Listen to the full interview over at The Lit Show.

Torres is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and he’s currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. His fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Glimmer Train, Tin House, and elsewhere.

The post Justin Torres Discusses “We the Animals” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This week on The Lit Show, Writers’ Workshop graduate Alexander Maksik discusses his debut novel, You Deserve Nothing.

Listen to the full episode at litshow.com: http://litshow.com/archive/season-04/alexandermaksik

Set at an international school in Paris, the novel focuses on 33-year-old star teacher, Will Silver. His senior seminar in English not only introduces students to the best, fiercest writing of Shakespeare, Faulkner, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sarte—it challenges them to define, then defend, their personal values. With the verve and tenacity of a French philosopher, Silver attacks his pupils’ assumptions about literature and living; and under his guidance they become better readers, wiser thinkers, more civically engaged citizens. At school, he’s beloved for his unorthodox and passionate teaching—and whispered about for his charm and good looks.

Outside the classroom, however, Silver is tormented by personal failures, and he struggles with disenchantment and ennui. He starts a secret affair with a student—beautiful, troubled Marie—and as his duplicity becomes more severe, the tensions in his private life threaten to endanger the well-being of his entire community.

As it builds to its tragic conclusion, You Deserve Nothing explores the murky boundary between how we live and what we say. In the English classroom, and again on the dusky, romantic streets of Paris, the characters grapple with persistent human questions: How should we live? Should it matter who our best and wisest beacons are when no one’s watching? And if we’re betrayed by the models citizens we revere—if we end up disappointed by the heroes we strive to emulate—what does that mean for our values?

Listen to the full episode at litshow.com: http://litshow.com/archive/season-04/alexandermaksik

The post Alexander Maksik Discusses His First Novel, You Deserve Nothing appeared first on KRUI Radio.

On this week’s Lit Show, host Joe Fassler speaks with four Iowa City writers who’ve been inspired by Dean Young, the acclaimed poet who received a life-saving heart transplant on April 15, 2011. Young had been suffering from congestive heart failure due to a genetic condition called idiopathic hypotropic cardiomyopathy—and at the time of the transplant, his heart was pumping at 8% of normal volume.

Young’s transplant was a success, and the procedure was paid for through his insurance at the University of Texas, where he teaches. But despite full coverage, and despite a generous outpouring from the friends, fans, and fellow poets who love his work, Young still faces massive health-related bills—in the neighborhood of $50,000 a year.

To hear Dora Malech, Danny Khalastchi, Marc Rahe, and James Longley discuss Young’s work, his teaching, and why they love him as a poet, mentor, and person, listen to the full broadcast on litshow.com.

The post Iowa City Poets Celebrate Dean Young appeared first on KRUI Radio.