Novel Dialogue

Can a novel with a singular voice also be a chorus? Can it reject the conventions of the novel and still be a novel? Join Billy-Ray Belcourt and Matt Hooley as they explore these questions in this episode of Novel Dialogue! noveldialogue.org/2026/03/26/10-…

Kick off Season 10 of Novel Dialogue by listening to Aaron Gwyn's conversation with Sean McCann, where Gwyn's own durably realistic work is contrasted with Cormac McCarthy's monstrous and incredible characters, and much more! noveldialogue.org/2026/03/13/10-…

Álvaro Enrigue and critic Maia Gil’Adí begin their conversation considering translation as a living process, one that is internal to the novel form, in this final episode of Season 9: TECH! noveldialogue.org/2025/06/05/9-6…

Vauhini Vara tells Aarthi Vadde and host Sarah Wasserman that at the heart of all her work is a desire to communicate—that “language,” as she says, “is the main tool we have to bridge the divide” in this riveting new episode of Novel Dialogue! noveldialogue.org/2025/05/22/9-5…

In dialogue with Heather Cleary, Fernanda Trías unfolds the many different ideas explored in Pink Slime, including the ethical complexities of writing about disability, the difficult intimacies of mothers and daughters, and much more in this new episode! noveldialogue.org/2025/05/08/9-4…

In Season 9, Novel Dialogue set out to find the Venn diagram intersection of tech and fiction—only to realize that Kim Stanley Robinson had staked his claim on the territory decades ago. Tune in to his conversation with Elizabeth Carolyn Miller now! noveldialogue.org/2025/04/24/9-3…

What work can genre do today? Can the genre system become more than a method of reductive containment and market segmentation—can it be a generative source of imaginative chaos? Ponder this question and more with Lauren Beukes and Andrew Pepper! noveldialogue.org/2025/04/10/9-2…

Ken Liu tells critic Rose Casey and host Sarah Wasserman that if “your idea of heaven doesn’t include play, then I’m not sure it’s a heaven people want to go to" in this riveting episode from Novel Dialogue! noveldialogue.org/2025/03/27/9-1…

We kick off Season 9: TECH by talking with our very own Aarthi Vadde about the role of the novel in relation to the mass writing platforms that dominate our digital lives. Join us now! noveldialogue.org/2025/03/21/9-0…

The wait is almost over! Season 9: TECH of Novel Dialogue is coming to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher starting March 21. You won't want to miss our first riveting conversation, Writing Against the System, with Aarthi Vadde - we hope to catch you listening!

Novelist Jordy Rosenberg and critic Annie McClanahan's conversation limns the 18th and 21st centuries, taking up 18th century historical concerns and the messy early history of the novel, along with much more in this last episode of Season 8! noveldialogue.org/2024/12/19/8-6…

During a desert thunderstorm outside Tucson, Lydia Millet joined the Novel Dialogue conversation with hosts John Plotz and Emily Hyde, with Emily playing the role of critic. Tune in now! noveldialogue.org/2024/12/05/8-5…

Check out our updated schedule for Season 8! Episodes 5 and 6 are coming soon with two fascinating new discussions between novelists and critics!

In today's episode between novelist Jamil Jan Kochai and critic Kalyan Nadiminti, they discuss Kochai's experience growing up between Sacramento, California and Logar, Afghanistan and much more. Join us for this great discussion! noveldialogue.org/2024/11/21/8-4…

What happens when a novelist wants “nonsense and joy” but his characters are destined for a Central European sanatorium? Join us to ponder this question and more in this conversation with Adam Ehrlich Sachs and Sunny Yudkoff! noveldialogue.org/2024/11/07/8-3…

An unforgettable horse gallops through the pages of Kaveh Akbar’s best-selling novel Martyr! (2024), but it is a figurative hastening toward failure and the limitations of language that Akbar discusses with critic Pardis Dabashi. Episode 8.2 available now! noveldialogue.org/2024/10/25/8-2…

Today's episode between Lydia Kiesling and Megan Ward takes up questions of form and political consciousness in the novel, globality and rootedness, capitalism and the yearning for things, optimization and wellness culture, and so much more. Tune in now! noveldialogue.org/2024/10/10/8-1…

Are you ready to hear great conversations between novelists and critics? Tune in Thursdays starting October 10 to catch Season 8 of Novel Dialogue, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher! 🎧

What's the truth and what's a lie? What's a memoir, what's a novel, and what if both are just a series of "prose blocks"? In this season’s finale, Sarah Manguso and Tess McNulty takes up questions of writing and veracity, trauma and memory. tinyurl.com/4nehwbky

Image credit: GUNSLINGER ‘88 ROLAND by Michael Whelan michaelwhelan.com/galleries/guns…

On today’s episode, Masande Ntshanga’s (@mntshanga) and Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra (@magarmtis) discuss how cities are like machines and how South African history resembles some of the most sinister versions of techno-futurism. Listen now! tinyurl.com/yw52a7uj