Yvette Benavides

Laurie Hertzel's memoir is an open, frank rumination on a brother's death and its reverberations throughout a family.

This is a special episode of "The Lonely Voice." Hosts Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner welcome guest host Alex Gordon to discuss "Train Dreams" by Denis Johnson — and the Oscar-nominated film adaptation of that novella.

Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss Roberto Bolaño' short story " Gómez Palacio." A young writer travels to a desolate northern Mexican town to interview for a teaching position during a particularly grim period of his life. Telling the story in hindsight allows us to see the ways the place was actually unforgettable.

Dan Simon discusses his debut novel, "Ashland." Six characters tell their story about living in this mill town in New Hampshire. They share resonant, unforgettable stories about the place they all have in common. They grapple with life’s mysteries and reveal to readers the sheer beauty in their struggle and their will to live life with meaning.

Camille Bordas discusses her story collection, One Sun Only. She also shares her thoughts on writing about loss, reading nonfiction for inspiration for writing fiction and balancing humor with the more serious subject matter of her stories.

Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss "Berries" and other stories from Kolyma Stories by Varlam Shalamov. The author underscores the horrors of totalitarianism and the will to survive of the characters in the stories that are based on all-too real events and situations that the author himself experienced.

To celebrate the fiftieth episode of "The Lonely Voice" podcast, Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss the four stories in the "Edouard, Juliette, Lena" story cycle — "A Recollection," "The Colonel's Child," "Rue de Lille," and "Lena."

On this episode, Yvette Benavides shares a reflection on ‘To Absent Friends: Eudora Welty’s Correspondence with Frank Lyell’ selected and edited by Julia Eichelberger.

Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss “Out with the Old” by Richard Yates. The setting is a tuberculosis ward in a veterans' hospital on December 31,1950. Dreams have faded for these patients whose best years seem to be behind them. For the character of McIntyre something miraculous happens. This is a powerful New Year’s Eve story.

In Grace Paley's "The Loudest Voice," a young Jewish girl from an immigrant family is chosen to narrate her school's Christmas pageant. This is an open-hearted story — just right for us now during the holidays — or any day at all.