Heather Radke joins Jordan to talk about Butts: A Backstory, the playful invitation of the book's title, the general unruliness of bodies, and the joys of a JSTOR deep-dive. MENTIONED: Jodie Foster's Coppertone ad"Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-a-lotElizabeth Alexander's "The Venus Hottentot"The Normman & Norma Statues Heather Radke is an essayist, journalist, and contributing editor and reporter at Radiolab, the Peabody Award­–winning program from WNYC. She has written for publications...

Thresholds reaches its centenary episode with equal parts celebration and consideration. We reached out to old friends to leave us some voicemails, Jordan wrote a musing on this particular milestone, and we're doing a little giveaway to celebrate all of you who've helped bring us this far along the path. Mentioned: "Notebook, 1981," by Eileen MylesThe Isolation Journals by Suleika Jaouad Thanks to all of our guests, to our team, and to you listeners! Here's to many more, in 2023 and beyond! ...

It's the end of our last full capsule for 2022 -- and what a joyful, life-affirming batch of conversations it was! First up, we've got Saeed Jones offering some writing advice (and an exercise, of sorts) -- then some alumni news and a call to pre-order several 2023 releases -- and finally, Chloé Cooper Jones and Jordan get into talking about revision and the life-affirming process of writing. MENTIONED: The Best American Essays 2022, edited by Alexander CheeBiography of X by Catherine...

Alyssa Songsiridej (Little Rabbit) chats with Jordan about moving to a new city, the scary-freeing experience of being away from one's community, and how letting a book out into the world is a process of letting go. MENTIONED: Days of Distraction by Alexandra ChangHow Should a Person Be? by Sheila HetiMating in Captivity by Esther Perelhow cold winters get in Boston Alyssa Songsiridej is an editor at Electric Literature. Her fiction has appeared in StoryQuarterly, The Indiana Review, The...

Jordan talks with Asali Solomon about The Days of Afrekete, the unexpected discovery that she’s a funny writer, and trying to impart wisdom to students while she’s still learning too.  MENTIONED: Get a Life (1990-1992) The Simple Stories by Langston Hughes The Book of Night Women by Marlon James An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken Asali Solomon’s first novel, Disgruntled, was named a best book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Denver Post....

Poet Saeed Jones joins Jordan to talk about the long-term experience of grief, the intensity of writing from the point of view of another person, and the unexpected trilogy of his first three books. MENTIONED: Paul MooneyDiahann CarrollWhitney HoustonToni Morrison Saeed Jones is the author of the memoir HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the poetry collection PRELUDE TO BRUISE, winner for the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His poetry and...

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich (The Fact of a Body) joins Jordan to talk about a particularly life-altering haircut, the power of a sequined tuxedo, and what it means for a culture to put a narrative onto a person. MENTIONED: South PacificGhostly Matters by Avery GordonMy Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn ShaplandJoseph Lobdell Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of THE FACT OF A BODY: A Murder and a Memoir, which received a Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des...

Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty) joins Jordan to talk about avoiding mandates, about writing through pain and trauma, and about finding the neutral room in one's own mind. MENTIONED: "Everything is copy" -- Nora Ephronsacral agenesisRichard Serra Chloé Cooper Jones is a writer based in New York City. In 2020, Chloé was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Writing for “Fearing for His Life,” a profile of Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed the killing of Eric Garner. She was the recipient of the...

Jordan talks with poet/performer/advocate Kay Ulanday Barrett about their decision to get top surgery, the intersection of family and food, and writing through health crises. MENTIONED: Grey’s AnatomySwypeThe Asian American Writers WorkshopFrankenstein by Mary Shelley Kay Ulanday Barrett aka @Brownroundboi is a poet, performer, and cultural strategist. Their second book, More Than Organs (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020) received a 2021 Stonewall Honor Book Award by the American Library...

It's the end of our 'ghosts' capsule and not a moment too soon! Those days sure are getting shorter... FEATURED: Patrick Cottrell on his change-of-seasons vibe this yearA thematically-appropriate clip from our long-ago episode with Lynn Steger Strong (whose new book Flight is out soon! pre-order it!)Threshold alum highlights!!Scary-season book recommendations from the October Country, courtesy of Drew See you in a couple weeks! for more Thresholds, visit us at www.thisisthresholds.com be sure...

Samantha Hunt joins Jordan to talk about The Unwritten Book, what it means to believe in ghosts, grieving the death of her father, and confronting the darkness out there in the woods. MENTIONED: geodesic domesslasher moviesFlash Count Diary by Darcy SteinkeIf Not, Winter by Sappho, translated by Anne CarsonOne Direction Samantha Hunt is the author of the non-fiction book The Unwritten Book, the story collection The Dark Dark and the novels Mr. Splitfoot, The Invention of Everything Else, and...

Jordan talks with Ingrid Rojas Contreras (The Man Who Could Move Clouds) about the accident that left her with amnesia, grappling with the decision to write about her family, and the importance of offering healing. MENTIONED: A black Vera Wang gownCuranderos Topographical disorientation INGRID ROJAS CONTRERAS was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Her latest book, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, was longlisted for the National Book Award in Non-Fiction. Her first novel Fruit of the Drunken...

Jordan talks to Amy Fusselman about writers who perform, getting out of your own head, and the agonies and ecstasies of comedy. It's a laugh-out-loud kind of episode. MENTIONED: McSweeney's Internet Concern"Hawk" by Joy WilliamsSecond Position Amy Fusselman is the author of five books. Her latest, The Mean$, is her first novel. Fusselman’s previous four books, all nonfiction, have been translated into several languages. Her work has been nominated for The Believer Book Award and the...

Celeste Ng joins Jordan to talk about her new book Our Missing Hearts, motherhood and parenting while writing, and the big questions of what kind of place art can have in the fight against fascism. MENTIONED: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan#DontLookAway / #NoKidsInCages Hamlet by William Shakespeare Celeste Ng is the number one New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere. Her third novel, Our Missing Hearts, will be published in...

It's the end of a 'Family' capsule of episodes and the last before our summer break, so we really pulled out all the stops this time. FEATURED: an outtake of Crystal Hana Kim talking about her next novela voicemail from Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore about how she does AugustThreshold alum highlights (like a bunch of them)summer reading recommendations from Jordan & Drew See you in September, with fresh pencils and notebooks and interviews! For more Thresholds, visit us at...

Jordan talks with Michelle Tea about her new memoir (Knocking Myself Up), making the decision to get pregnant, her tarot practice, and creating a queer family. MENTIONED: The Rider-Waite TarotValencia by Michelle TeaXOJane.comBuddhism Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books, including the cult-classic Valencia, the essay collection Against Memoir, and the speculative memoir Black Wave. She is the recipient of awards from the Guggenheim, Lambda Literary, and Rona Jaffe Foundations,...

Jordan talks with Keith Gessen about his new memoir of fatherhood, Raising Raffi: The First Five Years, and the challenges -- and wonders -- of being a parent and a writer, and what he thinks Raffi will think of the book when he's older. MENTIONED:  Raising America by Ann Hulbert"Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City" by Nikole Hannah-JonesEmily Oster, economics professor and parenting advisorThe Kazdin Method Keith Gessen is a founding editor of n+1 and a contributor...

Jordan talks with Crystal Hana Kim (If You Leave Me) about the ultimate unknowability of another person's story, about motherhood as a writer, and about how a friend's validation and encouragement helped her get serious about her craft. MENTIONED: The Korean WarPost-partum depressionReproductive justiceCeramics class Crystal Hana Kim is the author of If You Leave Me, which was a Booklist Editor’s Choice title and named a best book of 2018 by over a dozen publications. Kim is the recipient of...

Jordan talks with Lydia Conklin about bucking the conventions of queer storytelling, how a childhood Oregon Trail reenactment led to one of the most memorable stories in Rainbow Rainbow, and the excitement of making big moves in life and art. MENTIONED: * The Oregon Trail (play here) * Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates * Intimacies by Katie Kitamura Lydia Conklin is an Assistant Professor of Fiction at Vanderbilt University. Previously they were the Helen Zell Visiting Professor in Fiction...

Jordan talks with Ashley C. Ford (author of the memoir Somebody's Daughter) about how writing made her into more of herself, about the systems that we live under, and about finding joy in new community. MENTIONED: Dr. Jill Christman, professor at Ball Statepaying off lunch debts (check out All for Lunch!)Onsite Workshops in Tennessee Ashley C. Ford is a writer, host, and educator who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband, poet and fiction writer Kelly Stacy, and their chocolate lab...

It’s the end of our ‘Inheritance' capsule of episodes! MENTIONED: Marie-Helene Bertino shares her summer reading plans (hint: they involve Ursula K. Le Guin)Jordan and Drew answer some more listener questions, and Jordan describes the horror of hearing her own voice over and over againupdates about cool Thresholds alums like Ryka Aoki, Ed Yong, Fernanda Melchor, Sarah Manguso, and Fariha Roisina flashback to Jordan's conversation with Ocean Vuong We'll be back with our next capsule starting...

Jordan talks with Jhumpa Lahiri about her new collection of essays (Translating Myself and Others), how Ovid helped her navigate her mother’s death, and how translating her own new story collection is an exciting way to edit. MENTIONED: the Roman god Janusthe novels of Domenico Starnone (translated by Jhumpa Lahiri)Ovid's Metamorphoses "je est un autre" -- Arthur Rimbaud Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of Translating Myself and Others as well as four works of fiction including the...

Jordan talks with Elissa Washuta (White Magic) about the transformative nature of narrative, avoiding vs. thinking about painful things, why she takes more notes, and the power of a good video game. MENTIONED: Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: The ReturnDorrie the Little Witch by Patricia CoombsThe CraftRed Dead Redemption 2 Elissa Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. She is the author of White Magic, My Body Is a Book of Rules, and Starvation Mode. With Theresa...

Jordan talks with Jessamine Chan about the ways having a kid changed her writing, about the difficulties mothers face in America, and about the one very good day of writing that led to The School for Good Mothers. MENTIONED: "Where is Your Mother?" by Rachel Aviv (The New Yorker)Cost of Living by Emily MaloneySCOTUS draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health OrganizationThe Ragdale Foundation Jessamine Chan's debut novel is The School for Good Mothers, an instant New York Times...

Jordan talks with Morgan Talty in advance of his debut story collection about moms, storytelling, writing from a teen point of view, and the villain of colonialism. MENTIONED: The Lowering Days by Gregory Brown"The Blessing Tobacco"The Penobscot Indian NationSuperstore Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. He received his BA in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and his MFA in fiction from Stonecoast’s low-residency program. His story...