Writers on Writing

Larissa Pham’s writing has appeared in The Nation, the New York Times Book Review, Aperture, Bookforum, Art in America, Granta, the Paris Review Daily, and elsewhere. Her essays and short fiction have been anthologized in Kink (Simon and Schuster, 2021); Wanting: Women Writing on Desire (Catapult, 2023); and Critical Hits, an anthology of writing on video games (Graywolf, 2023). She holds an MFA in fiction from Bennington. She is an Assistant Professor of Writing at the New School. Her debut novel, just published, is Discipline.

Larissa joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about plot, narrative tense, the freedom of writing without quotation marks, metafiction, revision, naming characters, themes, and much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded February 6, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Bret Anthony Johnston is the internationally bestselling author of the novels We Burn Daylight and Remember Me Like This, as well as the award-winning story collection Corpus Christi. He edited the craft book, Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer. His work has been widely translated and appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere.
After directing the creative writing program at Harvard University for over a decade, he is now the Director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.
He joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest story collection, Encounters with Unexpected Animals. These 12 pieces are masterclasses on managing time in short fiction, showing what dialogue can do, bringing setting to life, playing with POV (including 2nd person), and arranging a collection to read like an album. They discuss it all.
For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.
(Recorded February 11, 2026)
Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Reena Shah is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her work has been featured in the Masters Review, Electric Literature, Joyland, BBC, the American Prospect, National Geographic and the Guardian, among other publications. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Millay Arts, Tin House, and the Fulbright Foundation. She received an MFA in fiction from the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature. For many years, she was a kathak dancer in New York and India. She now lives on Roosevelt Island, NY, with her family and teaches in a public school. Her debut novel is Every Happiness, the focus of our discussion.

Reena joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and they talk about being a writer in training, a short story that led to the novel, complicated friend relationships, the time it takes to finish a novel, having faith in a project while also doubting, the book’s title and cover, reader reviews, and more.

 For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded February 6, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Mark Haddon might be best known for his 2003 breakout novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. But it’s only the tip of a body of work that stretches across genres and artforms. He’s the author of three other adult novels, including The Porpoise and two collections of short stories. Dogs and Monsters came out last year. He’s also written poetry and plays. Before The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark wrote over a dozen children’s books. He’s also an illustrator and visual artist.

Out this month is Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour, which gives us access to his amazing mind and provides one roadmap into the creative process (recognizing there are an infinite number of roads). He joins Marrie Stone to talk about his insights into the craft including using constraints to enhance creativity, why he no longer uses flowcharts to map his work, how the flow state in writing differs from visual art, how writers’ childhoods are different, and how he leaned into his writing weaknesses to produce The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He also talks about mental illness and creativity, points of view he won’t touch, and so much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners!

(Recorded February 2, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Mark Haddon might be best known for his 2003 breakout novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. But it’s only the tip of a body of work that stretches across genres and artforms. He’s the author of three other adult novels, including The Porpoise and two collections of short stories. Dogs and Monsters came out last year. He’s also written poetry and plays. Before The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark wrote over a dozen children’s books. He's also an illustrator and visual artist.

Out this month is Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour, which gives us access to his amazing mind and provides one roadmap into the creative process (recognizing there are an infinite number of roads). He joins Marrie Stone to talk about his insights into the craft including using constraints to enhance creativity, why he no longer uses flowcharts to map his work, how the flow state in writing differs from visual art, how writers’ childhoods are different, and how he leaned into his writing weaknesses to produce The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He also talks about mental illness and creativity, points of view he won’t touch, and so much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners!

(Recorded February 2, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)