The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life

Hosted ByJohn King

Join author John King for eclectic interviews with writers from a variety of genres, including fiction writing, poetry, memoirs, and journalism. From literature to genre writing to the movies, all writing is up for discussion. In particular, The Drunken Odyssey features discussion of all aspects of the writing process—not just the published manuscript, pristinely presented to the entire literate world, but also the scrawled notes and tortured drafts that lead writers there. In long-form interviews, writers discuss their process and the way that writing has influenced their lives. Besides this interview, each episode also features a short memoir essay from a writer about a beloved book, plus John King responds to listener’s questions and observations about the writing (and the drinking) life.


All Episodes

628: Kent Wascom!

On this week’s show, John King talks to the novelist Kent Wascom about the continuation of the Woolsack legacy in his new novel, The Great State of West Florida. We discuss the vibrantly chaos of Florida, the postmodern pulp possibilities of the…

627: David McLoghlin!

On this week’s show, Johnj talk to the poet David McLoghlin about his newest collection of poems, Crash Centre, and history, religion, rugby, boarding school, trauma, and exiting the comforts of metaphor.

626: Ian Patterson, interviewed by Chelsea Alice (Redux)!

Chelsea Alice interviewed Ian Patterson back on episode 589, but they had much more to talk about, so here is another round of frank, literary conversation, this time about translating Charles Fourier and Patterson’s original poetry as well.

625: Daniel Handler!

In this week’s show, John talks with Daniel Handler about the absurd fun of stress-testing reality, the joys of listening to Sun Ra & Prince, the efficacy of writing on ordinary writing pads, and the importance of waiting for the good stuff to…

624: Ann Hood!

After discussing World War I with Michael Korda on episode 622, this week I speak with Ann Hood about her newest novel, The Stolen Child, which features a storyline about artists during World War I. During this interview, I may have defended IHOP…

Replay: Episode 278 with Brittany Perham

Thanks to Brian Salmons for bumpering this replay episode.

623: Nicholson Baker!

In this week’s show, John talks with Nicholson Baker about the potential sorrows of writing, the drive to discover joy, and the need to explore other creative endeavors besides writing.

622: Michael Korda!

In this week’s show, John talks with prose writer Michael Korda about telling the historical stories of the poets of World War I.

621: Tyler Mills!

In this week’s show, John talks with Tyler Mills about her extraordinary multimedia memoir, a poetic people’s history of America’s secretive relationship to the atomic bomb.

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