Books & Writers: Novelists, Screenwriters, Poets, Journalists, Playwrights, Non-fiction Writers & Showrunners Talk Writing, C

The Creative Process
The Creative Process
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Books & Writing episodes of the popular The Creative Process podcast. To listen to ALL arts & creativity episodes of “The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society”, you’ll find our main podcast on Apple: tinyurl.com/thecreativepod, Spotify: tinyurl.com/thecreativespotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists & creative thinkers across the Arts & STEM. We discuss their life, work & artistic practice. Winners of the Pulitzer, Academy Award, Emmy, Tony, Grammy, Booker, Nobel Prize, and other honors. Leaders & public figures share real experiences & offer valuable insights. Notable guests include: Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Ada Limón, George Pelecanos, George Saunders, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jericho Brown, Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, Siri Hustvedt, Jeffrey Sachs, Jeffrey Rosen (National Constitution Center), Tom Perrotta, Ana Castillo, David Tomas Martinez, Rebecca Walker, Isabel Allende, Ian Buruma, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, John d’Agata, Rick Moody, Paul Auster, Robert Olen Butler, Yiyun Li, Rob Nixon, Tobias Wolff, Yann Martel, Junot Díaz, Edna O’Brien, Eimear McBride, Jung Chang, Jane Smiley, Marge Piercy, Maxine Hong Kingston, Sara Paretsky, Carmen Maria Machado, Neil Patrick Harris, Etgar Keret, Hala Alyan, E.J. Koh, Lan Samantha Chang (Iowa Writers Workshop), Alice Fulton, Alice Notley, Emma Walton Hamilton, Krys Lee, Richard Wolff, Carl Safina, Suzanne Simard, among others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.
www.creativeprocess.info

  1. Oct 5

    Los Angeles, Lost Dreams, Illusions & the End of Empire - A Road Trip w/ CHIARA BARZINI - Highlights

    Chiara Barzini has spent her life navigating the literal and cultural fault lines between Italy and California. Today we will discuss her book, Aqua: A Story of Water and Lost Dreams, and her life as an artist living between two countries. In her acclaimed 2017 novel, Things That Happened Before the Earthquake, she wrote about arriving in the San Fernando Valley just weeks after a catastrophic natural disaster and the illusions of the '90s. In Aqua, she examines nature, the California water crisis and the broken dreams of the Hollywood machine. We talk about family, film, art as an act of faith and our collective ecological coming of age, where the end of empire meets the end of abundance, and the consequences of hypercapitalism and colonialism. What does it mean to stare our illusions in the eye and find the courage to imagine a better future? (0:00) Water as Power (2:17) The Necessity of Illusions (4:24) Aqua: A Reading - On Hollywood and Water (7:51) The Edge of Apocalypse & Writing (9:10) The Etruscans and the Art of Dying (13:13) Translation and the Creative Spark (14:38) Raising Children in a Crazy World (16:18) Poetry, Ruins, and The Waste Land (18:48) Scents and Sounds of Two Cities (Rome and Los Angeles) (20:43) The Connection with Animals and Nature (22:54) The Evolution of Love and Compassion (24:12) The Memory Museum (27:04) We are in this lifetime together Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    Los Angeles, Lost Dreams, Illusions & the End of Empire - A Road Trip w/ CHIARA BARZINI - Highlights

  2. Oct 6

    AQUA: A Story of Water & Lost Dreams w/ Author, Screenwriter CHIARA BARZINI

    “I think first of all that in order to have disillusion, you need to have illusion and I really want to sort of take a stand in the name of being a delusional person, you know? I do think illusions are necessary to our sense of creativity, and we need to fall in love with extreme projects, and we need to have ideas that are sometimes unsustainable. We need to dream big in order to be creative and feel alive. The illusions that are a part of Aqua are larger illusions. They're illusions that have to do with my adult life. They're connected to nature and the presence or absence of water, the illusion that we can keep sustaining a city even though the water has run out.” My guest today, Chiara Barzini, has spent her life navigating the literal and cultural fault lines between Italy and California. Today we will discuss her book, Aqua: A Story of Water and Lost Dreams, and her life as an artist living between two countries. In her acclaimed 2017 novel, Things That Happened Before the Earthquake, she wrote about arriving in the San Fernando Valley just weeks after a catastrophic natural disaster and the illusions of the '90s. In Aqua, she examines nature, the California water crisis and the broken dreams of the Hollywood machine. We talk about family, film, art as an act of faith and our collective ecological coming of age, where the end of empire meets the end of abundance, and the consequences of hypercapitalism and colonialism. What does it mean to stare our illusions in the eye and find the courage to imagine a better future? (0:00) The Necessity of Illusions (1:40) Chiara Barzini, Author, Screenwriter (4:44) The End of Empire and Ecological Anxiety (12:15) The Allure and Cruelty of Capitalism (16:07)   Aqua: A Reading - On Hollywood and Water (21:02) Screenwriter Robert Towne and the Legacy of Chinatown (26:20) AI Consumption and Water Bankruptcy (30:23) The Edge of Apocalypse and Bombay Beach (33:41) The Etruscans and the Art of Dying (42:33) Translation and Creativity (44:28) Raising Children in a Crazy World (47:30) Poetry, Ruins, and The Waste Land (57:33) Scents and Sounds of Rome and Los Angeles (01:04:17) The Connection with Animals and Nature (01:07:35) The Evolution of Love and Compassion (01:09:17) The Memory Museum (01:13:00) We Are in This Lifetime Together Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    AQUA: A Story of Water & Lost Dreams w/ Author, Screenwriter CHIARA BARZINI

  3. Aug 7

    Literature is an Antidote to Propaganda - Grief, Memory & Humanity w/ G. GOSPODINOV & A. RODEL - Highlights

    Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor. Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer’s patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia. (0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia (1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling (3:53) Translating the Atmosphere (4:31) The Pandemic of the Past (6:37) Death and the Gardener (9:49) The Translators Calling (11:00) Slowing Down Time (13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda (15:54) Translating the Atmosphere (18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning? (20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him (23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and Storytelling Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    Literature is an Antidote to Propaganda - Grief, Memory & Humanity w/ G. GOSPODINOV & A. RODEL - Highlights

  4. Jul 28

    Time, Memory & the Art of Translation with GEORGI GOSPODINOV & ANGELA RODEL

    “We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way.  Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.” Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor. Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer’s patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia. (0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia (2:13) The Art of Translation (5:44) The Pandemic of the Past (11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter’ (14:28) Death and the Gardener (19:34) The Translator's Calling (26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language (30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling (34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts (42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda (47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur (56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds’ (1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning? (1:04:18)   Childhood, Memory and Imagination (1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him (1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination (1:23:25) The Museum of Memory (1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy (1:28:02) AI and the Future of Humanity Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    Time, Memory & the Art of Translation with GEORGI GOSPODINOV & ANGELA RODEL

  5. Jul 1

    Our Wild Familiars - DR. DAN WERB on Animals that Live Among Us & Urban Wildlife Conservation - Highlights

    If you live in a city, you’ve probably had that moment in the middle of the night. You hear a scratching in the walls, or you catch the glowing eyes of a raccoon peering out from a dumpster, and for a second, the concrete world feels a lot less 'controlled' than we like to pretend. We’ve been taught to think of cities as 'biological deserts'—places where nature goes to die. But my guest today, Dan Werb, says that’s a myth we tell ourselves to feel safe. Dan is an award-winning epidemiologist and a musician, and in his new book, Our Wild Familiars, he explores the 'synanthropes'—the wild creatures that aren't our pets, but aren't quite strangers either. They are the coyotes, the bats, and even the octopuses that are learning to use our cities as laboratories for their own rapid evolution. He’s also the author of The Invisible Siege and City of Omens. (0:02) The unexpected biodiversity of urban areas and wild familiars (1:18) What is a Synanthrope? (4:15) The Myth of the Biological Desert (8:04) The Ancestral Bond between early humans, ravens, and foxes (9:15) Crows and Grudges (12:42) Stepping Stones in the Concrete (14:20) The Epidemiological Triangle (17:58) The Illusion of AI Connection (19:56) The Museum of Memory Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    Our Wild Familiars - DR. DAN WERB on Animals that Live Among Us & Urban Wildlife Conservation - Highlights

  6. Jun 17

    How Animals Are Adapting to Cities & Reshaping the Natural World w/ Author & Epidemiologist DAN WERB

    "So synanthropes are animals that have adapted to human-modified environments, and the Greek translation essentially is together with humans, so synanthrope. And they're a fascinating subset of wild animals that they're all around us, but we don't really notice them. And so in this new book, I was excited about writing something that had to do with the natural world. I was excited about writing something that touched on climate change. These are not just insects and earthworms and things like that. These are very large predators that have nevertheless found a way to survive among us. And that in and of itself I think is just an amazing story and what I explore in this book." If you live in a city, you’ve probably had that moment in the middle of the night. You hear a scratching in the walls, or you catch the glowing eyes of a raccoon peering out from a dumpster, and for a second, the concrete world feels a lot less 'controlled' than we like to pretend. We’ve been taught to think of cities as 'biological deserts'—places where nature goes to die. But my guest today, Dan Werb, says that’s a myth we tell ourselves to feel safe. Dan is an award-winning epidemiologist and a musician, and in his new book, Our Wild Familiars, he explores the 'synanthropes'—the wild creatures that aren't our pets, but aren't quite strangers either. They are the coyotes, the bats, and even the octopuses that are learning to use our cities as laboratories for their own rapid evolution. He’s also the author of The Invisible Siege and City of Omens. (0:02) The unexpected biodiversity of urban areas and wild familiars (2:32) Defining synanthropes and the myth of the biological desert (6:04) Why cities are becoming magnets for wildlife and natural biodiversity (14:32) How our discarded garbage acts as a reliable nutrition source (18:01) The raccoon city and highly adaptable urban mesopredators (21:49) Redesigning cities as crucial sites for wildlife conservation and containerisation (26:31) The impact of highways on mountain lion migration in Los Angeles (31:03) The ancestral spiritual bond between early humans, ravens, and foxes (38:24) Facial recognition, grudges, and the intense intelligence of urban crows (42:40) Discovering giant Pacific octopuses living in discarded garbage near Seattle (49:04) How translucent boardwalks helped save baby salmon afraid of the dark (52:42) Building green corridors and ecological stepping stones in the concrete (1:01:07) Cultural shifts in pods of orcas sinking boats off the Iberian coast (1:05:23) Social epidemiology, vulnerable populations, and insights from City of Omens (1:08:29) The epidemiological triangle and the environmental causes of novel viruses (1:16:08) The rhythm shift required to observe wild animals in urban spaces (1:25:26) Why we need more cosmological humility when studying animal biology (1:31:06) The illusion of AI connection and why engaging with nature expands the mind (1:34:46) Memories, Laughter, and Animal Connection Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    How Animals Are Adapting to Cities & Reshaping the Natural World w/ Author & Epidemiologist DAN WERB

  7. Apr 20

    Listening to the Living World: Ami Vitale, Yann Martel, Carl Safina, David George Haskell & Others on Climate Change & The Rights of Nature

    Today, we hear from writers Yann Martel, Carl Safina and David George Haskell on the practice of listening to the living world. Tom Chi discusses the dangerous volatility of a one-degree shift. Clayton Aldern explores how climate change alters brain health and behavior, while Ami Vitale,Osprey Orielle Lake and Martín Von Hildebrand remind us of the kinship we share with nature. Fred Pearce discusses 40 years as a journalist reporting on climate from around the world, while Richard Black of the environmental think tank Ember and Paula Pinho, European Commission’s Chief Spokesperson, talk about policy, hope and the radical empathy required to protect the planet for future generations. (0:00) Clayton Page Aldern – Finding awe and beauty in the world (0:40) David George Haskell – On consequences of humans tuning out the sounds of the living world (2:11) Yann Martel – How animals ask us to step out of our humanity (3:12) Carl Safina – The interior lives of non-human animals (5:08) Ami Vitale – Environmental collapse and human conflict (6:37) Martín von Hildebrand – Indigenous views of nature (8:00) Richard Black – Transition to clean energy vs. massive fossil fuel subsidies (10:01) Tom Chi – Climate destabilization (11:07) Paula Pinho – Europe’s vision for energy independence (14:04) Osprey Orielle Lake – Māori concept of "I am the river and the river is me” (16:08) Bill Hare – On limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees (17:19) Fred Pearce – Finding hope in nature’s resilience To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod @creativeprocesspodcast

    Listening to the Living World: Ami Vitale, Yann Martel, Carl Safina, David George Haskell & Others on Climate Change & The Rights of Nature

  8. Apr 18

    How Flowers Made Our World: DAVID GEORGE HASKELL on Deep Time, Plant Intelligence & Listening to the Living World

    What if the defining revolution of Earth's history wasn't led by animals or humans, but by flowers? Are we truly individuals, or are our bodies and minds just walking ecosystems? Our guest today is David George Haskell, a biologist who has spent much of his life training himself to see the universal within the infinitesimally small. He's famously sat for a year in a single square meter of Tennessee's forest, a mandala experience that revealed the deep history of the world through a single fallen leaf. He's a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Forest Unseen and Sounds Wild and Broken, and he received the John Burroughs Medal for The Songs of Trees. His work often focuses on what he calls the unwaged labor of the natural world, the complex biological communities that sustain our planet without a monetary ledger. And his latest book is How Flowers Made Our World. In it, he argues that we are essentially grass apes dependent on the ancient innovations of flowering plants for two-thirds of our daily calories. (0:00) How Flowers Made Our World The incredible ancient history of flowers on Earth (4:56) Contemplating the Small Expanding our world by restricting our gaze (14:30) The Illusion of Individuality Why atomism is false and interconnectedness is the foundation of life (26:08) We Are Grass Apes The evolutionary origins of humans and our dietary dependence on grass (33:32) Memories of His Childhood in Paris & Wild Orchids (38:55) The Networked Intelligence of Forests How trees communicate and share resources beneath the soil (44:00) The Earth in Full Song Tracing the sonic history of our planet (51:08) The Practice of Listening Why tuning in to the natural world is crucial for our survival (1:01:21) Silence Without Expectation Sitting with nature without demanding progress or enlightenment (1:11:01) Transforming Ourselves Why personal change matters in the fight for the climate (1:15:20) Escaping the Screen Finding real human-to-human connection away from technology (1:16:16) The True Cost of AI The devastating impact of data centers on our fossil fuel consumption (1:23:18) A Sensory Legacy for the Future What we must preserve for the generations not yet born Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    How Flowers Made Our World: DAVID GEORGE HASKELL on Deep Time, Plant Intelligence & Listening to the Living World
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Books & Writing episodes of the popular The Creative Process podcast. To listen to ALL arts & creativity episodes of “The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society”, you’ll find our main podcast on Apple: tinyurl.com/thecreativepod, Spotify: tinyurl.com/thecreativespotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists & creative thinkers across the Arts & STEM. We discuss their life, work & artistic practice. Winners of the Pulitzer, Academy Award, Emmy, Tony, Grammy, Booker, Nobel Prize, and other honors. Leaders & public figures share real experiences & offer valuable insights. Notable guests include: Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Ada Limón, George Pelecanos, George Saunders, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jericho Brown, Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, Siri Hustvedt, Jeffrey Sachs, Jeffrey Rosen (National Constitution Center), Tom Perrotta, Ana Castillo, David Tomas Martinez, Rebecca Walker, Isabel Allende, Ian Buruma, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, John d’Agata, Rick Moody, Paul Auster, Robert Olen Butler, Yiyun Li, Rob Nixon, Tobias Wolff, Yann Martel, Junot Díaz, Edna O’Brien, Eimear McBride, Jung Chang, Jane Smiley, Marge Piercy, Maxine Hong Kingston, Sara Paretsky, Carmen Maria Machado, Neil Patrick Harris, Etgar Keret, Hala Alyan, E.J. Koh, Lan Samantha Chang (Iowa Writers Workshop), Alice Fulton, Alice Notley, Emma Walton Hamilton, Krys Lee, Richard Wolff, Carl Safina, Suzanne Simard, among others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.
www.creativeprocess.info

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