LitFriends Podcast Annie Liontas & Lito Velazquez

Join co-hosts Annie Liontas and Lito Velázquez in conversation with Paula Saunders & George Saunders about why we bother with writing, blowing up, truth, beauty, the spiritual life, and nearly 40 years of marriage.
Our next episode will feature Yiyun Li & Edmund White.
 
Links
Libsyn Blog
https://georgesaundersbooks.com/
https://paulasaundersbooks.com/
 
www.annieliontas.com
www.litovelazquez.com
LitFriends LinkTree
LitFriends Insta
LitFriends Facebook
 

Join co-hosts Annie Liontas and Lito Velázquez in conversation with Liz Moore & Asali Solomon about being iconic Phily literary friends and co-conspirators in The CLAW, Philly's literary salon for women, non-binary, and genderqueer writers.
Our next episode will feature George & Paula Saunders.
 
Links
Libsyn Blog
www.annieliontas.com
www.litovelazquez.com
https://www.lizmoore.net/
https://www.asalisolomon.com/
 
LitFriends LinkTree
LitFriends Insta
LitFriends Facebook
 

Join co-hosts Annie Liontas and Lito Velázquez in conversation with LitFriends Melissa Febos & Donika Kelly about their grand statements, big revelations, sentential seduction, queering forms, the power of vulnerability, and love poems.

We're taking a break and will be back for our next episode with guests Yiyun Li & Edmund White on January 16,  2024.

Happy Holidays, LitFam!
 
LINKS
Libsyn Blog
www.annieliontas.com
www.litovelazquez.com
www.melissafebos.com
www.donikakelly.com
LitFriends LinkTree
LitFriends Insta
LitFriends Facebook

TRANSCRIPT

Annie: (00:00)
This episode is dedicated to Chuck, a dog we have loved, and Donika and Melissa's sweet pup.
 
Annie & Lito:
Welcome to LitFriends! Hey Lit Friends!
 
Annie:
Welcome to the show. 
 
Lito:
Today, we're speaking with memoirist Melissa Febos and poet Donika Kelly, lit friends in marriage,
 
Annie:
About seduction, big boss feelings, and sliding into DMs.
 
Lito:
So grab your bestie,
 
Annie & Lito:
And get ready to fall in love!
 
Annie:
What I love about Melissa Febos, and you can feel this across all four of her books, is how she declares herself free. There's no ambiguity to this. This is her story, not your telling of it, not your telling of her. I meet her on the page as someone who's in an act of rebellion or an act of defiance. And I was not really surprised but delighted to find that, when I read Donika Kelly, I had sort of the same reaction, same impression. And I'm wondering if that's true for you, and, Lito, what your understanding of vulnerability and its relationship to power is.
 
Lito:
The power for me in these conversations, and the power that the authors that we speak with possess, seems to me, in the ways that they have found how they are completely unique from each other. And more so than in our other conversations, Donika and Melissa, their work is so different. And yet, as you've pointed out, the overlap, and the fire, the energy, the defiance, the fierceness is so present. And it was present in our conversation. And so inspiring.
 
Annie:
Yeah. I'm thinking even about Melissa Febos has this Ted Talk. (01:54) Where she says "telling your secrets will set you free." And it feels that not only is that true, but it's also very much an act of self reclamation and strength, right? Where we might read it as an act of weakness. It's actually in fact, a harnessing of the self.
 
Lito:
Right, it's not that Melissa has a need to confess. It's that she really uses writing to find the truth about herself and how she feels about something, which that could not differ more from my writing practice.
 
Annie:
How so?
 
Lito:
I find that I sort of, I write out of an emotion or a need to discover something, but I already sort of am aware of where I am and who I am before I start. I find the plot and the characters as I go, but I know sort of how I feel.
 
Annie:
Yeah, I think for me, I do feel like writing is an act of discovery where maybe I put something on the page, it's the initial conception, or yeah, like you coming out of a feeling. But as I start to ask questions, right, for me, it's this process of inquiry. I excavate to something maybe a little more surprising or partially hidden or unknown to myself.
 
Lito:
That's true. There is a discovery of, and I think you're, I think you've pointed to exactly what it is. It's the process of inquiry, and I think both of them, and obviously us, we're doing that similar thing. This is about writing, about this, this is about asking questions and writing through them.
 
Annie:
Yeah, and Donika Kelly, we feel that in her work, her poetry over and over, even when they have the same recurring, I would say haunting images or artifacts. Each time she's turning it over and asking almost unbearable questions.
 
Lito:
Right.
 
Annie:
And we're joining her on the page because she is b

Join co-hosts Annie Liontas and Lito Velázquez in conversation with LitFriends Lucy Corin & Deb Olin Unferth about their travels in the Sahara, ancient chickens, disappointments, true love, and why great books are so necessary.
Our next episode will feature Melissa Febos & Donika Kelly, out December 22, 2023.
 
Links
Libsyn Blog
www.annieliontas.com
www.litovelazquez.com
https://www.lucycorin.com
https://debolinunferth.com
LitFriends LinkTree
LitFriends Insta
LitFriends Facebook
 
Transcript
Annie Lito (00:00.118)
Welcome to Lit Friends!
Hey Lit Friends!
 
Lito:
Welcome to the show. 
 
Annie:
Today we're speaking with Lucy Corin and Deb Olin Unferth, great writers, thinkers, and LitFriend besties. 
 
Lito: 
About chickens, the Sahara, and bad reviews. 
 
Annie:
So grab your bestie
 
Annie & Lito:
And get ready to get lit!
 
Lito:
You know those like stones that you can get when you're on like a trip to like Tennessee somewhere or something, they're like worry stones? Like people used to like worry them with their thumb or something whenever they had a problem and it would like supposedly calm you down. Well, it's not quite the same thing, but I love how Deb describes her and Lucy's relationship is like, “worry a problem with me.” Like let's, let's cut this gem from all the angles and really like rub it down to its essential context and meaning and understanding. And I think essentially that's what like writers, great writers, offer the world. They've worked through a problem and they have answers. There's not one answer, there's not a resolution to it, but the answers that lead to better, more better questions. 
 
Annie:
Yeah, and there's something so special about them because they're, worry tends to be something we do in isolation, almost kind of worrying ourselves into the ground.
 
Lito:
Right.

Annie:
But they're doing it together in collaboration. 
 
Lito:
It's a collaborative worry. Yes, I love that. 
 
Annie:
A less lonely worrying. 
 
Lito:
It's a less lonely place to think through these things. And the intimacy between them is so special. The way I think they just weave in and out of their lives with each other, even though they're far away from each other.
 
I think there's a romantic notion that you're tuned into about Lucy and Deb's trip to the desert. Do you want to say something about that? There's a metaphor in it that you really love, right? 
 
Annie: (1:52)
Yeah. Well, so I remember when we first talked about doing this podcast and invited them, we were at a bar at AWP, the writer's conference. And they were like, oh, this is perfect. We just went to the Sahara together. And I was like, what? You writers just decided to take a trip together through the desert? And they said, yeah, it was perfect. And they have adorable photos, which we of course are going to share with the world. Um, but it felt like such a, I mean, the fact that they would go on that kind of adventure together and didn't really plan ahead, I think it was just Deb saying, I really want to go to the desert. And Lucy saying, sure, let's go. Which feels very much a kind of metonym of their friendship in some ways. 
 
Lito:
Absolutely. 
 
Annie: (2:42)
Yeah. That they wandered these spaces together. They come back to art, right? Art is a way for them to recreate themselves and recreate their friendship. And they're doing such different things on the page. 
 
Lito: 
Oh yeah, no, they're very different writers but they do share a curiosity that's unique I think in their friendship, then unique to them. 
 
Annie:
Yeah and a kind of rigorousness and a love for the word. 
 
Lito: (3:10)
Oh and a love for thinking and reading the world in every capacity. 
 
Annie:
Tell me about your friendship with Lucy because you're quite close.
 
Lito:
I was at UC Davis before it was an MFA program. It was just a Master's. After undergrad, I we

In the first episode of Season 1, co-hosts Annie Liontas and Lito Velázquez speak with LitFriends Angela Flournoy & Justin Torres about their enduring friendship, writing in a precarious world, and chosen family.
Links
https://sites.libsyn.com/494238
www.annieliontas.com
www.litovelazquez.com
https://linktr.ee/litfriendspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/litfriendspodcast/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553436475678
https://justin-torres.com/
https://www.angelaflournoy.com/
https://www.asalisolomon.com/
Transcript
Annie & Lito (00:01)
Welcome to LitFriends!
Hey LitFriends!
Annie:
Welcome to the show.
Lito:
Today we're speaking with the great writers and LitFriends, Justin Torres and Angela Flournoy.
Annie:
About chosen family, the dreaded second novel, and failure and success.
Lito:
So grab your bestie and— 

Both:
Get ready to get lit!
Lito:
That's so cute.
Annie:
It's cute. It's cute. We’re cute!
Lito:
Cute, cute… So you had a question?
Annie (00:29)
I do. I have a question for you, Lito. Are you a cat or an ox?
Lito:
I mean, I would hope that the answer is so obvious that it almost bears not asking the question. I'm a cat.
Annie:
Okay, so Asali Solomon at The Claw asked us all, are you an ox or a cat?
Lito:
That's a great question.
Annie: And as a writer... You know, the oxen are the people who work every day in the field, clock in, clock out, pay themselves a quarter an hour. I'm literally talking about me. The cats are people who are playful, exploratory, when the mood strikes them…
Lito:
Why are you looking at me when you say that?
Annie Lito (01:26)
So are you an ox or a cat?
Lito:
I’m a cat. I think anyone who's ever met me would say I'm a cat.
Annie:
How does that show up in your writing?
Lito:
Well, I mean, play is so important to me—she'll be on the  podcast in a couple of episodes, but when I first...was studying with Lucy, that was one of the first things that she spoke about in our class, and it kind of blew up my whole world. I had been writing for a long time already, but I hadn't thought of it as play, or there was some permission I needed or something. So the idea of play is really central to what I do and love. You wouldn't necessarily know that from the novel that I'm writing, which is sort of a dark book. Um, but it did start out with a lot of play and, I'm also, as you could probably just hear, my cat is coming into the room.
Annie:
Your cat is like, yes, Lito is us. RiffRaff is like, "Lito is cat."
Lito:
My cat Riff Raff, yes. Smarty pants. Um, he needed to join in on this conversation. Anyways, I'm a cat. I, I'm fickle when it comes to my work. Um. I don't want to work on my novel all the time, which is great because life has found so many ways to prevent it from happening. So in the new year, in 2024, it will be 7 years since I've started writing this book, and it's still, it's going to take a few more months at least. And what about you?
Annie:  (03:09)
I’m four oxen pulling a cart carrying all of my ancestors. I am very much the immigrant who says, get up, go do the work, come back, go do the work. And believe it or not, for me, there is a lot of joy in that. It's a... It allows, you know, it’s Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow, actually. So it doesn't feel like drudgery, usually. It does feel like joy. And I'm actually curious for all you LitFriends out there, if you're an ox or a cat.
Lito:
Yes, that's such a great idea. Please email us at litfriendspodcast@gmail.com, and tell us if you're a cat or an oxen or share on all your socials.
Annie:
Yeah, maybe we should poll them. That would be fun.
Lito:
That's a good idea. #LitFriendsPodcast.
Annie:
The reason I'm asking is because, of course, both Justin and Angela, who we speak with today in this episode, talk about what it's like to go for 10 years between books. "A banger a decade," is what Angela says.
Lito:
It's so funny.
Annie:
And you, you know, part o

Show Notes
On our inaugural episode, co-hosts Annie Liontas and Lito Velázquez introduce LitFriends, a podcast.  Each week, we welcome two literary friends to discuss the writing life, how literary friendships get us through tough times, and what they love about their literary bestie.
Join Annie and Lito for Season One as they speak with today's most engaging literary talents and their lit friends.
Coming up this season, conversations with:
* Justin Torres & Angela Flournoy
* Lucy Corin & Deb Olin Unferth
* Melissa Febos & Donika Kelly
* Yiyun Li & Edmund White
* George Saunders & Paula Saunders
* Liz Moore & Asali Solomon
* CJ Hauser & Marie-Helene Bertino
* and more!
Links
https://sites.libsyn.com/494238
www.annieliontas.com
www.litovelazquez.com
https://linktr.ee/litfriendspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/litfriendspodcast/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553436475678
https://justin-torres.com/
https://www.angelaflournoy.com/
https://www.lucycorin.com/
https://debolinunferth.com/
https://www.melissafebos.com/
https://www.donikakelly.com/
https://georgesaundersbooks.com/
https://paulasaundersbooks.com/
https://www.lizmoore.net/
https://www.asalisolomon.com/
https://cjhauser.com/
https://www.mariehelenebertino.com/
 
Transcript
Annie & Lito: (00:01)
Hey, LitFriends!
Annie:
Thanks for joining us for episode zero. This episode is a little special because we'll introduce you, our LitFam, to the LitFriends podcast. We'll talk about our origins, our season one guests, and how much I love Lito.
Aww, and how much I love you, Annie.
Annie: 
This is Annie Liontas.
Lito:
And I'm Lito Velázquez. Welcome to LitFriends, a podcast in which we speak with novelists, poets, memoirists, writers, and thinkers of all kinds about the great work that they do in the world, on and off the page, and about their great literary friendships.
Annie:
This show has everything, British nicknames, e-flirtations, picking up fam when they're down, literary competition, rooting for one another, and more.
Lito:
And much, much more. Join us this season as we welcome the amazing writers:
Annie & Lito:
* Marie-Helene Bertino and CJ Hauser
* Liz Moore and Asali Solomon
* George Saunders and Paula Saunders
* Yiyun Lee and Edmund White
* Melissa Febos and Danika Kelly
* Deb Olin-Unferth and Lucy Corin
* Justin Torres and Angela Flournoy
Annie & Lito:
Get ready to get lit!
Lito:
Welcome to the show. I'm so glad we're here, Annie. It's been a long time coming. We've been thinking about–
Annie:
Ages!
Lito:
…making this show for over a year and a half, pretty much since the pandemic, though. So maybe more like two or three years.
Annie:
Yeah, I feel like I've waited my whole life to do this show with you, Lito.
Lito:
I know I've been wanting someone to collaborate with, and you're the perfect friend to do this with. A show about two of our greatest loves, writing, literature— 
Annie: Friendship!
Lito:
And friendship. Yeah, I guess that's three things.
Annie:
The more the merrier.
Lito:
The more the merrier. Every week we're going to have writers on the show who we admire, whose work has moved us deeply, and whose friendships we think are really impressive and interesting.
Annie:
Yeah, we're going to talk about literary competition between friends, hardships, how you pick one another up when you're down. Heartbreak.
Lito:
Big wins, like celebrating things. It's amazing the stories that have come out of these conversations because people get to talk about their friends, and how great is that?
Annie:
They really talk about parts of their friendship that they don't even talk about with one another. 
Lito:
That's right, because when do you get a chance to really talk to your friend about them.
Annie: (02:20)
When do you say to your friend, I love you?
Lito:
I love you. But beyond just I love you, like, here's all the reasons why I love you. Here's what you do in my li