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The Passage is a literary podcast where authors read a passage from their own work and break down exactly how they wrote it, from the first spark of inspiration and the early drafts to the sentence-level decisions and the moment they knew it was finished.
Guests span fiction, nonfiction, essays, and more, from novelists to memoirists to food and travel writers. Your hosts are Jon and Cory, two former book editors who love getting into the weeds of how writing actually gets made.
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Lydia Millet | Fair Ones: A Double Novel | Fiction | Ep. 21
Lydia Millet reads from Fair Ones: A Double Novel, her experimentally-structured story of two women navigating the sudden and unexpected death of their best friend. During our conversation, the Pulitzer- and National Book Award-nominated au
Isaac Fitzgerald | American Rambler | Memoir | Ep. 20
Isaac Fitzgerald reads from American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed, his memoir about following in the footsteps of one of America’s great folk heroes. In this episode, we discuss the book’s opening passage, learning how to
Scott Hawkins | Blacktail | Fantasy | Ep. 19
Scott Hawkins reads from Blacktail, a dark fantasy in which a wolf seeks revenge on humanity for the death of his house dog mate. In this episode, we unpack a passage from the opening chapter, told from the perspective of a lynx, that sets
Bathsheba Demuth | Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait | History | Ep. 18
Bathsheba Demuth reads from Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait, billed as the first comprehensive history of Beringia, the Arctic lands and waters that stretch from Russia to Canada. In this episode, we discuss a
Joshua Kendall | Trudeau & Doonesbury | Biography | Ep. 17
Joshua Kendall reads from Trudeau & Doonesbury, his new biography of Garry Trudeau, the famously press-shy Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. In this episode, we discuss a passage outlining the sexism found in strips Trudeau created during
Rich Larson | "In the Hours Preceding the Fall of Tau-Sants" | Science Fiction | Ep. 16
Rich Larson reads the opening passage of “In the Hours Preceding the Fall of Tau-Sants,” a cyberpunk-flavored short story published by the online magazine Reactor and available to read for free at http://reactormag.com. “In the Hours…” foll
Dan Fesperman | Pariah | Spy Fiction | Ep. 15
Bestselling spy novelist Dan Fesperman joins Cory and Jon to discuss Pariah, a satirical thriller about a disgraced comedian recruited by the CIA to spy on an authoritarian Eastern European regime. The passage he reads is a masterclass in b
Oana Aristide | Astronaut! | Fiction | Ep. 14
Oana Aristide reads the opening pages of Astronaut!, her recently-released novel set in late-80s communist Romania. Astronaut! follows two main characters: an eight-year-old girl caught up in a rigged school contest and a detective ordered
M Lin | "The Memory Museum" | Fiction | Ep. 13
Author M Lin joins us to discuss her fantastic debut collection, The Memory Museum, a series of stories that move between contemporary China and imagined futures to explore memory, family, censorship, loss, and—perhaps unexpectedly—joy. The
Sonya Walger | Wifehouse | Fiction | Ep. 12
Award-winning author and actor Sonya Walger (Lost, For All Mankind) joins us to discuss her latest novel, Wifehouse—the story of a woman who has always defined herself as a wife and mother, and who, in trying to put her own happiness first,
John Keene - "Gloss" (Counternarratives) | Fiction | Ep. 11
John Keene reads from "Gloss on a History of Roman Catholics in the Early American Republic, 1790–1825; or The Strange History of Our Lady of the Sorrows," a novella at the heart of his 2015 collection Counternarratives. It’s an experimenta
Sam Shelstad | The Cobra and the Key | Fiction | Ep. 10
Sam Shelstad reads three short chapters from his (very funny) novel, The Cobra and the Key, a fictional creative writing guide penned by an aspiring literary genius who isn’t going to let little things like talent, self-awareness, or a rece
’Pemi Aguda | One Leg on Earth | Fiction | Ep. 9
Nigerian short story writer and novelist ’Pemi Aguda reads a passage from her latest work, One Leg on Earth, and discusses the challenges–and rewards–of short vs. longform writing, the writers who keep her inspired, and how liberating it ca
Jan Swafford | Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph | Biography | Ep. 8
Musician, writer, and biographer Jan Swafford reads not one but two passages! The first from the opening of his biography of the American composer Charles Ives and the second from his massive book on the life of Beethoven, Beethoven: Anguis
Nathan Ballingrud | "The Butcher's Table" (Wounds/The Atlas of Hell) | Horror | Ep. 7
Horror and dark fantasy writer Nathan Ballingrud reads a passage from his novella, The Butcher’s Table, originally published in the short fiction collection Wounds (The Atlas of Hell). He talks to Jon and Cory about: • The story’s origins a
Michael Katz | The Brothers Karamozov | Russian Translation | Ep. 6
The great Russian translator Michael Katz reads a passage from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and discusses the painstaking process, many challenges, and hard limitations of translation, which he considers a “recreative” act vs. a pure
Tom Toner / Caspar Geon | The Immeasurable Heaven | Science Fiction | Ep. 5
Science fiction writer Tom Toner reads a passage from his latest novel, The Immeasurable Heaven, published under the pen name Caspar Geon. He talks to Jon and Cory about his many notebooks full of longhand worldbuilding ideas, finding inspi
Anya Von Bremzen | National Dish | Food | Ep. 4
Food writer and memoirist Anya Von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, reads from the epilogue of her latest bestseller, National Dish, and discusses what happens when world-historical events dictate last-minute rewrites
Gabby Squailia | Dead Boys | Fantasy | Ep. 3
Author Gabby Squailia reads a passage from her debut fantasy novel Dead Boys, a macabre, rollicking story set in the afterlife. She takes us through the unconventional road from idea to published book, and explains how her writing process c
Daniel Magariel | Walk the Darkness Down | Fiction | Ep. 2
Writer Daniel Magariel reads a passage from his remarkable second novel, Walk the Darkness Down, and delves into how he creates his characters, his research methods, and the sustained meditation of the writing process. Daniel's passage, exc
Rolf Potts | "Storming 'The Beach'" (Marco Polo Didn't Go There) | Travel | Ep. 1
Rolf Potts -- godfather of travel writing in the digital age and bestselling author of Vagabonding, Marco Polo Didn't Go There, and The Vagabond's Way -- reads from his breakout piece "Storming the Beach" and discusses how he came up with t
