Some Things Considered with Sean Murphy

Today’s guest is Jane Friedman who, if you have even casually followed anything to do with book publishing and the state of the literary industry during the last two decades, you already know—and appreciate. Jane has been the consensus go-to for insights on trends, developments, and how to build a platform in the 21st Century. Named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2023, Jane has...

Today’s guest is Grant Shonkwiler who, if you’ve been following the gaming industry during the last couple of decades, you already know as the legend he is. For those unfamiliar, Grant has built his reputation as a programmer, lead designer, technical producer, leadership coach, and author. (Even if you aren’t personally a gaming enthusiast, it’s almost impossible you’ve not heard of Doom and Fortnite—just...

Today’s guests are dynamic duo and my favorite creative husband and wife team Karen E. Bender and Robert Anthony Siegel. Karen is author of the story collection Refund, which was a Finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Fiction and also a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Her third collection of stories, The Words of Dr. L, will be published by Counterpoint Press in May, 2025. Robert is a writer, writing...

Today’s guest is Hannah Grieco, who, using baseball terminology is a five tool player: she’s a writer, a teacher, an editor, an advocate, and a literary citizen extraordinaire. She is also one of my favorite creative people, managing to be insanely productive (and successfully published!), but also a devoted mother, friend, and cheerleader for the arts. You may have read her work in The Washington Post, or Huffington Post, or The R...

Today’s guest is Jordan Blum, a writer and critic I admire and hold up as an ideal example for anyone who is trying to figure out how to navigate an ever-evolving media landscape. I first met Jordan more than a decade ago when we both were columnists for PopMatters—contributing features, reviews, and interviews on everything from music and books to movies and politics. Jordan, like myself, is a music fanat...

Today’s guest is Justen Ahren, a photographer, poet, musician and writing workshop facilitator. I met Justen at the Noepe Center a decade ago, and he and I share—among other things—a passion for writing and how to push creative boundaries, the rewards of cultivating communities (both in and outside artistic spaces), and balancing how to make a living and how to suck the marrow out of life, as Thoreau encou...

Today’s guest is the poet, professor, and arts advocate Holly Karapetkova. If you’ve been following anything I do, especially the year-round free programming of 1455, you already know Holly, because she is one of my favorite people and someone to whom I always take the opportunity to speak with: speaking with her on any topic is always enlightening and inspiring, and the primary purpose of today’s conversation is celebrating her fo...

Today’s guest is Louis Bayard, the critically beloved and ever popular novelist, whose novel The Pale Blue Eye was adapted into the global #1 Netflix release starring Christian Bale. I’m honored to call Lou a friend, but I’ve been a fan since long before I met him, and it was a true pleasure to name him 1455’s Storyteller of the Year in 2022. The New York Times has written that Lou “reinvigorates historical fiction,” rendering the ...

Today’s guest is Charles Bock, author of the new memoir I Will Do Better, as well as the novels Alice & Oliver and Beautiful Children (which as a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book, and which won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters). His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek, and in numerous an...

We kick off Season 2 of Some Things Considered with a conversation continued from real life in real time. If you are in any way involved with (in no particular order) academia, writing, or the insanity of late-stage capitalism on a micro level, you might have read about what’s going on at Stanford, and the debacle occurring in their Creative Writing program.

Long story short: just as professors were preparing for the fall semester,...

Today’s guest is the writer, professor, music expert and advocate Mark Katz. Dr. Katz, after receiving his PhD in muscilogy, has spent the last several decades writing, teaching, thinking about, and proselytizing the power of music; his accomplishments and publications are too numerous to list, but please visit him online to get a handle on the scope of his work and ongoing projects. The topic of today’s discussion was his new book...

Today’s guest is the award-winning author and literary queen Deesha Philyaw. Her debut short story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Deesha is also a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts, Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon). ...

Today’s guest is guitarist, composer, producer, and bandleader Jon Madof.  Based in New York, Jon is the leader of several bands, including Zion80 and Rashanim, and has released seven albums on Tzadik Records. In addition, Madof is co-founder of the prolific and eclectic CHANT Records label. I have known Jon for two decades and followed his remarkable career as a fan, critic, and friend. Our conversations, dating back to my days as...

Today’s guest is Steven L. Herman, author, teacher, and chief national correspondent for the Voice of America. His latest book, Behind the White House Curtain: A Senior Journalist’s Story of Covering the President—and Why It Matters, was published in June. Steve was one of the first guests for the new Speaker Series I curate for the Center for Story at Shenandoah University, and he was on my podcast wish list a...

Whitney Collins joins us to discuss—and celebrate—her brand-new collection Ricky and Other Love Stories. Whitney describes the unique ways short fiction works, and why this form (traditionally disdained by the Lit Industry as not being sufficiently “commercial,” prompting the by-now cliched question even a successful short story writer hears “what about a novel?...

Sean Murphy hosts Jeannine Ouellette to discuss behind the scenes on building a thriving literary community and transforming lives with her newsletter Writing in the Dark!

Today’s guest is the one and only Jeannine Ouellette, who is not only a gifted and celebrated writer, teacher, and editor, but creator of the beloved Substack newsletter Writing in the Dark. In addition, she’s author of the memoir The Part That Burns (2021), an...

James Millner, Director of VA Pride, explores inclusivity, opportunity, and fostering positive sociopolitical conversations during an election year with host Sean Murphy.

Episode two’s guest is James Millner, Director of VA Pride at Diversity Richmond and LGBTQ advocate, whom Sean has known—and been inspired by—for several decades. This discussion covers the special urgency of messaging and awareness during an election year, and ...

Award-winning author of Punch Me Up to the Gods Brian Broome discusses toxic masculinity, the art of political writing, and creating positive narratives around men with host Sean Murphy, author of the 2024 release This Kind of Man.

Brian Broome joins us to talk about issues of “maleness,” interrogating toxic masculinity, writing about men (and men’s health), the possibility of establishing positive narrati...