Sad Me of the Past

Episode 20: Steve Starring Grant

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 8:00:00 +0000

Hello listeners, and welcome to another episode of Sad Me of the Past! The University of Iowa students have left Iowa City for the summer, and there are so many parking spots now! Today we have Steve Starring Grant, author of Mailman. Grant shares his journey from a storytelling-rich childhood in Blacksburg, Virginia, through his time at the Iowa Writers Workshop, to a lengthy career in marketing and behavioral economics. He reads from an early undergraduate story, reflecting on his development as a writer. The conversation culminates in how a pandemic-era layoff, cancer diagnosis, and unexpected job as a mail carrier in Appalachia inspired his memoir and reignited his creative voice.

Episode 19: Megan Cummins

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 8:00:00 +0000

Hello listeners, and welcome to another episode of Sad Me of the Past! The University of Iowa students have left Iowa City for the summer, and there are so many parking spots! Today we have Megan Cummins for our second episode of the new season! Megan shares her journey from writing fantasy stories in suburban Detroit to attending the Iowa Young Writers' Studio at 17. She talks about her unintentional path into the world of publishing (she is now an editor-at-large at A Public Space,) and eventually publishing her debut novel Atomic Hearts. She reads a prose poem from her senior year of high school, reflecting on youthful ambitions and imagined adulthood. The conversation also explores her career as managing editor at A Public Space and how balancing editorial work with writing shaped her creative process. Megan Cummins lives in New York, where she writes and edits. Her debut novel ATOMIC HEARTS is out now from Ballantine. Her story collection IF THE BODY ALLOWS IT (University of Nebraska Press) was awarded the 2019 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction and longlisted for the Story Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. Her work has also appeared in A Public Space, Guernica, One Teen Story, Ninth Letter, Okey-Panky, and elsewhere. She's the managing editor of Public Books and an editor-at-large at A Public Space.

Episode 18: Naomi Wood

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 8:00:00 +0000

Hello listeners! And welcome to Sad Me of the Past, SEASON 3! We've been in the midst of office-space moves and position reconfiguration, but we are finally back! Today we have Noami Wood for our first episode of the new season! We talk about her upbringing in the UK, a novel about a family of eggs, the “cocoa ending,” the inspiring power of confusion, another transformative English teacher, the sexy moms at the gate, the epiphanic Jenny Zhang, nannying in Paris, launching stories with an essential question, and a form that’s obsessed with its ending. Naomi Wood is the bestselling author of The Godless Boys, Mrs. Hemingway and The Hiding Game. As a novelist, her books have won a Jerwood Award, the British Library Hay Festival Prize, and been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Historical Writers Golden Crown. Mrs. Hemingway was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick in 2014 and a Chanel Bookclub pick in 2023. Her début story collection This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things was published in 2024 by Phoenix (Orion), Nagel und Kimche (Germany) and Morrow (US). In 2023 she won the BBC National Short Story Prize with ‘Comorbidities’. Her short stories have also won the Desperate Literature Tbilisi Prize, and been shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Galley Beggar Press Prize, and a Society of Authors Prize. Her interests are complicated femininity and transgressive motherhood, and how these fit in the modern workplace. She is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Episode 17: Donika Kelly

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Welcome to SAD ME OF THE PAST, the podcast where we officially start celebrating Spooky Season on August 1st. Today we have poet Donika Kelly in the studio! We discuss drawing curtains and dressing chickens, growing up in Compton, the English teachers of Arkansas, illustrating Ogden Nash with Clip Art, self-insert fan fiction, and poetry: where the sadness goes, imagining into another way of being, leaving out the story, and the idea that “poetry is my securest attachment.”

Donika Kelly is the author of The Natural Order of Things, The Renunciations, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf book award in poetry, and Bestiary, the winner of the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and a Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Kelly’s poetry has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Publishing Triangle Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, and longlisted for the National Book Award. A Cave Canem graduate fellow, National Endowment for the Arts fellow, and Pushcart Prize winner, she has also received a Lannan Residency Fellowship, and a summer workshop fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center. She earned an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Donika lives in Iowa City with her wife, the nonfiction writer Melissa Febos, and is an associate professor in the English Department at the University of Iowa.

Episode 16: Srikanth Reddy

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 9:00:00 +0000

Welcome to SAD ME OF THE PAST, the podcast where we are actively trying to make the words "touch" and "brill" the new slang for cool. Today we have poet Srikanth Reddy in the studio to share some of his earliest writing and his literary journey! We discuss his formative 3rd grade acrostic poem ABRAHAM LINCOLN, skipping school to review movies for the Chicago Tribune, deliberately throwing a Spelling Bee, and the inevitable Workshop curse of writing in everyone else's style except your own.

Srikanth Reddy grew up in Chicago. He earned a BA from Harvard College, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and a PhD in English literature from Harvard University. He is the author of the poetry collections Underworld Lit (Wave Books, 2020), Voyager (University of California Press, 2011), and Facts for Visitors (University of California Press, 2004) and a book of literary criticism, Changing Subjects: Digressions in Modern American Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Episode 15: SPECIAL EDITION Sad Me of the Past Presents Ghosts on the Radio

Wed, 28 May 2025 9:00:00 +0000

Welcome to SAD ME OF THE PAST Presents: Ghosts on the Radio! This is a SPECIAL EPISODE of Sad Me of the Past, where we invite young writers from the Iowa Youth Writing Project (IYWP) to talk about a ghost story they created for the Ghosts on the Radio haunted audio anthology.

We have compiled four interviews with IYWP writers into this one episode. The writers, ranging in age from 9 to 14, were among the winner of the Ghosts on the Radio writing contest this past fall. You will hear each of their interviews first, followed by a dramatic reading of their winning story. You can hear all of the stories on the Ghosts on the Radio podcast on the Writing University Podcast Network.

Chapters

01:25 - The Circus is Coming by Imogen Olszewski When a family of clowns moves in, the protagonist knows something is wrong. But do her parents agree? Read by Alic Eberhart.

29:54 - The Forest’s Shadow by Olivia Groff Everyone knows that the Forest is dangerous. But Macy doesn’t believe it. To prove her point, she sets foot where even the bravest huntsmen refuse to go. Read by Skyler Tarnas.

54:09 - How the Blood Dragon was Born by Aniya Maharjan Tillie gets lost in the woods and undergoes a mysterious transformation. Read by Olivia Morrow.

01:05:05 - Under the Gaze of Two Pink Eyes by Lucy Liao and Natalie Witt What happens to Iris moves into a strange house and is confronted by a creature that refuses to pass on. Can she survive? Read by Anne Marie Berry. Explicit.

Episode 14: Madeline McDonnell

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 9:00:00 +0000

Welcome to SAD ME OF THE PAST, the podcast that asks: are there any new babies being named Brian? On this episode, Madeline McDonnell joins us via Zoom. It's our first remotely-recorded episode! Madeline shares all sorts of secrets with us from being admonished in Middle English, reading in trees, dramatic countdowns to playing an evil Jack-o-lantern in a 3rd grade play with Mindy Kaling, starting three books at the same time, and the importance of friends. Madeline McDonnell is the author of three books of fiction: Lonesome Ballroom, Penny, n., and There Is Something Inside, It Wants To Get Out. She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow, and has taught creative writing, literature, and composition courses at many places, most recently the MFA program at Portland State University. She lives in Oregon with her family.

Episode 13: Curtis Sittenfeld

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 8:00:00 +0000

On this episode, we have bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld in the studio! We can't believe it! Lauren was very nervous! Curtis talks with us about the perils of boarding school, getting good luck from a used car, how her family really feels about her writing, and her new short story collection Show Don’t Tell. For her piece from the past, Curtis shares a short story she wrote in high school that has a surprising twist (and continues to hold a special place in the “Best of Curtis Sittenfeld” as selected by her mother). ____ Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of seven novels: Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, Eligible, Rodham, and Romantic Comedy, which was picked for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. Her first story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It, was published in 2018 and also picked for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. Show Don’t Tell is her second story collection. Her books have been selected by The New York Times, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and People for their “Ten Best Books of the Year” lists, optioned for television and film, and translated into thirty languages. Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and Esquire, and in the Best American Short Stories anthology, of which she was the 2020 guest editor. Her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Slate, and on “This American Life.” A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Curtis has appeared as a guest on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” CBS’s “Early Show,” and PBS’s Newshour; five times been a Jeopardy! answer, and once been a Word Search puzzle.

Episode 12: Josh Parkinson

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 8:00:00 +0000

On this episode, we have prose, screen, and television writer Josh Parkinson stop by the studio to share a story he wrote in high school called "The Man and the Fly." This absolute banger involves a fly, a car crash, and a response from the local authorities that you won't see coming. Is it worth an hour of your time? We think so. It did win 3rd place in 1991. We also talk about his journey from QB1 of the Needville Texas Fighting Bluejays to his work writing scripts in the big city of Los Angeles, and how Iowa City has impacted his current and future work. We discuss the books that got Josh interested in writing, whether or not he actually likes Billy Joel, and if (as Stephen suggests) his writing is in fact Stienbeckian. ____ Josh Parkinson is a writer from Texas who received an MA in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University. Over the last dozen years he has written feature originals or rewrites for Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, Paramount, and Media Rights Capital, as well as held TV staff-writing positions on the HBO comedy Eastbound and Down and the AMC horror series The Terror. He has also during that time sold both hour-long drama and half-hour comedy pilots to NBC, CBS, AMC, USA, Showtime, and most recently, Peacock. He lives in Iowa City and teaches screenwriting at the University of Iowa for the Magid Center for Writing.

Episode 11: Gina Welch

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 8:00:00 +0000

On this episode, we are joined by Gina Welch, award-winning 'Castle Rock' screenwriter. We explore Gina's decision to ditch the mullet and reinvent herself in 8th grade, her obsession over Twin Peaks and impressing her English teacher Mr. Gould and the joy of entertaining people with story. She tells us about studying with Robert Stone, going undercover in Jerry Falwell’s church, solitude, misery, and traveling deep into a character’s psyche—like, perhaps, that of a wholesome personal injury lawyer, or a madame who goes into witness protection. ____ Gina Welch received an AFI Award for FX’s FEUD: Bette and Joan and a WGA Award for her work on Castle Rock. She has also worked on FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, Station Eleven, The Terror, Ray Donovan and is the author of the non-fiction book In the Land of Believers. She visited the University of Iowa in the fall of 2024 to teach in the "Big Binge," a screenwriting course offered by the Magid Center for Writing.

Episode 10: Ada Zhang

Wed, 4 Dec 2024 9:00:00 +0000

On this episode we have Ada Zhang in the studio with us to share an early piece of work and discuss her journey in becoming a writer. We also talk about being a theater kid at Texas football schools, her flight from business major to writer, blogging at its peak, Mike and his mint green Vespa, "violescent" hues, diving into Asian American literature, and the joy of being understood. ____ Ada Zhang's short stories have appeared in A Public Space, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere. The Sorrows of Others, her first story collection, was published by A Public Space Books. She is a 2024 Whiting Award Winner in Fiction and 2023 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree.

Episode 9: Lila Byock

Fri, 8 Nov 2024 9:00:00 +0000

On this episode, Emmy Award winning TV writer Lila Byock stops by the studio to talk about her time writing for the acclaimed series Watchmen and her current projects. We discuss an array of topics with Lila including growing up in Missoula, Montana, fact-checking at The New Yorker, the magical powers of Cheerios, her transition to TV writing and the collaborative nature of a writers' room. ____ Lila Byock earned an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and spent five years on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, before beginning a career in television. Her work on such shows as WATCHMEN, THE LEFTOVERS, CASTLE ROCK, and MANHATTAN has received numerous honors, including two Writers Guild of America awards and an Emmy. Lila has multiple television and feature projects in development. Along with her family, she divides her time between Los Angeles and her home state of Montana. (Photo credit: Alex Welsh)

Episode 8: Bret Anthony Johnston

Mon, 7 Oct 2024 9:00:00 +0000

On this episode, fiction writer Bret Anthony Johnston joins us in the studio to talk about his new book We Burn Daylight, his time as a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and what he’s working on now. For his piece from the past, Bret shares one of the many stories that he published in Chicken Soup for the Soul years ago (they paid!), while in the Workshop. We discuss his journey from Texas skateboarder to Harvard professor and back to again to Texas, and all the stops in between. ____ Bret Anthony Johnston is the internationally bestselling author of the novels We Burn Daylight and Remember Me Like This, and the multi-award-winning collection Corpus Christi: Stories. He also edited Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer and wrote the documentary film Waiting for Lightning, which was released in theaters around the world by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Among his many honors are a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, the Glasgow Prize, and the Sunday Times Short Story Award, “the world’s richest and most prestigious prize for a single short story.” His work has been widely translated and appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. After selling his television to buy his first board almost 40 years ago, Bret has yet to outgrow skateboarding. After directing the creative writing program at Harvard University for over a decade, he is now the Director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.

Episode 7: Melissa Mogollon

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 9:00:00 +0000

On this episode, fiction writer Melissa Mogollon stops by the studio to talk about her debut novel Oyé, her time as a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and what she’s working on now. For her piece from the past, Mel shares a list she wrote during her time as a graduate student at the Workshop, one that she hoped would help her see ways to improve (even though we thought she was perfect!). We discuss her journey from DC insider to boarding-school (bored-in-school) teacher with pit stops in Iowa along the way. ____ Melissa Mogollon holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a BA from the George Washington University. Originally from Colombia and raised in Florida, she now teaches at a boarding school in Rhode Island, where she lives with her partner and dog. Oye is her first novel.

Episode 6: Joe Fassler

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 9:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Sad Me of the Past, where we invite an established writer to revisit a piece they wrote in their tender years.

On this episode, we were joined by Joe Fassler, author and journalist, while he was in town for his reading at Prairie Lights! We talk about his new novel The Sky Was Ours, and the 10 year process of writing it, which began with a single short story at Iowa. Joe shares a piece of writing from his late teens, written while he was in the Iowa Young Writers' Studio. We discuss his journey from apathetic high school student to a highly recognized journalist and author, as well his tips, tricks and inspiration for aspiring writers everywhere. ____ Joe Fassler is a writer and editor based in Denver, Colorado. He is an MFA graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and his fiction has appeared in The Boston Review and Electric Literature. In 2013, Fassler started The Atlantic's “By Heart” series, in which he interviewed authors—including Stephen King, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Carmen Maria Machado, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and more—about the literature that shaped their lives and work. That led to editing Light the Dark, a book-length collection that included favorites from “By Heart” alongside new contributions. Fassler's nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian, Longreads, and The Best American Food Writing. Fassler currently teaches writing at Vermont's Sterling College. The Sky Was Ours is his first novel.

Episode 5: Nam Le

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

We had Nam Le on the podcast, joining us before his reading at Prairie Lights! We talk about early writing influences, the importance of an extraordinary writing teacher, and the wilds of writing while parenting. Nam takes us on his writer's journey -- from a law firm in Australia to the Iowa Writers' Workshop in Iowa City. Join us for this fantastic talk! ____ Nam Le's first book, The Boat, received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN/Malamud Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature, the NSW Premier's Literary Award for Book of the Year, the Pushcart Prize, the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award, a U.S. National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Fiction Selection, as well as other awards, fellowships and shortlistings. The Boat was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and Editor's Choice, the #1 fiction book of 2008 by The Oregonian, the best debut of 2008 by New York Magazine, and a book of the year by numerous venues around the world including The Guardian, The Independent, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The National Post, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Amazon and Publishers Weekly. The Boat has been translated into fourteen languages and its stories widely anthologised, adapted and taught.

Episode 4: Dan Beachy-Quick

Wed, 15 May 2024 9:00:00 +0000

For this episode we have Dan Beachy-Quick in the studio! Dan is in Iowa City as a guest lecturer for the Ancient Exchanges speaker series. His visit includes a reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore and a talk titled, "The “All-Bell Cosmos” and the “Fundamental Eros”: Poems that Think, Thoughts that Sing, and the Ongoing Practice of Ancient Poetics."

Dan (we call him "DBQ") is basically a celebrity around here. He has been monumental in many of our journeys as writers -- Lauren was an undergrad in the first poetry class he ever taught as a grad student at the Workshop -- and his work has been a part of our writing lives for so long. WE LOVE HIM! Dan Beachy-Quick is a poet, essayist, and translator whose work has been long-listed for the National Book Award in Poetry, and supported by the Monfort, Lannan, and Guggenheim Foundations. He teaches at Colorado State University, where he is a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar.

His three volumes of translations from ancient Greek are Stone Garland: Six Poets from the Greek Lyric Tradition, The Thinking Root: The Poetry of Earliest Greek Philosophy, and Wind—Mountain—Oak: The Poems of Sappho. His poetry collections include North True South Bright (2003); Spell (2004); Mulberry (2006), a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for poetry; This Nest, Swift Passerine (2009); Circle's Apprentice (2011); Of Silence and Song (2017); and Variations on Dawn and Dusk (2019). He is also the author of A Whaler's Dictionary (2008).

This Ancient Exchanges speaker series talk is co-sponsored by the Department of Classics, the Translation Program, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Department of English, and the Magid Center for Writing.

Episode 3: Carmen Maria Machado

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 9:00:00 +0000

Today we have Carmen Maria Machado with us to talk about her first forays into writing, share a piece of her early work and discuss her inspirations and motivations. We dig deep into the timeline of her career, looking at the childhood obsessions that drove her work, the online forums and journal spaces that bouyed her early writing, and her future projects! ____ Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of "The New Vanguard," one of "15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century."

Her essays, fiction, poetry, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, Harper's Bazaar, Tin House, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fictionand Fantasy, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She is the former Abrams Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

Find images and media from the podcast here: Episode 3: Carmen Maria Machado

Find photos of our time in the studio, links to references, and more on the episode's page on the Writing University website.

Episode 2: Rachel Yoder

Wed, 7 Feb 2024 9:00:00 +0000

We have Rachel Yoder here to discuss her novel Nightbitch. We talk with her about her first attempts at writing in elementary school, her time in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and her wild experience adapting Nightbitch to a soon-to-be-released feature film starring Amy Adams.

Find images and media from the podcast here: Episode 2: Rachel Yoder

Find photos of the juvenalia that Rachel brought to the studio and more on the episode's page on the Writing University website.

Episode 1, Part 2: Vinnie Wilhelm + Dave Kajganich

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 9:00:00 +0000

We have two guests with us today, Dave Kajganich and Vinnie Wilhelm, here to share some of their early, sophomoric writing and talk process, progress and new projects. In part two of today's podcast, novelist and screenwriter Vinnie Wilhelm shares a section from a novel he wrote in high school, entitled "SPAM." Vinnie Wilhelm graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2004. He has published a collection of short stories, In the Absence of Predators, and currently lives in Los Angeles, where he has written for a bunch of TV shows, including Manhattan, The Terror, Castle Rock and Penny Dreadful.

Find images and media from the podcast here: Episode 1, Part 2 Vinnie Wilhelm + Dave Kajganich

Find photos of the covers of the laminated "books" in this podcast and more on the episode's page on the Writing University website.

Episode 1, Part 1: Dave Kajganich + Vinnie Wilhelm

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 9:00:00 +0000

We have two guests with us today, Dave Kajganich and Vinnie Wilhelm, here to share some of their early, sophomoric writing and talk process, progress and new projects. In part one of today's podcast, Dave shares a short story that he wrote in high school entitled "Martin Cowell Boom Boom Dead." Part Two will follow. Dave Kajganich grew up in rural Ohio and studied fiction writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He now lives in Los Angeles and writes and produces for film and television, including A BIGGER SPLASH, SUSPIRIA, THE TERROR, and BONES AND ALL.

Find images and media from the podcast here: Episode 1, Part 1: Dave Kajganich and Vinnie Wilhelm

Find photos of the covers of the laminated "books" in this podcast and more on the episode's page on the Writing University website.