Notes and Links to Nafissa Thompson Spires’ Work Born and raised in Southern California, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is the author of the award-winning, National Book Award longlisted short story collection, Heads of the Colored People. She earned a doctorate in English from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Illinois. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in The Paris Review Daily, New York Magazine’s “The Cut,” The Root, The White Review, Ploughshares, 400 Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019, and The 1619 Project, among other publications. In addition to a debut novel with Scribner, The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Rich Milford, her young adult debut is forthcoming with Make Me a World (Penguin Random House). She is the recipient of a 2024 United States Artists Grant and a 2019 Whiting Award. Buy The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford Nafissa Thompson Spires’ Website Review of The Four Wives… from Publishers’ Weekly At about 1:55, Nafissa responds to Pete asking about her appearance on Seth Myers’ show At about 3:30, Nafissa gives some background on family history that gave rise to The Four Wives… At about 5:00, Nafissa reflects on the feedback readers have given her, especially with protagonist Rich “being painted with a compassionate brush,” as said in a review At about 6:15, Nafissa gives information about book tour events At about 7:10, Nafissa gives background on her early reading and writing life At about 10:20, Nafissa highlights current and past writers who have thrilled and inspired her At about 12:45, Nafissa talks about difficulty in managing a structure for her novel, and sage advice from R.O. Kwon At about 14:00, Nafissa responds to Pete commenting on the town of Newville in the novel as a “Greek chorus” At about 14:50, Nafissa expands on the significance of the epigraphs At about 15:30, Nafissa discusses her mindset in starting the book at the end of the chronology At about 16:45, Nafissa responds to Pete noting the book’s humor by discussing the ways in which writing each wife’s story was easy or not At about 18:30, Nafissa reflects on sitting in judgment (or not) morally of the women in the book At about 20:25, Nafissa explains ways in which Rich and the town of Newville show interesting ways of “moving through time” and John Edgar Wideman and his ideas of cyclical time At about 22:20, Nafissa discusses "insiders" and “outsiders” as seen via dance At about 23:00, Pete places The Tulsa Race Massacre in juxtaposition to the book’s setting and events, and Nafissa gives background on writing outside the white gaze At about 26:05, Mythology and childhood traumas in Rich’s life are discussed At about 28:50, Pete and Nafissa give background on Newville itself in relation to Rich and his wives’ Chantilly estate with its variety of characters At about 31:30, Alberta and her “advoca[cy]” for Rich are featured as well as the importance of an inciting incident and a crazy history of Rough on Rats ™ At about 33:40, The history of the Milford family is recounted At about 34:50, A “binary” approach in W.E. DuBois and Booker T. Washington and the ways they are viewed today are discussed At about 37:05, Mae, Rich’s sister, is discussed, as is Rich’s childhood mischief At about 38:15, Pete asks Nafissa about the importance of religious institutions in the book At about 40:20, The two discuss early inciting incidents in the book and the ways in which Rich solidifies power At about 41:40, Nafissa talks about Lally as “performative” and “affected” in the way she behaves and writes At about 43:20, Pete and Nafissa reflect on a pivotal scene that leads to a loss of passion and the ways in which two more wives join the Milford family At about 44:25, Pete points out a list made by Lally that speaks At about 45:20, Taxidermy! At about 46:10, Pete points the cinematic quality of the book, and Nafissa pictures it as a series with each woman getting a “chapter” At about 47:30, Nafissa talks about “crumbs” and “hunger” and a “humiliating” scene At about 50:00, Theo the philanderer and Rosemary, the goddess, are discussed, and Nafissa explains the significance of the blood moon At about 52:10, Nafissa responds to Pete asking about the balancing of the literal and figurative/satirical At about 53:40, Nafissa compares writing short stories and novels You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you’re checking out this episode. Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete’s one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month’s Patreon bonus episode is the second episode for Pete’s limited podcast series, Rage is a Gift: Evil Empire at 30. Pete reflects on the Importance (and the power of this capital "I") of Rage Against the Machine and their seminal Evil Empire album, which is celebrating 30 years of resistance. The episode focuses on the opening track, “People of the Sun.” The limited podcast series will do a deep exploration of, and reflection on, the lyrics and context of each of the 12 powerful songs on the album. Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 361 with Dr. Assal Rad, a scholar of Middle East history and political advocate based in California. She works on research and writing related to U.S. foreign policy issues, the Middle East, contemporary Iran, and Israel/Palestine. Dr. Rad graduated with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her PhD research focused on modern Iran, with an emphasis on national identity formation and popular culture in post-revolutionary Iran. She is the author of The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Her writing can be seen in Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The American Prospect, and more. She has appeared as a commentator on BBC World, CNN, Al Jazeera, NPR, and others. In 2021, Assal was selected for Middle East Policy Council's 40 Under 40 List and OUT in National Security's Leaders and New Voices List. Her newest book, Don’t Say Palestine, is an important and groundbreaking addition to the canon on media bias regarding Gaza and Palestine. The episode airs on October 13. Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people. You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.
