Arts & Letters

Arts & Letters

episodes
Naomi Westerman, "Happy Death Club: Essays on Death, Grief, and Bereavement Across Cultures" (404 Inklings, 2024)

July 26, 2024

Happy Death Club

Naomi Westerman
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Playwright Naomi Westerman was an anthropology graduate student studying death rituals around the world when her whole family died, turning the end of…

Rosemary Pennington, "Pop Islam: Seeing American Muslims in Popular Media" (Indiana UP, 2024)

July 26, 2024

Pop Islam

Rosemary Pennington
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

As Muslim American representation becomes more prominent in popular culture, how are they continued to be portrayed? Rosemary Pennington's new book …

Jonathan Branfman, "Millennial Jewish Stars: Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy" (NYU Press, 2024)

July 26, 2024

Millennial Jewish Stars

Jonathan Branfman
Hosted by Zalman Newfield

Jewish stars have longed faced pressure to downplay Jewish identity for fear of alienating wider audiences. But unexpectedly, since the 2000s, many mi…

Sonia-Doris Andras, "The Women of 'Little Paris': Women’s Fashion in Interwar Bucharest" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

July 26, 2024

The Women of 'Little Paris'

Sonia-Doris Andras
Hosted by Roland Clark

Filling a gap in Eastern European fashion studies, this book presents middle-class women consuming fashion in the symbolic 'Little Paris' of interwar …

A. J. Rodriguez, "Papel Picado," The Common Magazine (2024)

July 26, 2024

Papel Picado

A. J. Rodriguez
Hosted by Emily Everett

A. J. Rodriguez speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Papel Picado,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. A.J. talks ab…

40 Years of Purple Rain: What to Make of the Movie/Album in 2024

July 25, 2024

40 Years of Purple Rain

Hosted by UConn PopCast

It’s the UConn Popcast, and Purple Rain, Prince’s semi-autobiographical, semi-concert film, hit cinemas 40 years ago this week. The movie followed the…

Muslimness in Books for Young Readers: A Chat with A. M. Dassu

July 25, 2024

Muslimness in Books for Young Readers

A. M. Dassu
Hosted by Radio Reorient

Persevering with our literary theme this season, in this episode Claudia Radiven and Chella Ward chat to A. M. Dassu about her books for young readers…

"Alaska Quarterly Review" Magazine: A Discussion with Ronald Spatz

July 25, 2024

"Alaska Quarterly Review" Magazine

Ronald Spatz
Hosted by Dan Hill

Ronald Spatz is the editor-in-chief and co-founding editor of Alaska Quarterly Review. A formal National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Mr. Spatz has …

Steven Powell, "Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

July 25, 2024

Love Me Fierce In Danger

Steven Powell
Hosted by Daniel Moran

Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy (Bloomsbury, 2023) is the story of James Ellroy, one of the most provocative and singular figures i…

Hannah Freed-Thall, "Modernism at the Beach: Queer Ecologies and the Coastal Commons" (Columbia UP, 2023)

July 25, 2024

Modernism at the Beach

Hannah Freed-Thall

Departing from the conventional association of modernism with the city, Hannah Freed-Thall's Modernism at the Beach: Queer Ecologies and the Coastal C…

Miguel Escobar Varela, "Theater as Data: Computational Journeys Into Theater Research" (U Michigan Press, 2021)

July 24, 2024

Theater as Data

Miguel Escobar Varela
Hosted by Shu Wan

In Theater As Data: Computational Journeys Into Theater Research (U Michigan Press, 2021), Miguel Escobar Varela explores the use of computational met…

Hannan Hever, "Suddenly, the Sight of War: Violence and Nationalism in Hebrew Poetry in the 1940s" (Stanford UP, 2016)

July 23, 2024

Suddenly, the Sight of War

Hannan Hever
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Suddenly, the Sight of War: Violence and Nationalism in Hebrew Poetry in the 1940s (Stanford UP, 2016) is a genealogy of Hebrew poetry written in pre-…

Suzanne Scanlon, "Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen" (Vintage, 2024)

July 23, 2024

Committed

Suzanne Scanlon
Hosted by Rachel Pafe

Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen (Vintage, 2024) is a critical memoir about women, reading, and mental illness. When Suzanne Scanlon was a student a…

Nancy M. Bradbury, "Rival Wisdoms: Reading Proverbs in the Canterbury Tales" (Penn State UP, 2024)

July 23, 2024

Rival Wisdoms

Nancy M. Bradbury
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In this elegantly written study Rival Wisdoms: Reading Proverbs in the Canterbury Tales (Penn State University Press, 2024), Dr. Nancy Mason Bradbury …

Anaïs Maurer, "The Ocean on Fire: Pacific Stories from Nuclear Survivors and Climate Activists" (Duke UP, 2023)

July 23, 2024

The Ocean on Fire

Anaïs Maurer
Hosted by Gargi Binju

Bombarded with the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb a day for half a century, Pacific people have long been subjected to man-made cataclysm. Well befo…

Patrick McKelvey, "Disability Works: Performance After Rehabilitation" (NYU Press, 2024)

July 23, 2024

Disability Works

Patrick McKelvey
Hosted by Clayton Jarrard

In 1967, the US government funded the National Theatre of the Deaf, a groundbreaking rehabilitation initiative employing deaf actors. This project ali…

Charles Barr, "British Cinema: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford UP, 2022)

July 23, 2024

British Cinema

Charles Barr
Hosted by Daniel Moran

Cinema has had a hugely influential role on global culture in the 20th century at multiple levels: social, political, and educational. The part of Bri…

The Graduate

July 22, 2024

The Graduate

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin our descent into Los Angeles.” So begins The Graduate (1967), which everyone loves but which many of us …

Christian J. Collier, "Greater Ghost" (Four Way Books, 2024)

July 22, 2024

Greater Ghost

Christian J. Collier
Hosted by Megan Wildhood

In Christian Collier's debut poetry collection, Greater Ghost (Four Way Books, 2024), this extraordinary Black Southern poet precisely stitches the su…

Kevin Mattson, "We're Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and the Real Culture War of 1980s America" (Oxford UP, 2020)

July 22, 2024

We're Not Here to Entertain

Kevin Mattson
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In his new book, We're Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and the Real Culture War of 1980s America (Oxford UP, 2020), Kevin Mattson doc…