud on The Burning Girl, Strong Women, Family and Friendship

Sep 24th, 2017 54m 34s

Critically-acclaimed novelist Claire Messud pulls up to LIT to chop it up about her new novel The Burning Girl (in stores now!), the strong women figures who inform her writing, what it was like to have her daughter read her work, and the lesso

Nicole Sealey on Poetry, Ordinary Beast, Favorite Black Comedies, and Green Contacts

Sep 24th, 2017 58m 46s

Poet and Cave Canem's' Executive Director Nicole Sealey returned to LIT to reshoot her interview (as the first recording was without sound). She talked about poetry, who she writes for, the beauty of black movies, and her debut poetry collectio

Rakesh Satyal on (Mis)pronounced Names, Edith Wharton and American Identity

Sep 24th, 2017 56m 49s

Writer, novelist and senior editor Rakesh Satyal pulled up to talk about Edith Wharton as influence, American identity, and his latest novel, No One Can Pronounce My Name.

Jessie Chaffee on Florence in Ecstasy, Jean Rhys, and the Interior Lives of Women

Sep 24th, 2017 54m 12s

Novelist Jessie Chaffee pulls up to LIT to chop it up about growing up in the West Village, how women writers taught her about interiority, and her debut novel, Florence in Ecstasy, about a woman who wrestles with the landscape of Florence, Ita

Jesmyn Ward on Storytelling, Writing Black People into the Future and new novel Sing, Unburied, Sing

Sep 24th, 2017 59m 23s

Jesmyn Ward pulled up in her trusty boots to talk about the family stories that served as her foundation for storytelling, how she integrated research into her newest novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, and why writing black people into the future is

Lisa Lucas on the National Book Foundation, Nabokov's Lolita, Zora Neale Hurston and Keeping it 100

Sep 24th, 2017 37m 37s

National Book Foundation's Executive Director, Lisa Lucas, chopped it up about her love for Zora Neale Hurston and Nabokov's Lolita, what the National Book Foundation is, and what it does to bring books to readers young, old, and in between; an

Tyehimba Jess on Pulitzer Prize, Syncopated Sonnets, Olio, and Detroit

Sep 24th, 2017 1h 5m

2017 Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Tyehimba Jess pulls up with his wife Kelly Marie Jess, gives a spectacular interview on his Detroit upbringing, blues as a portal of entry for his poetry, his response to winning this year's Pulitzer for Poetry

The Griggs Brothas on Fashion, Haile Selassie, Carter G. Woodson, and Reparations

Sep 24th, 2017 53m 54s

Fashion designers Clayton and Chris Griggs pull up to talk about working with Nike, Ralph Lauren, and Opening Ceremony; their own brands LFANT and New Way of Life; the teachings of Haile Selassie and writings of Carter G. Woodson, and what Amer

Carina Chocano on Playing the Girl, Virginia Woolf, and watching film with a feminist lens

Sep 24th, 2017 59m 6s

Earlier this month, writer and film critic Carina Chocano pulled up to about killing, what Virginia Woolf called, "the Angel in the House," her grandfather's Playboy collection, and her new book You Play the Girl (HMH Books), which is in stores

Brendan Kiely on Whiteness, Literary Citizenship, and The Last True Love Story

Sep 24th, 2017 55m 44s

Writer, novelist, and literary citizen, Brendan Kiely came through to the studio to chop it up about Michael Franti being his first literary inspiration, writing with the prolific Jason Reynolds, interrogating his own whiteness, and the release

Victor LaValle on Changelings, Literary Horror, and Racist Book Reviewers

Sep 24th, 2017 59m 57s

Victor LaValle chops it up with his latest novel The Changeling, how he became the Drake of Literary Horror, growing up in Queens and selling his book, The Ballad of Black Tom to AMC.

Ashley Ford on Terry McMillan, Interracial Relationships, and New Writing

Sep 24th, 2017 1h 1m

Refinery 29's senior feature writer, thinker and, super swaggy Ashley C. Ford pulls up to talk about navigating the insidious assumptions of white people, interracial relationships, reconciling the private and personal, and her new writing.

Tanwi Nandini Islam on debut novel Bright Lines, Hi Wildflower, and Patronizing White Teachers

Sep 24th, 2017 1h 9m

In this episode, writer and perfumist Tanwi Nandini Islam chops it up about how reading Arundhati Roy helped her claim her space as a South-Asian writer, patronizing white teachers, her debut novel, Bright Lines and her perfume and cosmetic com