Episode 671 - Rachel Tzvia Back
The Virtual Memories Show
With (Wesleyan University Press), poet-translator-professor explores her life with high-functioning depression, weaving Ancient Greek myth, poetry, family history, interviews, and more into an amazing tapestry of life in the dark forest. We talk about the challenge of structuring the arc-less nature of depression, the shame of not being completely debilitated by her illness, how the myth of Demeter and Persephone helped her translate and understand her experience as a mother and a daughter, what it means to be the mother who fails and why she included interviews with her adult children in...
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Episode 670 - Sven Birkerts
The Virtual Memories Show
Essayist , one of my favorite past pod-guests, welcomes me back to the mic for a conversation about writing, art, mortality, resistance, technology, and selling rare books! We talk about what he's learned about writing from his essay-experiment, how he rediscovered his with his daughter, what he gets from audiobooks, the pros and cons of knowing your audience, and more. Plus, I talk about my , what I've learned from stepping back from the weekly podcast routine, why I'd like to see Dylan play one more time before one or the other of us is gone, and where this podcast might be going,...
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Episode 670 - Sven Birkerts
The Virtual Memories Show
Essayist , one of my favorite past pod-guests, welcomes me back to the mic for a conversation about writing, art, mortality, resistance, technology, and selling rare books! We talk about what he's learned about writing from his essay-experiment, how he rediscovered his with his daughter, what he gets from audiobooks, the pros and cons of knowing your audience, and more. Plus, I talk about my , what I've learned from stepping back from the weekly podcast routine, why I'd like to see Dylan play one more time before one or the other of us is gone, and where this podcast might be going,...
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Episode 669 - Indefinite Hiatus
The Virtual Memories Show
For his 2025 year-end wrap-up, Gil's putting the podcast & newsletter on hiatus: talk about your crazy New Year's resolutions! He talks about how he recognized It Was Time For A Break, whether or not this podcast is what gives his life meaning, what he might get up to (HINT: it's WAY past time he finishes writing his Instax book), and how months of depression after his dad's death left him feeling like he was out of options. He gets into his 2025 highlights and why he needed to visit his photo library to overcome his amnesia, the hairiness of his professional life, the thrill of receiving...
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Episode 668 - The Guest List 2025
The Virtual Memories Show
It’s time for our year-end Virtual Memories Show tradition, now celebrating its thirteenth anniversary: ! I reached out to 2025’s pod-guests and asked them about the favorite book(s) they read in the past year, as well as the books or authors they’re hoping to read in 2026! Twenty-six guests responded with wonderful, idiosyncratic, and illuminating book recommendations: Jonathan Ames, Kayla E., Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Jennifer Hayden, Rian Hughes, Paul Karasik, Glenn Kurtz, David Leopold, Seth Lorinczi, Sacha Mardou, Kate Maruyama, Whitney Matheson, Josh Neufeld, Lance Richardson, Ari...
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Episode 667 - Jonathan Sandler
The Virtual Memories Show
Let's close out 2025 with graphic memoirist and comics journalist ! We talk about his childhood secret origin in comics, the comics course in 2017 that brought him back to the form, the process of turning his grandfather's WWII memoir into a comic, (with art by Brian Bicknell), and how he really became a comics aficionado after publishing his first graphic novel. We get into how he started the blog and began reviewing comics, interviewing cartoonists, visiting exhibitions, and spreading the comics gospel, and why this very podcast has . We also discuss what he's learned from and about...
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Episode 666 - Morten Hoi Jensen
The Virtual Memories Show
With (Yale University Press), brings us a masterful biography of one of the great novels of the 20th century and shows how it and its author speak to our present moment. We talk about Morten's history with Mann's novel, his weeks of research in the sanatoria of Davos and his discovery of how much of 's world is intact a century later, and how Mann's novel changed for him in the process of writing this book. We get into Mann's political transformation from a nationalist into an antifascist, how art & politics can make for a disastrous mix, Mann's rivalry with his novelist brother...
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Episode 665 - Prue Shaw
The Virtual Memories Show
With her amazing new book, (Liveright), scholar brings us a canto-by-canto journey through Dante's masterwork, interweaving translated verses with her commentary, and serving as a Virgil-like guide to the poem. We talk about how she was inspired by John Carey's , why the Paradiso was her biggest challenge, how the poem has changed for her over the course of her life, and why she went with prose translations of Dante rather than verse. We get into Dante's balance of pride in his art and his humility before God, the modern sound of Dante's verse and the challenge of translating Italian into...
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Episode 664 - Glenn Kurtz
The Virtual Memories Show
Who were the men who built the Empire State Building? returns to the show to tell their story with (Seven Stories Press). We talk about how he accidentally fell into this project, how "turn every page" led him to a key discovery about 's photos of the Empire State construction, how his experience researching and writing helped him with this book, his childhood connection with the Empire State, and how identifying their subjects affects the mythic aura of Hine's photographs. We get into the corporate perspective of the building and how it dehumanizes the workers who built it, and similarly...
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Episode 663 - Jennifer Hayden
The Virtual Memories Show
Who knew that olive oil makes head lice sleepy? rejoins the show to celebrate her new graphic memoir/anti-cookbook, (Top Shelf), share comedic tales of domestic mess, and rebel against the expectations of wife/motherhood. We talk about the lifetime of bad cooking that led to this new book, the revenge of turning her bad experiences into comedy, how she found a unique form to tell her story, and how a youthful reading of Babar left her with a lifelong phobia of mushrooms. We get into how she was reverse-inspired by Lucy Knisley's , how watercolors gave her a color toolbox for her comics, what...
info_outlineWith her debut graphic novel, PRECIOUS RUBBISH (Fantagraphics), artist and designer Kayla E explores and investigates the trauma of her upbringing, the fragments of her memories, and the process of reintegration. We talk about why comics were the perfect form for this project, how she found her iconography and the postwar children's comics style for it, what it was like to uncover her memories and get them on the page, how it feels to give her story to her readers, and how she's learning to respond when her readers share their trauma with her. We get into her comics-roots, what it was like to hit up her comics heroes, how she felt the moment Mark Newgarden told her she had a book on her hands, why Harvard is bad for getting a comics education, how her work as a graphic designer dovetailed with the incredible production of Precious Rubbish. We also discuss her recovery and her conversion experience, why her Bible kinda begins and ends with the Book of Job, her years of worry that she'd turn out as psychopathic as her parents and brother, why the Sopranos is her favorite work of art, what it means to not be loved by one's parents, and more. Follow Kayla on Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe, Patreon, or Paypal, and subscribe to our e-newsletter