NER Out Loud New England Review

A reading from the play "Clara Thomas Bailey," followed by a conversation between Katie Futterman and playwright Caridad Svich.

Maya Bargdorf, Rowan Heffelfinger, and Kate Ryan read an excerpt of "Clara Thomas Bailey," a play by Caridad Svich published in NER 44.3.

After the reading, podcast host Katie Futterman talks to Svich about how she came to write plays, her approach to audience, and the multiple anxieties that influence this play.

"Clara Thomas Bailey" is a portrait-in-motion that takes place over the course of one hour in a person's life—and hour that spans years of feeling. It is a figure in three, or a triptych.

Hosted by Gavin Richards and Cali Jantzen, this episode features Joan Leegant reading an excerpt of her story "Wild Animals," followed by a short interview.

The conversation explores the volatile nature of family, Leegant's unique syntax, loyalty to the sentence, the writer as an "unconscious" medium, and the author's advice on discovering one's own process.

"Wild Animals" was first published in NER 44.2 (summer 2023).

Irish poet Nessa O'Mahony reads her poem "Cillín," published in NER 44.2, followed by an interview with summer interns Cali Jantzen and Gavin Richards.

Their discussion traverses the “hidden histories” of Ireland, the politics of memory, and the role of poetry in reckoning with the past.
The poem appears in NER's special feature "The Door Left Wide: Poets in Tribute to Eavan Boland."

El Williams III reads his poem "There Was a Brood," followed by an interview with Yardena Carmi.

Their discussion explores writing about place and personal experience, as well as the poet's inspirations for this piece, which turns car trouble, summer heat, and a brood of cicadas into poetry.

Katie Moulton reads an excerpt from her essay "The Elvis Room" (NER 43.3), followed by a conversation with host, Becca Clark.

The author discusses her writing and editing processes, memorializing her dad, her family's fascination with Elvis Presley, and more.

Fiction writer A. E Kulze reads from her story "The Ladybugs," followed by a conversation with podcast hosts Andrew Grossman and Kate Sadoff.

Kulze talks about her writing process, the role of the unconscious in forming the whole, and the joy of a perfect editorial cut. She also speaks more broadly about gender and domesticity, the failures of contemporary feminism, and the Desert Mothers, who've been largely forgotten to history.

"The Ladybugs" was published in NER 43.2 (summer 2022).