literature

What happens when admiration turns into envy — and envy takes hold of an entire life? Yvette Benavides and Peter Orner discuss José Emilio Pacheco’s haunting short story, “The Claw.”

Michael Cunningham, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, discusses his new book, Unsayable: A Life in Writing, and the mysteries of memory, imagination and storytelling.

What does it mean to love a place — and still long to leave it? In Alistair MacLeod’s haunting short story “The Boat,” a son struggles between family, tradition and the pull of a different life. On this episode of The Lonely Voice, we explore a powerful story about the sea, sacrifice and the choices that shape who we become.

In this interview, Ruth Ozeki talks about writing stories, publishing a story collection at age 70, the supremely skilled ways she can write about a range of characters in diverse places, the trunk full of ideas around stories and loss and, of course, typing.

In this episode, Book Public host Yvette Benavides shares a reflection on an essay collection that explores grief and how we make meaning from loss.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides explore the 1959 short story "Asigh" by the incomparable Mary Lavin. They examine this beautiful, poignant story about a protagonist who remains resilient in the face of domestic tension and psychological confinement in rural Ireland.

What are the mysteries behind the quiet routines of one Artie Dam, a high school history teacher in Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel? The Things We Never Say explores isolation and the painful, fragile truths we keep hidden because we don't have the words to talk about them. And yet, this luminous novel gives us a lexicon of loneliness that challenges the fundamental idea that we can never truly know each other. Turns out, the beauty is in trying.

Patrick Strickland discusses his story collection "A History of Heartache." These are stories set in North Texas that chart the small moments of grace, and the almost insurmountable mistakes boys inherit. These are gritty, sometimes violent stories, but there is a tenderness, too, and the knife’s edge here bends toward a kind of hope.

In "The Tea Ceremony" by Gina Berriault, protagonist, Delia, struggles with wanting beautiful things. Her family's hardscrabble life doesn't measure up. She isn't the most beautiful girl in her class. While she is liked, she doesn't have any friends. Beauty becomes closely linked to her ability to imagine her future. But somehow, perhaps, she will finally see that there was always a kind of beauty closer to home.

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