If you need a reminder that you can write anything you can conceive of, this interview is for you. My guest, Bryan Thao Worra, explains how his experience as a first generation Asian American, reading his way through high and low American culture, made him the writer he is. Along the way we talk about poetry, democracy, and Kyle Baker's under-examined graphic novel Why I Hate Saturn.

Bryan Thao Worra is an award-winning Lao American poet based in Minneapolis and one of the first to come to the United States after the Vietnam War ended 50 years ago. The author of 10 collections, including his later, American Laodyssey from Sahtu Press, his work has been published across the globe, including the 2012 London Summer Games. He was the first Asian American president of the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. His literary journey incorporates history, science fiction, fantasy, horror and poetry to explore how people make a transition to democracy in diaspora. You can follow his blog at https://thaoworra.wordpress.com or online at https://www.youtube.com/thaoworra

Catch DJ Diego Dela Rosa's AAPI focused playlist at This Playlist Made Me: Celebrate.

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

If you think that classic novels are irrelevant, my guest is here to change your mind. In this conversation, Diego Dela Rosa explains how the French novel, from the 18th century, provides hope against impossible circumstances, and makes the case for irreverent humor and community.

Diego Dela Rosa is your classic Los Angeles based multi-hyphenate: arts programmer, writer, archivist, playlist maker, line dancer, gamer, Real Housewives aficionado, and tinned fish enthusiast. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere from the USC Roski School of Art and Design, and currently works as the Coordinator of Learning at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Born in 2000, Diego’s experience growing up in a post-Y2K world has been formative in building their perspective, and thus their practice. Being queer, trans non-binary, and a Chicano Chula Vista native, much of their work taps into a resonant feeling of liminality they’ve always found comfort in. She always aims to show the meaning and value of things often labelled as frivolous, and to spread the power of irreverence in very heavy times.

Catch Diego's very special playlist This Mixtape Made Me: Cope for the full experience.

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

If you're looking for a short book that packs a wallop, we have just the one for you! In this episode, my guest Matt Davis happens upon a book at his local bookstore, and it grounds our conversation about the state of reading in our current attention economy, the perils of the publishing industry, and how we can push ourselves to break out of our reading ruts. If you're not familiar with Helen DeWitt--a real writer's writer--you're in for a treat. We're talking about her tiny but powerful novel The English Understand Wool, and its savvy and subversive protagonist.

Matt Davis is a writer and PR consultant in Manhattan where he lives with his wife Logan and four-year-old son, Freddy. He writes a daily newsletter called Matt Davis Reads the Newspaper So You Don't Have To if you'd like to hear more from him. (Protip: check out Matt's daily LinkedIn series, where he reads the news via video, too!)

At the end of the episode, you can catch DJ Diego Dela Rosa's playlist, curated especially for this episode: volume 6 of This Mixtape Made Me: Subvert

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

It's Black History Month and we are celebrating!! My guest, Kat Calvin, does a deep, personal dive in to The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, and we wrestle with this question: How do we learn to survive in a hostile world, and with a generational history of violence? We talk about the world of 1960s America, who is protected and who is not, and Morrison's authorial gift, which encourages us to wrestle with how we participate in unjust systems.

Kat Calvin is the Founder and Executive Director of Spread the Vote + Project ID and the Co-Founder and CEO of the Project ID Action Fund. A lawyer, activist, and social entrepreneur, Kat is a Practitioner Fellow in Democracy at the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute for Democracy and writes weekly insights and pop culture recommendations at Hot Takes and Applesauce and hosts the Choose the Bear podcast. And, don’t forget her 2023 book: American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist. You can keep up with ALL of her work at katcalvin.com.

At the end of the episode, you can catch DJ Diego Dela Rosa's playlist, curated especially for this episode: volume 5 of This Mixtape Made Me: Amplify.

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

Can you be yourself when everyone around you wants you to be something else? My guest, author Marjetta Geerling, AKA Mara Wells, walks me through the deep wisdom of the classic children's book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. We talk about how children's books use language and art to teach us how to be ourselves, and let others be without judging or trying to change them. In doing so, Marjetta argues, it makes us better human beings.

While this conversation was recorded in December, it's being released as the devastating Los Angeles fires are still ongoing. If you feel moved to support the people who lost their homes and jobs, here are a few of my favorite organizations that are organizing to support people, and to look towards the future of Los Angeles.

World Central Kitchen was on the ground within hours, providing hot meals to evacuees and first responders, and they continue to reach deeply into affected communities.

The Los Angeles Mutual Aid Network is maintaining a real-time list of groups and their needs as they respond to their communities.

The Altadena Seed Library is gathering native plant seeds to repopulate Eaton Canyon with the fire-resistant, California foliage.

Finally, don't forget the playlist curated for this episode by DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa: volume 4 of This Mixtape Made Me: Tender.

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

What did we read in 2024, and what are we reading next? In this end-of-year episode, I invite 5 former TBMM guests to reflect on their reading past and future. We've got book recommendations, a list of our best reading experiences, and what we're doing to read more and better in the new year. Join me, Sadie Forkner, Dice Moreno, Pat Harrigan, Mary Trunk, and Lisa Metzgar to reflect and to look ahead.

Also on this episode: DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa has a special super-sized vol 3 of This Mixtape Made Me, featuring their favorite projects and artists of 2024. It's called Reflect, and you can find it on Spotify.

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

It's a book about love! But is it, really? In this episode, acclaimed fantasy author Robert V.S. Redick explains how Gabriel García Márquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera exploded his previous ideas about what writing can and should do.

Author Robert V.S. Redick's most recent epic fantasy, Sidewinders, has been called “a brilliant fever dream of a novel that is bound to impress” by Grimdark Magazine and “a breathtaking work” by two-time World Fantasy Award winner C.S.E. Cooney. His previous novel, Master Assassins, was a finalist for the 2018 Booknest Award for Best Novel. His first novel, The Red Wolf Conspiracy, was a finalist for the Locust Award and the SFX Novel Award. His short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld and various anthologies, most recently Dreams For a Broken World, edited by Julie C. Day.

Robert has taught fiction writing in the University of Maine (Stonecoast) and University of Nevada MFA Programs, at Hampshire College, and with the Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop. He is currently finishing the sequel to Sidewinders. Robert is also an international development and environmental justice consultant who has lived and worked in Indonesia, Colombia, Argentina, and other countries. He now lives with his compañera, Dr. Kiran Asher, in Western Massachusetts. You can learn more about his fantasy novels at robertvsredick.com

Also on this episode: DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa has created vol 2 of This Mixtape Made Me, inspired by the Márquez novel. It's titled Yearn, and you can find it at the halfway point of the episode.

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com

Sometimes, a book meets you at exactly the right moment in your life. My guest this week, Russ Finkelstein, tells us how John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire found him, and surfaced some foundational truths: that life, and people, are messy; that we can find ways to persevere in the face of great tragedy; and that books can make us better humans along the way.

Russ Finkelstein is a social entrepreneur, advisor, and coach. He writes a weekly column for The Washington Post that documents people's unexpected career pathways, because "one of the great challenges we have in the world is that we think there's one way life's supposed to be." You can also follow HIS career path and multitudinous projects at his LinkedIn page.

Also on this episode: it's the podcast's very first playlist!! Courtesy of DJ/Curator Diego Dela Rosa, you can find a 10-song playlist expanding on the themes of The Hotel New Hampshire. Run, don't walk: here's episode #1 of This Mixtape Made Me: Hope/Grieve. Give it a listen!

And, as always, you can follow the latest about the pod:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisbookmademe/

email: thisbookmademe@gmail.com