In this episode I have the pleasure of speaking with one of my favorite authors: Sarah Manguso. Her critically acclaimed 2024 novel, "Liars," was a finalist for the Carol Shields Prize and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. It's a novel that explores the collapse of a marriage from the perspective of Jane - a wife, mother, and an artist. We have a conversation about "Liars," particularly Sarah's views on motherhood & marriage in the second half of this episode.

The first half of our discussion centres on her latest book, "Questions Without Answers," a book of philosophy written in collaboration with hundreds of children and illustrated by the award winning New Yorker cartoonist, Liana Finck. It consists of one-line questions - ranging from the delightful and hilarious, to the poignant and poetic - asked by young children, which Sarah collected over the years after putting a call out on social media in 2021 asking parents and care-givers: What's the best question a kid ever asked you?

As a society we seldom take children seriously, viewing them as incomplete, incompetent, adults-in-progress. In writing this book, Sarah wanted to challenge the popular description of children as "adorable idiots," and instead portray them as they are: insightful, inventive, intelligent, curious, kind, funny, and - yes - even philosophical.

In this episode I have the privilege of speaking with the brilliant writer, Vajra Chandrasekera, where we discuss his award-winning fantasy novel, "The Saint of Bright Doors." The story revolves around a boy named Fetter – who has certain gifts (he can see other worldly beings that are invisible to the rest of us, he doesn’t have a shadow, and he can defy gravity at times) - and is trained by his mother to become an assassin from when he is a young child. His one and only target is his father, who happens to be a well-known religious leader, known as The Perfect and The Kind.

There are so many layers to this story but the one I am most interested in addressing in my conversation with Vajra is the theme of Buddhist violence. When we think of Buddhism or Buddhists we tend to imagine a pacifist people, monks meditating, Mindfulness!, people practicing loving kindness & compassion. Indeed, these are important aspects of Buddhism, and I would argue, of all religions. And when we hear of "religious violence," perhaps the last group of people we might think of are Buddhists or Buddhist monastics. However, this is the community - specifically the activities and beliefs of the radical Sri Lankan (Sinhala) Buddhist nationalists, that is being highlighted in "The Saint of Bright Doors."

In addressing the themes of state violence, ethno-nationalism, genocide, communal resistance, and the people and the power structures – both the visible and the invisible - that shape us, Vajra Chandrasekera's work reminds us that Buddhist violence isn’t just the stuff of fantasy.

To learn more about Vajra and work please visit his website at vajra.me

Information about the Sri Lankan civil war was drawn from an article written by Nithyani Anandakugan in the Harvard International Review: https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/

In this episode I have the privilege and JOY of speaking with Deesha Philyaw, the award winning author of "The Secret Lives of Church Ladies" – a short story collection revolving around "four generations of women who are grappling with who they want to be in the world, as they are caught between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions." This book is …. a revelation, and if you haven’t read it yet, I really don’t know what you’re waiting for! Kirkus Review just named it as one the best books of the century. Although we do talk about some of the stories in the collection, I wanted to start off our conversation with focusing on the place of the church in Black communities. Historically, churches represented the first formal “black public spheres” that were developed in the United States. It was the primary community institution owned and controlled by Black individuals themselves. And so Deesha and I begin by discussing the very important social, cultural, and political role the Church has played in the lives of African American communities, but then turn to some of reasons why the contemporary church might be losing some of its relevance for those same communities today. We talk about Deesha’s own struggles with the Church and how this conflict shows up in her stories, as well as how her writing has helped her find some freedom - as well as some closure - from her relationships with her mother and father.

To learn more about Deesha and her writing, podcasts, and projects please visit her website at www.deeshaphilyaw.com