Today we have Srikanth Reddy, poet and editor at the Paris Review, in the studio to discuss his early writing, his formative 3rd grade acrostic poem ABRAHAM LINCOLN, skipping school to review movies for the Chicago Tribune, deliberately losing a Spelling Bee, + more.

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.

On this episode, author Madeline McDonnell 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.

On this episode, we have bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld in the studio! Curtis talks with us about the perils of boarding school, getting good juju from a used car, how her family really feels about her writing, and her new short story collection Show Don’t Tell.

Josh Parkinson reads a short story he wrote in high school. 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.

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.

On this episode we have Ada Zhang in the studio with us to share an early piece of work and discuss her journey to become a writer. We also talk about being a theater kid at Texas football schools, her flight from business major to writer and blogging at its peak.

Lila Byock stops by the studio to talk about her time writing for the acclaimed series Watchmen and her current projects. We discuss 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. 

Bret Anthony Johnston joins us 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 he published in Chicken Soup for the Soul years ago (they paid!).

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!

"I mean this book took me more than 10 years -- I started it while I was at Iowa!" 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. 

"There was a term that I heard somewhere used, just the other day, and she said "I'm in my gathering phase." Have you guys heard that? Is that a term of art over here?" Nam takes us on his writer's journey -- from a law firm in Australia to the Iowa Writers' Workshop in Iowa City.