Will Boast

You’ll read essays by Patricia Hampl, Paula Marantz Cohen, James McManus, and @angier58; poetry by Mary Jo Salter; and fiction by @WillBoast. You’ll learn more about how E. B. White signed off, Richard Wagner on period instruments, and how the Dalai Lama charmed a room of cynics.

A great bit of news: My second story collection, THE SUBMERGED, has won the Flannery O'Connor Award and is forthcoming (Sept. 2026) from the University of Georgia Press. Truly grateful to @LoriOstlund and the other judges of the FOC. ugapress.wordpress.com/2025/09/18/wil…

Haecceity. “But Bieber’s haecceity as a pop star...” Coined by the medieval Scholastics. Duns Scotus himself couldn't do better than this review hung up on garbled slang and obscure hand gestures. Now excuse me while I count the angels on this pinhead.... pitchfork.com/reviews/albums…

@bullmurph @VQR Thanks, Sean! It was a pleasure speaking on your excellent podcast.

[8/12] Will Boast’s (@WillBoast) “From the Gut” essay is legendary. We talk Voltaire, Twain, RFK Jr., and what the digestive tract can teach us about literature. Really. @VQR #litmag #Literature #Essay #memoir 🎙️murphlaw.substack.com/p/season-3-ep-…

Proud to have my story, "The Human Conditional," in the latest issue of the excellent Switchyard magazine. Thanks to @TedGenoways and team for their great new publication! switchyardmag.com/issue-4/human-…

@bullmurph Had a blast talking to Sean on his excellent podcast. We mostly chatted about a recent essay, "From the Gut," about the history of indigestion in literature. A surprisingly rich vein of inquiry (and puns). Hope you enjoy!

Today’s guest is Will Boast @WillBoast author of a story collection "Power Ballads," a memoir "Epilogue," and a novel "Daphne." His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and The Guardian, among others. seanmurphy.live #somethingsconsidered

@SomeThingswSean Had a blast talking to Sean on his excellent podcast. We mostly chatted about a recent essay, "From the Gut," about the history of indigestion in literature. A surprisingly rich vein of inquiry (and puns). Hope you enjoy!

Today’s guest is Will Boast @WillBoast author of a story collection "Power Ballads," a memoir "Epilogue," and a novel "Daphne." His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and The Guardian, among others. seanmurphy.live #somethingsconsidered

H is for... Holy Shit! theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/m…

Here's my essay on indigestion and its bizarre (and deep) literary history. Went down every rabbit hole, from Whitman to Beckett to laxative advertising (latter two are curiously related). Thanks to the excellent, patient folks @VQR and to @Longreads longreads.com/2025/02/27/fro…

Really digging the @Mickey17Movie soundtrack. Great stuff @alyankovic youtube.com/watch?v=7vFGKH…

From the Gut (@WillBoast - @VQR) redef.com/item/67c1d83b5…

4. "From the Gut" @WillBoast "Though exploring centuries of dyspeptic literature failed to raise a cure for his own ailments, Boast writes, 'I did find strange comfort in such company.' And he’s left us with plenty to chew over." vqronline.org/winter-2024/es…

@dascho_scribler There's also the very similar Gentleman's Relish. But that, I think, sits in a different section of the bookshop. In the back. Behind a curtain.

@WillBoast Yes, but a great title for a novel

Got home, exhausted, cracked open this paté I ordered, Poacher's Relish. Been wanting to try it for forever, and I spent too much time and money tracking it down. Greedily slathered it over a hunk of toast I lovingly charred in the pan, only to realize it's... totally disgusting.

Never know quite what it is in Natalia Ginzburg that so levels me. Perhaps it's an incredible honesty or vulnerability that, nevertheless, rarely feels like cheap self-exposure. There's a shyness there, too, and a delicate, plain-spoken, self-effacing irony. Damn, I'm near tears.

Legendary saxophonist Lou Donaldson has passed away at age 98. He became a Blue Note fixture after playing on Milt Jackson & Thelonious Monk sessions in 1952 & soon began his own 20+ year run of leader albums spanning bebop, hard bop, soul jazz & jazz funk bluenote.lnk.to/LouDonaldsonFi…

I guess the outsized role inflation played in the US elections means Modern Monetary Theory is basically dead?