Virtual Memories Show 440: Ron Hogan “I feel like you’re writing because you have something to say, something that you’re trying to figure out, and I wanted to put my emphasis on that part of the process.” Practice makes person! With his new book, Our Endless and Proper Work: Starting (and Sticking to) Your Writing…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 439: Glenn Head “My whole interest in comics and autobiography is to show the dirt that’s under everyone’s fingernails, to capture that and not look away from it.” With his new graphic memoir, Chartwell Manor (Fantagraphics), cartoonist Glenn Head returns to the scene of the crime: the boarding school where he and…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 438: Will McPhail Cartoonist and illustrator Will McPhail joins the show to celebrate his debut graphic novel, IN. We talk about weaponized self-awareness, the genesis of his poignant and hilarious tale of anhedonia, the value of real conversation, and how he stretched from single-panel cartoons to a long-form book. We also get…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 437: Keiler Roberts “I still want to write about my life but not obsess about my problems, not obsess about the meaning of everything, but to have experiences in a direct way.” Artist and cartoonist Keiler Roberts returns to the show to celebrate her new book, My Begging Chart (Drawn & Quarterly),…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 436: Dmitry Samarov “Basically I didn’t have to make anything up. I’ve never understood why anybody has to make anything up. The world is so weird, and the stories you get by shutting up and listening are all you’ll ever need.” With his new book OLD STYLE, artist & author Dmitry Samarov…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 435: Dorothy Gallagher For my first in-person podcast since March 2020 (!), I talked with writer, memoirist & biographer Dorothy Gallagher about her beautiful new collection, Stories I Forgot To Tell You (NYRB). We get into the 2010 death of her husband, literary editor & raconteur Ben Sonnenberg, and how it took…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 434: Karl Stevens Cartoonist & illustrator Karl Stevens rejoins the show to celebrate his new book, Penny: A Graphic Memoir (Chronicle Books), in which Karl explores the inner life of his eponymous cat Penny. We get into the challenges of realistically drawing a tortoiseshell cat (and writing her existentialist thoughts), the book’s…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 433: Darryl Cunningham “I’m critical of the super-wealthy, but not that critical of capitalism. It’s not wrong, but it needs restructuring to serve as many people as possible, and not be a way for the super-wealthy to siphon off as much as possible.” With the new edition of Billionaires: The Lives of…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 432: Shary Flenniken “Being at National Lampoon was just like hanging out with your friends. In a way, my whole career has been like that: hanging out and doing cartoons.” Legendary cartoonist & humorist Shary Flenniken joins the show to celebrate the long overdue collection of her amazing Trots & Bonnie comics…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 431: Louis Menand “Writing a book like this is like an advent calendar: each day you open a little window and there’s somebody in there. You hadn’t known about them before and you learn a fascinating story.” Pulitzer Prize-winning author and cultural critic Louis Menand joins the show to celebrate his phenomenal…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 430: Jesse Sheidlower Lexicographer, bartender and bon vivant Jesse Sheidlower rejoins the show to talk about his new project, the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction. We get into the 20-year-old origins of the project and the ways it mirrors the development of the internet over that span, the importance of fandom and…
Read More
Virtual Memories Show 429: Nate Powell “It was a lifesaver, having Congressman Lewis in my life during this period — his temperance, his playing the long game, his absolute lack of compromise on a moral and ethical level — a lot of this helped me on a personal basis.” How will we remember (and recover…
Read More
Recent Comments