fiction/non/fiction

fiction/non/fiction
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Hosted by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan, fiction/non/fiction interprets current events through the lens of literature, and features conversations with writers of all stripes, from novelists and poets to journalists and essayists.

  1. 5D AGO

    S9 Ep. 17 Eleanor Shearer on Migrants in Hiding and a Caribbean History of Canada

    Novelist Eleanor Shearer joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, Fireflies in Winter, which depicts the little-known history of how the Leeward Maroons of Jamaica—a free Black community descended from formerly enslaved Africans and indigenous people—came to Nova Scotia at the end of the 18th century. Shearer, who is British and has Caribbean ancestry, explains the genesis of her interest in the Maroons as an example of successful resistance to slavery, since they fought the British in Jamaica, but also a kind of collusion with it, as they captured and returned runaway slaves to plantations there. She reflects on the connections between her Black heroines’ precarious situation in historic Canada and the situation of immigrants in the U.S. and elsewhere today. She also considers her research process, depicting queer life in earlier periods, the importance of sensory and embodied detail in historical writing, and her choice to write about the past in the present tense. Shearer reads from Fireflies in Winter. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Eleanor Shearer Fireflies in WinterRiver Sing Me Home‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism | Slavery | The Guardian Others Anne of Green Gables by L.M. MontgomeryDavos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, PM of Canada | World Economic ForumPrime Minister Carney delivers remarks at the World Economic Forum Annual MeetingBlack Loyalist Heritage Center, Nova ScotiaCarrefour Atlantic Emporium BookstoreFiction/Non/Fiction Season 8, Episode 22: Suzette Mayr and Kai Thomas on Canada Versus Trump See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    45 min

  2. FEB 5

    S9 Ep. 16 Anjali Enjeti on Ballots and How Trump Wants to Steal Them

    Award-winning journalist, activist, poll worker, and former attorney Anjali Enjeti discusses her new book, Ballot, which considers the real and metaphorical role that ballots play in our democracy. Co-hosts Whitney Terrell and Jennifer Maritza McCauley (in her first episode joining the co-host rotation) talk to Enjeti about her childhood encounters with ballots, the history of ballots in America, and the problems she encountered with Republican-installed Dominion voting machines in Fulton County, Georgia, where she was an election worker during the 2020 presidential race. She debunks the false claims of election fraud in Fulton County during that election and discusses the Trump Administration’s recent seizure of 700 boxes of 2020 ballots from Fulton County, what those ballots represent, and whether or not the administration might try to alter them. She reads from Ballot. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Anjali Enjeti BallotThe Parted EarthSouthbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change Others Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2, Episode 8: Lacy Johnson and Anjali Enjeti on the State of Reproductive RightsFBI raid in Georgia has little legal basis – but serves Trump’s goal to weaken trust in election results | The GuardianFBI’s Search of Fulton County, Georgia, Election Center Is Unprecedented, Experts Say | ProPublicaTrump is trying to change how the midterm elections are conducted | The Washington PostMove to Seize Ballots Thrusts F.B.I. Into Trump’s Election Conspiracy Claim | The New York TimesTrump’s Mug Shot Is Released After Booking at Fulton County Jail | The New York TimesNickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara EhrenreichSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    51 min

  3. JAN 29

    S9 Ep. 15 Joe Jackson on the Spanish-American War and Trump’s Imperial Ambitions

    Award-winning nonfiction writer and former investigative journalist Joe Jackson joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about President Trump’s “Don-roe Doctrine” and his imperial ambitions in Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, and beyond. Jackson, the author of a new book, Splendid Liberators: Heroism, Betrayal, Resistance, and The Birth of American Empire, explains how Trump’s plan relies on the template set by the Spanish-American War, through which the U.S. rose as a world power and ended Spanish rule in the Western Hemisphere. Jackson sheds light on the rhetoric that fueled the war, as well as the violent history of U.S. military interference in Cuba and the Philippines. Jackson takes us through iterations of the Monroe Doctrine and outlines the impact of that philosophy on Trump’s desire for imperial expansion as well as his authoritarian control domestically, in cities like Minneapolis. He discusses how the Spanish-American War served as a turning point for America’s soul, including writers of the time, and how it birthed a culture of war that has continued to impact the nation, its citizens, and the world ever since. Jackson reads from Splendid Liberators. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Joe Jackson The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of EmpireAtlantic Fever: Lindbergh, His Competitors, and the Race to Cross the AtlanticBlack Elk: The Life of an American Visionary Other Books: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen CraneThe Winning of the West, Volumes 1-4, by Theodore RooseveltCarl SandburgMcTeague by Norris"The Storytellers of Empire" by Kamila Shamsie – Guernica Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T.E. LawrenceJose Marti Reader: Writings on the AmericasNoli mi Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose RizalOn the Origin of Species by Charles DarwinCuba in Wartime by Richard Harding DavisThe Essential Frank Norris, incl. The OctopusWinesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson Other Links: Society of American HistoriansWestern Writers of AmericaTrue West MagazineMonroe Doctrine (1823, archive.gov)Roosevelt Corollary (19o5, archive.gov)“Manifest Destiny” by John Fiske, March 1885 Harper’s Magazine Archives (subscription to read)Trump’s Manifest Destiny - Project SyndicateLibrary of Congress: “Remember the Maine!” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    51 min

  4. JAN 22

    S9, Ep. 14 Jessica Lopez Lyman on the History of State Violence in Minnesota

    Interdisciplinary performance artist and Xicana feminist scholar Jessica Lopez Lyman joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about Minnesota’s history with state violence and local resistance to it, as well as ICE’s intensified presence in recent weeks. Lopez Lyman, the author of a new book, Place-Keepers: Latina/x Art, Performance, and Organizing in the Twin Cities, discusses immigration in Minnesota and how the increased ICE presence is affecting immigrant and BIPOC communities. Lopez Lyman speaks about the January 7 death of Renee Nicole Good, a white woman and legal observer who was shot and killed by an ICE officer, and compares the current situation to the time following police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd in 2020. She notes the pervasiveness of the harm wrought by ICE’s presence throughout Minnesota, a state with a romanticized, pastoral, and sometimes inaccurately homogenous image. She considers the importance of mutual aid, community care, and legal observers, and explains the term “movidas,” which refers to subversive knowledge and “small, hidden actions that are not public protests, that are really foundational for creating larger social movements.” She reads from Place-Keepers.  To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Jessica Lopez Lyman Place-Keepers: Latina/x Art, Performance, and Organizing in the Twin Cities Others: One State, Two Very Different Views of Minneapolis The New York TimesGloria AnzaldúaAudre LordeLittle House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls WilderMaria Isa“Video shows woman dragged from car by ICE agents in Minneapolis as she tells them she's autistic” CBC News"Family of man killed by off-duty ICE agent in LA demands charges: ‘The ache will never go away’" The GuardianNYTPitchbot- Jan. 15, 2026"Native Americans are being swept up by ICE in Minneapolis, tribes say"- The Washington Post"The killing of Daunte Wright and trial of Kimberly Potter" 2021 MPR News"The murder of George Floyd" 2020 MPR News"The death of Philando Castile and the trial of Jeronimo Yanez" 2016 MPR News "Right-wing, anti-Islam protest draws large group of counter demonstrators" MPR News "The Miracle of Minneapolis" 2015 The Atlantic"AMERICAN SCENE: Minnesota: A State That Works" 1973 TIME See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    53 min

  5. JAN 15

    S9 Ep. 13: Vauhini Vara with Karan Mahajan on “What If Readers Like A.I.-Generated Fiction?”

    Award-winning writers and longtime friends Vauhini Vara and Karan Mahajan join co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V. V. Ganeshananthan to discuss Vara’s recent New Yorker essay “What If Readers Like AI-Generated Fiction?” Vara explains recent research by scientist Tuhin Chakrabarty, who has attempted to fine-tune large language models to produce better writing by feeding them authors’ entire oeuvres. She considers what it means that when Chakrabarty ran the results by some creative writing graduate students, they preferred AI imitations of writers like Junot Diaz, Sigrid Nunez, and Tony Tulathimutte to the writers themselves, or could not tell the difference. She and Mahajan talk about their decades-long connection and familiarity with each other’s writing. They muse on what it means that, when Vara talked Chakrabarty into letting her compete with a large language model, even Mahajan could not separate her original work from what it produced. Mahajan and Vara debate ways in which this technology will and won’t change how literature is written and received, the importance of style, reading as a collective experience, and if there is anything AI will never be able to capture about writing. Vara reads from the essay.  To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Vauhini Vara “What If Readers Like A.I.-Generated Fiction?” | The New Yorker Searches: Selfhood in the Digital AgeThis Is SalvagedThe Immortal King Rao Karan Mahajan The ComplexThe Association of Small BombsFamily Planning Others: Pedro Paramo by Juan RulfoBeloved by Toni Morrison“In the Penal Colony” by Franz KafkaNgugi wa Thiong'o See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    50 min

  6. JAN 8

    S9 Ep. 12: Matthew Pearl on What We’ll Do For the Prize

    Bestselling and award-winning writer Matthew Pearl joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel The Award. Pearl explores the relationship between cultural prizes and ideas of nationhood, as well as imposter syndrome and external validation, like MFAs, literary awards, and being seen writing in coffeeshops by and with other writers. He reflects on developing the character of David Trent, an aspiring young writer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Pearl himself formerly lived and participated in cafe culture. He talks about the ethical lines David is willing to cross to achieve success and how he rationalizes these choices to himself. He also explains the larger-than-life character of Silas Hale, the famous and mercurial novelist who lives downstairs from David, controls their shared thermostat, and has no interest in mentoring his young neighbor. Pearl considers how David’s life changes when he publishes a book and wins a prize. He reads from The Award. This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Matthew Pearl ●    The Award ●    Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder ●    The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America ●    The Dante Chamber ●    The Last Bookaneer ●    The Technologists ●    The Last Dickens ●    The Poe Shadow ●    The Dante Club   Others: ●    Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 19: Jacinda Townsend and James Bernard Short on American Fiction ●    Erasure by Percival Everett ●    Rabbit, Run by John Updike ●    The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz ●    The Wife by Meg Wolitzer ●    Yellowface by R.F. Kuang ●    The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris ● Young Lions Fiction Award | The New York Public Library See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    43 min

  7. 12/18/2025

    S9 Ep. 11: Elizabeth McCracken on Writing About Writing, At Last

    Acclaimed fiction writer and long-time creative writing professor Elizabeth McCracken joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V. V. Ganeshananthan to discuss her ninth book and first volume about craft, A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction. McCracken reflects on her long-held reluctance to attempt such a project and the impossibility of creating absolute rules for writing. She explains why she doesn’t believe in “show don’t tell,” “write what you know,” “write every day,” and other classic canards of craft. McCracken talks about the importance of imagining characters’ physicality; well-executed present tense; how time can shape narrative; justifying flashbacks; and writing outside one’s own identity. She reads from A Long Game.  To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Elizabeth McCracken A Long Game: Notes on Writing FictionThe Hero of This BookThe Souvenir MuseumBowlawayThunderstruck & Other StoriesAn Exact Replica of a Figment of My ImaginationNiagara Falls All Over AgainThe Giant’s HouseHere's Your Hat What's Your Hurry? Others: Tinkers by Paul HardingThe Gates of the Alamo by Stephen HarriganAffliction by Russell BanksGilligan’s IslandAllan Gurganus See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    48 min

  8. 12/11/2025

    S9 Ep. 10: Maya Angelou Book Award Winner Alison C. Rollins on the Poetics of Sound, Space, and Image

    2025 Maya Angelou Book Award winner Alison C. Rollins joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V. V. Ganeshananthan to discuss her 2024 poetry collection Black Bell. She explores the history and symbolism of a bell-laden iron device used to control and torture enslaved people and describes the replica she created after studying metalworking. She also recounts the story of Harriet Jacobs, who spent seven years hidden in her grandmother’s attic before escaping slavery. Rollins talks about how her poems engage in call and response with other texts, including the music of Sun Ra and Stevie Wonder and images connected to ornithology, anatomy, Afrofuturism, and the history of slavery. She reflects on who has historically been granted the title of “poet” in America and discusses the archival research behind her writing. Rollins rings a glass bell and reads several poems from Black Bell. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Amelia Fisher, Victoria Freisner, Wil Lasater, and S E Walker. Alison C. Rollins Black BellLibrary of Small Catastrophes Others: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet JacobsThe Divine Comedy - Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso by Dante AlighieriThe Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. LewisThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienWu - Tang Clan - Enter The Wu - Tang (36 Chambers) [Full Album Mix] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    37 min
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4.9
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About

Hosted by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan, fiction/non/fiction interprets current events through the lens of literature, and features conversations with writers of all stripes, from novelists and poets to journalists and essayists.

Information

  • Creator
    fiction/non/fiction
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    327
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Whitney Terrell, V.V. Ganeshananthan, 980309
  • Show Website
    fiction/non/fiction

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