Ursula K. Le Guin titled her introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing “Fear and Loathing in the Interview,” and in it she said: “The good interview is like a good badminton rally: you know right away that the two of you can keep that birdie in the air, and all you have to do is watch it fly. Facing each other for the first time in one of KBOO’s lovable, terminally funky recording rooms, David and I were a bit stiff and shy, but we soon got going, and I knew our bird was on the wing.”

Lidia Yuknavitch, whose own life, like mine, intersected with Ursula’s, and whose writing engages with and is enlivened by Ursula’s work, joined me at Powell’s Bookstore in downtown Portland to celebrate the launch of the reissue of this book. Together we explore Ursula’s thoughts on craft, on prose versus poetry, fantasy versus realism, the political in relation to the artistic, and her fascinating relationship to her own imperfections, namely how she enacted self-revision while facing her reading public.

If you enjoy today’s conversation consider joining the Between the Covers community as a listener-supporter. You can find out about all the potential rewards and benefits of doing so at the show’s Patreon page.

Finally, here is the conversation-specific BookShop for today’s episode (and for your more general book shopping needs don’t miss Milkweed Editions Bookshop bookstore as well).

Layli Long Soldier returns to the show to discuss her latest remarkable poetry collection We (and/or Wé). We talk about these two connotations of we/wé, the questions of address, audience, identity and kinship implicit in them both. We explore the many visual art installations documented within We and how they intersect with both poetry and community. We explore what it means to treat a poem, not yet finished, as having its own desires and needs different than yours. And we look at language and the law, navigating thorny questions of language as a tool and as a weapon when it comes to treaties, to Land Back, and Layli’s art and writing practice engaging with it all.

If you enjoy today’s conversation consider joining the Between the Covers community as a listener-supporter. One of the many things you can choose from when you do is access to the bonus audio archive with contributions from many past guests including: Layli Long Soldier, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dionne Brand, Arthur Sze, Ada Limón, Omar El Akkad, Danez Smith, Christina Sharpe, Alice Oswald and many others. Find out more at the show’s Patreon page.

Finally, here is the episode-specific BookShop for today’s conversation with Layli. And for your general book shopping needs, don’t miss Milkweed Editions BookShop as well.

Today’s unforgettable archival conversation with Elvia Wilk was recorded in-person in 2019 on the occasion of the release of her debut novel Oval. Wilk takes questions of self and other, nature and culture, human and non-human into the dystopic near-future and into the realm of both philosophy and narrative. We discuss her writings outside of the novel about weird fiction, the literary movement called The New Weird, and how she herself often writes about weird (but real) endeavors that blur the natural and the artificial or that flip our preconceptions on our head. From exploitation and exclusion in the art world to global climate apocalypse, Wilk’s weird fiction makes us see the world frightfully anew. As McKenzie Wark says, “J. G. Ballard meets William Gibson meets Jeff VanderMeer. Oval is an up-to-the-minute story about the twilight zones of corporate design, aesthetics, pharmacy, and bioengineering, where there’s nothing consultants won’t break in the quest for ‘innovation.’ What could possibly go wrong? Find out in Elvia Wilk’s crisp and stylish debut book.”

For the bonus audio, Elvia contributed a reading of the first half of a speech she delivered at an ecology symposium, her talk called “Death by Landscape.” This joins an ever-growing archive of contributions from past guests—of readings, translator conversations, craft talks, music, soundscapes and more. To find out how to subscribe to the bonus material and about the other potential benefits and rewards of joining the Between the Covers community as a listener-supporter, head over to the show’s Patreon page.

Finally, for your book shopping needs don’t miss Milkweed Editions Bookshop bookstore.