In this 53rd episode of the Animal Riot Podcast, we invite Marco Rafala, author of How Fires End, and Lee Matthew Goldberg, author of The Ancestor, The Desire Card, and more, to discuss their longstanding Manhattan reading series, Guerrilla Lit, and how they've adapted during the pandemic. We also dig into how coronavirus has affected the community, their writing, and even themselves. Best of all, we discuss what makes New York the epicenter of culture and literature, regardless of what's going on right now. 

Welcome to the 52nd Episode of the Animal Riot podcast, brought to you by Animal Riot Press. Today, we invite two of our OG crew, Jared Marcel Pollen and Seth Katz--along with David Holllander, the Author of our second title, Anthropica, due to hit the proverbial stands on September 1st. Listen in as we continue a conversation that's woven through several episodes, about the state of the publishing industry, and specifically, how David navigated its turn toward more commercial work. We also take this opportunity to discuss the differences between European and American literature. Best of all, as we speak of such things, you can envisage David wearing what we can only guess were darkly iridescent knock-off Ray-Bans, which we can assure you is in deep contradiction to his normal behavior. 

Welcome back Animals. It's been a while, but we've got the podcast back up and running, beginning with episode 51, featuring the old pack, Devin Kelly, Seth Katz, Jared Marcel Pollen, and George Sawaya. In today's episode, we reflect upon what drives us to write, not just during the ongoing pandemic, when it can seem as if everything that matters has been rearranged from all recognition but why we pick up a pen in the first place. We reflect on everything from Michael Jordan's relentless drive and artistry as reflected in the recent documentary, The Last Dance, to how we used to write before the ambition and vanity of wanting to publish our work began to influence our innocent passion for putting words on paper. We might even muse on how Top Gun was subsidized by the government because they want us to feel a certain way about our country.

Animals! It's our 50th episode! And this week our producer Katie and previous guest & producer Annie Krabbenschmidt have taken over the show... (who knows what they did with Brian!) and are thrilled to welcome Sarah Paolantonio to the show! Sarah is a 'recovering' music programmer who always keeps the radio on. She's a writer of nonfiction and you can read more from her in EntropyMagazine and on her website. Follow Sarah on Twitter via @sarahpaol because she wants to know what your favorite Bob Dylan record is. Join us today as we get down and talk nonfiction, rant & rave about Franzen & DFW, talk politics, and generally discuss whatever the fuck we're feeling. 

We're back, animals! Here with the 49th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by Animal Riot Press, a literary press for books that matter. We're here today with the wonderful Mathea Morais, Director of the Noepe Center for Literary Arts on Martha’s Vineyard. Her debut novel There You Are was recently released and we're thrilled to bring her on today to talk about writing communities, debut novels, and debate the timeless question "Who gets to write what?".

We're back animals! And this week we've got special guest poet & radical educator Abigail Kirby Conklin. Abby is the author of the debut chapbook, Triage, out now from Duck Lake Books. She's been published in Duck Lake Journal, Garfield Lake, K’in Literary Journal, Storyscape Journal, The Lampeter Review, The Northern Virginia Review, Sugar House Review, among numerous others. Abby also works in the New York City arts education scene, and today we'll be talking about debut books, poetry, radical pedagogy, and being a grown up poet! Get your paws warmed and let's go!  The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Hey Animals! We're back this week with an episode on writing groups and more, featuring two of our favorite writing group pals: Jennifer Werbitsky and Melissa Shaw! Jen and Mel couldn't have more different backgrounds in their day jobs - Jen works in the corporate world, while Mel is a teacher at an arts education nonprofit - but in the writing world they click and we can't wait to hear what they'll read for us today. Join us for talks on writing groups, llamas, and the latest product to drop from Tim Cook...   

Hey Animals! We're back with Episode 46, featuring writer and teacher David Puretz. David is the Editorial Director at Global City, an independent press that publishes the literary and cultural journal Global City Review, and a growing list of other books and anthologies, including his own: The Escapist, which is his debut novel. Join David and host Katie Rainey as they talk about Global City's history, publishing, and finally getting the work out there! The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Hoppy New Year Animals! We hope your 2020 is kicking off to a good start. Here's our first episode of the year, featuring writer, editor, and reading series curator Andrew Lloyd-Jones. Andrew is an award-winning short story writer, and won the Fish International Short Story Prize with his story “Feathers and Cigarettes”, recently adapted for film. He is the  founder, producer, and host of the regular live fiction reading series and podcast Liars' League NYC in New York. Join us today as we talk about the reading series community, short story writing, rejections, and being really uncomfortable talking about ourselves...  The transcript of this episode can be found on our website.

We're back animals! And we've got a very special last episode of 2019 for you! Featuring the one and only David Hollander, author of L.I.E. and the forthcoming Anthropica from Animal Riot! Join David and host, Katie Rainey, as they talk about experimental fiction, publishing, the overwhelming nature of our world, and get a sneak peek at the forthcoming Anthropica, to be published in September 2020. The transcript of this episode is available on our website.

What’s good Animals? Glad you’re joining us for our 43rd episode. Today we’re discussing Zadie Smith’s semi-recent essay, "Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction". Joined by Animal Riot OGs Jared Marcel Pollen and Seth Katz, listen in for our take on whether we still live in an age where it’s permissible to write across demographics and identities. Meanwhile, your host will lament the lack of snow here in New York on the heels of a busted winter storm forecast. (Brian really likes snow: follow him on Facebook for winter weather forecasts.) The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Hoppy Thanksgiving, Animals! We'e thrilled to bring you this holiday special featuring writer, podcaster & literary magazine publisher, Bob Raymonda! Bob Raymonda is a writer based out of New Rochelle, NY. In early 2015 he founded Breadcrumbs Magazine, an online literary and arts journal that fosters creativity and collaboration through shared inspiration. The project has grown into a community of over 200 contributors across the world in a wide variety of mediums, with more submitting all of the time. In 2018 he helped co-found Rogue Dialogue, a production company focusing in podcasts with Christie Donato and Adam Raymonda. Join us as we talk Breadcrumbs, his podcast Windfall, and all things self-care in this Thanksgiving special!  The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

We were off for a week because life got in the way, but we're back with a sparkly new episode for you, featuring the one and only Rax King alongside your faithful host Brian Birnbaum and our Priest Vallon, Devin Kelly. Rax King is a dog-loving, hedgehog-mothering, beer-swilling, gay and disabled sumbitch who occasionally writes and works as assistant editor for Sundress Publications. She is the author of the collection 'The People's Elbow: Thirty Recitatives on Rape and Wrestling' (Ursus Americanus, 2018). Her work can also be found in Catapult, Electric Literature, and Autostraddle, and she is most recently a columnist for Catapult with her ongoing series "Store Bought Is Fine". In this episode, we're talking all things Guy Fieri, Bruce Springsteen and authenticity in writing.  The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Whaddup Animal Riot fam. Welcome to the 40th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast—us bunnies are officially over the molehill. Today we’ve got the lovely ladies of the Ditmas Lit reading series, Rachel Lyon and Sarah Bridgins, here to discuss the origin story of their friendship and thenceforth series, and, most importantly, the intricacies of our favorite HBO show, which rhymes with smecksmeshion. Not to mention two of the best readings we’ve yet to have on our podcast, period. What could possibly be better? Smecksmesh! The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

We're so excited about this week's episode! We recorded this episode live at this year's Fall for the Book Festival in Fairfax, Virgina! Featuring YA Author Atia Abawi, we discussed how she and host Brian Birnbaum redefine the definitions of home and trauma. In Abawi’s book, A Land of Permanent Goodbyes, Syria is torn apart due to war, leaving each survivor with a new and dangerous label: refugee. And in Birnbaum’s Emerald City, a family company’s profits are being used to illegally fund a drug-crop in Guatemala. Guest Atia Abawi is a foreign news correspondent who was stationed for almost five years in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was born to Afghan parents in West Germany and was raised in the United States. Her first book for teens was the powerful The Secret Sky, about forbidden romance between different ethnic tribes in Afghanistan. And today's podcast was lovingly guest produced by the one and only Annie Krabbenschmidt. The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Welcome to the 38th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast, brought to you by fill in future sponsor (we’re keeping it cool like Facebook did back when it was cool). Today we’ve got Ian Humphrey in the box, discussing his podcast noir-drama, Under the Shroud, which follows Corin—the half-demon junkie cab driver. Yes, it’s exactly as f***ing wild and wondrous as it sounds. But we also get an inside look at the experiences that inspired Ian to write the show. Oh, and while you’re listening, don’t forget to hit up Corin’s patreon—he’s got a raging habit to support. The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

We're back this week with this awesome episode featuring our special guest, Abbe Wright, Senior Editor of Read It Forward from Penguin Random House! RiF is where you go for reading lists, literary lifestyles, new books, and all things wordy. Abbe has a resume that's got us awestruck. Abbe has written for Glamour, The Cut, Metro, O, The Oprah Magazine, Modern Bride and Philadelphia Magazine about books, culture, career, food, beauty, weddings, fashion and everything in between. No. Big. Deal. On this episode she talks with us about all this, her memoir-in-progress, and shares from an essay she wrote for The Cut, "I Wanted to Break Up. Then He Got a Tattoo of My Name." The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

This week's episode of the Animal Riot Podcast invites Tobias "Toby" Carroll (author of the Transitory from Civil Coping Mechanisms, Reel from Rare Bird Books, and the forthcoming Political Sign, a work of nonfiction for the Object Lessons series of books). Tobias is a writer to be jealous of, having made his way with freelance work as the managing editor of Vol.1 Brooklyn and writer for the Watchlist column for Words Without Borders. Join us for a deep dive into translations and other work and Brian struggling to call Words Without Borders everything but that.  The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

This week's episode of the Animal Riot Podcast invites V.V. 'Sugi' Ganeshananthan (author of the 2008 novel, Love Marriage) and Whitney Terrell (author of three novels, The Huntsman, The King of Kings County, and The Good Lieutenant). Both Sugi and Whit studied at the Iowa Writers' Workshop under the late James McPherson, who was the first black writer to win the Pulitzer for Fiction, a winner of the MacArthur grant (AKA the 'genius grant'), and a renowned activist and writer of issues surrounding race and culture. Having studied under McPherson at different times, Sugi and Whit didn't meet until the late and great writer's memorial service--yet as the Phoenix rises, so did the spirit of McPherson's values; after becoming fast friends, Sugi and Whit realized a shared vision for what has become the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, which espouses literature and politics, and more specifically, how the former predicts and/or digs deeper into the latter.  The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.

Welcome to the 34th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by your favorite rioting creatures. We're happy to welcome back our friend and wonderful writer, Meher Manda, to the podcast. We're talking all things debut books with Meher, as she released her first chapbook of poems on September 7th and host Brian Birnbaum's novel Emerald City was released this past Sunday! However, despite how exciting debuts can be, sometimes they can leave you feeling more empty than full. Join Brian & Meher as they discuss why that is and more.  The transcript for this episode can be found on our website.